This final channeling session with Bartholomew marked the end of 17 years of teachings. The session began with Mary-Margaret (the channel) expressing gratitude and reflecting on how the teachings had evolved through the collective yearning of all participants, emphasizing that while the essential message remained constant from the first day, both the teachers and students grew together over time.

Bartholomew's final teaching centered on a fundamental principle: there is always another door, another way forward no matter how bleak circumstances appear. The key is learning to silence the demanding, controlling mind and trust that there is an energy (God, true nature, divine force) that yearns to guide us to new possibilities. This requires developing absolute trust and the willingness to "shut up" - to stop asking everyone for advice and instead turn inward to the silence where true guidance emerges.

A central theme was the futility of seeking lasting happiness through the body-mind mechanism. Bartholomew emphasized that while the mind can bring temporary experiences of all kinds - fun, disappointment, tragedy or chaos - it cannot provide the consistent, unending sense of "absolute all-rightness" that constitutes true bliss. Even the great spiritual masters suffered externally while maintaining inner bliss, demonstrating that happiness doesn't depend on circumstances but on understanding what we truly are.

The teaching strongly warned against spiritual "efforting" - the tendency to strive, push, and work hard to find one's true nature. Bartholomew stated categorically that "if you're efforting, you've missed it," explaining that our true nature is so obviously present and familiar that we've overlooked it. It's not hidden or mysterious but abundantly present in each moment. Any attempt to learn how to find what we already are only takes us further from the truth.

The core practice is simple: moment after moment, be willing to silence the thinking mind and relax into just being present. There is no complex methodology, no rules about diet or sexuality, no elaborate spiritual practices required. The path is simply trusting that the thinking mind cannot reveal what we're seeking, and being willing to let go of false ideas about who we think we are. Everything we're looking for is already here in this moment.

Bartholomew concluded by addressing the potential problem of students missing the teacher's physical presence, firmly stating that this would represent a failure of the teaching. Instead of yearning for the external form, students should recognize that the true teacher exists in the silence within each person. The teaching came from silence and returns to silence, and that's where the real connection continues. The final message is one of empowerment: stop pretending there are separate beings when there is only One consciousness appearing as many, and recognize that this very moment contains all the bliss and truth we've been seeking.