The Age of Aquarius

Some psychologists symbolize the consciousness as a knife very capable of separating us from that which is fastened to us, extracting our strength. These psychologists believe that the only way to escape the power of this or that “I” is to observe it more clearly, each time with the objective of comprehending it so as to become cognizant of it. These people think that in this way, separation of ourselves from this or that “I” will eventually occur, although it may be just by the width of a knife’s edge. In this manner, they say, the “I” separated by the consciousness resembles a cut plant. Becoming conscious of any “I,” according to them, means separating it from our psyche and condemning it to death. Without question, although apparently very convincing, such an idea fails in practice. An “I” which has been cut off from our personality by the knife of consciousness, thrown out of the house like the black sheep of the family, continues in the psychological space. Transformed into a demon of temptation, it insists on returning home. It does not submit so easily. In no way does it wish to eat the bitter bread of exile. It looks for an opportunity, and when we let down our guard for a minute it accommodates itself anew within our psyche. Gravest of all, is that within an exiled “I,” there is always a certain percentage of Essence, consciousness, imprisoned. All those psychologists who think this way have never been successful in dissolving any of their “I’s”; they have actually failed. No matter how hard one tries to evade the question of the Kundalini, it remains a very serious problem. In fact, the “ungrateful child” never progresses in the esoteric work on himself. Obviously, an “ungrateful child” is anyone who scorns Isis, our own particular, individual, Divine Cosmic Mother. Isis is one of the autonomous parts of our own Being, yet a derivative. The igneous serpent of our magical powers is Kundalini. Obviously, only Isis has the absolute power to disintegrate any “I,” this is irrefutable, indisputable and incontrovertible. Kundalini is a compound word: KUNDA reminds us of the abominable “Kundabuffer organ,” and LINI is an Atlantean term meaning termination. Kundalini means “the termination of the abominable Kundabuffer organ.” In this case, it is imperative not to confuse Kundalini with Kundabuffer. As we already stated in a previous chapter, the igneous serpent of our magical powers is found coiled up three and a half times inside of a certain magnetic center, located in the coccygeal bone at the base of the spinal column. When the serpent rises, it is Kundalini; when it descends, it is the abominable Kundabuffer organ. Through White Tantra the serpent ascends victoriously along the spinal canal awakening the powers of deification. Through Black Tantra the serpent hurtles downward from the coccyx toward the atomic infernos of the human being. This is how many are transformed into terribly perverse demons. Those who make the mistake of attributing all the sinister, negative characteristics of the descending serpent to the ascending serpent, definitely fail in the Work upon themselves. The evil consequences of the abominable Kundabuffer organ can only be annihilated with the Kundalini. It would not be an overstatement to say that such evil consequences are crystallized in the pluralized ego of revolutionary psychology. The hypnotic power of the descending serpent has submerged humanity in unconsciousness. By contrast, only the ascending serpent can awaken us. This truth is an axiom of Hermetic wisdom. Now we understand better the deep significance of the sacred word Kundalini. Conscious will is always represented as a sacred woman, Mary, Isis, who crushes the head of the descending serpent. Frankly speaking, in plain language, the dual flow of light, the living and astral fire of the Earth has been represented in ancient mysteries as a serpent with a bull, billy goat, or dog’s head. It is the double serpent of the Caduceus of Mercury and the tempting serpent of Eden. But it is also, without the slightest doubt, the bronze serpent of Moses entwined in the “Tau,” that is to say, the “generating lingam.” This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Moses-serpent.jpg It is the male goat of the Sabbath and the Baphomet of Gnostic Templars, the Hyle of universal Gnosticism, the double tail of the serpent that forms the feet of the solar cockerel of Abraxas. The “black lingam” inserted in the metallic “yoni,” (symbols of the God Shiva, of Hindustani divinity) is the secret key to awaken and develop the ascendant serpent or Kundalini. This is under the lifelong condition of never spilling the “vessel of Hermes Trismegistus,” the thrice great God, Ibis of Thoth. We have spoken between the lines for those who know how to understand. Whosoever has understanding let them understand, for herein lies wisdom. Black Tantra practitioners are different. They awaken and develop the abominable Kundabuffer organ, serpent of temptation from Eden, when they commit the unforgivable crime of spilling the sacred wine during their rites. Samael Aun Weor https://www.lanuevaeradeacuario.org/english/the-knife-of-consciousness/

In the field of practical life, each person has his own criteria, his own more or less stale way of thinking, and never opens himself to anything new; this is irrefutable, indisputable, incontrovertible. The mind of the intellectual humanoid is degenerated, deteriorated, in a clear state of devolution. Indeed, the intellectual capacity for understanding of today’s humanity is similar to that of an old, inert and absurd mechanical structure, itself incapable of any authentic flexible phenomena. The mind lacks ductility, it is bottled up in multiple rigid and outdated norms. Each person has their own criteria and certain rigid rules within which they act and react incessantly. The most serious thing about this whole issue is that the millions of criteria are equivalent to millions of putrid and absurd norms. In any case, people never feel wrong, each mind is a world itself and there is no doubt that among so many mental recesses there are many distracting sophisms and unbearable stupidities. But the narrow criteria of the multitudes do not even remotely suspect the intellectual bottleneck in which they find themselves. These modern people with “cockroach