To Be and to Know

We are going to talk about knowledge and the being. What is to know? What is to be?

You see, most of the time, people believe, or they think, that to be is related to the memory. If I were to ask you, “Who are you?” Immediately, you use your memory. You remember your name, you remember your ancestors, what you’ve done in the past. And this is our response, because we are identified with the mind.

There are two questions that we always ask: What is your name? And we answer, “My name is…..”

Who are you? And then, the answer will be in relation with the knowledge that you have, in your mind, in your memory.

So, you see, there are two types of knowledge: innate knowledge, which is related with that which you really are, that which belongs to you; and acquired knowledge, which is related with the personality that we have in this time, in this life.

The personality is related with the name that we have, it is dust of the ground.

Our personality is developed in accordance with our cultural and familial inheritance, with our education, and with the circumstances of our life.

So, in accordance with our inheritance, we have different ways of being, but it is not of being, it is really different ways of behaving, we will say, in accordance with the genes. That is why you will find that certain people, certain races behave differently than other races, and that is because of the customs that we inherit.

For instance, Italians have certain customs and habits that they transfer to their children. The Greeks have different habits and customs. That is why when you go to other countries, you always see the different behaviors of different cultures. Even within a country, you can find different types of habits and customs, and that is because of the habits and customs that people have developed in their environment, in accordance with the necessities of that particular area.

We find this even in language. When we speak, for instance, if you observe your languages, in this case, English, the sound that predominates in the English language is “eh”. “Eh.” I speak Spanish, so I know for sure that the sound that I hear more when I speak Spanish is “ah”. Not “eh”, like in English.

Every language has different predominant sounds. I hear different jokes, that people make about Italians, and in those jokes they strongly emphasize the letter E. And in Italian, indeed the letter E (as in “tree”) is very common; it is more common than other sounds.

Some languages like German are very guttural. Then you have French, which can be quite nasally. When you hear French people talking other languages, you hear  that sometimes they talk with their nose.

I want you to see then, different activities of the centers of the body, which we call the plexi, which the Word puts in activity. That is why in different countries, where people speak different languages, those languages always relate to different, particular forces that they attract or reject. It is based on the accumulation of those certain forces that we develop what we call our social, ethnic, racial inheritance, which are the habits and customs that we have.

That is why it is easy to know when you watch a movie, or you see people who behave and act in a particular way, you say, “Oh, they are English.” It means that we are able recognize that inheritance.

Sometimes, you do not even need to hear how they talk, just how they behave, the way they think, without even talking. And they can say, “These people are such-and-such race.” And it is because, through time, we are inheriting that. We would say that it is something mechanical within the personality.

Unfortunately, people become incredibly identified with their body, with their personality, to the extent that they will believe and say, “This is what I am.”

In these studies, we work to identify ourselves with our being. We come to understand that the physical body is only a vehicle that we have in accordance with cause-and-effect, the law of karma. Everybody has what they deserve.

When I first came to this country I was helping a friend of mine from Chile, by doing some work painting. I remember that another friend of his, who was working with us also, was from the Caribbean, from Jamaica. He was, of course, black. In his personality there was a tendency to like to command, to manage.

Regardless, it came to be that an argument arose between the two of us, because I was not listening to him attempting to tell me how to paint. He reached a point that he was so angry with me, that he said, “You are not black!” And the moment that he said that, I just grasped the deep meaning of it. That answer, or that statement, is very deep, not only in his personality, it is a consequence of a long, long history, related with slavery, with many things, that people are still rooted in. It is a consequence of these kinds of things that people say, “This is what I am.” Do you see? that is precisely what people say, “This is what I am!”

This is a big problem.

We are so identified with our race, we think that this is what we are. That is why we find wars on this planet Earth, because of that thing that we have in our blood, because that is within the marrow of our bones, you know? And sometimes, we say, “Oh, we are not going to identify with it.” But deep down, we are very rooted in it. And this is a karma related with the personality.

Understanding this, we see how this inheritance that we bring from our ancestors needs to be studied, to be visualized in meditation, in order to not to be identified with it, because this is, I repeat, one of the roots of different complexes on the earth.

Obviously, another thing related with the personality is education. In different parts of the world people look with disdain at others who are not literate or intellectual. In such places in order to be respected, you have to accumulate a lot of knowledge.

If such a person, in such a culture, has a good career, is a doctor, is a lawyer, an engineer, or an architect, this person is somebody. I remember many times, for instance, people with children, they point to humble, simple sellers, who are just trying to survive this jungle, trying to gain some cents in order to eat, and that person says, “See! You have to study. In order to not be like him or her.”

And then I say to myself, “Why are people always behaving as if to be poor is a crime?” In this day and age, people see poverty like a crime. And you may say, “Well, if we do not find people for instance, like in the subways, you find people that, they clean your shoes. Somebody has to do it!”

Everybody has different types of jobs. If everybody was a doctor, who would build houses, or make meals, or clothes, etc etc etc? In order for us to have a functioning society, we need different types of people, with different inherent faculties, and different types of knowledge. Everyone needs to contribute, in their own way, with their own gifts, according to their own level.

In my case, I find myself teaching this. Why? Because I know it. But, this knowledge is related with my being. This is something that we have to understand, to comprehend, this type of knowledge.

But I am also not identified with this, because certain things that I teach here, also I learned outside. And I have to develop that inside of me.

But to think that I am, just because I have certain knowledge in my head, that is wrong.

Remember that, as we said in other lectures, there are two lines in life which we have to walk: the horizontal and the vertical.

The horizontal line is related with what we are talking about here, our physical life, and the personality in which we have to develop certain things in order to survive, in order to gain your daily bread.

