What are we doing here?

Our work at Casa da Calma is a composite of two traditions: One is a proven spiritual path called Pathwork and the other is an established religion called Santo Daime. We are a church of the Santo Daime religion and hold church ceremonies in this tradition. Our church is built on a foundation of the teachings of the Pathwork. In this article, we will briefly explain what we receive from each.

This highly simplified overview explains what we are doing here at Casa da Calma. It also explains what we are doing here on Earth, as humans.

What we receive from Pathwork

The foundation of all our work is a body of spiritual teachings and practices that are collectively known as Pathwork. Comprised of about 250 lectures and thousands of Q&As, Pathwork gives a framework for understanding the human condition. Most notably, it describes the human psyche.

The Human Condition: A map of the Psyche

Just as all human bodies are constructed in a similar way, all human psyches are made in the same general way. So when we speak about spiritual healing, we are talking about healing ourselves at the level of the psyche. It will help, then, if we understand the general make-up of the human psyche better.

True Reality

The Pathwork Guide teaches that at our center, or core, is True Reality. This is the deepest dimension of our soul, or spirit, and it is infinite. At the level of True Reality, we are in connection with others and with all that is. Hence, the expression “all is one” and the term “oneness.”

We might call this our true nature or essence, or our inner light. It’s also our divine center. The Pathwork Guide calls it our Higher Self.

Notice that we are calling the deepest part of ourselves our Higher Self. This is paradox, which lives comfortably in this part of our being. Another example of paradox is firmness together with fluidity and flexibility. When we are connecting with our Higher Self, we can flow with the ups and downs of life while standing firmly on our own two feet.

Life is like this in True Reality. When we look at the full spectrum of any truth, we will see that it can hold opposites, and it also must hold opposites. For that is the true nature of True Reality.

When we are fully in the truth, meaning we understand the complete truth about anything, we see the unity of all that is. This is what creates harmony. And when we are living in harmony, there will be peace.

Limited Reality

There is another spiritual dimension, or level of reality, surrounding our entire psyche which is a Limited Reality. Here, everything appears to be black OR white. Because on this level of our psyche—on this level of reality—we are not able to hold opposites. This is the dimension of duality.

Here, firmness without flexibility becomes rigid and harsh. Rules become our king, and we either strictly obey them or rebel. On the flipside, without firmness, our flexibility becomes spineless, making it hard to stand on our own two feet.

Key characteristics of this dimension include the demand to always be right, to always win, to be seen as better than others, and to have more. Conversely, we may try to shrink, be small, have less and always lose. This, however, is just the other side of the same coin and is basically an alternate strategy for winning.

Either way, life on this level, which is the level of the ego, is filled with conflict and disharmony. We also easily lose ourselves in the illusion that we are separate.

As we’ll learn, we need our ego to do the all-important work of healing. And of course, our ego is not all of us. For we each already have some access to our Higher Self. For example, when we have an idea that works out well, and we don’t know where it came from, that’s inspiration arising from our Higher Self. Same with intuition.

Love and happiness also arise from the depths of our divine being. When we enjoy something or someone we love—perhaps a child, a partner, a cherished friend or beloved pet, or maybe a hobby like gardening, cooking or fixing things—we are connecting with the deepest part of ourselves.

But this too is not all of us. For there is another layer of reality between these two levels. And that level is the main reason we are here, living in this difficult dimension of duality.

Untrue Reality

Between the outer layer of our being—which is our ego—and our inner light, or Higher Self, there is a complex, highly charged layer that the Pathwork Guide calls the Lower Self. This layer of the psyche has many fractures and splits, plus lots of twists and distortions. As a result, what was at one time positive, is now negative.

What used to be light, is now dark. What was once clear, is now clouded in confusion.

It’s important to understand that everything’s that is now Lower Self was originally Higher Self.

• Our original Yes to life has gotten distorted into an inner attitude that says No to life.
• Our innate desire to create and be constructive turns into patterns that are painful and destructive.
• Our willingness to give and be of service becomes defiance in the form of rebellion, resistance and withholding.
• Our divine qualities distort into faults that hurt us and others.

There is a common denominator hiding under every Lower Self trait: Untruth. And this untruth has, by now, become buried in the unconscious regions of our psyche. As such, we can call this level Untrue Reality.

Keep in mind that untruth goes hand and hand with pain. This makes the Lower Self the source of all our painful struggles in life.