brains” think the best of themselves, they boast of being liberals, of super-geniuses, they believe that they have very broad criteria. The enlightened ignorants turn out to be the most difficult, because in reality, speaking this time in the Socratic sense we will say: “Not only do they not know, but, in addition, they ignore that they do not know.” Socrates The intellectual scoundrels clinging to these antiquated norms of the past are violently prosecuted by virtue of their own bottleneck and emphatically refuse to accept something that in no way can fit within their steel standards. The enlightened know-it-alls think that everything that for one reason or another goes outside the rigid path of their rusty procedures is one hundred percent absurd. In this way, these poor people with such difficult judgments deceive themselves miserably. The pseudo-sages of this era boast of being brilliant, they look down on those who have the courage to depart from their time-worn norms, the worst of all is that they do not even remotely suspect the harsh reality of their own obtuseness. The intellectual pettiness of stale minds is such that they even allow themselves the luxury of demanding demonstrations about what is real, about what is not of the mind. People with a rickety and intolerant intelligence do not want to understand that the experience of reality only comes in the absence of the ego. Unquestionably, in no way would it be possible to directly recognize the mysteries of life and death as long as the *inner mind has not been opened within ourselves. *(Study the lecture “The Three Minds” here) It is worth repeating in this chapter that only the superlative consciousness of the Being can know the truth. The inner mind can only function with the data provided by the Cosmic Consciousness of the BEING. The subjective intellect, with its reasoning dialectic, can know nothing about that which escapes its jurisdiction. We already know that the content concepts of reasoning dialectics are elaborated with the data provided by the senses of external perception. Those who are bottled up within their intellectual procedures and fixed norms always resist these revolutionary ideas. Only by radically and definitively dissolving the EGO is it possible to awaken consciousness and truly open the inner mind. However, since these revolutionary declarations do not fit within formal logic, nor within dialectical logic, the subjective reaction of the involutionary minds opposes violent resistance. These poor intellectual people want to put the ocean in a glass, they assume that the university can control all the wisdom of the universe and that all the laws of the Cosmos are obliged to submit to its old academic norms. The ignorant paragons of wisdom do not even remotely suspect the degenerate state in which they find themselves. Sometimes such people stand out for a moment when they come to the Esoteric world, but soon they go out like will-o’-the-wisps, they disappear from the panorama of spiritual concerns, they are swallowed up by the intellect and disappear from the scene forever. The superficiality of the intellect can never penetrate the legitimate depths of BEING, but the subjective processes of rationalism can lead fools to all kinds of very brilliant but absurd conclusions. The formulative power of logical concepts in no way implies the experience of reality. The convincing game of reasoning dialectics self-fascinates the reasoner, making him always confuse the cat with the hare. The brilliant procession of ideas blinds the scoundrel of the intellect and gives him a certain self-sufficiency so absurd as to reject everything that does not smell of library dust and university ink. The “delirium tremens” of alcoholic drunkards have inconclusive unmistakable symptoms, but that of those drunken on theories is easily confused with genius. When we get to this part of our chapter, we will say that it is certainly very difficult to know where the intellectualism of scoundrels ends and where madness begins. As long as we continue bottled up within the rotten and stale norms of the intellect, the experience of that which is not of the mind, that which is not of time, that which is real will be more than impossible. Samael Aun Weor *Note: The term “Involution” is used in relation to Degeneration, which is A retrograde or degenerative change, such as in biology or zoology https://www.lanuevaeradeacuario.org/english/intellectual-norms/

The Kundalini We have arrived at a very thorny point, I want to refer to this question of the Kundalini, the igneous serpent of our magical powers, mentioned in so many texts of oriental wisdom. Undoubtedly, the Kundalini has a lot of documentation and is something worth investigating. In the texts of Mediaeval Alchemy, the Kundalini is the astral sign of the sacred sperm, STELLA MARIS, the VIRGIN OF THE SEA, who wisely guides the laborers of the Great Work. Among the Aztecs she is TONANTZIN, among the Greeks the CASTE DIANA, and in Egypt she is ISIS, the DIVINE MOTHER of whom no mortal has lifted the veil. There is not any doubt whatsoever that Esoteric Christianism never stopped adoring the Divine Mother Kundalini; obviously she is MARAH or better said RAM-IO, MARIA or MARY. What orthodox religions did not specify, at least as far as the exoteric or public circle is concerned, is the aspect of ISIS in her human individual form. Ostensibly, only in secret were the initiates taught that this Divine Mother exists individually within each human being. It is not superfluous to emphatically clarify that Mother-God, REA, CYBELES, ADONIA or whatever we wish to call her, is a variant of our own individual Being here and now. Specifying, we will say that each of us has his own particular, individual, Divine Mother. There are as many Mothers in heaven as creatures on earth. The Kundalini is the mysterious energy which makes the world exist, an aspect of BRAHMA. In its psychological aspect manifest in the occult anatomy of the human being, the KUNDALINI is coiled three and a half times within certain magnetic center located in the coccygeal bone. There rests numb as any other snake the Divine Princess. In the center of that Chakra or room, exists a female triangle or YONI where there is a male LINGAM established. The sublime serpent KUNDALINI coils around this atomic or magical LINGAM which