Today's lecture is based on one sentence that Samael Aun Weor wrote in the book The Major Mysteries. If you have studied the books of Samael Aun Weor then you have discovered that in his writings appear sentences or phrases that can appear quite enigmatic that does not explain. This is particularly true of his books related with psychology. He writes this way to encourage us to arrive at our own understanding. Samael Aun Weor does not spoon-feed the consciousness. He gives a very potent kind of wisdom, and in order for us to understand it, to make use of it, we have to digest it consciously, to learn how to apply it in our own lives, and in that way we begin to extract the meanings. The beginning of that work is to meditate on what we read, to contemplate what we read, and to reflect upon it in a deep way, in a practical way.
In the book The Major Mysteries, Samael Aun Weor wrote,
The three keys of suffering are the Moon, the fornicating Eve, and the turbid waters.
That is all he said about it. He did not explain what it means. Unfortunately, most readers fly through passages like this and do not contemplate them. So in today's lecture we will explore these three keys, and how understanding these three keys shows us how we ourselves have the key to our own suffering. Hopefully, this will encourage you to read more carefully.
We have the tool that we need to unlock the cage of our suffering. In fact, we are the ones who crafted our cage in the first place.
The Moon
The first key that he mentions is the Moon. In this tradition, when we read a scripture we have to look at the personal meaning, the meaning in relation with our psyche, with our soul. We do not waste our time with the literal meaning, because that is the most superficial level, and as long as we remain in the superficial level we will remain unable to make real changes in our lives. So let us understand that this is not the physical Moon.
The Moon as a key of suffering relates to our psyche. We need to understand our psychological Moon. Naturally, our psychological Moon has an affinity or a relationship with the physical Moon that we see in the sky, that Moon that we observe with our sight. If we observe the effect of the physical Moon on the physical Earth we can understand the psychological meaning of the Moon as a symbol.
When we look at the Tree of Life, we see that Malkuth (the tenth sphere, at the bottom) is related with the physical world, in terms of external nature, but in relationship with internal nature, our own nature, Malkuth symbolizes our own physical body, it is our own Earth. The Moon of that Earth is in relationship with Yesod and Hod, the two spheres above Malkuth.
The Moon in the physical world influences the Earth in a very profound way. We know this simply from studying materialistic science, and we see that the Moon is behind all the phenomena of nature. The movement of the waters, weather, conception, childbirth, the seasons, all of these things are profoundly influenced by the presence of the Moon and its force that acts upon this planet. In the same way, we have our own Moon, which has the similar effect upon our psyche, our psychology.
When we study this interior, psychological Moon in relation to the exterior , physical Moon, we can understand that Yesod and Hod, these two spheres, relate to water and conception, just like the physical Moon relates to these forces in physical nature.
Yesod is just above Malkuth. Yesod is the ninth sphere and is related with the ethereal plane. It is also related with the sexual organs. If we superimpose the Tree of Life over the human body, Yesod is directly over the sexual organs. Yesod is where we find the sexual waters from which life emerges. That force of creation is influenced by the Moon, and we can see this in nature: the processes of conception, gestation, and birth are influenced by the Moon.
In this context, when we look at nature around us, we can see how this planet Earth is really one big organism, constituted by four primary kingdoms. The mineral kingdom is the largest, consisting of all the minerals in the planet, which are transformers of energy in that level of nature.
The next largest is the plant kingdom, which has millions and millions of different forms and creatures, all of which are born, live a little while, and then die, throughout which they transform energies on behalf of nature under the influence of the Moon.
Then there is the animal kingdom, with its millions of varieties of creatures, all of whom live and die to transform energies on behalf of nature.
Then of course, there is the humanoid kingdom, who, in spite of our theories and beliefs, exists with the same basic function: to transform energies on behalf of nature.
In each of these four kingdoms of nature we see great waves of organisms who rise from birth, sustain a brief life, and end in death.
Taking the position of scientists observing this world, we can see that these waves, herds, or collections of creatures all move according to the impulses given to them by the Moon, which functions through the instinct and drives all of the organisms that live on this planet to procreate, to create children, to perpetuate the existence of the particular level of nature to which they belong. In the life of each organism, once the procreation process is in process, the parents gradually fade away and the children take over, and this process, this cycle, repeats continually: new organisms are born, they grow, they become parents, they have offspring, and then they die. This cycle is the cycle of life, the cycle from birth to death, which exists in all the four kingdoms of nature, and this cycle of organisms rising and falling, living and dying, is all under the influence of the Moon, which spins around this planet and orchestrates the entire mechanism.
In other words, the Moon sustains life through the mechanical functions of nature. We have an atmosphere because of the Moon. The life cycle of all the organisms and creatures on this planet functions as it does because of the Moon. The very life of this planet is tied up in the existence of the Moon, and the same is true in our psychology.
Our psychological Moon relates to our instinct, our animal nature, which in its base seeks merely to sustain and perpetuate nature.
All of us who exist in humanoid bodies carry within our bloodstream the inheritance of the time we spent evolving upwards through the lower kingdoms. That inheritance is our mineral, plant, and animal inheritance, which is psychological. That psychological inheritance is the instinctive impulse that nature provokes in us, through our inner psychological Moon.
The external, physical Moon influences our inner psychological Moon for us to sustain nature: to grow up, to become parents, to have children, and then to die. As far as nature is concerned, this is all that matters. Nature does not care about our arts, our films, our TV, our ideas, our politics, whether we are male or female, what color our skin is, whether we believe in God or do not believe in God. Nature does not care about us personally; all nature wants is to sustain itself, to perpetuate life. This is a mechanical law. This is a mechanical function, and all of us have this inheritance in our bloodstream, which manifests in all of our actions.
Our instinctive impulses are particularly visible when we reach puberty, when nature through its influence, through the Moon, pushes the waters of our sex (Yesod) to procreate, to find a creature of the opposite sex and to mate, and to have children. That drive, that sexual instinct, is pushed by the Moon. But how?
If we observe this philosophical Earth, which is our physical body, we see that it is a very complex organism like the physical Earth. Our body is a microcosm of the macrocosmic Earth. Our physical body also has a series of kingdoms within, and many organs, many parts, which work together in a very sophisticated way. But the central, most influential, most powerful force, is the sexual instinct.