The problem is when we come to identify with this. Yes, to develop the personality is a necessity, in order for us to operate in the world, but what must recognize is that this personality is merely a tool, a mask, dust of the ground, that we have to wear. Indeed, the word personality comes from the Latin Persona personae, meaning, “a mask to sound through" as something spoken through and perhaps amplifying the voice.”

Indeed, to identify with this mask and to think that the mask is “who we are,” is wrong.

The type of knowledge that we receive in school, in college and university does not change the reality of who and what we are, in relation with the being. You could have in your brain all of the knowledge of the entire history of the earth, you could learn all the languages on this planet, and read all the books written and you would become a very great intellectual…. But none of this has anything to do with the vertical line, which is the line of Being.

As I said, I know many things related with the spirit, related with this doctrine, but I am never identified with this or think that, merely because have this knowledge, that I am inherently ascending up the vertical line towards my inner being... No. The development of the being has nothing to do with all that we have in the brain, which is related with the horizontal line.

We need to comprehend that the vertical line is inside of you; the work to ascend that vertical line is an internal process that has nothing to do with the trappings of the external world, the physical world, which is the domain of the horizontal line.

The horizontal line is related with your personality, your relationships with other people; the circumstances of life develop in the horizontal line. This is why you find different types of personalities, and people with different levels of intellectual knowledge, etc etc.

Take the intellectual knowledge of computers, for instance. In this day and age, one is forced to learn about computers. We have to, because it is so critical to our life, and it is advancing constantly and if you do not know anything about computers, then you will be left behind. If children do not learn anything about that, when they are mature, they will not have the capacity of confronting this society, they have to learn about computers, in order to eat "their daily bread with the sweat of their face." Indeed, there are many people that learn many skills in order to survive, but, none of this has anything to do with the being.

There can be people like Bill Gates, for instance. A billionaire, who is getting richer and richer, who is developing himself with his intellect. All of the work that he is doing is very clearly intellectual, advancing technology, making a lot of money, but it has nothing to do with his being. Nothing!

The development up the vertical line is something very practical, something internal, and is directly related with the Tree of Life. This development that we are talking about is the development of the being, and is precisely what we were referring to with our opening questions.

Indeed, there are other types of knowledge which are not born of, or relate to the horizontal line… What about telepathy? What about clairvoyance? What about other types of spiritual faculties that people talk about? These are related with the being.

The Tree of Life of the being in itself utilizes twelve senses in order to develop. The development of the being in the vertical line has to do with another type of knowledge, a knowledge that you do not receive in lectures, a knowledge that you do not receive through books. It is a knowledge that is related with the being.

That is why it is written that in the Garden of Eden there were two trees: the Tree of Life, which is kabbalah and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is alchemy- אלכימיה (the chemistry-כימיה of El-אל, God).

“And (in the Vav-ו, symbol of the central nervous system) Elohim said, Let there be lights (Meroth-מארת) in the firmament of the heavens (the head) to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for (spiritual) ages, and for days (VeLeyamim-ולימים), and years.” - Genesis 1:14 

Remember that in Genesis 1:5, “Elohim called the light Iom-יום, Day.” 

So, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is not a type of knowledge that we will intellectually learn here, in this physical world. But refers to the development of the lights of the kundalini in the spinal column of alchemists-אלכימים. This is why the word lights (Meroth-מארת) is missing the letter Vav-ו, symbol of the central nervous system (the throne of El-אל, Chesed-חסד, Abraham-אברהם, the spirit); the word should be Meoroth-מאורת.

Of course, here, in this school, we give you knowledge that you receive with your personality, with your mind, but that is related with the vertical line. However, if the knowledge that we deliver here remains only in the intellect, and never becomes a practical reality for you, then it will remain on the horizontal line. In you is precisely the option, the possibility, the choice of taking this knowledge, and making of it something real, something tangible, something on the vertical line. This is just a tool. Only knowledge that you practice, that you develop within can help develop on the vertical. In other words, only knowledge related with the vertical line made practical can help you to rise, spiritually speaking; remember, that which belongs to the horizontal can never help you rise because that knowledge can never escape the horizontal plane.

To simplify: the vertical line represents the spiritual path, related with the spirit, the being. But in order to develop that spiritual path, one has to do so, whilst also attending to the responsibilities and requirements of the horizontal line, and that it is through our personality and our intellect, that we receive this knowledge. But, if this knowledge remains there in the intellect, in the personality, which belong to horizontal line, that knowledge can never help us to ascend the vertical.

We have to understand that there are a lot of people that have many books related with this knowledge, that understand the knowledge, intellectually speaking, but that never put that knowledge into practical action. Therefore, they have developed zero in their being. They are precisely the same as when they did not know anything about these teachings.

Understand that, even to have an intellectual understanding of this knowledge, of these teachings, of this path can take a long time, and a lot of study. The error is to conflate the intellectual understanding of the teachings, with the practical application of them. Again, intellectual comprehension belongs to the horizontal, practical knowledge to the vertical.

In other words, what is important, is to take this knowledge and make it living within us, through conscious comprehension. Let us look at an example.

We were talking about kabbalists. Kabbalah is a Hebrew word which comes from LeKabel- לקבל, which means “to receive.”

"There are two types of Kabbalists: intellectual Kabbalists and intuitive Kabbalists. The intellectual Kabbalists are Black Magicians, whilst the intuitive Kabbalists are White Magicians." - Alchemy and Kabbalah in the Tarot by Samael Aun Weor

"The occult significance of Aquarius is knowledge. Aquarius, the sign of the water bearer, is an eminently revolutionary sign.

There are four types of knowledge or secret science.  We need to know what these four types of knowledge are.

