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Psychology
Psychology
All of the ancient religions and mythologies are actually veils for a profound and practical psychology. Thus, hidden in our most beautiful and crytic myths are eternal truths that can guide us towards the true goal of religion: religare, or union with truth. The path to accomplish this is through a deep knowledge of oneself.
...while we are bottled up in the mind, what can we know about the Truth? Perhaps we know what other people say about the Truth. But what do we know? The important thing is not what other people say, but what we experience through ourselves. Our problem is how to get out of the mind. For this goal, in order to emancipate ourselves, we need a science, a wisdom. This science, this wisdom, is found within Gnosis.
When one knows the how and the why of the mind, when one knows the different functionalisms of the mind, then one can control it. Thus, the mind becomes a useful and perfect instrument through which we can work for the benefit of humanity. -Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of the Dialectic
The Awakening of Consciousness
It is very difficult for a man who returns home after having traversed the entire city to remember in detail all of his thoughts, ideas, incidents, things, etc. Upon trying to recall, he will discover huge gaps in his memory, which correspond precisely to the most profound states of sleep. To be conscious of oneself is something very difficult, but one can attain that state by learning to live alert and vigilant from moment to moment. - Samael Aun Weor It is necessary to know that humanity lives with its consciousness asleep. People work asleep. People walk through the streets asleep. People live and die asleep. When we come to the conclusion that the entire world lives asleep, then we comprehend the necessity of awakening. We need the awakening of the consciousness. We want the awakening of the consciousness. Fascination The profound sleep in which humanity lives is caused by fascination. People are fascinated by everything in...
Ahimsa; Nonviolence
Ahimsa, nonviolence, is the pure thought of India; ahimsa is indeed inspired by universal love. The word himsa means “to want to kill; to want to harm.” Therefore, ahimsa is the renunciation of all death or harm caused by violence or even such intentions. Ahimsa is the opposite of egotism; it is absolute altruism and love; it is upright action. Mahatma Ghandi made of ahimsa the wand of his political doctrine. Ghandi defined the manifestation of ahimsa in the following manner: “Nonviolence does not consist of renouncing all real struggles against evil. Nonviolence, as I conceive it, establishes a more active campaign against evil than the law of the Talion ["an eye for an eye"], whose nature itself results in the development of perversity. I raise before the immoral a mental opposition, and consequently, a moral one. I try to whet the tyrants sword, not by clashing it against better sharpened steel, but by disappointing his hopes by not offering any physical...
Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland
A central pillar in the ancient lineage of Tibetan Buddhist mind training (lo jong), this scripture is atttributed to the Indian Buddhist master Atisha (982-1054). For one thousand years, serious meditators have contemplated and actualized the teachings offered in this short but penetrating text. We invite you to continue the tradition: do not take this as light reading. It is meant for deep reflection and daily analysis over many years. Only in this way can its true benefit be experience and realized. Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland Sanskrit title: Bodhisattvamanevali Homage to great compassion. Homage to the teachers. Homage to the faith divinities. 1Discard all lingering doubts, And strive with dedication in your practice. Thoroughly relinquish sloth, mental dul...
Clairvoyance
There exists clairvoyance and pseudo-clairvoyance. The Gnostic student must make a clear differentiation between these two forms of extrasensory perception. Clairvoyance is based on objectivity. However, pseudo-clairvoyance is based on subjectivity. Understand that by objectivity we mean spiritual reality, the spiritual world. Understand that by subjectivity we mean the physical world, the world of illusion, that which has no reality. An intermediate region also exists; this is the Astral World, which can be objective or subjective according to the degree of spiritual development of each person. Pseudo-clairvoyance is catalogued with imaginary perception, fantasy, artificially evoked hallucinations, absurd dreams, Astral visions that do not coincide with concrete facts, the reading of one’s own projected unconscious thoughts in the Astral Light, the unconscious creation of Astral visions which are interpreted later as authentic realities etc., etc. In like m...
Consciousness
People confuse consciousness with intelligence or with intellect, thus, they qualify a very intelligent or intellectual person as a very cognizant person. Undoubtedly—and without fear of deceiving ourselves—we affirm that within a human being the consciousness is a very particular means of apprehending internal knowledge and is completely independent of any mental activity. The faculty of consciousness facilitates the knowledge of ourselves. The consciousness grants us the integral knowledge of what is, where it is, what is really known, and what is certainly ignored. Revolutionary psychology teaches that only the individual by himself can know his own self. Yes, only we ourselves can know if we are or are not cognizant at any given moment; only by oneself can one know about one’s own consciousness, and whether it was active or not at any given moment.
Free Initiative
Day after day, in all countries of the world, millions of students go to school and university in an unconscious, mechanical, and subjective manner, without knowing why or for what purpose. Students are forced to study mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, etc. Students’ minds receive information on a daily basis, however, never in life does it occur to them to think for a while about why they are storing such information and what the objective is of such information. Why are we stuffing ourselves with such information? Why do we pad ourselves with that information? Indeed, students only live a mechanical life; they only know that they have to receive intellectual information and to keep it stored in their unreliable memory, and that is all. It never occurs to students to think a...