It does not matter what your ethics, your religion, your politics, your stance on life, happen to be. If your sexual instinct pushes you, it can cause you to go against your morals, your ethics, your religion, your politics. Your sexual instinct can push you to break a marriage vow. It can push you to go against all of your ethical, moral, or religious laws. We see this happening around us all the time. As great an ideal as we might have in our mind, or as much as we may believe in any doctrine or theory, our sexual instinct is the most potent force that drives the function of our psyche. Very few have the strength to command their sexual instinct. Most creatures - 99.999% - are slaves of their sexual instinct.
As I mentioned, the sexual organs are related to the sephirah Yesod on the Tree of Life. The sexual function, the sexual instinct, expresses itself through our philosophical earth, the physical body, but it is driven, energized, through the Vital Body, through the Ethereal Body, which is in Kabbalah is represented by the sephirah Yesod.
So to repeat: Malkuth is the physical body. Yesod is the Ethereal or Vital Body, the body of energy and the root of sexual energy.
The Ethereal or Vital Body has four ethers, four degrees or vibrations of energy. These are like four energetic aspects or levels. One of those four is related to conception; it is called the "ether of life." This is an energetic aspect of this subtle body, or body of "chi," that drives and pushes procreation in us.
This energetic force that influences procreation is related with the Bible. In Genesis, we read the story of Adam and Eve. This story has many levels of meaning in the macrocosm and the microcosm. In relation with the three keys of suffering, we look to the symbols related to our own psyche. Adam in this level relates with the brain. Eve relates with the sexual organs.
Eve
Eve is tempted by the serpent to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. The Tree of Knowledge is Gnosis (Greek for knowledge), Daath (Hebrew for knowledge). Daath is the hidden sphere in the Tree of Life, which is the knowledge of Tantra, or sexuality. When Eve - in other words, our own inner sexual force - is tempted, it is tempted by the fruit of sex. This has levels of meaning, but in relationship with the three keys of suffering, we see that nature - the Moon influencing Hod and Yesod - pushes Eve, the force of creation, conception, to procreate, to have children.
Adam and Eve can also symbolize the two energetic channels or “serpents” that rise alongside the spinal column, called in India "Ida" and "Pingala." Adam is related with Pingala, the Solar or masculine force. Eve, Heve, is related with Ida, the feminine or negative force. Eve is related with the force that pushes for conception, to have children.
When nature - the serpent, the force of the Moon - influences our psyche to procreate through our instinct, to support the mechanism of nature, this is temptation. The temptation is to follow that instinct, to feed nature, to follow the animal instinct. Obviously, in this context we are not discussing the original fall. We are not talking about the historical significance. What we are talking about is now, in our psyche, the force of Eve in relation with the Moon.
When we answer to that animal instinct, the Moon which is pushing us to sustain mechanical nature, we see all the human beings, all the intellectual animals in other words, guided solely by that instinct to sustain nature according to those mechanical laws, and the result is suffering. This is because conception in these times is not being guided by superior law, but by mechanical law.
In ancient times, humanity received guidance as to the proper times for conception. Humanity received guidance from the priests, from the Angels, from the awakened beings who guided the group of organisms called humanity. The creatures in the lower kingdoms receive such guidance as well, and they listen to the guidance they receive, even today.
The collective mind, which is the nature of mind in all the lower kingdoms of nature, is guided by what are called Archons, rulers, or Authorities. These are primordial intelligences, which you can also call Devas, Gods, or Angels. These intelligences provide guidance to their respective kingdoms. In each kingdom, sexuality changes in correspondence with each level.
In the mineral kingdom, the primordial planetary intelligences guide the elements, the consciousness, the forces in those minerals, to work in harmony with nature: to spread, propagate, and grow. Minerals reproduce sexually, but not like plants or animals.
There are intelligences that guide the sparks of life evolving in the plant kingdom. Sexual reproduction and asexual reproduction occurs in the plant kingdom by the guidance of the intelligences of the divine. Plants reproduce in a variety of ways that are superior to minerals, and not as evolved as animals.
Likewise, in the animal kingdom, the sexual methodology shifts; sexual reproduction is a different form. Through their instinct, animals receive guidance from divine intelligences. Among the animals in nature that are undisturbed by humanity, the animals only reproduce when they are “in heat,” or seasonally. The Moon guides those Archons, or rulers, that guide each group to reproduce at the right time, and only to sustain nature: only to propagate the mechanical functioning of the planet. The animals follow the guidance they are given.
But when we look at the humanoid kingdom, things are different. Not only do we no longer respect the the natural functioning of our level of nature, but we abuse it and are eagerly propelling ourselves towards self-destruction. Our animal psyche has become so infected with degeneration, lust, anger, pride, envy, greed, all of those elements, that we no longer listen to the guidance of the Archons of our level. We no longer listen to the awakened intelligences who can guide us. We only listen to those residual animal elements in our blood, symbolized by Esau in the Bible, which push us through our impure blood, through lust, through animal instinct gone mad, to procreate continually, obsessively, everyday.
Some people have sex or masturbate multiple times a day because their sexual instinct is completely out of control. They are so enslaved by the desire for sexual sensation that they exhaust themselves of all creative power. The result is that humanity as a whole, the human race, that body, that organ on the planet has become very, very sick. The results are visible everywhere: sicknesses, and illnesses, not only physically but emotionally, mentally, sexually. Our planet trembles with suffering because of us and our sexual madness.
All of this is rooted in the psyche of mankind that has been hypnotized by the fornicating Eve, which as you remember is the second of the three keys of suffering. The first is the Moon, the second is the fornicating Eve, the third is the turbid waters.
The Turbid Waters
The result of our psychological addiction to sex, to those sensations whether physical or psychological, is that our sexual waters have become impure.
The waters are a very deep symbol, universal to all religions. Creation always comes from the waters.
The lower waters, or the "Mayim" in Hebrew, are related with Yesod, which are the sexual waters. These are the waters that flow in all the different levels of our sexual vitality: physically, ethereally, astrally (emotionally), mentally, all of these are related.
The very basis of our life is sexual energy. The very point of our life is in sexual energy.
Sex is in the center of life. Without sex, there is no life.
Life is as it is because of how sex is in our life. If our life is full of suffering, it is because our sexuality is out of balance.
Sex is the center of gravity of all activity, and thus the root of our psychological problem is sexual.