1. Yajna-Vidya, knowledge that is acquired by means of certain occult powers awakened within our own inner nature, through certain magical rituals.
2. Kabbalistic Maha-Vidya, the science of the Kabbalah with all its invocations, mathematical symbols, and liturgy, which can be angelic or diabolic depending on the type of person using it.
3. Gupta-Vidya, the science of mantras, the magic of the word; it is based on the mystical powers of sounds, on the science of harmony.
4. Atma-Vidya or real wisdom of the Being, Atman, the Superior Monad.

These forms of knowledge (except for the fourth type) are the root of all occult sciences. From all these forms of knowledge (except the fourth) come Kabbalah, chiromancy, astrology, occult physiology, scientific cartomancy, etc.

From all those forms of knowledge, from all those occult branches, science has already discovered a few secrets, but the developed spatial sense is not hypnotism, and neither can it be acquired through those arts.

This book of esoteric hermetic astrology has nothing to do with the carnival-like astrology mentioned in newspapers.  In this book we teach the science of Atma-Vidya." - Practical Astrology by Samael Aun Weor

A great kabbalist, is the one who receives knowledge of alchemy-אלכימיה through Atma-Vidya, Chesed-חסד (remember, in Hebrew, God is El-אל in Atziluth-אצילות), and unto this one is given the title of Rabbi-רבי. What is a Rabbi-רבי?  Rabbi-רבי is a word for master in Hebrew; Rabbis are masters of kabbalah and alchemists-אלכימים of days-ולימים through Atma-Vidya, Chesed-חסד. Remember that in Genesis 1:5, “Elohim called the light Iom-יום, Day.”

Indeed, you can read many books related with Kabbalah, or with the spirit, with esotericism, and that would make you a kabbalist, but intellectual kabbalist in the horizontal line.

If you do not put the knowledge of alchemy-אלכימיה directly into your being (that is, into your Atma-Vidya, Chesed-חסד, into your God, El-אל), and receive the information directly from your being (Ratzon LeKabel-רצון לקבל, will to receive from your own Spirit, your Ruach Elohim-רוח אלהים, your God, El-אל in Atziluth-אצילות), inside, in your consciousness, in your Soul Ruach-רוח, you will be never a real kabbalist, just an intellectual kabbalist.

Like in this very moment, you are here listening to me, and you are listening with knowledge, including your intellect. But we are here in the horizontal line. That will not change a bit your being. In order for you, or in order for your being to change, in order for you to change the level of your being, you have to put in to practice what we are teaching here. And that is something individual, particular, in relation with your being (with your God, El-אל). Then, you will start being an intuitive kabbalist; or, in other words, you will learn, you will receive through Atma-Vidya, Chesed-חסד, and comprehend in the intuitive way. When you learn in the intuitive way, that is real knowledge because that knowledge is related with your being (God, El-אל). If you do not put that in your consciousness, then that knowledge is going to be lost when you die.

[Audience]: So, while learning, or approaching, or understanding this knowledge in the intuitive way, is it normal to question constantly if it is really an understanding? Or is it, when it is truly intuitive — well, I know when it is intuitive, you know without a doubt — but when you are approaching that stage of really understanding when you feel something intuitively or if something is just a wisdom that you have been given, is it possible to still be going through the doubting because you are still questioning the ego and how much of this is really a true sign or a true knowledge or how much of this is just colored by egos and by wanting to believe this or wanting to believe that?

[Gnostic instructor]: Yes. That is why the doubt will be always inside of us if we do not put that knowledge in the consciousness. To put the knowledge in the consciousness is to experience that. You see?

It is not like we say, “Oh, I have to memorize this or to put that into my memory.” No. To put it into the consciousness means to experience it.

Let me give you an example: If I tell you, “If you put your finger in the fire, your finger will be burnt.” Well, you could say, “Yes, yes, that sounds logical. The fire burns, etc.. So, I will put in my finger.”

But if you do not do it, you will not experience that directly in your flesh. If you do it, then that is a direct experience. That is a physical example.

I often talk about Genesis, because the book of Genesis really is extraordinary. But, it is written as a guide, as knowledge, in other words of the consciousness, for the being. It is written for those who wish to ascend the vertical line of the being.

In other words, only the being, the consciousness, can understand that.

There are millions of Bibles, written in the different languages that exist, and they repeat and repeat what is written in Genesis. However, because they do not understand the meaning of the teachings contained within the Bible, within Genesis, sometimes they change what is written, or they only interpret the teachings according to the horizontal line.

Such people, because of their dedication, read and read and read, and memorize what they read. And that is very bad. If you memorize something without understanding it, it is very bad. It damages the brain, mind, the consciousness. What one has to do is to meditate. You see?

For instance, when I am going to teach something in relation to this book or any sacred scripture, I do not read it and say, “Oh, I want to talk about that,” and I read it. Obviously, there is something more there. You read one paragraph or one part of what is written, and then you close your eyes, and then you memorize that. But then, you pray to your inner God in meditation. To pray is to talk with God, in order to receive; and if our prayer is sincere, our mind is calm and clear and our hearts are open, we put ourselves in the position to be receptive to the explanation of that which is written there.

When reading scripture, obviously there exists a superficial logic, a superficial reasoning, a way of comprehending through the intellect, but this all belongs to the horizontal line. Indeed, there exists a superior logic, which has nothing to do with this intellect. Superior logic is received, is accessed through intuition. When you reach that level of understanding, then things which for other people is unintelligible, ungraspable, incongruent, for you becomes something logical.

For me, for instance, when I read the book of Genesis, everything, I utilize that information which I have taken in, in meditation in order to grasp that with my consciousness and pray to my being. That is what it is to receive. That is kabbalah; to receive information directly from the being. This, in order for that knowledge to be united with my being or to belong to my being, to my consciousness, not merely my intellect.

So, then, the information comes. Because to pray, to talk with God, this is how you learn. You see?

If you are fully concentrated, and you leave the body, then you experience, with your consciousness, that which is written, there.

