Gnostic Path

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:32:00 +0000

“Time brings to light everything that is now hidden, and covers everything that, at this moment, shines with splendour.”

“Death is the crown in the path of life. This path is formed by the hooves of the horse of death.”

- Samael Aun Weor

Life and death are two sides of the same coin. Nature fabricates our body for use by the soul, and in time She once again takes back what is Hers. At the point of death we are left with nothing other than what we have done in our life.

When a person reaches old age, they are left with the sum total of their deeds in life. The ego through its many experiences becomes more complicated and has more memories. If a person does not work on themselves in life, they end up facing old age with simply memory of a life gone by. A person may live a relatively happy life in these memories but in memories nonetheless.

To enjoy true peace and liberty in old age we must dissolve the psychological “I”, only then can we truly continue to live in the moment. The consciousness living in the moment experiences happiness, freedom and inspiration. A consciousness conditioned by memory lives in desire or in times past but its possibilities for death are limited.

“O nobly-born …., the time hath now come for thee to seek the Path (in reality). Thy breathing is about to cease. Thy guru hath set the face to face before with the Clear Light; and now thou art about to experience it in its Reality in the Bardo state, wherein all things are like the void and cloudless sky, and the naked, spotless intellect is like unto a transparent vacuum without circumference or centre. At this moment, know thou thyself; and abide in that state.”

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

Death is the crown of our life and one who works to develop the living values of the soul through life faces death with inspiration. The psychological “I’ on the other hand, fears death. The “I” wants to continue, does not want to cease to exist, and wants to carry its attachments into the afterlife. It is this desire that can make death a very painful and difficult process for many people. If those surrounding the dying are not conscious of the process of death, they can also make this time a very difficult one.

By dying to the Self in life, we become conscious of the meaning of death. Initiates are described variously as being “those who are alive, yet dead” and this means that although they may be physically alive, they are internally dead to their personality, to their subjective mind and to their impulsive desires. They have total knowledge of who they are and where they come from and so can face the prospect of death with dignity, with light and with true knowledge (Gnosis).

Angels of Death

The vital body is given to a person by the Angels of Life. This same body is taken from the physical body by the Angels of Death. They work under the direction of the Lords of Karma and our own particular Divine Mother Death. In life, a person lives according to their karmic fate. Karma deposits certain values in each of the 3 brains and as we squander these energies mechanically during life, we take ourself closer to death. At the determined hour and date, the Angels of Death are charged with the task of separating the physical and vital body by severing the Antakarana chord (the “silver chord”) that links the two. The Angels of Death then assist the deceased by guiding them through the internal worlds, by protecting them and teaching them. The Angels of Death are complete Masters, are complete Beings and are full of light and force. However, when “officiating”, they can be seen clairvoyantly at the bed of the dying with a skeletal appearance. This is, in a sense, the “uniform” of the Angels of Death.

Being unconscious, a person can do nothing to affect this nor learn from this experience. The unconscious essence will be subject to the Law of Karma and Return, following the processes of Evolution and Involution in a mechanical way. However, with consciousness, a person can live through this process awakened and see the mysteries of death face to face. One who has incarnated the Soul may choose to prolong their life in order to complete certain works by negotiating with the Law and the Angels of Death directly. Some Masters are able to prolong their life indefinitely by taking the Elixir of Longevity. Saint Germain, Paracelsus, Nicolas Flamel, Babaji and Mataji are such examples.

Practice:

Meditation on the Mystical Death. Reflecting on what it means to “die to ourself” from “moment to moment”. Serene reflection, silence and comprehension.

This practice is more of a mystical work of the internal death rather than a practice of psychoanalysis. Death to the Self is a continual renunciation of the internal activities of the ego in order to rest in the profound silence of the awakened consciousness. The path of inner death is the path of liberation.

Mantras: Ham- Sagh, KRIM

Gnosis and the Four Pillars of Knowledge

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:07:00 +0000

“Gnosis, a Permanent Source of Knowledge.”

Gnostic Foundations

“Gnosis is customarily interpreted as the search of an absolute and liberating knowledge.”

Through dictionaries we can affirm today, that the word “Gnosis” is Greek and that in a general sense simply means “knowledge.” But in the most profound sense it has meant in many eras of humanity, the resurgence of a current linked to the explanation of the physical and metaphysical phenomena of man.

In a more descriptive manner, Theodotus identified Gnosis as the liberating knowledge from a series of questons: “What were we? What have we become? Where were we? Where have we been cast? Where are we going? From what do we liberate ourselves? What is birth? What is rebirth?” (excerpt from Theodotus.) As an answer to these mysteries of existence, doctrinal development arises: man substantially tends towards union with the Absolute, the authentic and perfect, although ineffable; know then, due to a specific destiny, man resides in exile in an imperfect world which imprisons and troubles him. The only path to liberation is knowledge of himself and the recognition of his separation from an ineffable and divine consciousness.

The fall of degenerated man is the foundation of the Theology of all ancient nations. Plato also bore witness in this manner, that such was the doctrine of the Orphics which he himself taught. According to Philolaos, the Pythagorean (5th century BC) ancient philosopher said that the psychic material, the human essence, was imprisoned within the “I” as in a tomb, as punishment for some error.