The fornicating Eve - by creating such a great disequilibrium in the function of nature - has created havoc on this planet. Every single problem that we face as a humanity is because of us. If our mind was not the way it is now, this planet would be at peace, it would be an Eden, it would be a place of harmony and beauty. But because of our mind, we have corrupted not only our mind but the entire organism. That is why Mother Nature is now working to exterminate the disease.
Mother Nature is reacting by producing cataclysms in order to purge the disease from her body. The disease is our minds. Everything that is happening to humanity now is because of cause and effect, also known as “karma.”
Through addiction to sex, our inner fornicating Eve has engendered a great disequilibrium in our sexual energy, so that now our sexual energy does not function as it once did. Our sexual waters are turbid, chaotic, confused, muddy.
Nowadays, we want to keep God out of our sexual life. We do not want to have any religious influence in our sexual life. We want to be able to do whatever we want to do and continue with the belief that there is no consequence, that there is no result, from either the physical sexual habits we have, or emotional sexual habits that we have, or intellectual sexual habits that we have.
We have to remember that Jesus stated clearly:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. - Matthew 5
This states explicitly that the sexual energy is intimately related with the function of the mind. This is why we know that the waters are also a symbol of the mind. In Buddhism, we see this symbol beautifully represented. In the process of his enlightenment, conquering his own fornicating Eve, the Buddha Shakyamuni faced a great flood, just like Noah, just like Deukalion from the Greeks.
The universal flood represents the karmic consequences of sexual degeneration, when those waters in our own psyche have become impure. Therefore, the divine forces have to cleanse nature, otherwise nature will spin completely out of control, suffering becomes too great, the karma becomes too great. This is an automatic function of nature: when an impurity is too strong nature obliterates it. This is a natural function. When a disease grows too much in a body, that body dies. The same is true of the human organism. Therefore, the psychological waters that we have polluted through sex are the waters of our own mind, which must be cleansed, either by nature, or by us.
In the story of the Buddha, the flood waters came and threatened his development, yet he was protected by a great serpent named Mucalinda. That serpent represents the power of the Divine Mother, also called Kundalini, the power of Durga, or the upright Kali, or Tummo, or Maya, or Maia, or Mary. All of these symbolize the same force: that sacred Pentecostal fire of the Holy Spirit, which protected the Buddha and raised him up on the water so he floated upon the water, in the same way that Jesus walked upon the water, and Noah rode in the Ark, the Arcanum of mystery, the secret knowledge.
When we learn that holy science, it is a combination of learning how to work with the sexual energy in the right way, in harmony with forces of nature and the divine, and also with the mind. These two go hand in hand. They must be worked with together, otherwise suffering only increases.
In synthesis, to understand these three keys of suffering, our own internal Moon is in relationship with the ego, the cause and effect inheritance of our wrong actions, symbolized by the aggregates, or red demons of Seth, as called in the Egyptian mythology. The ego, or psychological “I”, believes very much in itself and is very much attached to its desires. The ego or I wants to propagate itself. The ego wants to spread itself, it wants to see itself everywhere. This is why ego means "I". That "I" has nothing to do with God, that "I" is a legion of desires.
And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
And when he was come out of the ship (Ark), immediately there met him out of the tombs (underworld) a man with an unclean spirit (Hebrew ra), who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones (sex).
But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.”
For he said unto him, “Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.”
And he asked him, “What is thy name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion: for we are many.” - Mark 5
He was possessed by a whole diversity of psychological elements called pride, lust, envy, anger, gluttony, jealousy, but all of which are rooted in sex.
The ego is three because it works through our three brains: intellect, emotion, and sex. The ego is three because it is three traitors: Judas, Caiaphas, and Pilate. These are the same three traitors of Osiris, the same three traitors of Job, the same three traitors in every tradition.
Our three brains are influenced by the Moon to follow the mechanicity of nature. The Moon is a cause of suffering because the Moon only cares about the sustaining of mechanical nature. And how does the Moon influence that and enforce that? Through collective thinking: to follow the herd, to imitate others. The Moon wants us to fit in, to do what everyone else is doing: to be born, to enter puberty, to come under the influence of that sexual instinct, and procreate, and then to die, and that is it; on that path, there is no reward for the consciousness, there is no reward for the soul. This is why humanity keeps repeating the same cycles over and over and over, because mechanical nature is just a cycle that begins in the simplest forms of elements in nature and hits its peak in the intellectual animal kingdom, which we are in.
To go beyond the humanoid level and enter the Human Kingdom (the real Human Being, also called a Buddha or Angel) requires that we revolt against nature, to have a psychological and spiritual revolution: to conquer nature, to be “a King or Queen of nature,” as the Bible calls us to be. This is to follow the order of Melchisedec: to turn back the influence of the Moon and come under the influence of the Sun. This is why all the great religions always have a Solar Hero, a Solar God: Ra, Apollo, Herakles, Jupiter, Christ, Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig, Quetzalcoatl. These are all Solar Gods; they represent the influence of Christ, the Ain Soph Aur, the Solar light, the Absolute, the Prajna, the Emptiness, Sunyata, the Void.
This is far beyond mechanical nature. This force is beyond the "I", the ego. It is beyond individuality. It is of Supra-individuality, it is the level of God, and beyond God.
When we learn the science of Daath, or Highest Yoga Tantra, we are learning the science to incarnate that force of the supreme. To become a vessel, a vehicle of Christos-Lucifer, Christ, Jupiter, one must be pure. This force that seeks to radically eliminate all impurity and to create a perfect vessel, a Bodhisattva, a Diamond Soul, which is perfectly pure. This is why Jesus said:
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. - Matthew 5:48
This is the only way to enter heaven.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of Theos? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed (in sexual waters), but ye are sanctified (purified of desire), but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Yeshua, and by the Pneuma of our Theos. - 1 Corinthians
No idolater, no fornicator, no adulterer, no thief, no murderer can enter heaven, and we have all those elements in our mind. Those elements cannot enter Schamayim, Heaven, the superior waters, which are above. Thus, we have to separate these elements from ourselves to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Moon is a producer of suffering because we remain hypnotized by the collective psyche, by collective mind. We merely imitate; thus, when we first enter this knowledge we are called Imitatus, “one who imitates.” We have to become Adeptus, which means a product of one's own work, one's own hands, to do the work ourselves.
We cannot be saved by anyone. Buddha cannot save us, Jesus cannot save us, if we remain acting as we do. We have to work upon ourselves. When we do that, then Christ (the Light, Avalokitesvara, Jupiter, etc) can help us, and then Christ can save us, but we have to do our part.