Or when you see a movie. We put it inside a simple example. You hear about the Ten Commandments and then you put the Ten Commandments in movies and you see, “Oh.” Because in the Bible, you see only letters, but in the movie you see the actors [that] are acting there.

In the same way with the consciousness. Inside, you experience things, you see things related with what is written there. And then you comprehend. And then you are really learning. You are developing knowledge.

There are many things that you have to learn, that one can learn in relation with this, not only related with the Bible. Many things. For instance, in the horizontal line... everybody knows, even in kindergarten children know that two plus two is four. You know that. Any computer knows that two plus two is four.

But, that understanding is in the intellect. That is a truth: two plus two is four. But are you actually conscious of this? Are you cognizant of that truth?

We accept this, but we do not know it. So, when we go in meditation and when we submerge ourselves into deep meditation, we can bring into our minds: two plus two is four. In order to inquire, what does this actually mean, you see? Why? To know that consciously.

To know that consciously is a matter of entering your inner nature, entering into the being, into the vertical. It is very difficult to know why two plus two equals four.

The universe is mathematical, it is built upon numbers; there is infinite wisdom hidden in mathematical truths, but that wisdom can never be attained to, if the knowledge remains merely intellectual.

Einstein, for instance, wrote about the theory of relativity. But to experience that, what is time, with your consciousness is a matter of developing your being (God, El-אל), of developing you internal, spiritual senses. Right now, in the level in which we are, with our five senses, and our inner spiritual faculties not truly developed, there are many things that we cannot experience.

There is a type of knowledge that we cannot verify in the state in which we are. We need to develop spiritually, with the being; we have seven senses which we have to develop...

In the physical body, the being is related with the spinal column.  We have stated many times that the cerebro-spinal system is the throne of the spirit (God, El-אל). Sadly, that throne is empty.

The spirit (God, El-אל) has to sit there and to control the human machine, but, in order for the spirit to sit there and to control the human machine, what needs to develop? The seven chakras.

Of course, alongside the development of those inner, spiritual faculties that we have, we must also be working to diminish the ego. The being and the ego are like the oil and the water; they do not mix.

Regardless, the development of the Tree of Life in relation with the physical body, occurs within the spinal column.

The Tree of Life is the being.

In the Tree of Life, the spinal column is the throne of the spirit. The spirit has to sit there in order to know, to experience through the five senses and the seven chakras, giving to the superior consciousness of the being the twelve senses.

With those 12 senses, we can verify all of the phenomena of the physical world. Understand that I am not even talking about the internal worlds, just this physical world. There are many things that happen in this physical world that we are not aware of.

In ancient times, the Lemurians had their twelve senses fully developed. What we, in these times, need to develop, in ancient times they were fully developed.

They, the Lemurians, were conscious. They were aware of this physical world in the complete sense. We have lost the inner senses related with the seven chakras. We do not know what is going on, just like the scientists of this day and age.

We are familiar with the knowledge that the scientists have accumulated in the horizontal line; they are trying to survive and to make sense of nature. But with their instruments, they are trying to comprehend all of nature. They do not comprehend the limitations of their instruments, nor of their intellect; they do not comprehend that there are truths in this universe that cannot be grasped by the intellect.

In this day and age, in this very moment, for instance, we have the phenomena of La Nina and El Nino. The scientists do not know what is going on with this weather phenomena. Tomorrow, maybe it is going to snow, but maybe it is going to be hot weather. Regardless, this is not something that scientists can truly predict with tools, with instruments, with intellect.

Why? Because they cannot see beyond the five senses. However, if we can learn how to develop all the senses of the being, of the consciousness, then we will know what is going on. We will see what is behind those hurricanes, behind those floods. What is the cause of all this?

The development of our intellectual knowledge leads us to arrogance. We do not respect what is the beyond, we believe ourselves to be masters of natural law, and in doing so, we prevent ourselves from developing true knowledge.

People usually are not placed in their being, only in their knowledge; the knowledge that they have, and they judge everything according to that knowledge, because they forget their being.

For instance, because of the five senses, and we do not have our other, more spiritual faculties developed; they are atrophied. In this day and age, in the universities and colleges, we receive a type of knowledge that denigrates, dismisses and demeans the ancient civilizations, because they do not understand them.

Take Egypt as an example. They say that the Egyptians were worshipers of idols, that they were superstitious in relation with life after death. They were imagining this, imagining that, and they followed “this” and thought “that,” they say... And why do they say that? Because nobody in this day and age can verify it. Nobody knows what is after life, or after death. Our spiritual faculties are so badly atrophied, we are not even sure what if there is anything after death, let alone what happens.

So, the intellectual people say, “There are many beliefs, superstitions”, in relation with that which is after death. Why? Because they cannot see beyond!

In that this society, they see with disdain and with disrespect other civilizations in the past, because they do not understand, the do not comprehend that vast wealth of wisdom, of knowledge related with the vertical that these ancient civilizations possessed.

In my case, for instance, thanks to this knowledge that I put in practice — I am not going to boast here and say that I am fully developed; no, I am in process, this takes a long time — But I have verified many things, hidden things, that are related with Egypt, related with the Tibetans, and many other things. And I know that those things are real, and I know that because I experienced that.

I know about other dimensions, other worlds, because I have experienced that. But I also know that the intellectual types, who only perceive through the five senses, who are not capable of entering into these dimensions or developing these senses, cannot allow themselves to believe that there are forms of knowledge that do not originate in the intellect. Such people, through their ignorance, and their arrogance, say that these people who have this kind of knowledge, these faculties, are living in fantasy, that it is all a product of their imagination. They explain everything in accordance with their level.

Indeed, it is very difficult to make the people understand things which are of the superior dimensions, because they do not have the senses developed to perceive that. So, it is indispensable to make of this knowledge something living inside of us; if you we not put it in practice what we are teaching, if you do not develop that, it is worthless, because if you die with this knowledge only in the intellect, it will be lost.