Gnosticism is in itself a verbal or grammatical structure which encompasses the idea of doctrinal systems of East and West that intend to return to consciousness, conditioned by animal Ego, its original state of infinity and universality. “The one who attains knowing in this manner knows where he has come from and where he is going. He knows like the drunkard, who has regained awareness, that he has recovered what is proper to him.” (Gospel of Truth, The Nag Hammadi Library).

Basically, Gnostic studies begin with a correct relationship with oneself, in other words, with consciousness, its cosmic origin, its fall into the world of forms which is governed by fatality and the law of birth and death; the necessity that consciousness be awakened by its superior counterpart, in order to be able to reintegrate himself to his primitive state.

If it is true that we should take into consideration in any Gnostic system its Hellenistic oriental elements, including those of Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, India, Palestine, Egypt, etc., we should never ignore the Gnostic principles perceptible in the sublime religious worships of the Nahuatl, Toltec, Aztec, Zapotec, Maya, Chibcha, Inca, Quechua, Hopi Lakota, Sioux and other Native American cultures.

The basic principles of the great universal wisdom are always identical. Both the Buddha, like Hermes Thrismegistus, Quetzalcoatl or Jesus of Nazareth, and other great Men, delivered a message

and each of these messages from above, in themselves, contain identical principles of a completely impersonal and universal type.

Gnosis, the initiatic science, the science of cosmic knowledge, is the synthesis of all doctrines; that is why the variants of its name are many, existing in each language.

The Greek word Gnosis, is but the Latin “Jina” rendered into English, its true writing (doctrine) is derived from Pharsi and Arabic; originally it was not “Jina” but “Djin” or “Djinn,” and this is how we find it used by many authors.

Jan, Chhan, or Kan, Dan, Dzan, D’jan, Jain, Jian, Ioan, Kwan, Swan, Thanos, Thoan, Choan, are all equivalents of Jana, Yana, Gnana, Gnosis, Knowledge.

But not everything is authentic Gnostic knowledge. In this manner we have doctrines that externally present characteristics which can be identified with Gnostic systems, but that essentially are not a Gnostic system. “Thought which is not, and is, Gnostic” is known as “Pre-Gnostic.”

“Proto-Gnostic,” is every Gnostic system in an incipient and germinal state, movements directed by an attitude, which is very similar to that which characterizes the defined Gnostic currents.

The adjective “Gnostic” can be and even should be, intelligently applied both to conceptions, which in one form or another relate to Gnosis as well as to Gnosticism.

The term “Gnostizant,” is very close to pre-gnostic due to its meaning, since the word really is strictly related to intrinsic aspects which possess a certain similarity with Universal Gnosticism, but integrated in a current that is not defined as Gnosis.

Once these clarifications have been established, let us move on to define Gnosticism and its relationship with the four pillars of knowledge: Science, Philosophy, Art, and Mysticism.

Gnostic Means for Expression

“The divorce between science and art, between philosophy and mysticism has provoked the wear and tear of this generation... We no longer appreciate the poetry of nature, the harmony which is inferred from the entire universe and, thereby, human relations have become cold, our heart is not moved by human pain.” Samael Aun Weor.

The Gnostic teaching is based on the communion between science, philosophy, art and mysticism, and seeks to rescue social life’s most elevated individual values.

It comprehends that life is empty if it does not pursue transcendence, the realization of the Being. This would not be possible without developing superior emotion, which humanizes science, sublimates art, elevates philosophy and crystallizes mysticism.

Gnosis is the poetry of understanding, the rose of philosophy, the Light of science, the eternal mystical Spring.

May the Spring outside also be within us!

Gnosis and Science

Through science we understand knowledge. But not all knowledge is scientific, at least in a strict sense, since, for this it has to meet at least two conditions: (1) to be true, and (2) to be evident, which implies that it must be demonstrated. Moreover, scientific knowledge must be required to be ordered and complete, and although this is evident in most of the present scientific investigations, a synthesized order of isolated facts has not been attained.

In this sense, it is not an exaggeration to affirm that so-called “modern science” is neither completely true, nor is it absolutely evident, for in the issue of the origin of life, of species and of man, for instance, a total order does not exist. On the contrary almost all are isolated facts founded on mere hypotheses.

A concrete example of what was previously set forth is the new challenge of science, the subatomic universe; the latter is not objectively demonstrable with the so-called “scientific method” of observation, experimentation and classification.

The most pure observation does not exist for those phenomena, which escape our three-dimensional universe; the subjective constitution of the observer himself and his corresponding apparatus will always condition the experimentation between “the subject who observed” and “the object observed”.

The Gnostic method of scientific experimentation allows one to penetrate into phenomenon itself and to extract from the latter its psychological and cosmic principles, beyond the speed of light barrier, coinciding with the theory of relativity, hyperspace and parallel universes.

Gnostic science studies matter and anti-matter, the constitution of atoms, even in matters, which are totally unknown to today’s official science. The Punctas, for instance, are neither atoms, nor nucleons, nor particles of any type, and do not occupy any space.

Gnosis objectively knows the origin of worlds, suns, universes, and particularly the Ors solar system where we live and have our Being. Everything passes through the crucible of Gnosis.

Gnosis and Philosophy

In itself, philosophy is evident reflection, mystical cognition of the Being, cognitive knowledge of awakened consciousness. Philosophy is the love for wisdom.