represents BRAHMA’s sexual creating power. The igneous queen in its serpent form, wakes up with the secretum secretorum of certain alchemical craft which I have clearly taught in my work titled: The Mystery of Golden Blossoming. Unquestionably, when this divine force awakes, victorious it ascends through the spinal medullary canal to develop in ourselves the powers which deify. The sacred serpent, in its subliminal divine transcendental aspect, transcending the merely physiological, anatomical, in its ethnic state, is, as I have already said, our own Being though derived. It is not my purpose to teach in this treatise the technique for the awaking of the sacred serpent. I only want to put some emphasis on the harsh realism of the Ego and the inner urgency related to the dissolution of its diverse inhuman elements. The mind by itself cannot radically alter any psychological defect. The mind can mark in a name on any defect, move it from one level on to another one, hide it from the same mind or from other people, excuse it, etc., but never eliminate it. Comprehension is a fundamental part, but this is not all, it is necessary to eliminate. A defect which has been observed must be analyzed and wholly comprehended, before proceeding to its elimination. We need a power superior to the mind, a power capable of atomically disintegrating any defect-“I” which we have previously discovered and profoundly judged. Fortunately, such power is deeply underlying beyond the body, affections and the mind, although it has its concrete exponents in the bone of the coccygeal center, as we have already explained in previous paragraphs of this chapter. After having wholly comprehended any defect-“I”, we must submerge ourselves in profound meditation, begging, praying, asking our own individual particular Divine Mother to disintegrate the previously comprehended defect-“I”. This is the precise technique required for the elimination of the undesirable elements which we carry within. The Divine Mother Kundalini has power to reduce to ashes any subjective, inhuman psychic aggregate. Without this didactic, without this procedure, every effort for the dissolution of the Ego is fruitless, useless, and absurd. Samael Aun Weor

Being and knowing must be balanced to establish a blaze of comprehension within our psyche. When knowing is greater than being, it causes all kinds of intellectual confusion. If being is greater than knowing, it can produce cases as serious as that of a stupid saint. In everyday life, it is advisable to observe oneself with the purpose of self-discovery. It is precisely everyday life, the psychological gymnasium, through which we can discover our defects. In a state of alert perception, watchful attention, we can directly verify that the hidden defects flare-up spontaneously. Clearly, we must work on the discovered defect consciously with the purpose of separating it from our psyche. Above all, we must not identify with any I-defect if we really want to eliminate it. Imagine that we are standing on a board and we wish to raise it to a position of it leaning against a wall. It would be impossible to do so if we were still standing on it. Obviously, we must begin by separating the board from ourselves, removing ourselves from it and then lifting the board with our hands to a reclining position against the wall. Similarly, we must not identify with any psychic aggregate if we truly wish to separate it from our psyche. When one identifies with this or that I, one really strengthens, rather than disintegrates it. Let us suppose that some lustful self took possession of any stereotypical image in the intellectual center to project lascivious and sexually morbid scenes on the screen of the mind. Unquestionably, identifying with the passionate picture greatly strengthens that lustful ego. If, however, instead of identifying with such an entity, we separate it from our psyche, considering it as an intrusive demon, then obviously creative comprehension will have emerged within us. Subsequently, we could have the luxury of analytically judging the aggregate in question with the purpose of becoming fully conscious of it. The seriousness of the problem lies precisely with people’s identification, and this is most regrettable. If people were familiar with the Doctrine of the Many Selves, if they actually understood that not even their own lives belong to them, they would not make the mistake of identification. Scenes of anger, pictures of jealousy, etc., in everyday life, are useful when we find ourselves in constant psychological self-observation. Thus, we prove that neither our thoughts, nor our desires, nor our actions belong to us. Unquestionably, multiple I’s intervene like bearers of an ill omen, putting thoughts in our minds, emotions in our hearts and actions of all kinds in our motor center. It is deplorable that we are not masters of ourselves and that various psychological entities make of us whatever they will. Unfortunately, we do not even remotely suspect what is happening to us and we act like simple puppets, controlled by invisible strings. Worst of all, instead of fighting for independence from all these secret tyrants, we make the mistake of fortifying them, and this occurs when we become identified. Any street scene, any family drama, any silly quarrel between spouses is undoubtedly due to this or that I, and is something of which we must always be aware. Everyday life is the psychological mirror in which we can see ourselves just as we are. First, we must understand the need to see ourselves and the need to change radically. Only in this way will we want to really observe ourselves. Whosoever is content with the state in which he lives, the foolish one, the dawdler, the negligent one, will never feel the desire to see himself; he will love himself too much to ever be willing to review his conduct and way of being. We will say clearly that in some comedies, dramas and tragedies of everyday life various “I’s” take part. These “I’s” must be understood. What comes into play in any scene of passionate jealousy are the egos of lust, anger, pride, jealousy, etc. We must later analytically judge each one separately to fully understand them with the clear purpose of their total disintegration. Comprehension is very elastic, which is why it is necessary to delve deeper each time. What we understand