When we are merely imitating, following along through our three brains the rest of humanity, we remain following that mechanical cycle, which will merely end in death; and all along the way all we do is complicate our karma. Every little action we produce physically, emotionally, mentally, produces results. If those actions are being produced by our egos, by our pride, by our lust, by our envy, the results will be pain, suffering, because as we sow so shall we reap.
This is a very serious issue. It is not a game. It is not a theory.
Gnosis is practical. We have to apply these three keys of suffering to our life from moment to moment. We have to learn how to unlock the cage that we have made, and that cage is our own mind.
It is not enough to merely believe in a religion, doctrine, teaching, or an idea: we have to live it, and that living it is moment to moment, to work with what we have of purity, and to strengthen that purity.
Even though we have a lot of problems, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of pain, a lot of doubt, we have a potential door to exit suffering. That doorway is not in any religion, it is not in any church, it is not in any temple, it is not even in any book. It is in our consciousness.
The Keys
In Gnosis we call the consciousness the "Essence." It is a spark of pure consciousness, an embryo, like a baby. In Buddhism they call it tathagatagarbha or buddhatadatu. In English it is the Buddha Nature. It is the potential to become a Buddha, but it is not a Buddha. It is the seed that can grow the Tree of Life. It is the spark that can start the great blaze.
If in our moment to moment existence we learn how to use that spark, to activate it, to awaken our consciousness, to pay attention, to be mindful, we start to stimulate the growth of that embryo. This is why all the ancient mystery schools required students to awaken their consciousness before they could receive the mysteries. This was required. Things have changed now. There is no more time for that requirement. The rule changed in the last century, because time is running out.
We have to learn to awaken the consciousness now. We can no longer just go along with the flow of mechanical life.
It does no good to just listen to the lectures, read the scriptures and texts, and say "Yes, that sounds right, it makes sense," if you do not use it, if you do not do it. You have to practice it, continually, constantly making effort with your consciousness.
The Essence, the consciousness, the Buddha Nature, is a spark that comes from the sephirah Tiphereth, which symbolizes a higher dimension in nature. Tiphereth is Manas in Sanskrit, and is related with the Human Soul. The Essence is a spark of that Human Soul, that we can develop. As Jesus says, "If we have patience we will possess our Soul." That spark can be developed if we understand the three foundations of the path, to use these three keys to unlock the door of suffering.
To do that, we have to stop imitating others. Just belonging to a group doesn't save us, calling ourselves Gnostic, or Hebrew, or Jewish, or Buddhist, is just a label. We are still subject to the mechanical laws of nature, we have to escape those mechanical laws to enter the next kingdom, the Conscious Kingdom of Humanity.
To do that, we have to master our waters. We have to emulate the example of Jesus and walk on our waters. We have to emulate the example of Buddha and raise the serpent seven times in order to be protected, to rise upon the waters, and to be protected from the rain, the karma, and thereby awaken. In that way we can see the doorway out.
In Gnosis, this first key, or first way out of suffering, we relate to the psychological work. It begins in our psychology. We have to change our psychology. There is no other way. A belief does not change anything, neither does a theory.
Gnosis is a practical science. We want to experience the truth, not just imagine it, but to experience it.
Gnosis is like the first time you get burned by a flame. It is a shocking moment. That shock is what Gnosis is if we use it, because the experience of the truth does shock the Consciousness and the mind. When we discover the truth about ourselves, and the truth about nature, it is a shock, but we need that, we need that light to penetrate the darkness of our interior.
The Three Foundations of the Path
In Buddhism they say that the foundation of the path has three aspects.
1. Renunciation
The first one is renunciation. This has nothing to do with renouncing a material object, or hiding from society and living in the woods or the mountains. This is not renunciation, this is a mere shift in physical circumstances. Real renunciation is in the mind, in the heart, in the soul; that is real renunciation. It has little to do with circumstances or matter.
In this context, we would say that real renunciation is to renounce the mechanical influence of the Moon, and to be willing to swim against the stream of life. To do that you have to be a warrior, a fighter; you have to be strong and brave.
Tiphereth, our consciousness, is always symbolized by a warrior, and if you look on the Tree of Life you see that Tiphereth is influenced by the Sun and by Venus, because the warrior always fights for his king (the Sun) and his love (Venus).
The knight loves his lady, a symbol of the Soul, the Divine Consciousness, Guenivere, Buddhi, Eurydice, Geburah on the Tree of Life. This is represented in the epics by Homer as Helen. Helen is the woman that the Greeks fought for because her beauty was so great. That beautiful Soul is our Divine Consciousness, the Divine Soul, the Spiritual Soul that Solomon sings about in the "Song of Songs."
The Divine Soul is "Buddhi" in Sanskrit terms, and is a beautiful mirror that can reflect the contents of the universe. That mirror is in our waters. When we cleanse our waters through renunciation, we start to gain the ability to see in that mirror, the magic mirror of the Soul.
To cleanse the waters through renunciation means to fight against our instinct, our animal inheritance in our bloodstream, the "nephesh," the animal soul, Esau from the Bible, who sells his birthright for a plate of beans. This is what we do. We just want to “eat.”
Our lust wants to eat, our greed wants to eat, our fear who wants a sense of security, to feel saved, to feel safe, to feel secure, to feel like one of the group, to feel welcomed, to feel accepted, praised by others. We want that security, we want that in our spiritual lives, we want to belong to a group where we feel good about ourselves, where we feel like we belong, like we are safe. Now we are in some spiritual group and we tell ourselves that everything is going to be okay, and “I am going to come out of suffering because this group is the real thing.” Our fears want to feel secure.
Or some of our egos want our family to accept us; they do not want to go against our family's desires for us to have children and then grandchildren, to get rich, to have a boat, to have a nice house, to follow the course of the centuries, which leads directly into the grave. Some of our egos do not want to go against all that. The egos of fear do not want that, the ego wants to belong.
To go against that inheritance that we have inside, we have to be a warrior, to fight against our psychological Moon, and create a new Moon inside. We need to originate a new Moon that can reflect the contents of the Sun (Christ). That new Moon is the Soul, the Solar Bodies, which reflect the contents of the universe.