Its method is introspection, which leads us towards direct knowledge, although it also participates in evident reflection.

Unquestionably, Gnostic philosophical knowledge always escapes the normal analysis of subjective reason.

The correlation of this knowledge is in the infinite intimacy of the person, the Being. The reason of being of the Being, is the Being itself. Only the Spiritual Being can know himself. The Being, therefore, knows himself through Gnosis.

The Being’s self-knowledge is a movement of superior discernment, which depends on Him, who has nothing to do with the usual intellectual processes.

Gnostic philosophy surges forth from different latitudes, and through Gnostic anthropology we can evince this tremendous reality.

Gnosis and Art

The purpose of art is the search for beauty in its different manifestations. Art is the faithful witness of that great human work known as culture.

Gnosis has been always present in all the great works of universal literature, in the production of the geniuses of music, painting, sculpture, and architecture.

There are two kinds of Art: first, subjective art, which leads nowhere; secondly, nature’s regal art, transcendental art founded on the Law of Seven. Obviously, such art contains cosmic truths in itself.

We find Gnostic art in all archaic pieces in the pyramids and in all the old obelisks of Egypt of the pharaohs, in ancient Mexico, among the Mayas, in the archaeological relics of the Aztecs, Zapotecs, Toltecs, etc., in the hieroglyphs and in all the bas-reliefs of ancient Egypt; in the paintings and sculptures of Michelangelo, in the Gioconda of Leonardo Da Vinci, in the music of Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, Richard Wagner; in all works of Universal Literature such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and much more.

Gnosis and Mysticism

All religions are precious stones strung on the golden thread of the Divinity.

Religions preserve eternal values; false religions don’t exist. It is foolish to say that “the neighbour’s religion is useless and that only ours is authentic.” If the neighbour’s religion is useless, then ours is also useless because the values are always the same.

It is foolish to say that the religion of the native tribes of America is idolatry; then, they also have the right to say that our religion is idolatry. And if we laugh at them, they can also make fun of us.

We cannot discredit the religion of others without also discrediting ours, because the principles are always the same.

Under the sun, every religion is born, grows, develops, multiplies into many sects, and dies. This is how it has always been and this is how it will always be. Religious principles never die. Religious forms can die, but religious principles, in other words, eternal values, never die. These continue, dressing themselves with new forms.

There are profoundly religious men who do not belong to any religion.

Psychoanalytical Anthropology

“Gnostic Anthropology is a psychoanalytical anthropology. Unquestionably, we, by means of psychoanalysis, can extract from each piece, niche, pyramid, tomb, etc., the psychological principles contained in such pieces.

The moment has arrived to comprehend that in all countries of the world, Occult Wisdom throbs; the moment has arrived to understand that under the Pyramids of Egypt flourished the wisdom of the Hierophants; the moment has arrived to know that in the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, the resounding Word of the ancient Masters of Anahuac is still heard. In the name of truth I will say that Cosmic Knowledge flows and throbs in all that is, in all that has been, in all that shall be.

Throughout time, different Hierophants of knowledge shone in the profound night of all ages; once it was Hermes Thrismegistus, the thrice great God Ibis of Thoth, engraving his knowledge in the “Emerald Tablet”; once it was the great sages of ancient Greece, teaching the multitudes the Mysteries of Eleusis; once it was the Hierophants of Assyria and Persia; once it was the Inca Priests, who shone like resplendent suns on the High Cuzco (Peru); once it was the sovereign knowledge of the Priests of Toltec artists of faraway Thule… Yes, here, there and everywhere shines the wisdom of all ages, Occult Wisdom.

There is a great difference between the merely profane Anthropology and Gnostic Anthropology. Through associations of an intellectual kind, the mere profane Anthropology makes logical deductions which may not be, in the reality of the truth in agreement, with the esoteric principles of Anahuac, or of the Toltecs, or of Egypt, and so forth. But Gnostic Wisdom, Gnostic Anthropology, based on precise rules and on traditional eternal principles, knows how to extract from the archaic stones all their esoteric knowledge. Therefore, we should distinguish between Gnostic Anthropology and the mere intellective Anthropology… (Samael Aun Weor).

Gnostic Anthropology

This is a moment of confusion. Humanity finds itself in a chaotic state, there is a world crisis and bankruptcy of all moral principles; people have launched themselves to war, some against others and everyone against everyone. In this moment of world confusion and bankruptcy of all aphorisms and hermetic principles, we have no choice other than to delve deeper into the wisdom of the past, to extract from many Codexes the precise orientation, to guide ourselves in the present moment, to drink from the traditional fountain of the august wisdom of nature, to seek the first riverbeds of cosmic knowledge.

The moment has arrived in which we should go back to the study of classical books, knowing how to extract, from within, “the letter which kills” and the “Spirit that gives life.”

Man, in himself, is a mystery. The ancients said: “Nosce Te Ipsum” (Man, know yourself… and you will know the Universe and the Gods)… The time has arrived for us to investigate in depth, to go out and meet our own destiny, of going deeper into the profoundity of ourselves.

Through different anthropological and psychological studies, we arrive at the logical conclusion that the “intellectual animal” mistakenly called “man,” in the reality of truth, is not a man. Let us make a full differentiation between the “intellectual mammal” and man. Unquestionably, if we place a man before an “intellectual animal,” we will see that they physically resemble each other, but if we observe them psychologically, we will be able to notice how different they are.