in one way today we will better understand tomorrow. Considering things from this angle, we can verify for ourselves how useful the diverse circumstances of life are when indeed we use them as a mirror for self-discovery. We would never in any way attempt to say that the dramas, comedies and tragedies of everyday life are always splendid and perfect. Such a statement would be ludicrous. Nonetheless, however absurd the different situations of existence may appear, they are marvelous as a psychological gymnasium. The work relating to the dissolution of the diverse elements that form the me, myself, is terribly difficult. Within the cadences of verse, misdeeds are also hidden. In the delightful perfume of the temples, transgressions lurk. At times, crime becomes so sophisticated that people confuse it with sanctity, and so cruel that it eventually seems like sweetness. Crime clothes itself in the judge’s robe, the Master’s tunic, the beggar’s rags, the businessman’s suit, and even in the habit of the Christ. Comprehension is fundamental, but that is not all in the work of dissolving the psychic aggregates, as we shall see in the next chapter. It is urgent, unavoidable and non-excludable that we make ourselves conscious of each ego, to separate each one from our psyche. But this is not all, something else is missing. For this we must see Chapter 16. Samael Aun Weor

Without a question, each person has his own particular psychology. This is indubitable, indisputable, and irrefutable. Unfortunately, people never think about this, and many never accept it. This is because they are trapped within the sensorial mind. Anyone would admit to the reality of the physical body since it can be seen and touched. Our psychology, however, is a different matter. It cannot be perceived by the five senses. For this reason we have a general tendency to reject or simply underestimate and scorn it, qualifying it as something of no importance. Undoubtedly, when someone begins to self-observe, it is an unmistakable sign that they have accepted the tremendous reality of their own psychology. Clearly, no one would attempt self-observation without having previously found a fundamental reason for doing so. Obviously, someone who initiates self-observation becomes a very different person from others. This, in fact, indicates the possibility for change. Unfortunately, people do not want to change; they are content with the state in which they live. It pains one to see how people are born, grow, reproduce like animals, suffer indescribably and die without ever knowing why. To change is fundamental but it is impossible if we do not initiate psychological self-observation. We must start by seeing that our purpose is to acquire self knowledge, since rational humanoids really do not know themselves. When one discovers a psychological defect, a great step has actually been taken, because this allows one to study and even radically eliminate that defect. Indeed, we could not succeed in counting all of the psychological defects we have within since there are so many, not even if we had a steel palate and a thousand tongues to speak with. Gravest of all is that we do not know how to measure the dreadful reality of any defect. We always look at it superficially without due attention. We see it as something unimportant. When we accept the Doctrine of the Many Selves and understand the harsh reality of the seven demons that Jesus the Christ drove from the body of Mary Magdalene, obviously, our way of thinking (with regard to psychological defects) undergoes a fundamental change. It cannot be asserted emphatically enough that the Doctrine of the Many Selves is 100 percent Tibetan and Gnostic in origin. It is not at all pleasant to find out that within each person there lives hundreds and thousands of psychological people. Each psychological defect is a different person existing within us, in the here and now. The seven demons that the great Master Jesus the Christ threw out of the body of Mary Magdalene are the seven deadly sins: anger, greed, lust, envy, pride, laziness, and gluttony. Naturally, each one of these demons leads separately to a legion. In the Pharaohs’ ancient Egypt, an Initiate had to eliminate the red demons of Seth from his inner nature if he wanted to achieve the awakening of consciousness. Considering the reality of psychological defects, the aspirant longs for change. He does not want to continue in the state in which he lives with so many people within his psyche. He then begins self-observation. As we progress in our inner work, we can verify for ourselves an interesting order in the system of elimination. One is astonished when one discovers that there is an order in the work related to the elimination of the multiple psychic aggregates that personify our errors. What is most interesting about all of this, is that such an order in the elimination of defects comes about gradually, and is processed according to the dialectic of consciousness. The dialectic of reasoning will never surpass the formidable work of the dialectic of consciousness. In time, the facts show us that the psychological order in the work of eliminating defects is established by our own profound inner Being. We must clarify that a radical difference exists between the ego and the Being. The “I” can never establish an order in psychological matters as, in itself, it is the result of disorder. Only the Being has the power to establish order in our psyche. The Being is the Being, and the reason for the Being to be is to be the Being Himself. Order in the work of self-observation, judgment, and elimination of our psychic aggregates gradually becomes evident through the judicious sense of psychological self-observation. All human beings have a sense of psychological self-observation in a latent state, but this sense develops gradually to the extent that we put it to use. Such a sense allows us to perceive directly, and not through simple intellectual associations, the diverse selves that live within our psyches. The question of extrasensory perception has begun to be studied in the field of parapsychology. In fact, it has been demonstrated in numerous experiments, prudently carried out over a period of time about which there is extensive documentation. Those who deny the reality of extrasensory perception are utterly ignorant, villains of the