Phase One: Self-transformation

While tragic and difficult, the Lower Self is—thank goodness—temporary. Meaning, we can always transform the Lower Self back into its original Higher Self form, which goes on forever. In fact, self-transformation is the only way out of this difficult dimension of duality.

Self-transformation is the inner work we must each do to restore ourselves to wholeness, reorienting our energy, or life force, to flow in a positive direction. As the Pathwork Guide teaches, there are two phases to this process.

In the first phase, we must clear away the frozen blocks of energy in our Lower Self. We do this by learning to feel all our feelings and releasing our old pent-up pain. For these buried knots of pain create obstacles in the psyche that keep us locked out of our true inner home.

We’ll also need to unravel our inner misunderstandings, called images, which are the hidden untruths we must uncover. Note, our denial that all this goes on inside us is what creates the unconscious regions of our psyche.

All of this, however, is now driving our feelings of being lost and unsure of who we truly are. So, in our work, we must start to wake up and find our true selves.

What we receive from Santo Daime

At Casa da Calma, we incorporate the powerful traditions of a religion called Santo Daime to help us work through this first phase of our journey homeward. Santo Daime originates in the jungles of Brazil and has two main influences: Christian and indigenous.

From Christian traditions, we receive music in the form of hymns. These hymns embody Christian themes related to God, Christ, Saint Michael, Saint John, and the like. In addition, there is reverence for nature through references to the sun, moon and stars, and the earth, wind and sea.

Santo Daime hymns are unique in their ability to carry messages about healing, as well as carrying healing currents. Through our singing, we create this energetic current, which is then used by the spiritual beings who come to help us heal ourselves. This speaks to the second influence, which is a sacrament with roots in indigenous cultures.

For thousands of years, indigenous Amazonian tribes have known of this sacred plant medicine made by combining a particular leaf and vine together with fire and water.

When we partake of this tea in sacred ceremony, many things can happen. One is that we thin the veils between this world and the Spirit World. This allows healing beings to come close to us so they can help us on our spiritual journey of returning home to God.

In short, they help us transform our Lower Self, which we call “doing the work.”

Phase Two: Surrender to God within

Only after we have made some progress in the first phase of our spiritual journey can we begin to activate the second phase, which is the most important phase. In Phase Two, we gradually let go of our ego and surrender to the divine within.

To do this, we must learn to trust God, which is the same thing as learning to trust ourselves. For when we find ourselves, in True Reality, we find an aspect of God.

According to Christian traditions, Jesus taught that “heaven is within.” The way to get to heaven, then, is by doing our work of personal self-development, and reconnecting with ourselves—and therefore also with God—deep within.

Many waste years, if not entire lifetimes, searching for a shortcut. We believe it’s possible to skip the necessary steps of clearing away our inner darkness. In short, we want to reach paradise and not have to work for it.

When we do this—when we let go of our ego but haven’t yet healed our inner negativity—we land in the lap of addictions. From here, our way home becomes so much harder. Because now we must heal our addictions too. And then we still must do the work of self-transformation.

Finding our way

The spiritual path based on Pathwork teachings and the religion of Santo Daime are highly compatible. If these were two houses, their foundations would be built from the same materials. One could say they both stand on the light of Christ.

They also both refer to the transformation of our Lower Self as “work”. It’s important to realize, though, that doing the work of self-healing holds a fundamental paradox.

On one hand, we each must do this inner work of self-healing ourselves; no one can do this work for us. At the same time, none of us can do this work alone. We simply cannot find and resolve the hidden negativity buried in our unconscious by ourselves.

We also need God.

For in doing our work, we must use our own free will to face into ourselves. We must decide daily to face the untruth hiding behind our difficult or confusing situations in life. And we fulfill the Law of Sisterhood and Brotherhood by overcoming our resistance to revealing ourselves, as we truly are right now.

But there will come a point when our emotions, reactions and even beliefs don’t respond to our will for them to change. Then we must pray for help in finding a way. We all need help in working at deeper levels than the Limited Reality we control with our minds alone.

When we do this, we learn to dance with mastering ourselves while also surrendering to the divine within. This is how we create a true connection with God, which is the path to living in our true home, in true freedom.

When we sing Santo Daime hymns, we are singing our prayers. In these prayers, we are asking for help in creating harmony and peace, so we can live in connection and unity with our sisters and brothers.

So, what we are doing here? We are helping each other find our way home.

Your co-ministers