To believe or not believe is of the horizontal line of life. This type of knowledge does not change your being.

If you work in your being and you learn how to put the knowledge in your consciousness, that knowledge will remain there. If you die physically, and you return in a new body, that knowledge will be there, in your consciousness.

On this subject, an experience of when I was talking with the master Samael Aun Weor comes into my mind.

I said, “Master, I read many of his your books and I agree with them. Do you know why I agree with them?”

And then he asked, “Why?”

“Because before entering into this doctrine and reading your books, I was very inquisitive and reading always, especially the Bible. And when I was reading certain chapters, I would say, ‘No, this signifies this and this. Otherwise, it does not make any sense.’ From where did I get that knowledge?”

He said, “Well, this is because you were walking in your being in other lives. Then later on, over the years, I remembered that I was doing this work in other lives.

When I say I was doing this work, so might get confused and think I was reading about this work, or I was memorizing what the scriptures were saying about the work... No. I was not doing that. I was performing this work practically, not only in this physical world but in other dimensions.

Therefore, it is in my consciousness. I was bringing it out and now it comes more and more, but it is there because I did it. This knowledge, conscious knowledge is not given away freely, one has to earn it.

So, I have this knowledge in my consciousness because of my previous work. But, the more I practice, the more knowledge unveils itself to me. Indeed, the reclamation of ones inner knowledge is not a matter of reading magazines, of crossing my legs and watching T.V. or of reading something about it. No. In order to take that out of me, I have to be in contact with my being again, in a practical way.

How do we come into contact with the being again? Meditation.

Meditation allows us to consciously penetrate inwards, into the inner reaches of our nature, where our real self, our true being resides.

What is the obstacle in order to receive that? My ego. My ego. My lust, my anger, my pride, my greed, my envy, my gluttony, my laziness. My hatred. My fear, especially. Because there are many people that are afraid. If you are afraid, you cannot go ahead. You see?

Fear is the worst of the vices you can have in this type of development. Do not be afraid. Develop in your being. Follow your being. Find your being. Meditate. Inquire. You see? This is how one finds one’s self.

But let us not fall into the mistake of thinking that because we are going to read this book or read these other books, or memorize this or talk about that, that we are already advancing and developing. We are just developing the intellect, of course, but not the being.

There are many masters that, though they are masters, developed the being alone. They trusted and put themselves in the care of certain gurus that guided them in order to develop that mastery. They experienced the knowledge that we talk about here, about reincarnation, about the chakras, about karma. And they talk about karma in the internal planes. They know about reincarnation because they remember their past lives. They know about the chakras because they have fully developed their own chakras.

So, when they fully developed their being, they have a lot of knowledge. You see? But then, when they descend to the physical body, they are illiterate. They do not how to write. They do not know how to read, in this physical world. If they are there in certain places, temples, or in the Himalayas, doing certain developments, they are okay. But, when they come to these cities, for instance, and they do not know how to read and how to write — they are ignorant in the horizontal. You see? Do you grasp that? In the horizontal line, they are ignorant. But in the vertical, they are great sages.

But in this society, people judge. If you know how to read and how to write, if you have a certain degree, certain title, you are somebody, you’re important. However, if a person comes and is completely illiterate, but who yet has a wealth of knowledge about the vertical, about the being, people in this day and age do not want to even listen to him.

Sometimes, that sage might not know even how to talk, especially in a way in which modern people are accustomed too. He has to learn the language, even his own language; he does not know how to communicate.

There exists a lot of these types of masters in Asia. When the disciples approach them, they know that they have to develop a lot of patience in order to grasp and to understand what they want to say. Because they have the knowledge in their being, but in the horizontal line they have nothing.

Regardless, with patience they learn from them, and they know in a practical way.

Samael Aun Weor said, “Do not reject the horizontal, but do not forget the vertical. Read books of great masters like Madame Blavatsky, Krishnamurti. Read my books. Study them, but not like when you read the newspaper. Meditate on them. Comprehend them with your consciousness. So, you can communicate that knowledge.”

In this case, for instance, I learned. I studied: the books of Madame Blavatsky, the books of the master. I read the Bible. I read other books like the Quran and those that nourish the knowledge that I like in my being, in order for me to communicate, to give to you. In order for me to give the knowledge that I am developing inside more wisely.

I know that I am in a society of intellectual animas. You notice that I took the L out in order to be more gentle, you see? Because “animal” comes from “anima”, which means soul.

I know that in this day and age, everybody develops an intellect. Everybody has a lot of knowledge, but in the horizontal line, in the personality. I know this.

Samael Aun Weor says, “Learn about the quantum phenomena,” because the quantum phenomena really are in relation with certain developments in order to understand the being, the dimensions. You grasp that with conscious, spiritual mathematics when you enter into higher knowledge. This is not an intellectual understanding, this is something only gained through meditation, through conscious comprehension.

But, as I say, when one learns a lot, for instance, related with knowledge — I am not saying that I have the whole of knowledge. I am still learning in the horizontal line because I have this type of mind that I like to learn new things, but things related with the spirit, things related with the reality. No rush, you know?

For instance, I know about the theory of evolution, which Darwin created, and that other materialistic anthropologists continued, and are now involved. I forced myself to know to understand this, in order to contradict it. You see?

We, the gnostics, cannot deny that evolution exists. But the theory of evolution, as currently presented and understood, is stupid. One hundred percent stupid. Within this dogma there are certain things there that are related with certain laws of nature, but scarcely do they understand that. And therefore, they are making a mess of our understanding of the actual, universal law of evolution with that theory. Do you understand?

You cannot study the laws of the universe, of nature, and then invent your own theory to attempt to make sense of it. Such a theory could be entirely wrong in relation with that law.