intellect, incarcerated in the Sensual Mind. Nevertheless, the sense of psychological self-observation is something that is deeper, which goes far beyond simple parapsychological conclusions. It allows us intimate self-observation and full verification of the terrible subjective reality of our diverse aggregates. The establishment of a consecutive order of the different parts of the work related to this extremely serious subject of eliminating the psychic aggregates, allows us to generate a work memory. This is quite interesting, and even extremely useful in the question of inner development. This work memory can certainly give us distinct psychological “photographs” of the different stages of our past. As a whole, it will bring to our imagination a vivid and even repugnant imprint of what we were before beginning the radical psycho-transforming work. There is no doubt that we would never wish to return to that horrifying image, that vivid representation of what we once were. From this point, such psychological “photography” is useful as a means of confrontation between a transformed present and a regressive, stale, clumsy and unfortunate past. The work memory is always recorded on the basis of successive psychological events registered by the center of psychological self-observation. In our psyche there are undesirable elements, the existence of which we do not suspect in the least. For an honest man, honorable and worthy of respect, incapable of taking anything that does not belong to him, to discover in an unusual way a series of thieving selves living in the deepest areas of his own psyche, is something frightening, but not impossible. A splendid wife, abundant in great virtues, or a maiden with exquisite spirituality and excellent education, may discover in an unusual way that groups of prostitutes live within her intimate psyche. Such a thought is sickening and unacceptable to any righteous citizen’s intellectual center or moral sense. However, all of this is possible within the precise field of psychological self-observation.

Everywhere there are many scoundrels of the intellect lacking positive direction and who are poisoned with loathsome skepticism. Certainly, the repugnant poison of skepticism has infected human minds alarmingly since the eighteenth century. Before that time, the famous Nontrabada, or Encubierta island, located off the Spanish coast, was constantly visible and tangible. There is no doubt that such an island is situated in the fourth dimension. Many are the anecdotes related to this mysterious island. After the eighteenth century, the aforementioned island was lost in eternity; no one knows anything at all about it. In the times of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, elementals of Nature were manifest everywhere, deeply penetrating our physical atmosphere. Many are the tales of elves, leprechauns, and fairies, which still abound in green Erin, Ireland. Unfortunately, all these things of innocence, all this beauty from the soul of the Earth is no longer perceived by humanity. This is due to the intellectual scoundrel’s pedantries and the animal ego’s excessive development. Nowadays, the know-it-all ignoramuses laugh at all these things, rejecting them, though deep down they have not even remotely achieved happiness. If people understood that we have three minds, it would be a very different story. They might even become more interested in these studies. Unfortunately, learned ignoramuses, absorbed as they are in the labyrinth of their own difficult scholarly pursuits, do not even have the time to pay any serious attention to our studies. These hopeless people are self-sufficient; they are conceited with vain intellectualism; they think that they are on the right path; and they do not have even the slightest idea that they are up a blind alley. In the name of truth we must state that in synthesis we have three minds. The first one we can and must call the Sensual Mind. The second we shall christen with the name of Intermediate Mind. The third we shall call the Inner Mind. Now we are going to study each of these three minds separately and judiciously. The Sensual Mind Unquestionably, the Sensual Mind develops its basic concepts via external sensory perceptions. Under these conditions, the Sensual Mind is terribly crude and materialistic. It cannot accept anything which has not been physically demonstrated. Since the fundamental concepts of the Sensual Mind are based on external sensory data, undoubtedly, it can know nothing about what is real, about the truth, about the mysteries of life and death, about the Soul and the Spirit, etc. For the rogues of the intellect, totally trapped by their external senses and incarcerated within the basic concepts of the Sensual Mind, our esoteric studies are lunacy. In the reasoning of the unreasonable, in an insane world, they are right, due to the conditioning by the external sensory world. How could the Sensual Mind accept what is not sensory? If information from the senses serves as a secret means for all functions of the Sensual Mind, then it is obvious that the latter generates sensory concepts. The Intermediate Mind The Intermediate Mind is different. It has no direct knowledge of what is real either; it confines itself to belief and that is all. Found in the Intermediate Mind are religious beliefs, unbreakable dogmas, etc. The Inner Mind The Inner Mind is fundamental for the direct experience of the truth. Undoubtedly, the Inner Mind creates its basic concepts with information contributed by the superlative consciousness of the Being. Unquestionably, the consciousness can live and experience reality. Without a doubt, the consciousness knows the truth. To manifest itself however, the consciousness needs a mediator, an instrument of action, and this in itself is the Inner Mind. Consciousness knows directly the reality of each natural phenomenon and can manifest it through the Inner Mind. To open the Inner Mind would be the appropriate thing to do in order to remove ourselves from the world of doubt and ignorance. This means that only by opening the Inner Mind will genuine faith be born within the human being. Seeing this question from another angle, we would say that materialist skepticism is a characteristic peculiar to ignorance. There is no doubt that learned ignoramuses are 100 percent skeptical. Faith