A sustained discourse on the single freedom Bartholomew said is genuinely available on this earth — not escape from circumstances, but the discovery, beneath ego and the senses, of the one undivided divine energy that each person already is.

Context: This session is a discourse and question-and-answer gathering with Bartholomew, who opened by distinguishing the rare attainment of the Christ from the freedom he meant to describe, then led the group through the nature of that freedom, the discipline of meditation, the illusion of separateness, and the practical implications of wanting God wholly rather than partially. The latter half turned to questions from those present — on love, marriage and enlightenment, astrology, relationship difficulties, prayer, being "made in God's image," and the nearness of the other planes — culminating in remarks on the coming time of crisis as an opportunity for awakening.

The Freedom that is Actually Possible: Bartholomew began by cautioning against modeling one's path on the Christ, who alone contained enough divine power to accomplish what he did; such feats are not the aim here. He insisted, from his own experience, that this earth plane is not the only realm of existence, and that this is among the most difficult planets on which a spiritual aspirant must make the thrust toward freedom. The freedom he offered is defined precisely: the amassing within one's own being of divine — not arrogant — power sufficient to leap through all preconditioning, misunderstanding, and limited belief, and so to break open and discover who one truly is. To be told "you are divine" while acting undivinely, he explained, simply means one is attending to the outer, egotistical periphery of life, trapped in endless action and reaction, rather than to the divine energy that genuinely dwells within the physical vehicle and waits to be used.

You Are not the Body: However convincingly the senses report otherwise, Bartholomew maintained that one is not the body but something inhabiting it; to limit one's sense of self at the physical frame is not to see clearly at all. Were the inner eyes to open, he said, one would perceive not separate bodies but undulating, flowing currents of energy uniting everyone present. People cling to being separate, defending their territory and insisting "I am me," precisely because they trust the senses that tell them they are a physical body — yet any true mystic knows this outer layer has nothing to do with who one really is. He challenged the group to spend the rest of their lives discovering the divine being within, offering to "meet you on the other side" if he is proven wrong. Seeing and hearing with the external senses makes the world fearful and separate; seeing and moving from the heart and inner awareness dissolves fear, because in the one movement of divine energy there is nothing vulnerable and no separation for harm to cross.

Living in this Instant, Beyond Fear: Fear, Bartholomew taught, arises from believing oneself vulnerable and separate — from oscillating endlessly between guilt over the past and dread of the future. In this present instant, in this room, there is no fear; it appears only when the mind travels backward or forward. To locate one's peace, joy, and light in outer things — a spouse, a house, prestige, "Cadillacs" — is to build on what can vanish in a day, and so to live in a dead and vulnerable world. Peace is found in only one place: the living, extending, creating divine energy within. The remedy is to stop thinking and to start being, resting in the one thing beyond doubt — that one exists — and letting that quiet knowing speak.

Why He Insists on Meditation: Bartholomew was emphatic that meditation is the way, not because it is mysterious but because it works. One is to sit — morning or night, on chair or pillow — turn off the mind and emotions, and simply wait in silence, for "he who knocks does hear," though the answer never screams and is easily missed by a talking, judging, emoting mind. The practice is unglamorous and slow, which is why few pursue it in a world addicted to instant results and spectacular effects. Freedom, when it comes, brings no Fourth-of-July rockets and no sense of superiority or achievement, only natural, spontaneous, endless compassionate love. The one true obstacle is the deep belief that the world will supply one's peace — a belief that keeps a person perpetually rearranging the "chessmen" of spouse, children, and house, never noticing that nothing not motivated by divine action satisfies for long.

Wanting God Wholly, Not Partially: The freedom Bartholomew described carries a warning: taste it enough and one becomes addicted, and one's world will change, perhaps costing everything held dear. Those who care more for prestige, possessions, or being loved by everyone should not attempt it; those content with their lives have no need of such gatherings and would only find them troublesome. He was blunt that people are naive about this, saying "take me, God, but leave me my car, my house, my job" — bargaining where no bargain can be struck. One cannot pursue union with the divine as a secondary job, offered every third Sunday; as with any real vocation, it demands all of oneself, every minute, lived from an inner core carried through all of one's ordinary activity. For those who prefer safety, he recommended staying within an organized religion with clear boundaries; but real freedom asks that one want it so badly as to give up everything.

Love, Oneness, and the Answers to Questions: In response to questions, Bartholomew refined several points. True love is not emotional response or self-congratulation ("look how I love this person") but the state in which there is no separate "you" at all — only the one movement of energy, so that possession and vulnerability become impossible. On marriage and enlightenment: the enlightened need nothing because they are everything, yet whether one requires a partner depends entirely on the rules one's own mind has set, and serious seekers must examine those inherited rules — about food, sex, or church ritual — and either fulfill them wholly or release them. He rejected the exclusivity of "the only begotten son", welcoming many awakened teachers, and defined a true Christian as one who knows the living Christ energy by direct inner experience rather than from a book. To astrologers he affirmed that the planets are not causes but symbols — vortexes of energy mirroring a cosmic order — just as human bodies are themselves gossamer vortexes of energy under pressure. Interpersonal problems, he said, are never solved by endlessly reworking relationships; they dissolve only when one becomes fearless and compassionate, with nothing to defend. Prayer and entreaty belong to the human condition, but what one seeks is already present: "you are already free".

The Nearness of the Other Planes and the Coming Crisis: Being "made in God's image", Bartholomew clarified, has nothing to do with a giant bearded figure but with the endlessly extending, ever-creating vortexes of compassionate wisdom that both God and the human being truly are. The inner planes are not distant; they are reached simply by shutting off the senses and opening the inner vision, and they press upon everyone continuously. No one is ever truly alone: those who have "burst into life" in death often return their care and upliftment to those they were served by, filling the space that looks empty but is in fact intensely alive. Closing, he addressed the approaching time of crisis — visible in economics, weather, and the movements of the earth — as a moment when a wave of compassion always sweeps over the planet, some highly conscious beings choosing to incarnate to help. The most useful response is not panic but the raising of one's own awareness above hate, jealousy, and specialness, for times of great chaos offer the most powerful chance for freedom, provided one does not fall asleep.