In the Middle Ages, they were studying the Earth, and they thought that the Earth was the center of the universe, that it was flat and all the stars were rotating around it. Obviously, this theory was wrong. The Earth is in the center of the universe… for us, because we are on this Earth and everything is rotating around us. But clearly it is not the center of the universe; it is the center of our own universe. Do you understand that?

For instance, myself, when I remember my being, I am inside of my body. I am the center of the universe. Everything is around me. Because I am here, remembering myself, in my being, in the vertical. So, in that sense, from that point of view, I really think it is around me; everything rotates around me. From the subjective point of view, from the conscious point of view of my being. But if I say that I am the center of the universe, it would be stupid. I am not the center of the universe. Do you grasp that?

But if we study this galaxy, physically speaking, we know that the capital of this galaxy is the star Sirius. And, we know that this solar system is in one of the arms of this spiral galaxy. So, obviously we are not in the center, physically speaking. But consciously, when we are in the being, we are in the center of our own universe.

In the ancient clock of glass, the element earth, symbolizes our physicality and our pesonality, and that is the center of the universe and, in relation with the being, from the perspective of the being, that is true. The book of Genesis  testifies it:

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” - Genesis 3:19

But if we start inquiring about this matter, we know that the Earth is not physically the center of the universe. Understand?

That is precisely the confusion. Many authors talked talk about the center of the universe because they are not identified with the outside; they are fully identified with their being. Therefore, if you are there in your being always, you see that you are in the center and everything is around you. But if you are not there, obviously, you are lost in space.

In the level that we are right now, the only way to experience this is through meditation. We need to learn to enter into ecstasy in order to feel this, to understand it, because you are there. And everything is.

When your consciousness expands, it expands from the center to the periphery. But the center is yourself, your being. Eheieh-אהיה, I am, is the center of my universe. My being the center of my universe. And it is the same for each of us. So, there are many centers, and everything is around. From that point of view, you do not find the center of this firmament. There are many centers. In every unit, you will find the center. And that center is the being.

But when you experience that, you understand everything. You see the reality of this universe. And of course, with the advancement in the vertical line, you will reach the moment in which when you walk, when you work, when you eat, anywhere you are, you will be always in that ecstasy, in the middle of that point which is your being. That is what it is to be in constant samadhi, in constant satori.

However, for that, we need to develop. Whenever you are that, you are always in rapture. For instance, in Christianity, an individual that was always in that state is St. Francis of Assisi. He is always in his being. Happy. You see? Always there. He never forgot his being, not for a second. And thus, everything around him was going around him; in other words, he was in the center of his universe. Even if he was suffering, experiencing very painful things, he was always in happiness, because he was always there, seeing life in, with his own reality.

So, how does one learn to identify with one’s being? One has to feel that one is inside the body and to remember the present. God has no form, but in such way, we need to meditate. We have to meditate in order for us to experience the being.

When one experiences the being, then it is easy to be. Right? When you experience that, you do not need effort to be, because you have experienced that and you understand what the being is, even though it is not incarnated in the body and is in conflict with the body.

To be is to be here and now. That is what it is to be.

Feel yourself inside of your body. Do not identify with your knowledge of your horizontal. That knowledge of your horizontal line will form in you different images because it is related with your personality, with things that you have learned through example, things that you learned through books or through lectures, circumstances of life. All of that is what we call ego. It comes and goes, comes and goes, in your mind. If you identify with it, you are out of yourself, out of your being.

So, live the moment; be consciously present inside of you. Experience life internally always. Remember that you are inside. Always. Do not identify with the knowledge. Learn to see images without identifying with them; it is impossible to stop the mind in the beginning. It will throw out new images, thoughts, even feelings. Hmm? You have to become accustomed with discerning them, without identifying with them. If you are identified with those emanations of the mind, and you immerse yourself in any of those thoughts or images, you lose the sense of yourself. In order not to lose the sense of yourself, you have to continually feel that you are inside the body. You have to know always that the body is a vehicle, a vesture. Do not identify with it.

Who you really are, your self, is the being. The being is very close to the consciousness. The consciousness and the self are very close. To be conscious, self-conscious, is necessary. What is the self-consciousness that we are talking about here? The awareness of and connection to ones inner being, not the egoic self-consciousness that we associate with that phrase in this day and age.

Conscious of oneself is necessary.

The consciousness is that entity inside of us that gives us awareness; it is that which is.

Be aware that you are inside of your body. Remember that you are inside of your being. That is what we in other lectures have called filial love which is to feel that one is a child of God. We must learn to feel that one is a child of God. Remember that God is here, now. He is not in the past. He is not a God of the Bible or the God of the Koran or the Bhagavad Gita. That God is your God; it is inside of you. It is here, now, in this present moment, in this life. You have got a life in your body, and God is here. My God is NOW. NOW. God is the ever-present, the ever now-ness, in each moment, totally present.

My consciousness is here, and I remember that now. That now. That is God inside of you.

Little by little, the consciousness will awaken, and we will advance on the path. As the consciousness develops, then you will see more and more the presence of your being.

In the beginning you have just to feel, to use your heart, your intuition, in order to sense that which is the omni-presence of God, here and now.

But, do not identify that God, that essence, that being, with the knowledge that you have related with God. In Buddhism when someone reaches that stage that they see the image of Buddha, they tell those students to kill that image, to erase that Buddha out of them! Why? So that they do not become identified, trapped, within that image of the being. That image is static, but the being within that image is alive, it is now, it is here, eternally. Do not become identified with the image.

To be here and now is to experience. That is to be a Buddha, an enlightened one. So suddenly your mind projects the Buddha. Get that image out of there! This is your mind projecting something. Your being is now, here. It has nothing to do with those images.