is the direct perception of what is real, it is fundamental wisdom; it is the experience of that which is beyond the body, the affections and the mind. We must distinguish between faith and belief. Beliefs are found stored in the Intermediate Mind. Faith is a characteristic of the Inner Mind. Unfortunately, there is always a general tendency to confuse belief with faith. Although it seems paradoxical, we emphasize the following: “Those who have true faith do not need to believe.” This is because genuine faith is living knowledge, exact cognition, and direct experience. For many centuries, people have confused faith and belief. Now it is very difficult to make them understand that faith is true knowledge and never futile beliefs. The sapient function of the Inner Mind has as its intimate resource all that formidable data from the wisdom embodied in consciousness. One who has opened the Inner Mind recalls one’s previous existences, knows the mysteries of life and death; not because of what one has or has not read, not because of what someone has or has not said, not because of what one has or has not believed, but because of terribly real and vivid direct experience. The Sensual Mind does not like what we are saying here. The Sensual Mind cannot accept this because it is out of its grasp, has nothing whatever to do with external sensory perceptions. This is alien to its own basic concepts, to that which was taught at school or what was learned from various books, etc. What we are saying here is not accepted by the Intermediate Mind either, as it is contrary to its own beliefs. This spoils what its religious teachers made it learn by heart. Jesus, the great Kabir, warned his disciples by saying: Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. – Matthew 16:6 Obviously, with this warning Jesus the Christ was referring to the doctrines of the materialistic Sadducees and the hypocritical Pharisees. The doctrine of the Sadducees is the Sensual Mind. It is the doctrine of the five senses. The doctrine of the Pharisees is irrefutably and without dispute situated in the Intermediate Mind. Clearly, the Pharisees gather at their rites in order to be seen, so that it will be said that they are good people. They pretend in front of others, but they never work on themselves. It is impossible to open the Inner Mind unless we learn to think psychologically. Unquestionably, when someone starts to observe himself, it is a sign that he is beginning to think psychologically. As long as we do not admit the reality of our own psychology and the possibility of changing it fundamentally, we certainly do not feel the necessity for psychological self-observation. When one accepts the Doctrine of the Many Selves and understands the need to eliminate the different egos carried within one’s psyche (for the purpose of liberating the consciousness, the Essence) undoubtedly, one initiates, in fact and by one’s own rights, psychological self-observation. Obviously, the elimination of undesirable elements carried in our psyches commences the opening of the Inner Mind. All this means that the aforementioned opening takes place gradually as we annihilate those undesirable elements which we carry within our psyches. Whosoever has eliminated those undesirable elements 100 percent from within, will also have obviously opened up the Inner Mind 100 percent. Such a person will possess absolute faith. Now you will understand the words of Christ when he said: If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place;’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. – Matthew 17: 20 Samael Aun Weor

Certainly, one of the most difficult problems of our epoch stems from the intricate labyrinth of theories. Undoubtedly, in these times there is an exorbitant multiplicity of pseudo-esoteric and pseudo-occultist schools here, there, and everywhere. The marketing of souls, books, and theories is frightening. Rare are those who really manage to find the secret path among the many cobwebs of contradictory ideas. Gravest of all is intellectual fascination. There is a tendency to nourish ourselves only intellectually with all that reaches the mind. The vagabonds of the intellect are no longer content with all the subjective literature and the ordinary types of books found in abundance in the bookstores. Now, to make matters worse, they also stuff themselves to the point of indigestion with cheap pseudo-esotericism and pseudo-occultism that abound everywhere like weeds. The result of all this is a gibberish of confusion and manifest disorientation amongst the villains of the intellect. I constantly receive all sorts of letters and books. Those who send them to me usually inquire about this or that school, this or that book. I confine myself to the following reply: “Refrain from idle mental curiosity. There is no need for you to be involved in other people’s business. Disintegrate the animal ego of curiosity, for the business of other schools is not your concern. Become serious, know yourself, study yourself, observe yourself, etc.” Really, the important thing is to know ourselves profoundly in all mental levels. Darkness is unconsciousness; light is consciousness. We must allow light to penetrate our own darkness; obviously, light has the power to defeat darkness. Regrettably people find themselves incarcerated within the fetid, filthy environment of their own minds, worshipping their beloved ego. People do not want to realize that they are not masters of their own lives. Indeed, each person is controlled from within by many other persons. I refer emphatically to the multiplicity of I’s that we carry within. Evidently, each one of these I’s puts in our minds what we must think, in our mouths what we must say, and in our hearts what we must feel, etc. Under such conditions the human personality is no more than a robot governed by different people, each disputing its superiority and aspiring to supreme control of the major centers of the organic machine. In the name of truth, we solemnly affirm that the poor intellectual animal mistakenly called human being, though believing himself balanced, lives in a complete psychological imbalance. The intellectual mammal is by no means unilateral, otherwise he would be balanced. Unfortunately, the intellectual animal is multilateral, as has been proven repeatedly. How can the rational