Freedom
The meaning of freedom is something that has not yet been understood by humanity. Always presented more or less erroneously, very serious mistakes have been made about the concept of freedom. Certainly, we struggle for a word. We come to absurd conclusions; we commit all types of atrocities and shed blood on the battlefields. The word freedom is fascinating, the whole world relishes it. Nevertheless, we have not grasped a real understanding of the term, and there is confusion regarding this word. It is impossible to find a dozen people for whom the word freedom means the same thing, in the same way. The term freedom can never be understood by subjective rationalism. Everyone has different ideas about this term; people’s subjective opinions are totally devoid of objective reality. When the question of freedom is propounded, in each mind there is incoherence, vagueness and incongruity. I am sure that even Immanuel Kant, author of
Gemini
When someone accepts that he is asleep, it is a clear sign that he is already beginning to awaken. - Samael Aun Weor Identification and fascination lead to the sleep of the consciousness. For example, you are walking quite calmly down the street, you suddenly encounter a public demonstration; the masses vociferate, they talk about the leaders of the people, the flags wave through the air, people seem to be crazy, everybody speaks, everybody yells. That public demonstration is very interesting; because of it you have already forgotten everything you had to do, you become identified with the masses, the speaker’s words convince you. The public demonstration is so interesting that you already forgot yourself; you become so identified with that street demonstration, that you can no longer think of anything else, you are fascinated, you now fall into the sleep of consciousness; mixed with the shouting masses, you also shout a...
Happiness
People work daily; they struggle to survive. Somehow they want to exist. However, they are not happy. The word happiness is like 'Greek' to people, as we say around here. However, worst of all is that they know this. But amid so much bitterness, it seems they do not lose the hope of achieving happiness one day without knowing how or in what way. Wretched people! They suffer so much! However, they want to live and are afraid of dying... If people understood something about revolutionary psychology, possibly they would even think differently; but the fact is that they do not know anything. What they want is to survive in the midst of their misfortune, and that is all. There are pleasant and enjoyable moments, but this not happiness. People confuse pleasure with happiness. Parties, bar hopping, drinking sprees and orgies are brutish pleasures, but they are not happiness...
How to Know the I (Part One)
The purpose of the Gnostic science is to awaken our consciousness. The awakening of consciousness is a very exact methodology that has to be performed with precision. In order to do that - to perform that science and acquire the results that we long for - we need to know our tools. Not only to know them and understand them, but how they function and their limitations. The purpose, ultimately, of awakening consciousness, of learning Gnosis, is to come to the direct realization of the true nature of our self. In this tradition that we call Gnosis, we generally call this "the realization of the Inner Being" - and we make this important distinction. Many schools, particularly Hindu schools, utilize the phrase "self-realization." While this phrase in itself, etymologically, is accurate, it has led to a misconception in the minds of many students, particularly in the West, that the realization or enlightenment is of this self that we believe we know now. This is a misconception. Self-r...
How to Know the I (Part Two)
In our previous lecture, we discussed the purpose of these studies of Gnosticism or Gnosis. This is precisely the necessity to come to know ourselves. The self-knowledge that we seek to acquire is not theoretical or based in beliefs but is instead something experiential, something we have to know from our experience, directly. In the same way that we experience anything in life, the nature of the investigation that we conduct in ourselves, or what we call the "I", has to be approached in a very scientific manner. It cannot be approached effectively based merely on theories or dogma. A theory or belief always remains simply as that; a mere theory cannot change anything. We seek to know ourselves in order to create a better life, in order to change our experience and become better people and to help others become better. We seek true knowledge; we seek to know reality in order to uncover the causes of suffering and to change those causes for causes that produce happiness,...
Imitation
It has been demonstrated that fear hinders free initiative. Beyond any doubt, the bad financial situation of millions of people is due to that which is called fear. A fearful child seeks his dear mother and becomes attached to her in his search for security. A fearful husband becomes attached to his wife and feels that he loves her even more. A frightened wife feels attached to her husband and her children, and thinks that she loves them much more. From the psychological point of view, it is very intriguing and remarkable to see how fear often disguises itself with the costume of love. People who have very little spiritual values within, who are poor internally, always seek something external in order to feel complete within themselves. People who are poor internally live always in plotting, always in foolishness, gossiping, bestial pleasures, etc. People who are poor internally live from fear to fear, and naturally, they become attached to their husband, wife,...
Inner Self-remembering
It may seen incredible, but when the student observes himself, he does not remember himself. Aspirants, without a doubt, do not feel themselves; they are not conscious of themselves. Improbable as it may seem, when the Gnostic aspirant observes his way of laughing, speaking, walking, etc., he forgets himself. This is incredible, but true. It is essential, however, to try to remember ourselves while observing ourselves. This is fundamental if we wish to awaken our consciousness. To observe and to know ourselves, without forgetting ourselves, is terribly difficult, but is urgent if we wish to awaken our consciousness. What we are saying seems foolish. People ignore the fact that they are asleep and that they don't remember themselves even when they are looking at their whole body in a mirror, not even while observing themselves in minute detail. This forgetting of self, this lack of self-remembering, is really the causa causorum of all human ignorance. When a person arrives at a deep...