The moment has arrived for Man to be born within ourselves, here and now. Traditional Mountainsof knowledge exist which indicate to us, with precision, which is the path, which leads to the advent of Man.Before all else, it is necessary for true love of wisdom to exist, before all else it is necessary for the disposition to Man to exist.

Frederick Nietzsche speaks of the Super-Man. Frederick Nietzsche forgot that before the Super-Man shines on the face of the Earth, Man should be born first…

The ancient Nahuatls said: “the Gods created men from wood and after having created them, they fused them with Divinity.” The Codex then adds: “Not all men achieved fusion with Divinity”… Obviously, the Man should first be born, through the creation of the Superiorexistential Bodies of the Being; afterwards, he should become integrated with Divinity. When a Man becomes integrated with Divinity, the Super-Man is born.

The Super-Man shines in the night of centuries, he shines on the majestic peaks of Calvary, he astonishes the people of Mount Nebo; the Pyramids tremble when they hear his Word which resounds marvellously in the lectures of Pythagoras; it vibrates extraordinarily on the Pyramids of Egypt and Yucatan; like a Sun, he causes the High Cuzco of Peru to shine.

The Super-Man shines for an instant and then disappears from among the multitudes; the Super-Man is beyond good and evil: he knows the good of the bad and the bad of the good.

Gnosis and Psychism

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:14:00 +0000

The typical explanation for Gnosis is that it is "Knowledge through direct experience". In life, experience does not always equate to knowledge and the Gnostic work is just the same.

What is psychism? It is using the faculties to explore other dimensions that can not be seen directly- this includes anything to do with the so-called paranormal. Gnosis is not in anyway psychism, although the two have similarities in that they both deal with the unseen. Gnosis itself has the addition of knowledge, comprehension and insight of the experience via "evident self reflection of the Being" (VM Samael).

There is a lot of information regarding the dream or astral worlds. In some areas it is taught that this is what Gnosis is- to simply wake up in your dreams and develop a catalogue of internal experiences, almost as a tourist would collect souveniers from each place they visited. But just because we have been somewhere or experienced something, it does not mean that we have automatically changed to assimilate the truth of that experience. If we take the example of a tourist, just becasue a person has been somewhere doesn't mean that they know the people, the culture or the way of life of the place- it just means that they have been there. In fact, if we see someone desiring to talk about where they have been and what they have done, it tells us more about their psychology than their insight.

Gnosis is knowledge, comprehension and wisdom that is gained through direct intuitive insight, or direct experience. This can definitely take the form of astral experiences, but the Gnostic experience is deeper than this. The Gnostic experience is essentailly a unitive or ecstatic experience and is one that allows us to know our permanent reality- the Being. It is a path of love, a path of service and one of renunciation to worldly attachments so "this heart and spirit can be free" (Gnostic teaching).
VM Samael explains that "Initiation is life itself, lived with rectitude and with love", implying that Gnosis is a study of ethics. Ethics are functions or values of the Being, they have nothing to do with morals. Morals are rules that tell us what to do in a given situation and actually contribute to keeping us asleep. There is no self reflection, no wisdom to be gained from blindly following a moral code. Morals are also relative from culture to culture and in different eras. Ethics, however, guide us on a path dedicated to cultivating the values of the Being in accordance with our insight and experience.

It is important to appreciate the depth of the Gnostic work and to avoid relating Gnosis to simply a quasi- mindfulness/ lucid dream philosophy. This simplistic view will not allow a deeper exploration of what it truly means to face ourself or begin a true inner change.

Practices for Conscious Astral Experiences

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 06:08:00 +0000

The Gnostic tradition provides a range of mantras and practices that enable a person to awaken in the internal worlds. It is useful to understand some of the processes of sleep and why these practices are effective.

VM Samael speaks about the need for us to "awaken" consciousness and that we are "asleep". This can be taken figuratively in that we are identified with life and our own mind, but we can also understand it as learning how to awaken from our ordinary sleep during the night- how can we bring consciousness to this moment of our daily life?

When we lie down to sleep at night, we do not sleep all the way through as we might think. If I lie down at 11 o'clock and get up at 5 or 6, we think we have slept for 6 or 7 hours. In reality, we have slept a much shorter time as we go through several cycles of sleep that go over a 1.5 to 2.5 hour period. During this time, we progress through REM (Rapid Eye Movement, a term that identifies the state of sleep where dreams are supposed to occur) for a few minutes at a time, into deeper states of sleep and then gradually begin to wake up from this.

Imagine a wave with several peaks and troughs (diagram above) and this is more like our general sleeping cycles. This means that the actual sleep we need is much less than we think and the problem is that we do not sleep efficiently, leaving the majority of the time for the ego to project it's random fantasies, memories etc. through the mind. Observe what happens as we move closer to the dream state- our thoughts and images become more scattered and less coherant. This means that the ego can strengthen itself but it is this time that we should be using to increase the depth of our work and the inner psychological death.

We are, in a sense, addicted to sleep. When we feel tired it is not that we do not have enough sleep it is that we do not have quality sleep. If we learn to use the time that we normally "sleep" at night for practices, our body will still receive the rest it needs, when we do sleep we will move into the deeper states much more rapidly and most importantly, we inject a much needed ingredient into the sleepy state- consciousness. VM Samael explains that we need to combine meditation with sleepiness in order to open the imagination or go consciously to the astral world.

