Over the 17 years during which Bartholomew shared his wisdom through Mary-Margaret Moore, the question of his nature was broached several times.

He established early on that because he realized people wanted to know whether to call him "he", "she" or "it", he thought it would be more convenient to just call him "he", even though he made it clear he didn't really care one way or another.

Maybe the best answer to the question above came in one of the early sessions (Tape 30C - "Bartholomew's Function" - June 1978 - Timestamp: 00:00:57) when the facilitator, Justin Moore (Mary-Margaret's husband), asked:

"…we would like to ask something about your function in the plan, the spiritual plan for this planet and for perhaps the cosmic scheme of things. How do you fit in and this work?"

Bartholomew answered:

"Basically, what you need to know is that, just as on the Earth plane so called people have different jobs, in the higher areas certain energy fields are dedicated to certain fulfillments. And an energy field is really how it is best to explain what I am. But if it's easier to stop using that terminology, I will. I say "a teacher" in this case. Certain teachers are given certain assignments, so to speak, because their energies connect up with the necessary unfoldment that should take place. When a force field like myself enters into the Earth plane, which it just has recently - I have not been here in a long sense in terms of the world - and that is because a movement, a shift in energy, is taking place on the globe, and the energies that I used to represent in an area called the Himalayas, which is where I was; again, please understand, when I say I am speaking of a force field, and I am speaking of a force field that greatly extends past any idea in your mind that you might have of a teacher."

Then something odd happened: another presence came through, interrupting Bartholomew, who said:

"I feel that the other master is about to come in."

(This happened several times in the early years, although the identity of that "other master" was never revealed.)

That other master added the following:

"I feel that I would like to intervene at this time for my brother and answer this very high question…The energy field that he speaks of, if you could observe it in the physical world, would be made up of boundless units of energy that would seem to take on the form of an immense man. This is why so many psychics have interpreted this energy as beings of light, giant beings of light. We are composed entirely of moving, undulating, rhythmically cohesive light. We carry a field of power. At this time, the shift in energy is moving away from the Himalayan section of the world and moving into other places. One of these places is this area. The main focus of this is the mountain called by you the Taos Mountain. …

He continued:

The function is simply to do the best that we can to imbue the entire area with a very high spiritual force. It is greatly advantageous to our plans if we have agents - again, a very bad word - I do not mean agents in the mundane sense. If we have certain vehicles who are receptive to our vibration, who can help to move this energy into greater and greater awareness among the population of that area, the understanding that is necessary must come into the peoples of this area because the destiny of this area is very important.

This second master then proceeded to explain in a nutshell the essence of the message that Bartholomew was to repeat countless times in the following years, namely that:

The question that is constantly asked by Earthlings is "how can I best become aware of this thing called God?" Is this a valid question? The answer is simply that, once you stop thinking of yourself as separate from that force, you will find it easier and easier and easier to merge your consciousness with it. This is best illustrated by the separate mind viewing itself as separate and beginning to view itself as one with every other mind. It is a practical instruction. For example, as you stand in front of another brother, another human being, if you would make yourself aware of the space that lies between your bodies rather than the bodies themselves, you will begin to attune yourself more and more to the Oneness. If, as you look at an object, instead of fastening your view on the object, if you were to fasten your awareness on the space between you and the object, you would soon become aware that space has a meaning. Space itself carries the message of Oneness, and as you concentrate with your eyes and then later with the feel of the space upon your skin, all of these techniques begin to convince you slowly that what you have done is to carve out of the unity of the One individualized objects. If you keep your attention on the individual objects, it is much more difficult for us to break down the mental construct of separateness that you have made over the lifetime. So, as strange as this may sound, it is a very helpful tool for you to concentrate on the space between things rather than on the things themselves.

This was an early clue regarding Bartholomew's nature and mission. It also explains why on different occasions Bartholomew would describe himself merely as an "Elder Brother," a "Planetary Brother" or a "Gentle Brother" (hence the titles of the books) or, as in this quote, a simple "Teacher" (Transcript of tape 500 ("Filters")):

… this is not the great, wonderful guru who presents to you the great, wonderful teaching. This is not so. This is the mirror of remembrance. This is all that it is. It is a mirror of remembrance, and in that relationship to you, let us now talk again about the basics.

One teacher in a long line of other teachers

From our human perspective, one could consider Bartholomew as one of the hundreds, if not thousands of spiritual teachers who have appeared in history since the beginning of time to help humans wake up from the illusion that they are separate from the unicity of the universe. But since humans are singularly hard-headed and have short memories, the process has needed to be repeated over and over again down the centuries, which is why a prophet, a holy person, a mystic appeared at regular points in time, preached the message of unicity of and with what humans call God (usually mistaking It for some kind of figure that looks like them, only bigger), only to end up killed in some cases or revered in some others. And after a few centuries during which their message ends up distorted, the necessity of yet another refresher course becomes apparent, and a new one shows up. Sometimes they are welcome and adulated, some other times not so much. In some cases they are followed by large numbers of people, if not the majority of a population, while in other cases they have only a small following. It seems that, for all the intrinsic high spiritual quality of his teachings, Bartholomew belongs to this last category, and apparently by design.

Build no organization

As far as spiritual teachers go, Bartholomew is unusual in many ways, and that is what makes "him" so refreshing. One of these ways was how sternly he admonished his followers to not build any type of structure or organization around his teachings. The reason? In his view, any type of group, church, ashram, movement, etc, is distracting individuals from what is fundamentally a strictly individual quest. All these groups are not bad in themselves, but all too often their very existence prevent the people from doing the work needed to rediscover their true nature. In other words, while they are reassuring and comfortable, they also serve as crutches. [The extracts below are borrowed from Tape No 191 - "Build no organization around Bartholomew".]