It is good in meditation to use images to help us enter into concentration, but we have to learn to loosen our attention, our awareness. If we are meditating in our heart, and we learn to loosen that attention, then we can see that heart and say, “My God is in my heart.” That helps, because in the left ventricle of the heart we have the atom Nous that puts us in contact with our own particular God, with our own particular being. So, any type of mantra, any type of practice that helps us to do that, is good, without forgetting the moment. Without forgetting the now. But what is important to remember is to not identify with anything but the being. You see?

Indeed, in the beginning sometimes we need tools, but in the end, we do not need that, because when you experience that, you know what it is.

There are a lot of people in the horizontal line that have a lot of knowledge of God. Christians know about God, but the God that is written about in the Bible, which they interpret it according to their own whim.

Muslims know about God, but about the God that is written in the Quran, and which they interpret according to their own whim.

The Buddhists…. Etc etc etc. Everybody has an image, in their brain, in the horizontal line.

But here, you do not have any image, because that image is the horizontal knowledge that you learn. It has nothing to do with the reality. Experience that, and then you will know.

For instance, I have had many experience with my inner being. So, I know. This experience has nothing to do with theories, or thoughts or ideas; it is a conscious experience. And, because of those experiences, I know, but I have to remember this now, in this moment, because if I identify with that experience of the past that is in my mind, then I am losing the moment. If I remember that without losing the moment, I am remembering in the right way, without forgetting this moment, the moment in which the being resides. God is now.

What I just said is another second; it is far away, it is gone. Now is another second, continually. That is what you have to do in meditation. You close your eyes and you concentrate in yourself, second after second, without losing that awareness that you have inside of the body. If you lose that for a moment, you are not meditating. You are just wasting your time.

That is why when somebody enters into satori, first, before that, he had to acquire that which is called “empty mind”, in which one does not think.

How does one get to that state? By doing.

People that have very strong concentration, that are able to stay here and now, and relax themselves very easily, get that experience in one day. For others it is a little more difficult, they keep working and have it in one week. Others, they keep practicing; they have it in two weeks. Others have it in one month, practicing daily. Others, they have it in two months. Others, endure three months or six months. Some endure one year, but they keep practicing because everybody has a different level, a different way. It is difficult for them. For others, it takes two years. There are some monks that after thirty years of meditating daily, suddenly they get it. It all depends.

Depends on what? On your mind. There are people that do not have so strong of an ego. When you have a very strong ego, when your anger is very hot, when your greed, your hatred, your lust are very powerful, then to quiet the mind, to quiet your lust, to quiet your greed, to quiet your anger takes a long time.

In the beginning, you are like five hundred pounds, spiritually speaking. It is difficult; you have little dexterity, flexibility, agility in your mind, in your consciousness. Thus, you need to lower your weight. How? By eliminating those elements within your psyche that weight you down, that burden you, that stymie the capabilities of your consciousness. However, if you only have a little bit of ego… well, it is easy to reaches these states of consciousness.

But you tell me, who in this day and age has a thin ego?

The ego creates expectations, and when we identify with those expectations, we become trapped by them. This is what happens to many people who reach a certain level one day, but the cannot replicate it the next. Expectations are of the horizontal line. The being is now.

I remember, I was once in meditation and heard a sound: “Shwoooom!” I quieted my mind, and I abandoned my body through the pineal gland and immersed myself in another dimension, and I saw something beautiful. But, then I sensed that mind that was below was trying to enter as well. We are connected with the mind, with the ego. So, even though we are experiencing something out of our mind, always the connection exists because it is our creation. It is what we have inside, and for a second it was quiet.

Well, because of that thing that is below, which is the devil and which cannot enter into heaven, my soul lost the experience and I became identified with my mind again.

I remember that I was on my bed and I wanted to experience that so badly that I was even jumping, trying to go out, but it was my body jumping. Then, I noticed that it was my mind the one that wanted to experience that, because the experience came into the brain and even my ego was aware of that experience. But it was not an experience of the ego; it was an experience of the consciousness.

The next day, I was meditating and expecting to experience the same thing. Who was the one that was expecting? One has to always do the same thing without any expectation, because that which expects is the ego.

We still have that, this desire. What is desire? Desire is the longing for that same experience, when the ego wants to experience that.

Desire is temporal, it belongs to the horizontal line. You can work, you can follow your desires, and you can achieve everything that you want in the horizontal line, but in the end you die and you lose everything. In the vertical line, desire does not work. If you work with the desire of experiencing what God is, you are wasting your time. That desire is the mind and the mind cannot enter there, only the consciousness.

The consciousness has nothing to do with the mind, which is why, in order to experience, the mind has to be still, quiet enough in order for the consciousness to escape it.

The mind has to be quiet to acquire the knowledge of God. We cannot identify with the egoic desire to experience God, because then we will remain trapped in the mind. The mind is the abode of desire.

"Many extremely dangerous demons live in the world of the Cosmic Mind! On a certain occasion, we entered a very luminous temple of the world of the mind. All of us, the investigators, were functioning with our Mental Body. In that temple, there was a venerable group of elders. They were dressed in the robes of Masters. They wore sandals. Their white hair fell over their shoulders in beautiful curls. Their long white beards and their wide foreheads gave those elders a magnificent appearance. We, the investigators, believed that we were in a temple of White Magic, before a group of Holy Masters. That was the belief we had! One of those elders pronounced an ineffable speech.