Some practices that we can use to develop this are simply to mdeitate before going to bed and upon waking up in the morning. At these times, the subconscious is more open and if we can transform the internal impressions that are being generated we will achieve greater results in terms of comprehension and elimination of the defects. This is because we are working directly on the hypnotc power of sleep in the subconscious. If we can harness the force and comprehension needed to keep the consciousness active in these moments, we will have a greater "base line" of concentration during ordinary waking states.

Another part to this practice is to wake up in the evening- at 1 or 2 in the morning- get out of bed and meditate for half an hour. At this time, the subconscious will be completely open and is generally when we have a range of strange thoughts and images being generated. We basically bring consciousness to this moment and take advantage of the normal cycles for our own work. Over time, we can gradually increase this practice to one or several hours.

People who knew VM Samael personally have explained that he would develop his practices during the night and if we read his books we can see that this is definitely the case. He explains that we should "retire to bed at 10:00pm in order to do our practices" and that we "should practice almost all night until dawn".

To begin, it is worth establishing this discipline of waking up during the night and develop this practice as we become accustomed to it. One of the first effects we will notice is that the dreams become much clearer and if we can meditate deeply without succumbing to sleep, either physically or psychologically, we will naturally have more lucid experiences.

Once we have established this discipline in accordance with our own capacities, the mantras will have a much greater effect. However, the true value of these practices is found in being able to accelerate the inner psychological death for if you can comprehend and separate from a facet of the subconscious when the dreams are so strong and so hypnotic, the level of inner transformation reaches a much greater depth.

The Circumstances for the Path

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 06:12:00 +0000

The esoteric path is one that is unique to each individual. What this means is that each person brings their own karma, their own capacities as an essence, the esoteric reality of their particular Being, their Ray, past lives etc. Our lived experience will be unique, however the principles of the Path will remain forever the same.

This means, for example, there is no other way of attaining the realisation without the death of the ego, the Alchemical birth or without sacrifice. How we die, the unfolding of the birth and what constitutes a sacrifice is up to each person to discover for themselves with only their conscience as a guide. The more we dedicate to our internal work, the more results we experience- it is more a question of mathematics rather than morals.

What are the circumstances for the Path? They are twofold: internal and external and it must be understood that they are fought for, they are conquered and not just handed to us.

Life in itself is mechanical and serves the purposes of karma and inferior laws, it will not simply change our employment or family situation for us so we can do our practices. We must take the time from life to forge an esoteric discipline from the beginning- to be able to do our daily practices, prayers and esoteric exercises without compromising with the activities of the false personality. If we have a discipline but one day forgo our practices because of a trivial event in the personality we are demonstrating through our actions that we are not serious in ourselves.

The Being requires the essence to generate particular values for His work to commence- these values may be persistence, patience, force, serenity etc. and are for each person to discover. VM Samael explains that the Path is won through super-efforts and not through a gentle evolution.

There is a saying: "Don't put off for tomorrow what can be done today." Be aware that each time we delay our work, we avoid dealing with the pain of sacrificing the desires of the false personality and it takes our time, energy and ultimately takes the Path from us. To create the circumstances for the Path, we must have the maturity within us to transform the pain of the personality, to see past its false vision of life and begin to see life as it is: a forge for the Being or a psychological gymnasium.

We are essentially addicted to the sentiments and fantasies of the false personality and it is difficult to recognise this while we are in it. If we inject a new aspect to our life- an esoteric discipline- this can begin to expose these aspects of ourselves. Gurdjieff states that "man can not awaken by himself, he needs superior help." This superior help is the technique, the application of the knowledge. By applying the practices day by day we will begin to see ourself as we are from the point of view of the work. In applying the work it is as though we are gradually molding the clay and, combined with the sexual transmutation, we begin to perfect our internal states so as to harmonise with the higher realities of the Being.

How do we create the circumstances for the Path? By fighting, by working to overcome those attachments that keep us as a victim of our own circumstances. In life, a person does not have to fight, to plan or to analyse how they will eat- they don't have to set an alarm to remind them. They eat because they recognise that without food, they will die. They are instinctively driven by pain (hunger) to search for that which will answer to the needs of the body. Therefore, they create a life that will provide for that need ie: we have a job, a house etc. Our esoteric practices must be seen in the same light- that without them, we will doubtless fall into the trap of our own Self, our preoccupations, our past, our chains and in realising this we will seek to create cirumstances that are pro-work, pro-path.

This can only be done when we have realised through our own efforts the benefits of the practice. Then we can see that we need our practices as we need food. Initially, it is important to dedicate an amount of time to our practices so as to see real and tangible results from them. For example, dedicate 1 hour everyday to a particular defect for several weeks, or use a particular mantra for several weeks etc. so as to experience results from these practices. If we can not envision being able to practice everyday for several weeks as we don't know where we will be or when we will be home etc. then this is what we need to look at- do we have control in life or does life have control over us?

The circumstances of life are useful when we are above them, when the needs of the work dictate the time we make available for life and not the other way around.