Intelligence
In the Gnostic tradition, we rely on the study of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge in order to understand the laws that govern nature and that govern our psyche. In order to comprehend the nature of these two trees, or the function that they represent, it is necessary to first understand what is intelligence. Intelligence is a unique characteristic, a unique functionalism, which, unfortunately, in these times, has been sadly misunderstood and confused. The clue to understand the nature of intelligence is displayed in the Tree of Life (Kabbalah). The Tree of Life is a map or a symbol that consists of ten spheres. The top three spheres form a triangle, which represents the force that is called the Logos. Logos means “Word.” The third sphere of the Logos is called Binah, which, in Hebrew, means...
Introduction to Awareness
For the lecture today I want to read from a scripture and make a few small comments about the text. Normally when we give a lecture in Gnosis, we pick a particular topic and explain that topic or discuss it at some length, but given the context of this retreat there is a particular text that is very powerful and I thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce it to you. It is a scripture that you will be able to study throughout your life because it is so profound. However, being an ordinary person my own insight into it will be very limited. The text comes from Tibetan Buddhism-or at least the version that I am going to read to you-but its actual age is unknown. It is very ancient. The text is most known as one of the scriptures in what Westerners call "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" but that is not the actual name of the scripture; it is much older than that particular title (which was given to it by the first to translate it into English). I will explain the actual title...
Meditation
Intellectual information is not a living experience. Erudition is not experimentation. Essays, tests, demonstrations, that are exclusively tridimensional, are not unitotal, nor integral. A faculty superior to the mind has to exist that must be independent from the intellect, capable of granting us knowledge and direct experience of any phenomenon. Opinions, concepts, theories, hypotheses, do not signify verification, experimentation, and complete consciousness of this or that phenomena. Only when we liberate ourselves from the mind can we have the living experience of the Truth, of that which is the Reality, or of that which is found behind any phenomenon in a potential state. Mind exists in everything. The seven cosmos, the world, the moons, the suns, are nothing but crystallized and condensed mental substances. The mind is also matter, although more rarefied. Mental substances exist in the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms. The unique...
Mental Representations
It is necessary to profoundly comprehend all the processes of the mind, all the reactions, and the psychological surplus which it accumulates, etc. Only in such a way does the ardent flame of intelligence sprout within us... Well my dear friends, we have been studying the distinct aspects of the mind, and afterwards we will continue, going deeper into the practical field of love, of interesting facts in the elimination of the psychological aggregates. This is very difficult. Nevertheless, this is not all, there is something else we must watch for. I am referring emphatically to mental representations. For in the world of the senses there are difficult representations such as they are, the objects that surround us, remorse, etc. but representations of the mind also exist. In the mind there are many representations that we must take into account. Let us suppose we have the representation of a friend for whom we have much esteem in our mind. Somebody very important talks to us about that...
Method of Gnostic Dharma
The methodology of the Gnostic Dharma is based in practical science. To understand what the Gnostic Dharma is we have to understand the meaning of the words. Dharma is from Sanskrit and carries many meanings. It can be interpreted as law or truth. The word Dharma can be used to describe the way something works in its fundamental basis. Dharma is an essential truth, the essential nature of how phenomena occurs. This is the root meaning that we are most interested in. It is the use of the word Dharma in relationship with truth, or how reality actually comes to be, is sustained, and is understood. Of course, we also use the word Dharma to talk about the nature of the teachings. So you will often hear about "the Dharma" in reference to any teaching that is grounded in the practical use of the consciousness. That leads us to arrive at our own personal experience, our own direct conscious knowledge of the way reality truly is. And this is where we arrive to this word...
Mind-Heart
The mind-heart of the Intellectual Animal (called human being out of sympathy) is full of vain theories and mental suppositions, which cannot lead us to anything positive. Modern intellectuals want to make a new world in accord with the fantastic model that they have built within their mind. Leader politicians with the purpose of gaining power make astonishing promises to the suffering and starving multitudes; however, once their ambition is satisfied, they broadly laugh at the expense of the wretched, imbecilic populace. The world is in crisis and everywhere there are wars and rumors of wars, promises and mockeries, bombardments and political parties that mutually combat each other. It is absurd to suppose that we can depart from this social chaos with all of its fights and miseries, if indeed, individually, we do not resolve...
Money and the Three Minds
You came here to listen, and I am here to speak to you. However, it is necessary that between you and me exists a communion of souls; we need to have the intention to investigate in ourselves, to search, to inquire, to know, to listen with the clear objective of attaining orientation in the path of the Inner Self-realization of the Being. To know how to listen is something very difficult. To know how to speak is much easier. It happens that when one is listening, it is necessary to be open to the new, with an spontaneous mind, with a mind empty of concepts, prejudgments, etc. However, the Ego, the "I," the myself, does not know how to listen, and instead it translates, interprets everything based in its own prejudgments and what it has stored in the Formative Center. What is the Formative...