In order to fight against the Moon and our own inner Eve, that instinct to eat of the tree, we have to first transform that sexual force, to change Eve, to transform Eve so she can return back to Eden. The only way Adam and Eve, our brain and our sex, can enter back into Eden is through the same door they left, which is sex, by respecting the Tree of Knowledge, Daath, Gnosis. This is the superior waters, the "Schamayim" the Mayim that has the Shin in it, the fire.
Through Tantra, sexual magic, sexual transmutation, we harness those divine force of the Holy Spirit, which reside in the sexual waters. We return that energy back to God made pure, without any animal lust, without desire, clean. This becomes the purified wine of the ritual of the marriage. When Christ turns the waters into wine, that wine of light is the basis upon which we rise up to Heaven. The wine that intoxicates the Soul with divine things, which creates ecstasy, or Samadhi.
Now here you see the beautiful relationship between these two aspects of renunciation. The first is transmutation of the sexual waters, removing the impurities from our sexual waters through transmutation, but mere transmutation alone is not enough. We know of many monks, nuns, and priests who conserve their sexual energy, but do not transmute it because they do not learn that science. Some learn it, but even that is not enough.
Transmutation on its own harnesses the sexual energy, but that energy has to be directed, it has to be guided, to be used. That is why the other part of transmutation is meditation. Transmutation and meditation must proceed hand in hand, united. If you are transmuting your sexual energy, you better be meditating and utilizing that energy in the right way, otherwise that energy will be harnessed by your ego.
Through the process of meditation you deepen the mindfulness, the wakefulness, of the consciousness that you develop during the day.
- a. The first aspect of renunciation: always be watching yourself, watching yourself, watching yourself, watching. That is the renunciation of impressions, the impressions of life that come from inside and outside, to renounce the instinct, the desires of the ego, to watch them.
- b. Then we learn to transform the sexual energy by harnessing and conserving that energy, changing it through the science of transmutation.
- c. Then we have to meditate, and in meditation we deepen that watchfulness by removing all external phenomena from the picture; we introvert the consciousness and look within.
- d. Then we start to look at the roots of those mechanical elements that push us during the day and in our dreams, to meditate.
This combination of efforts begins to still the waters, so that the waters of our sex and mind begin to calm. Right now they are chaos. Most of us cannot stop thinking for an instant. We cannot control our thoughts. We cannot have silence in the mind, even for an instant.
There is one cause for that, and that cause has two aspects. That one cause is the ego, desire. The two aspects are the impressions that are always coming in from life that we don't consciously transform, we don't receive them with consciousness; we receive them mechanically. Then we fornicate, and we stimulate and stir up all the desires in the mind, and we pollute the waters, through these two things. That is why when we try to meditate it is so hard, it is painful, because our mind is full of pain.
When we observe that mind continually, we transform that energy, both psychological and sexual energy, and we meditate, the mind begins to calm.
You cannot remove anyone one of these pieces from the puzzle, and these pieces are universal to every religion, to every practice. If you merely meditate you will have a wild mind all the time. If you don't pay attention to yourself from moment to moment your mind will always be out of control. You might be able to make a supreme effort and go on a long retreat for three, five, seven, or ten days, and maybe get some taste of the stable mind of Shamatha, but then as soon as you leave that environment your mind will go back to being in chaos because you are still doing the same mechanical things from moment to moment.
Likewise, you might transmute your sexual energy but if you do not meditate your mind will always be a chaos, but then your situation will become even worse because the ego will begin grabbing all that sexual energy and using it to feed itself. This becomes a real problem.
Likewise, you might meditate, you might transmute your sexual energy, but if you don't observe yourself and work with your consciousness during the day, you will be frustrated because that mind will still be out of control, as you are not enforcing your conscious will moment to moment, so that mind will not settle.
By applying all of these aspects of renunciation, little by little the mind starts to settle on its own. There is no need to force the mind.
Forcing the mind can be a real problem. Some people learn to meditate and try to force the mind to be silent. This does not work. It will not happen.
Practicing correctly, the mind will settle on its own and become calm, smooth, and serene. This is step number one, the first key, or the first aspect, of the foundations of the path.
2. Bodhichitta
The Sanskrit word Bodhichitta has levels of meaning. The common, surface level meaning refers to a compassionate aspiration to serve others, a type of mind that wants to serve others. This is the common interpretation of Bodhichitta. The Sanskrit literally breaks down into “wisdom mind,” or “awakening mind,” but in Tantra the meaning is much deeper.
Bodhichitta in Tantrism means sexual energy, so if you have studied Himalayan Tantra, Tibetan Tantra, any of the schools of Tantra from the north, you will know that. Hidden in that term you see that mind and sex are inseparable. You cannot work with the mind unless you work with sex; you must work with both. When Bodhichitta is understood in this way, then we can see why it is the second fundamental of the path.
Bodhichitta has many aspects and levels, but it has two fundamental qualities that we have to understand. Real Bodhichitta (whether relative or absolute Bodhichitta) is always a combination of two facets.
The first aspect is cognizant love. This is not blind love, and this is not love with attachment, this is Christ-love, Christic love, in other words: Chenresi, Christ. When you look at the upper regions of the Tree of Life there is only one law, and that law is love, but that is the pure light of Christ, the Ain Soph Aur. This is a kind of love that has no "I", no desire, and is that love that we see exemplified in the actions of all the greatest teachers of humanity, like Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Guru Rinpoche, Quetzalcoatl, Moses. All of these teachers exemplify this profound selfless love, but it is very cognizant, it is very intelligent, it is not stupid or blind. That love is the first aspect of Bodhichitta. When you study a Mahayana school of teaching, a medium scope school, you studying how to cultivate Bodhichitta; and, they begin with this aspect: compassion, and so students of those traditions learn techniques to help develop more love and compassion.
The second aspect of Bodhichitta is the comprehension of Prajna, which means the Emptiness, the Void. Prajna means “the wisdom of the beyond.” Prajna is the wisdom of Christ, the knowledge, the intelligence; and, see these two spheres on the Tree of Life, Binah and Chokmah, are Hebrew words for Intelligence and Wisdom. This is Prajna. This is far beyond mechanical nature, far beyond any "I," and is free of desire. Prajna is perfect, it is pure. In the Gnostic Gospels it is called the "Incorruptible." We call it "Christ." You can call it Avalokiteshvara, Kukulcan, any number of names apply to this force, this light.