The Psychology of Transformation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Gnosis has been described as a transformative knowledge and I feel this term is one that expresses well the human experience of the Gnostic path. The knowledge we are seeking to attain is not simply information to collect, to satisfy curiosity or as a type of mystical vanity. The knowledge in itself must have a transformative effect on our psychology- it must change how we perceive ourself and the world we are in. In this sense, the psychological work is one that must be confronting and revealing about who we thought we were.

We need to remember that as we are, we are essentially trying to do the Gnostic work while our consciousness is asleep and this means that we generally translate or label what we observe. You may hear terms such as "that is just my ego of pride" or "that is my lust" etc. However, it is impossible to draw a line in ourself to mark out clearly what is what- our psychology is much like an ecosystem where everything is interconnected with everything else. In the Buddhist traditions this is referred to as "Interdependent Origination", which means that nothing has an existence that is intrinsically in and of itself- everything arises due to the chain of causation. The labels that we apply to our inner work are for our use and to help with a common language for expression within the Gnostic traditions but it is a mistake to label something with the belief that we have now comprehended it.

Phoenix Rising

VM Samael uses the Buddhist terminology of "psychic aggregates" and also describes how the essence is bottled up within these aggregates. When we enter into the field of working on our own psychology, it is important to understand that we are dealing with a multifaceted machine that works in accordance with certain laws and processes of causality. Therefore, it can be mapped- its habits can be understood, signs and symptoms can be recognised and we can learn how to transform it.

We can make the mistake of believing that we have to find the "first cause" in order to unravel the whole structure and, although in the total sense of the work that is true, we don't have to go to the deepest recesses of the mind to exerience some level of inner transformation- we just need to go to a deeper level to that which we are normally on.

This brings us to meditation. The meditation practice allows us to activate the free consciousness in order to perceive the psychic reality of our own self, our own ego, which is composed of many "selves". Meditation should allow the imagination- our ability to see- to come to the fore. What does this mean? In a practical sense, it means that we should arrive to the sleepy state in meditation, to be able to meditate and get to a point where we are just on the verge of falling to sleep but able to keep our concentration. In this state, we will naturally begin to see dream-like images without any provocation, they arise spontaneously. This is when the imagination is beginning to open.

It is much easier in this state to bypass or rather undermine the ordinary analysis of the mind. The work becomes one of imagination and emotion (or inspiration). We concentrate in ourself and see ourself clearly with this "I" acting within us. We need to understand this part of us and what it wants. The ego is comparable to a person in life who, lacking the ability to communicate effectively, will resort to behavior that, although desctructive, gets them what they want. So a person who is violent may want respect, or more to the point self respect, but they feel they get it by threatening or intimidating others. When we understand this, the issue is no longer about the "wrong" or "bad" behavior- it is now about becoming conscious of the virtue they are lacking, to concentrate on how to cultivate the true self respect. As this is done, the need to attack others will diminish as the essence has realised her true function- to stand up for what is right, to have dignity in the eyes of the Being rather than in the eyes of other people. We remove the issue of relativity from the machinery of the ego.

In the same way, when we question a part of our Self we need to see that it is trapped essence that is lost, unknown to itself and has become something that is now not functioning in harmony with the higher parts of the Being. The work is to uncover the trapped essence, to free her. We are working to transform ourself through insight, to liberate the essence from her own bottle. VM Samael explains that "the ego acts according to its own embottlement"- to break the bottle implies a dual process of comprehending both bottle and essence.

When do we know this process of inner transformation has taken place? Use the practice as a litmus test as the ego can easily transform its clothes to appear ego-less without this process of confrontation or transformation actually taking place. If, in this practice, we feel a sense of repentance or questioning of ourself it is a sign that we, as a consciousness, have some results. These results can be a sense that we have wasted so much time in our life acting in a way that we did not actually have to. We comprehend what it is we are truly seeking and that this is found within the Being himself, not outside of us. As part of this inner transformation the consciousness develops a type of "desperation" for want of a better term. She recognises that without the light, without the Being, the Divine Mother, she is left to the darkness of the "third triple power" of the story of Pistis Sophia, and this power will seek to take her light from her. She does not want to go back to sleep and she feels the need to fight for the light.

Many times we may change something but then forget and the old patterns come up again. This happens when we have not generated light in our comprehension- it has been more of a mental or speculative understanding. When we comprehend something truly, the light in that knowledge will fight for the light within the Being and we will not be able to rest being the same as what we are. We may still fall back into the same patterns but not in the same way- we will have knowledge of what we are doing and will feel the need to work on ourself if our yearings are sincere.

Once we have attined this insight into a facet in ourself, the mapping of our psychology has a use. In VM Samael books he always describes observing the ego in terms of the imagination. He describes having an attack of "self love" after being criticised by his son but he sees it after he concentrates within himself and sees the creature there infront of him. He did not fantasise this scenario, he saw it as he had the imagination awake. Therefore, his analysis was based on what he actually saw. As we are asleep, we analyse the ego based on its expressions, based on its effect in the human machine, but rarely work directly on the ego itself.

The analysis of our psychology is necessary in order for us to bring the insights gained in these practices into our ordinary life, to correct our habitual way of thinking to assimilate this new perception. Not to imitate the virtue but to perceive ourself in a new way. In doing this, we bring the changes into life, we experience life with new values and all the consequences of those values, both good and bad. We learn how to live as an essence, as a Being and in this way the Divine Mother can give a trajectory in our life that is founded in the needs of Her path. Our life becomes one that is then lived to cultivate those internal processes of death and birth and we loose our "personal" life to the life of the path- we change truly from the horizontal to the vertical line of life. From our ordinary experience, Gnosis is then a transformative knowledge.