humanoid be balanced? In order for perfect equilibrium to exist, we need an awakened consciousness. Only the light of consciousness, directed not from different angles, but fully focused and centered upon ourselves, can put an end to the contrasts, to the psychological contradictions. Only thus can we establish within ourselves the true inner equilibrium. The awakening of our consciousness will come if we dissolve the whole collection of I’s that we carry within, thus the consequence or corollary will be the true balancing of our own psyche. Unfortunately, people do not want to realize that they live unconsciously. They are deeply asleep. If people were awake, each one of us would feel our fellow beings within ourselves. If people were awake, our fellow beings would feel us within themselves. Then, obviously, wars would not exist and the Earth would be, in truth, a paradise. The light of consciousness endows us with true psychological balance and comes to establish each thing in its place. Anything that previously entered into intimate conflict with us, in fact, stays in its appropriate place. The unconsciousness of the multitude is such that they are even unable to find the relationship existing between light and consciousness. Unquestionably, light and consciousness are two aspects of the same thing. Where there is light, there is consciousness. Unconsciousness is darkness, and the latter exists within us. Only through psychological self-observation do we allow light to penetrate within our own darkness. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. - John 1:5 https://www.lanuevaeradeacuario.org/english/darkness/

This question of the me, myself, of what I am, of that which thinks, feels, and acts, is something that we must explore within ourselves in order for us to gain profound knowledge. Everywhere there are lovely theories which attract and fascinate us. However, they are of no use at all if we do not know ourselves. It is fascinating to study astronomy or to amuse ourselves somewhat reading serious works. Nevertheless, it is ironic to become erudite and not know anything about the me, myself, about the “I,” about the human personality we possess. Everyone is very free to think whatever they want and the subjective reason of the “intellectual animal” mistakenly called man is enough for everything, it can just as easily turn a flea into a horse as it can turn a horse into a flea; There are many intellectuals who live playing with rationalism. And what after all? To be scholarly does not mean to be wise. Learned ignoramuses are as abundant as weeds. Not only do they not know, but they are not even aware they do not know. Learned ignoramuses are those know-it-alls who believe they know everything and who indeed do not even know themselves. We could theorize splendidly on the psychological I, but that is not exactly what interests us in this chapter. We need to know ourselves directly as we are, without involving a depressing process of “options.” This would in no way be possible unless we were to observe ourselves in action from instant to instant, from moment to moment. This is not a matter of seeing ourselves through theories or by simple intellectual speculation. We are interested in seeing ourselves directly as we are; this is the only way we will be able to gain true knowledge of ourselves. Although it might seem incredible, we are mistaken with regard to ourselves. Many things we believe we have, we do not have, and many things that we do not believe we have, we do. We have formed false concepts about ourselves, and we must, therefore, do an inventory to find out what we have too much of and what we lack. We assume that we have such and such qualities, which indeed we do not, and we are surely ignorant of many virtues that we do possess. We are asleep, unconscious, and that is very serious. Unfortunately, we think the best of ourselves and never even suspect that we are asleep. The Holy Scriptures insist on the need to awaken, but do not explain the system to achieve this awakening. Worst of all, there are many who have read the Holy Scriptures and still do not understand that they are asleep. Everyone believes that they know themselves and do not have even the faintest idea that there exists a Doctrine of the Many. Indeed, each person’s psychological “I” is multiple; it always consists of many. By this we mean that we have many selves and not just one, as is always assumed by learned ignoramuses. To deny the Doctrine of the Many is to make fools of ourselves. In fact, it is the height of absurdity to ignore the intimate contradictions which each of us possess. “I am going to read a newspaper,” says the “I” of intellect. “To heck with reading,” exclaims the “I” of movement, “I prefer to ride my bicycle.” “Forget it,” shouts a third ego in disagreement, “I’d rather eat, I’m hungry.” If we could see ourselves in a full-length mirror, just as we are, we would discover for ourselves directly the Doctrine of the Many. The human personality is only a marionette controlled by invisible strings. The ego which swears eternal love for Gnosis is later replaced by another which has nothing to do with the pledge; then the individual leaves. The “I” which swears eternal love for one woman is later replaced by another one which has nothing to do with that oath. Then the person falls in love with another woman, and like a house of cards it all collapses. The “intellectual animal” mistakenly called human being is like a house filled with many people. There is no order or agreement among the multiple I’s; they all quarrel with each other and fight for supremacy. When one of them gains control of the capital centers of the organic machine, it feels unique, a master. Nevertheless, in the end it is overthrown. Considering the matter from this point of view, we come to the logical conclusion that the “intellectual mammal” does not have a true sense of moral responsibility. Undoubtedly, whatever the machine says or does at a given time depends exclusively on the type of ego in control at that moment. It is said that Jesus of Nazareth drove out seven demons, seven egos, from the body of Mary Magdalene, living personifications of the seven capital sins. Obviously, each of these seven demons is the head of a legion. Therefore, we can establish as a natural consequence that the intimate Christ was able to expel thousands of egos from the body of Mary Magdalene. Reflecting upon all this we can clearly infer that the only worthwhile part of us is the Essence which, tragically, is trapped within these multiple I’s of the revolutionary psychology. Unfortunately, the Essence is always limited in its processes by virtue of its own imprisonment. Without question the Essence—or consciousness, which is the same thing—sleeps deeply. Samael Aun Weor