The one who is working with the first aspect of the foundation of the path (renunciation) must then begin to work with the second foundation of the path, which is Bodhichitta. Bodhichitta begins by developing compassion for others. In other words, in the first stage of renunciation we begin to renounce the mechanical Moon in us, the instincts of self-preservation, self-interest, of selfishness, lust, envy, greed, fear, pride, and all those things that make life hell. We go against them through renunciation, and in Bodhichitta we begin to consider what is best for others. This is how we start really transforming the mind. Through that we start to develop the understanding of what Christ is (Prajna), and that becomes the third of the three foundations of the path, Emptiness, the Void, the Absolute.
3. Emptiness
The Absolute is represented at the top of the Tree of Life. In Hebrew it is the "Ain," the "Ain Soph," and the "Ain Soph Aur," that limitless light that emerges from the nothingness, which is something, but it is not something that we can conceive.
The Emptiness is the Void, Sunyata, which is indescribable, but can be experienced. It can only be experienced by the consciousness that is free of ego. Desire in any form, whether it is a desire that shows itself as humility, pride, lust, sanctity, or as any spiritual ego, a Christian ego, a Buddhist ego, etc., none of those things can come anywhere near the Absolute. Only the completely pristine consciousness, pure, absolutely free of even the sense of self, can see the Absolute, and taste it, and it is terrifying, because in that experience you see that "you" do not exist. The "you" that you believe in, that you worship, that you feed and clothe and dress and protect everyday is not real. That "I" is a lie that you crafted in order to hide your own vulnerabilities, your pain, your doubts, your fear, your weakness, your lust, your culpability. The experience of the Void radically shatters any illusion of self. This is the third foundation of the path.
I hope you have understood all that, because we'll go a little deeper now.
The three keys of suffering that we described - the Moon, Eve, and the turbid waters - are the results, the karma. We put ourselves in this situation by means of the mind.
I am talking about these three keys of suffering in ourselves, not in nature outside. We made these sources of suffering with our actions because we are identified with sensations, we are attached to the sense of self that we have. We believe very much in the name that we have, in our history, in our past, in the abuses that we suffered at the hands of others. We never remember the abuses we gave to other people, only the ones that we received. We are very much attached to our iPod, to our computer, to our clothing, to our music, to our language, to our religion, to our friends, family, children, all these things. We are very attached to things that are impermanent, to things that fundamentally cannot exit, but only transiently. They do not exist fundamentally, inherently in and of themselves, permanently. They are temporary; and, yet we invest all of our energy and effort into them, this idea of self, which is constituted by this whole range of psychological elements that we call "me." This is why Jesus said:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. - Matthew 6
Heaven is an translation of "Schamayim" in Hebrew, which literally means the "superior waters." In a recent lecture we described how Mayim, Hebrew for the "inferior waters," related with Eden, can be elevated to become Schamayim, the "superior waters of heaven" when the letter shin is put into the Mayim. Shin is the Hebrew letter with three arms, which symbolizes the three forces, the Logos, the Christ. When we harness that force, the Christic force in our sexual energy, and we perfect the water, it becomes Schamayim, heavenly waters, fiery waters, literally speaking. This is how we put our treasure into heaven. Our treasure is our consciousness, it is the most valuable thing that we have, that spark, or essence, which has descended into matter and is now suffering inside the cage of the "I."
Learning this science through the foundations of the path we can unlock the keys of suffering, we can radically change, but this requires a tremendous battle against ourselves. We think the battle is against society, against the established religions, against our parents, or our friends, or our colleges, yet these are all insignificant.
The greatest enemy we will ever face is our own mind. Our own mind is the deceiver, the adversary, Satan, Shaitan.
Our own mind is the devil who is hypnotizing us from moment to moment with his many trinkets and toys that he dangles just over the horizon of our life. We think, “If I work a little bit longer I can save a little more money and then I can have happiness. If I do this then I can have that. If I wait just a little longer, after I retire, I'll start taking this more seriously. After college when I'm not so busy anymore then I'll take Gnosis seriously.”
We have a lot of excuses. It is very sad how we deceive ourselves, avoiding the inevitability of death and remaining in complete ignorance of what happens after death. We have no clue that there is existence beyond death and it is not what we think it is. It is determined by karma, by the causes we ourselves have put into place; therefore, it is beholden onto us to know how to enter the path.
The three foundations of the path are made very distinct from any other activity in life by a single fact: they do not produce suffering. This is a very deep thing, very deep, and it will escape your immediate analysis. So I suggest you reflect on that very deeply. All of the other activities of life - as noble and as beautiful as they may appear to the senses - can result in suffering, and most of the time they do because we do not have our consciousness awakened.
We do not know what is acting through our three brains and why, because we are asleep. We sleep and we do not know we sleep, but if we awaken then we can know.
Through the three foundations, the three fundamental aspects:
- renunciation
- Bodhichitta
- the wisdom of the Emptiness
...we can completely escape from suffering. There is no doubt of it, because all cosmic intelligences that have escaped suffering escaped by this means. They may have used different names, different ways of organizing or presenting the doctrine or teaching that they studied or belonged to, but the principles are eternal.
In other words, let me be a little more explicit: you can enter any religion, any philosophy, any mystical school, and if you are there to pursue security, a sense of belonging, a sense of self, to acquire powers, to acquire recognition, the gratitude of others, or attention from others, all of these things will produce suffering. You can be the most holy looking person, the most holy feeling person, and you will produce only suffering for yourself and others because the ego is still alive in you. As long as the ego is alive in your heart and mind, the cause of suffering is alive in you, and that cause is within ourselves, not in anyone else. We have to stop looking at the problems in other people and look in our own mind and change that.
There are many people who come to Gnosis looking for these powers, the ability to go in the astral plane consciously, or other dimensions of nature, or they want to impress other people with their knowledge, or they want to belong to a group where they feel saved, they feel secure, they feel like they belong to something special. These are desires that produce suffering and that make schools toxic with ego, and every school suffers these problems, every Gnostic school.
This is why we need to consider the path deeply, to consider ourselves deeply. What we need are these three foundations:
- to renounce the desires of the mind
- to generate cognizant, selfless love
- to learn about the Emptiness
The fundamental nature of reality is the Void. This third point is easy to misunderstand. Most religions and schools teach something about renunciation and something about love, but understanding the Emptiness is very difficult, especially for the intellect because all the intellect can do is compare a and b, yes and no.