On Work on Oneself

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:10:00 +0000

by Maurice Nicoll
(Psychological Commentaries Vol 1)

It is necessary to work on oneself to-day. Each day is an epitome of one's life. One's life is what remains at death—that is, a person is his life, and this is what is meant when it is said in the scriptures that the book of one's life or the book of life is opened at death. A man is his life. A day in one's life is a small replica of one's life. If a man does not work on a day in his life, he cannot change his life, and if he says that he wishes to work on his life and change it, and docs not work on a day in his life, his work on himself remains purely imaginary. He solaces himself with the imagination that he is going to work on his life and actually never begins to work on a single day of his life. One's life is broken up into days and years. If a man does not work on a day of his life by self-observation by means of applying the ideas of this work practically to what he observes, there is no starting-point. He says, perhaps, that he will work to-morrow. You remember the saying that we will have jam to-morrow. But it is always to-morrow. If a man says: "I will begin to work on myself to-morrow", then he will never work on himself, for it is always to-morrow that he will work and never to-day. This is sometimes called in the work the disease of mañana —to-morrow. As long as a man says always mañana—that is, to-morrow —he will never change.
In order to work on oneself it is necessary to circumscribe the field of work—that is, not to dream idly of working in the future on some grand occasion but to work to-day—to circumscribe practical work to
to-day, to this very day with its events, and not think in terms of to-morrow. Have you begun to observe yourself in regard to the day —the ordinary every-recurring day that is the cosmically determined
miniature of the year and of one's whole life? You all know that saying: "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof". But have you thought what this saying means and have you considered the context in which Christ made this remark? What, for instance, does it mean when it is said sufficient. Sufficient for what? It is sufficient to work on the evil of to-day. If a man begins to work even a little on the day and its vexations and troubles, he then begins to work practically on himself. But he must get to know his day and get to know himself in relation to his day. There is a certain average day that each person passes through, apart from very unusual events. The events of the ordinary day have, as you will admit, a certain recurring similarity for each person. Now suppose that a man never realizes this and never observes himself in connection with the typical events of his average day, how can he even think he is' working on himself and how can he even suppose he can change himself? Change of being begins with changing your reactions to actual incidents of the day. This is the beginning of taking your life in a real and practical sense in a new way. If you behave in the same way every day to the same recurring events of the day, how can you believe that you can change? To get to know yourself, begin with observing your behavior towards the events of a single day in your life.
Notice how you react—that is, notice your mechanical reactions to all the little events that happen and to other people and notice what you say, feel, think and so on. Then try to see how you can change these
reactions. Of course if you are certain that you always behave consciously and rationally and that you are never in the wrong, and so on, nothing will ever change in you, for you will never be able to realize that you are a machine, a mechanical person, always saying and feeling and thinking and doing typical things according to changing circumstances over and over again. But perhaps, owing to a grain of modesty or a sense of humiliation or, better still, owing to increasing consciousness of yourself, you may realize that you are not one—not a fully conscious individual, willing his life consciously at every moment, but at one moment a mean person, at the next an irritable person, at the next a benevolent person and the next a scandalous or slanderous person, at the next a saint, at the next a liar. Try to make the work- exercise of behaving consciously for a small part of one day in your life. Because everything we do affects us for ever. A single moment in which one is conscious enough not to behave mechanically, if it is done willingly, can change many future results. If you learn, say, a little French to-day, you will know more to-morrow, but if you do nothing
to-day, you will know nothing more to-morrow. It is the same with work on oneself. But one must work willingly on oneself and not because one is told to. To work sullenly or for merit, is one thing; to work on oneself because one dislikes something in oneself and longs to alter it, is another thing.
Our whole manner of taking a day in our lives is wrong because by habit it gets fixed and so mechanical. Then indeed we are mechanical and so have no real feeling of what we are doing and our days pass in
a strange unfelt way—i.e., we follow the mechanical habits of the day and so have no real life and take in no new impressions. "It" acts— that is, the machine. But if a man starts his day consciously, the whole day may be rather different for him. But he must get to know what it means to work on himself, taking his life as a day—to see, observe, and realize what a day is for him, and not think that a day for him is unimportant because it is so usual and that work means something in the future—or that work is something "he has no chance yet to apply to himself, because he is so busy with his day's work", as someone once said to me in a serious manner. How do you get up, in what mood are you at breakfast, what always upsets you, etc., etc. ? Please do not think that to change yourself is merely to smoke less or eat less. Remember this work is psychological. Our daily life, our profession, our trade, our occupation, etc., are nothing but a dream with which we identify. But this understanding comes slowly—when we understand better what sleep and mechanicity mean and why mankind is called asleep and life is called mechanical. To work on yourself, begin to work on daily life and then you will understand what is meant by the strange phrase: "Give us this day our daily bread" in the Lord's Prayer. For the word "daily" here means in the Greek supersubstantial bread or "bread from above". The ideas of this work are to give us bread for life in the double sense of ideas and force to meet with the troubles of daily mechanical life and so supersubstantial "bread"; and to feed a new life beginning in oneself, for in the work everyone seeks to become a new person. Now no one can alter his life or change anything in regard to his mechanical reactions to his daily life unless he has the help of new ideas and is helped by the force coming from these new ideas and the new thoughts that are born in his mind if he begins to understand them. Remember that the slightest thing counts in regard to mechanical reaction to
ordinary daily life—the slightest negative reaction matters, and the slightest wrong thinking about oneself or another, or internal considering, or negative imagination, and so on. To prepare lower centres to receive the ideas and force always coming from higher centres (but not heard, as it were, owing to our heavy inner state of sleep) is long work —but every attempt, done willingly, to correct or separate from a negative reaction, every attempt to remember oneself in the presence of a difficulty, every act of sincere observation of oneself, as when one is lying or showing off or making oneself over-important from false personality, or twisting the truth to injure another, helps to make right connections in lower centres and so to prepare them for
conjunction with higher centres and the help that comes from them.

