This anniversary session, marking seventeen years of Bartholomew's teaching work, took on a reflective and celebratory tone while delivering some of his most direct and uncompromising guidance. Bartholomew began by acknowledging the evolution that has occurred both in the teaching and in the consciousness of those who have been following it over the years. He notes that the fundamental question has shifted from "how do I awaken?" to "do I want to awaken?" This shift represents a maturation in understanding, moving from seeking techniques and methods to recognizing that the primary obstacle to awakening is not lack of knowledge but lack of genuine desire to let go of the familiar patterns of separate selfhood.

This teaching addressed the victim mentality that often underlies spiritual seeking, particularly the subtle way people make God responsible for their circumstances while simultaneously resenting those same circumstances. Bartholomew challenged listeners to examine their deeper beliefs about whether they see themselves as victims of an invisible, capricious deity or as conscious participants in their own unfolding. This examination requires brutal honesty about one's actual relationship to the concept of divine will and personal responsibility. He suggested that much religious conditioning has created a fear-based relationship to the divine that actually prevents the very union it claims to promote.

A significant portion of the teaching focused on the revolutionary nature of the awakening process, both individually and collectively. Bartholomew described a global shift in consciousness where increasing numbers of people are no longer willing to accept suffering as their natural state. This revolution, however, is not political but deeply personal, involving a fundamental change in how happiness and fulfillment are understood. Rather than seeking satisfaction through accumulation and consumption, this new consciousness recognizes that true contentment comes from alignment with one's essential nature, which is already complete and lacks nothing.

The discourse on effort versus effortlessness became particularly pointed in this session. Bartholomew explained that anything requiring sustained effort is not one's true nature, using the analogy of breathing to illustrate how natural functions occur without conscious management. This principle extends to spiritual practice, suggesting that techniques and disciplines that require constant remembering and effort are ultimately pointing away from rather than toward the simplicity of being. The teaching advocated the recognition of what is already naturally present rather than trying to create or maintain spiritual states through willpower.

This session concluded with Bartholomew's expression of complete confidence in the inevitable awakening of each listener, regardless of how long the process might take. This confidence stems not from wishful thinking but from his direct knowing of their essential nature as Consciousness itself. The teaching suggested that from the perspective of awakened awareness, there is no anxiety about timing or methods because the outcome is already certain. This certainty allows for infinite patience while simultaneously encouraging immediate recognition of what is already and eternally present.