To understand the Emptiness is to get at the roots of the Tree of Life. The roots are in the unknown. Existence emerges out of nothingness into somethingness, and that emergence is the explosion of the Ray of Creation, which explodes out of the womb of the Divine Mother, as that first birth. That ray of life, the Emptiness, the Absolute, is at the very base of our existence, not only physically and outside but as a soul, as a consciousness.
When we talk about the doctrine of no self, the doctrine of no "I," it means that in every dimension of nature any sense of self, or any sense of "I" that we feel, is ultimately empty of truth because it is dependent on other factors; it does not exist inherently. The only thing that exists inherently in and of itself is the Absolute, which is a non-existence, it is a level of existence that escapes duality, it is far beyond duality. You can never say, "Well, is it existent or non-existent?" because it is both. The mind cannot grasp that. It can play with the ideas, but until you experience it you cannot understand.
You can experience it if you learn to meditate. Anyone can experience the Emptiness if you learn how to meditate properly, which means take your consciousness out of every bottle that it is in. Pull yourself out of the bottle of the physical, Ethereal, Astral, Mental, Causal, Buddhic, and Atmic bodies. Pull the consciousness out through profound meditation, but before you can do that, you have to take the consciousness out of your pride, your envy, your lust, your greed, your gluttony. Even the desire for that experience cannot be there. All that can be there is Being, the state of Being, and when you touch that Being there is a shock, and you can open the door to the Absolute and experience the true fundamental nature of existence.
This is such an important point. By comprehending the nature of the Absolute, the true nature of our own self, we acquire a very powerful weapon that we can use against the ego. As long as we believe that our real self is somewhere else (like in Heaven or in the Astral Body) there is a trap there waiting for us, and a lot of Gnostics fall into this trap. A lot of Gnostics study mysticism, religions, and all these esoteric things, and they hear about our inner Father, our real Being, Chesed, Atman, the Innermost, all these terms to describe the Inner Self, and they build that Inner Self into a God and idol, and believe they are that. This is how we create mythomania, a mystical self, an terrible ego of pride. This is why we have so many people on this planet who proclaim themselves to be great masters, avatars, and guides of humanity, who are really just fooling themselves with a subtle lie. We should not fall into that trap. By comprehending the nature of the Emptiness, we can comprehend the true nature of self and not fall into that trap. Any "I" produces suffering, even if it's a mystical "I."
1. For the conductor [netzach], on shoshannim, of David.
2. Save me, O Elohim, for water [mayim] has come up to my nephesh [soul].
3. I have sunk in muddy depths and there is no place to stand; I have come into the deep water [mayim / yesod], and the current has swept me away.
4. I have become weary from calling out; my throat has become parched; my eyes fail while I wait for my Elohim.
5. Those who hate me for nothing are more numerous than the hairs of my head; mighty are those who would cut me off, who are my enemies because of lies; what I did not steal, I will then return.
6. O Elohim, You know my folly, and my acts of guilt are not concealed from You.
7. Do not let those who hope for You be shamed through me, O Adonai Jehovah of hosts; let those who seek You not be disgraced through me, O Elohim of Israel.
8. For I have borne humiliation because of You; disgrace has covered my face.
9. I was strange to my brothers, and alien to the sons of my mother.
10. For the envy of Your house has consumed me, and the humiliations of those who blaspheme You have fallen upon me.
11. And I bewailed my nephesh in fast, and it was a disgrace for me.
12. And I made sackcloth my raiment, and I became a byword to them.
13. They talk about me, those who sit in the gate, and [they make] melodies [about me] for those who imbibe strong drink.
14. But, as for me, may my prayer to You, O Jehovah, be in an acceptable time. O Elohim, with Your abundant kindness, answer me with the truth of Your salvation [Yesha; i.e Yeshua].
15. Save me from mud that I not sink, that I be saved from my enemies and from the depths of water.
16. Let neither the current of water sweep me away, nor the deep swallow me, and let a well not close its mouth over me.
17. Answer me, O Jehovah, for Your kindness [Chesed] is good [tob]; according to Your abundant mercies, turn to me.
18. And do not hide Your face from Your servant, because I am distressed, hasten to answer me.
19. Come close to my nephesh, redeem it; because of my enemies, redeem me.
20. You know my humiliation, my shame, and my disgrace; all my oppressors are before You.
21. Humiliation has broken my heart and I have become ill; I hoped for sympathy but there was none, and for comforters but I found none.
22. They put gall into my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
23. May their table before them become a trap, and [their hope] for peace become a snare.
24. May their eyes become dark, so they cannot see; constantly cause their loins to slip.
25. Pour out Your fury upon them, and may Your burning wrath overtake them.
26. May their palace be desolate; in their tents let there be no dweller.
27. For You-those whom You smote they pursued, and about the pain of those whom You wounded they tell.
28. Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into Your charity.
29. May they be erased from the book of life, and may they not be inscribed with the righteous.
30. But I am poor and in pain; may Your salvation [Yeshua], O Elohim, exalt me.
31. [] I shall praise the name of Elohim with song, and I shall magnify Him with a thanksgiving offering.
32. And it will appeal to Jehovah more than a young bull that is mature, with horns and hooves.
33. When the humble see, they rejoice, yea, those who seek Elohim, and your heart will be invigorated.
34. For Jehovah hearkens to the needy, and He does not despise His prisoners.
35. Heaven and earth will praise Him, the seas and everything that moves therein,
36. When Elohim saves Zion and builds the cities of Judah, and they dwell there and take possession of it.
37. And the zera [seed, semen] of His servants inherit it, and those who love His name dwell therein. - Psalm 69
Questions
Audience: Can you explain how the mind is also Satan? Because we have this, a lot of us have this idea that Satan is this guy with horns, a pitchfork, and a pointy tail, and everything else.
Instructor: We have inherited from some of the religions on this planet the concept of Satan as a person, or a figure, who is outside of us. This was an intentional perversion of the original doctrine of Christ. Let me tell you, that person, that creature does not exist in the way that it is taught in the literal way, in the common way. We agree that there are devils in the world, but we are the devils, and there are devils worse than us, and they are written about in the Bible and in the Tantras, and in the Bhagavad Gita, and the Mahabharata, and all these scriptures. There are many forms of devils and demons and creatures who have power in Hell, Averno, Klipoth, or Avichi.