The Practice of Self Observation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:46:00 +0000

A fundamental aspect of the inner work is that of self observation. It is explained in many different ways and different levels that in order to study and learn we must first be able to observe. At first this seems quite a simple task but in practice it becomes apparent that it is much more than just watching what we are doing in any given moment.

The term self observation is one that has a very specific meaning. The meaning of this term in the way it is applied in the contemporary Gnostic schools originates in the schools of the Fourth Way or, more specifically, the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Here it is explained that we do not know how to observe ourselves as the consciousness is generally asleep. A sleeping consciousness, a mechanical person, can not observe themselves in the true sense of the term. This is why in the modern age we have counsellors, psychologists and many other professions that help us to see issues in ourself. We have become so asleep that we need an external source to show us what we are thinking, how we are thinking and help us find a way to change it. In ordinary life there is a great benefit in this, however in terms of the esoteric work this will not suffice as it does not provide us with the “conscious shock” that is needed to awaken. It simply rearranges how we process information in the mind, but an external source can never take us to the direct experience.

VM Samael explains that self observation allows a
ray of light to penetrate the subconscious

To begin, self observation is about becoming aware of internal states. We experience life through a series of internal states- thoughts, emotions, doubts, ambitions etc. all come to create our experience of life. Maurice Nicoll, a psychiatrist and student of the Gurdjieff teachings, explains that “the external events will never be as important as our reactions to them”. In simple terms, we need to observe how our mind, and subsequently our emotions, reacts to the events of life.

This brings us to the task of “self remembering”. Both Gurdjieff and VM Samael explain that to remember oneself has different levels of meaning. On one hand, it is to emotionally remember the Being, our divine nature, to feel the forces of the heart flowing naturally. On the other hand, both speak of self remembering as feeling the body, or “consciously relaxing the body.”

In Vipassna (or "insight") meditation, the emphasis is on just this point- becoming aware of the sensations in the body. The philosophy behind this is that sensations are experienced, or interpreted by the mind, as emotions. As we observe the sensations arising and dissipating we witness their impermanent nature and in doing so we become an observer of our internal states. We then come to realise that internal states are a product of a mind trapped in the world of Maya, or “illusion”. Another understanding implicit in this experience is that we have two natures: one that is changeable, chaotic and reactionary, another that is stable, permanent and comprehensive.

One of the many strengths of the work of VM Samael is the emphasis placed on meditation. If this is lacking then our ability to self remember and self observe will tend to become more of a mental process, ie: we will be telling ourself we should observe ourselves but not actually changing how we are in the world in order for self observation to become a way of living. So, we need to begin to change how we observe and this can be done through daily practice.

A Gnostic instructor once said that mo-chao or serene reflection begins when we perceive the body as energy. To observe is to bring our attention to the moment we are experiencing and this means an awareness of what we perceive, of what we feel, not only physically but also in the internal worlds of the Being.

A practice that can develop this is one of becoming conscious of the physical body. In this practice, we sit and move our awareness through the different parts of the body becoming aware of any feelings, any sensations. Starting at the top of the head and gradually move the attention around the head, down the neck, the left arm, right arm and so on. An important point is that we don’t imagine anything. Rather than picturing a part of the body, we concentrate on it, we feel it. Later, the imagination will begin to open naturally of its own accord and without forced effort.

The practice should take about half an hour to complete and if done each day over a period of a few weeks will naturally develop a different type of awareness about ourselves during the day. A person will notice subtle changes in how or what they feel from moment to moment without having to think about it. If done well, a person can then bring awareness to their whole body in a given moment, the effect of which is that the muscles will release any tension being provoked by the subconscious (this is what is meant by “consciously relaxing the body”- it isn’t that we put in an effort to relax, the effort is to become aware and non-reactive, thereby ceasing to engage in the internal state that is sustaining the tension)

This practice is a simple way to experience the first stages of self observation and also to develop the skills needed for meditation, particularly concentration on the energies in the body and developing sensitivity, both emotionally and psychically. We can strengthen this skill during the day, at any moment, by becoming aware of any the physical body and our internal state. Then we can see why self observation and self remembering are necessary for the more mystical practices in the Gnostic traditions, it allows us to experience directly the results of a mantra or other exercise because the fraction of consciousness we have is active in that moment and registering any activity occurring within our psychic physiology.