So I would like to clarify at once what we stand for and what we do not. The first thing we do not stand for is a group, a movement, an organization, any of these things. … And the reason I say this with such assurance is that when you come to the realization that you need to find out who you are, there is one thing you will know at once, and that is that it is a one-man job. You must go alone. You cannot go in a group to the gates of heaven and knock and say, "There are 25 of us here. May we enter?" You have to go to your own awareness alone. Therefore, if you have an organization, that organization is going to, however subtly, bind you by its very cords of what it believes. And it will come to the moment, if you are truly trying to clarify your inner self, where you see their belief structure and your inner self will not be able to accept it because inner self sees no structure at all and you will then be in a clashing position with this thing that you have given your life to. And it is at that moment that you step back and say, "I will go along with my organization or I will break free." And in breaking free, that means leaving it all behind, saying goodbye, going out. … Lifetimes have been spent doing that. And I say, please, let us not do it again. … I say this with all the boldness that I can say. If you are really looking, you are alone. Because it is only in the loneliness of looking at your own thoughts, looking at your own beliefs and abandoning them one by one, not through any tricks or magic, but just by seeing them, letting them go through your fingers, it is only through that, that you can come to the clarity where nothing exists within you, where all thought is finally quieted, and then the seer of the all appears. And you cannot do this in groups. You cannot do this through beliefs. You cannot do this through organizations. … So what then is the job? Simple. To sit so quietly in the still pool that you observe all of the rocks, all of the moss, all of the trees, all of the mountains, all of the sky, just watch it all. By that I mean watch your thoughts, watch your emotions, watch your opinions, watch your beliefs. If you sit there having heavy thoughts and beautiful thoughts of God, I don't care, that's a thought. … We are still in the realm of thought. And it is not there that you will find it. So, I say to you, be grateful that it does not take an organization. Be grateful that it only takes one thing, because that one thing you have, which is you. And that is all that it's ever taken and all that it ever will take. … For those who find this too steep, too austere, too boring, I say I understand. Go your way, find a group, join it, believe in it, give your all to it and learn all you can from it. But whatever happens, there comes one day when you must stand and say, "There is just my being. That's all I know." … What this place is all about is the lonely walk within your own being to your own self. … we are here as no-thing. Nothing. Nothing. That is all that we have to offer, which is a space to look at nothing. That is all. … There is no such thing as an organization. There is no such thing as a Bartholomew group. There is no such thing, because there is only no-thing. And if you follow this, it isn't even a path. It is nothing. And yet it is all. And that is what I'm calling you to. …

Bartholomew's past lives

Bartholomew was also often asked what were his past lives. On several occasions, he ignored the request, considering that it was of no importance. Nevertheless, on at least one occasion, he relented and explained how three rather dramatic lives were what allowed him to re-discover his true nature and absolved him from needing to come back in physical form. (See tape 166X2) What follows is an abbreviated and edited version.

First significant life

An Egyptian experience. At that time, he was a male, a strong, extremely handsome male who had picked an incarnation of great physical beauty because he so desired to taste the fruits of the physical life. And he did so. ... But then came the day he fell from the chariot, which ran over his beautiful face, completely disfiguring it. ... But he is still very much alive, and because of the pain, the ego and the inability to face the look of horror that overcomes other people's faces when they look at him, he retreats. ... Toward the end, however, in the last weeks of his lifetime, having selected the solitude of the dryness of the desert to live in, there came upon him some kind of an inner stirring that said "I do not feel ugly. ... My countenance is greatly changed and the world responds to me very differently, but I do not feel changed. What is this?" ... the one thing that can be said about him is that given the option of ending it all, he did not do so. As tempted as he was, he said, "I will stay until I understand." And that is where the real growth began. … But at the end of this life, there was the knowledge, the absolute knowledge, that as people perceive you, you are not. … So death comes, freeing him into the other world. … The choice to reincarnate then came quickly.

Second significant life

And now "he" is a woman, of course. Lowly born, very ugly, deformed by choice. She finds herself at work in the mud patches for the Pharaoh, moving up and down on her feet, bringing water to those who are thirsty. And she is despised because she is truly very ugly. … As a child, she is very much abused and very much misused by men. … when the prostitute's body is being used, because of the horror of that whole experience, you have two choices. You may go insane, or you go within. And if you go within, no one can touch you. ... She goes within, and then it begins to show through her eyes. And she is truly able to see as others could not see. ... She had learned that her service was being a prostitute ... and each man left with something far more wonderful than he imagined. ... And that life ends. ... And at the funeral, there were many around who wept in a very strange way for a woman that they did not understand and could never have understood.

Third significant life

Then we have the next life, which was the last, or the last that I think I should speak of. Now we find a man again. Strong, ordinary. But early on, burning with something he knows not. A shepherd family, wandering with his flock, many, many hours alone on the hillside, surveying the flock and the unknown and the sky. And he wonders, and he wonders, and he spends most of his early years alone. … And then he becomes ill. And he realizes that there isn't much time left. But he also realizes that he hasn't done it. Whatever this thing is, he has not done it. So he cries to the tree. And he says, "Mother, teach me. I haven't learned it. I don't know yet what it is!" And in that moment in time, because of his simplicity, because of his tremendous yearning to know, the walls fall, and he knows. … all of the men that had abused him, all of the deprivation he had ever suffered, were all his teachers.