Yet, the real devil is our own mind. Anyone one of us can arrive at the direct experience of that, of knowing that, if you take this science seriously. There is a very common experience that students report early on in their efforts. One example would be some students see themselves in an experience out of the body where their consciousness is awakened and they see themselves in a mirror and they look like the devil, they look like a horrible demon, or Frankenstein, or some other awful, awful thing; this kind of experience can be very disturbing because when you see yourself as you truly are, it is extremely uncomfortable. That image has nothing to do with the image we like to think of ourselves as, or that we like others to think we are. The true reality of our inner psychological state is horrific.
Audience: In the myth of Cupid, Eros, and Psyche, Eros is often considered the personification of desire. How should we read that?
Instructor: In the myth of Cupid and Psyche, or Eros and Psyche, there are multiple versions of that story. If you read the edition of the version that is given by Apuleius in "The Metamorphosis" you'll discover a very interesting psychological teaching about our state of our mind, so I suggest you read and study that. But in general, when you look into the Greek mythology you see that Eros was one of the first to emerge from creation. Eros is Lucifer, the "bearer of light." That light is the force that allows everything to be created. It is Eros, love, sex. This is the meaning of the mystery of Daath. The light that emerges from above comes through the Elohim, the "Gods and Goddesses," who unite in order to produce their offspring, and that first offspring is Eros, love. But unfortunately, Psyche, our "Soul" is a bit mystified by this and so the Greek myth shows how we fall asleep as a result of this hypnosis, by being naive, just like Eve in the garden. We have a kind of naivety about ourselves and about our energy. That is why Psyche falls asleep. That symbolizes the state of our own soul now: our soul is asleep, our consciousness is asleep. We think we are awake because we are up and about, doing everything that we do, and we do not realize that our soul is deeply asleep, and to awaken requires a lot of effort.
Another interesting variation on that is the story of Snow White. The witch symbolizes the fornicating Eve who seduces the innocent part of the soul with the apple and puts her to sleep. This symbolizes the two aspects of that feminine nature that we have within, the upper and the lower. That seduction, the apple, is the same apple symbolized in the garden of Eden; it is sexual. That hypnosis is happening in us all the time, so long as the ego is alive and we remain ignorant of it.
Audience: We have negative thoughts. Is it a form of suppression if we offset it by a prayer, or by some positive thoughts?
Instructor: Not necessarily; the warrior, the consciousness has to do battle against Medusa, who is our own ego, that feminine aspect that is inverted. Medusa in the myth was once a virgin, like Eve; but because of jealousy and envy she fell and sprouted all those serpents from her head, which symbolizes the serpent power of the Divine Mother inverted in Klipoth. All those serpents on her head are all the egos, the sexual power used by all the egos. When the hero comes to kill Medusa he can only do it because Athena his Divine Mother (who is upright, pure, and a virgin), who by the way, carries a spear (the spine), the shield, and gives the sword, the shield, and the helmet to the hero. The symbol of the Divine Mother Athena is a serpent (Kundalini, the rod of Aaron); she wears a girdle of serpents. Those armaments are these techniques that we are teaching you: self observation, self remembering, meditation, and transmutation, symbolized by the shield, the helmet to protect the mind, and the sword. When we use those in the right way we can battle against Medusa. That means that you have to have a strategy that will change from moment to moment. Those armaments are psychological, conscious; you have to be conscious of yourself to use them. So when your own Medusa is tempting you, or attacking you, through thoughts, through feelings, through impulses in the body, first of all, you need self awareness and to remember your Divine Mother. If you remember Her, then She will aid you and give you those armaments.
Do you remember how the hero defeats Medusa? He does not look at her, because if he does he will turn to stone. In other words, he will become fixed and rigid in nature, mechanical, only doing the same things over and over, no flexibility, no ability to change, like the pillar of salt of the wife of Lot, he becomes instead crystallized in hell, a stone. But the hero in the story, instead of looking at her directly, uses his shield, which is polished like a mirror, which is done through meditation. By using his shield he can look at Medusa. That shield is the polished surface of his own water, his own psychological and sexual water, and by that method, he can conquer the tempting devil.
So, from that point of view, the warrior can use whatever tools are necessary, intuitively. If thoughts are very strong and coming at you, you have to listen to your Divine Mother to know the antidote.
We have many antidotes that we study in this tradition. We have the second jewel of the yellow dragon, which is the using the duality of the mind against itself. It is a kind of psychological judo. This is a very difficult technique to master, and very confusing for the intellect to learn, but very effective when you do learn it.
We have prayers, we have conjurations, we have mantras, all of which can arm the warrior to do battle. But the one who will guide you in the use of those tools is your Divine Mother, and the only way she can do that is if you are listening, listening, from moment to moment.
As an example, let us say that you feel tempted to watch a program on television which has very negative imagery, and you feel in your blood that urge to watch. Maybe it is violence, maybe it is pornography, maybe something else. Most of the time we just go along with it. We think: "Ah, no one is going to know. What's the harm?" and so we watch that, and the result is suffering because we take the conscious energies that we are being given from God from moment to moment and we are implanting those in our desires; we are feeding our lust, we are feeding violence, we are feeding our anger. No good will come of that. But if instead, we become aware of ourselves, and observe ourselves, and see that animal instinct in the blood, in the mind, in the sex, and we pray, and we remember God, and we remember that God is always there, we can change our situation.
We might forget God, but God does not forget us. We like to think we can do whatever we want and get away with anything, but God is always there. It is interesting to me that we think God is only there when we pray, only in the moment we say, "Okay God, now I want to talk to you," and we start praying whatever we are going to pray, but then later we see pornography, or we see violence, or we start indulging in our desire for money, or some other thing, and we start thinking about that, and we think God is not there. To me this is a funny thing about the ego, that it fools us like that, to think: "God is not here right now so I can get away with it."
When you pray in those moments of temptation, and remember your Being, immediately that ego is partly disempowered. When you really remember yourself, you remember the divinity that is within you, immediately much of that poison in the blood, that instinct that is pulling you is dispelled. It may not be conquered completely, but from that point you can apply other tools, like you asked about, which might be conjurations, prayers, taking a walk, calling a loved one, or doing something to sacrifice for another person instead of feeding your desire. There are many ways you can transform an impression and turn it into something good, but that only comes with the guidance that you receive intuitively from your Divine Mother, and that only comes if you are paying attention from moment to moment.