He spoke of sublime things. He spoke divinely. He spoke of love, goodness, beauty, charity, etc. Suddenly, the grand Master began to delicately touch the problem of sex. Then, in a sublime way he said, “Be fruitful, and multiply; the sexual act is nothing bad, seminal ejaculation is not bad, it is necessary for reproduction, because God said: “Be fruitful, and multiply!” (Genesis 1:28)

This and many other terms were used by that venerable elder, to defend seminal ejaculation. It was then that we began to suspect the sanctity of that “saint.” We began to doubt... could this elder be a black magician? However, when looking around us, we only saw venerable elders... splendorous light! Ineffable things... It even seemed a sacrilege to us to doubt this Master and such a holy place! However, the mortifying doubt, in spite of everything, in spite of all our reasoning, continued to afflict us deeply. Then, at this moment one of us, wanting to clear up these doubts, stood up and exclaimed the following phrases: “Hail to the Christ! Down with Javhe!

Christ and Javhe are the two antitheses. Light and Darkness! White Magic and Black Magic…! Javhe is that demon that tempted Christ on the mountain. Javhe is a terribly perverse demon! He is the Chief of the black magistracy.

So, when we shouted, “Hail to Christ,” and “Down with Javhe,” that Black Lodge, filled with anger, and became enraged with us. Black magicians adore Javhe; they follow Javhe... Thus, this is what happened that night within that temple in the world of the mind!" - Divine Science by Samael Aun Weor

There are many people in these times that have the desire of knowing about God through kabbalah. So, they read the Bible, they go to the bookstore and they read this or that book of kabbalah. Sometimes they learn things, but they are unknown to the consciousness; that is only in the horizontal.

In order to experience the being, you have to work on yourself, in your three brains, namely, intelectual brain, emocional brain and motor-instinctual-sexual brain. You have to quiet your three brains in order for the consciousness to escape and experience the being.

Everyone is at their own level. Every scripture, every true spiritual teaching, every message has seven levels of interpretation, according to the law of seven. But the interpretation for one consciousness is the same for the other, without any difference; in other words, the truth is universal. However, depending on the intensity with which you see things, will reflect in the depth of your comprehension.

Take this chair, for example. If we inquire into how this chair was made, I will do it in my way, and you in yours. But provided our inquiry is sincere and determined, each of us in our investigation will reach the same conclusion, right? It is the same with the consciousness. Through your way, maybe it will take more time, because of your level, but it will be the same thing, because it is the reality. Do you understand that?

Of course, there are many levels. There are things that one person who is in a very high will understand and will conclude, while another person might take years and years in order to finally comprehend what the other person understood easily. It depends on the ego.

Someone who is at the pinnacle of the vertical line, with no ego, will comprehend things very easily. But, for another, like us, with very fat egos, it is a much more difficult process.

While you ascend, when you are working on yourself, comprehending your errors the ego diminishes more and more and more. But, what is important to remember is that upon the vertical line, you can also descend. There are many people that, instead of ascending, they descend.

If you hear about the fallen angels, they were on the top, highly developed before they fell. That is why it is said that they became demons. So, the level of the being is in relation with our behavior, consciously speaking; how our consciousness behaves. It is not related with the behavior in the horizontal line, because in the horizontal line, you can be a good person; you can improve yourself in your job and in your work, but that has nothing to do with the vertical.

There is a lot of people that do good things in the horizontal line for others, but they are not advancing in the vertical.

There are things that, for people identified with the horizontal line, are very important. Yet, when one rises in the vertical, to a certain higher level, what was important, is now unimportant, because one learns to see life in a different way.

When people enter into this knowledge, which is the knowledge of vertical development, some are still very identified with the horizontal, where the personality is developed. They say, “This is very important! Because in order to be somebody in this world, you are going to need this and this and this,” and that is because they remain yet trapped in that level.

Meanwhile, if you are advancing and you are in a higher level, and you say “What? I do not have to identify with what these people say.” And if you communicate that to this person who is very identified with the horizontal, he will turn and say, “You are crazy. Are you in a cult or what?” They do not understand, because they are in a different level.

That is why one needs to know how to communicate with others.

This is directly related to our progression up the vertical: we have to learn how to behave with others, how to communicate with others. The best thing is to inquire in which level this person is, in order to approach the person.

If you approach someone, and you do not know in which level that person is, you can scare the person away. You see?

This is like I said: there are certain people that are in a certain level, that I talk to them and I teach them very heavy knowledge, which is meat. But there are other people that, they do not eat meat, because it is heavy for them. They need to drink milk. And sometimes not even milk: they need water.

So, you have to know to inquire: “Oh, this person needs water.” So, give him water. But if you go and give him meat, he will have indigestion. They cannot digest that. They say, “You are in a cult. This is from the devil.” And this is because you are not deft enough in learning to communicate with someone in that level.

This is why in the vertical, you need to meditate in order to know how to approach society. Sometimes, you need to be quiet. You hear the person, and you say, “No, no, here it is better if I shut my mouth. Let us talk about other things.”

Related with this, when one is very light, that the ego is not being instigated, it is because the circumstances, or the environment, is very pleasant to us; it is not poking us. That is why the master Samael says: “If somebody wants to annihilate the ego, this one has to work voluntarily, in making different types of situations for him by will. Such a person will say, ‘According to my observation, I have a lot of anger.’ Well then, if you know somebody that will always bring that anger out of you, be more frequent with this person.”

This, in order for you to be rid of your anger. So, when we are prepared, and we want to comprehend our anger, or any other defect, we put ourselves in a position where that ego is agitated, so that we can meditate on it. If you are going to put yourself in that position, you have to meditate, otherwise, the exercise was a complete waste. Yet, if you are not in contact with the people that make you angry, and then you feel nice… well, then you will never learn about your anger, because nobody is bothering you.

And suddenly, someone is bothering you; behold that opportunity, that is, in order to "be" here and now, "hold" on with your will, with your consciousness, that opportunity and learn about your anger, that is, learn about your frustrated desire.

Remember: Moses is not desire but willpower, as in the apellation, Eheieh-Amha-אהיה עמך, I will be with you.

So...

“To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes Calamity of so long life.” - Will-i-am Shakespeare

Thank you very much.