This session focused on spiritual maturity as characterized by increasing clarity and simplicity in one's path, rather than confusion and erratic searching between different belief systems. Bartholomew addressed the fundamental question that students need to answer: whether the earth plane and all its experiences exist to frighten them or to bless them. He pointed out that fear arises continuously throughout each day, even during mundane activities like watching television news, and challenged the logical inconsistency of believing that an all-loving God created a world designed to terrorize its inhabitants.

The teaching explored how people have projected their own inner fears onto the external world, creating a reality where they never see anything in its true essence but only through the distorted lens of their own judgmental projections. Bartholomew explained that everyone is engaged in this projection process simultaneously, creating a world where ego fights ego in an endless cycle of righteous indignation and blame. He noted that thousands of people throughout history have broken through this "camouflaged veil" and seen reality as it truly is, which wis why the teaching exist - to help students recognize that nothing they currently perceive is its true essence.

A central theme involved understanding the difference between "small mind" and "vast mind." Small mind was described as the repetitive, ego-based thought stream that recycles the same limited content (with 95% of today's thoughts being identical to yesterday's and tomorrow's thoughts). This mental activity was compared to a Rolodex of familiar people and situations that keeps spinning the same material endlessly. Small mind creates the veil of illusion and, when asked to dissolve it, naturally refuses since it has spent lifetimes creating and loving its projections.

The practical solution involves learning to observe the small mind rather than trying to transform it. When students sit quietly and watch their thought stream, they will eventually become aware of the vast Awareness that is observing the thoughts - this is the "vast mind" or divine Consciousness in which all mental activity arises and falls. This awareness was compared to the deep sleep state, where people experience their most refreshing rest precisely when ego identity dissolves completely, yet they awake knowing a continuum of being has persisted throughout the night.

Bartholomew emphasized that the mind is literally "scaring people to death" through its constant fearful projections about past and future, while the present moment typically contains no actual terror. The body responds to these mental messages with tension and stress, creating a cycle of fear-based physical symptoms that people then try to escape from through various means, often socially unacceptable ones. The way out involves taking responsibility for watching thoughts and recognizing that fear is self-generated rather than externally imposed.

The practical instruction focused on using breath awareness as a bridge between small mind and vast Awareness, since breathing can be observed without thinking about it. When fear arises, students are encouraged to immediately return attention to the simple rise and fall of breath, which quickly diminishes the fear response in the body. This isn't a technique to be mastered but a way of training attention to rest in present-moment awareness rather than following the mind's fearful narratives about past and future.

Bartholomew concluded by emphasizing that what students seek is so vast and present that they have overlooked it, not because it is small and hidden but because it is magnificently obvious. The divine consciousness they yearn for is already present as the very Awareness that knows their thoughts, breathes their bodies and maintains their existence moment by moment. The practice involves learning to stay present without following thought streams, allowing the light of vast Awareness to illuminate all experiences so they can be seen as they truly are - expressions of light, love, and absolute safety rather than sources of terror and separation.