The sparkling intellectualism as manifest functionalism of the psychological I, undoubtedly is THE ANTICHRIST. Those who suppose that the Antichrist is a strange personage born somewhere on the Earth or coming from this or that country are certainly completely mistaken. We have emphatically stated that the Antichrist is definitely not a particular person, but all people. Obviously, the Antichrist itself exists deep within each person and expresses itself in many ways. Intellect which is placed in the service of the Spirit is useful; intellect which is divorced from the Spirit becomes useless. Villains arise from intellectualism without spirituality: a vivid manifestation of the Antichrist. Obviously, the villain, in and for itself, is the Antichrist. Unfortunately, the world today with all its tragedies and miseries is governed by the Antichrist. The state of chaos in which modern humanity finds itself is undoubtedly due to the Antichrist. The iniquitous one, of which Paul of Tarsus spoke in his Epistles, is certainly the harsh reality of our times. The iniquitous one is already here. It manifests itself everywhere; it certainly has the gift of ubiquity. It argues in cafes, negotiates at the United Nations, sits comfortably in Geneva, conducts experiments in laboratories, invents atomic bombs, remote-controlled missiles, asphyxiating gases, bacteriological bombs, etc., etc., etc. The Antichrist, fascinated by its own intellectualism, which is absolutely exclusive to know-it-alls, believes that it knows all of the phenomena of Nature. The Antichrist, believing itself to be omniscient, is trapped in the decay of its own theories. It directly rejects anything resembling God, or that which is worshipped. The self-sufficiency, pride and arrogance of the Antichrist are unbearable. The Antichrist mortally hates the Christian virtues of faith, patience and humility. Everyone bows before the Antichrist. Obviously, it has invented ultrasonic aircraft, wonderful ships, splendid cars, amazing medicines, etc. Under such conditions, who can doubt the Antichrist? In this day and age, anyone who dares to speak against all the miracles and wonders of the Son of Perdition condemns himself to everyone’s ridicule, sarcasm and irony; he condemns himself to be classified as stupid and ignorant. It is hard to make serious and studious people understand the former statements. They in and on themselves react and offer resistance. Clearly, the intellectual animal mistakenly called human being is a robot, programmed at kindergarten, primary and secondary school, college and the university, etc. No one can deny that a programmed robot functions according to its programming. In no way could it function if the program were removed. The Antichrist has produced the program with which the humanoid robots of these decadent times are programmed. Making these clarifications, emphasizing what I am saying, is frightfully difficult, as this is not in the program. No humanoid robot could admit things that are not in the program. This issue is so serious, and the mental entanglements are so tremendous, that in no way would any humanoid robot even remotely suspect that the program is of no use, since it has been arranged according to the program, and to doubt it would seem a heresy, something incongruous and absurd. For a robot to doubt its own program is absurd, an absolute impossibility, because its very existence depends upon that program. Unfortunately, things are not as humanoid robots think they are. There is another science, another wisdom, which they find unacceptable. The humanoid robot reacts, and rightly so, as it is not programmed to deal with another science or another culture, or anything else that differs from its well-known program. The Antichrist has prepared the programs of the humanoid robot and the robot humbly prostrates itself before its master. How could a robot possibly doubt the wisdom of its master? A child is born innocent and pure. The Essence expressing itself through each child is exceedingly precious. Without a doubt, Nature deposits in the brain of newborns all the wild, natural, sylvan, cosmic and spontaneous information indispensable for the capture or comprehension of truths. These are contained in any natural phenomena perceivable by the senses. This means that a new born baby can discover by itself the reality of each natural phenomenon. Regrettably, the Antichrist’s program interferes with it, and the marvelous qualities placed by Nature in the brains of the newborns are soon destroyed. The Antichrist prohibits different ways of thinking; all babies that are born must be programmed by order of the Antichrist. There is no doubt that the Antichrist mortally hates that precious sense of the Being known as the ‘faculty of instinctive perception of cosmic truths.’ Pure science, different from the decaying university theories which exist here, there and everywhere, is something inadmissible for the Antichrist’s robots. Many wars, famines and diseases have been propagated by the Antichrist throughout the world, and no doubt they will continue to be propagated before the arrival of the final catastrophe. Unfortunately, the hour of the great apostasy has arrived (that time announced by all the prophets), and no human being will dare to rise up against the Antichrist. Samael Aun Weor

Logical didactic is conditioned and qualified also by the prepositions “on” and “about” which never take us to the direct experience of the real. The phenomena of nature are very far from being like scientists see them. Certainly, as soon as any phenomenon is discovered, it is immediately qualified or labelled with this or that difficult term of scientific jargon. Obviously, all those extremely difficult terms of modern scientifism, serve only as a patch to cover ignorance. Natural phenomena are in no way like scientifists see them. Life with all its processes and phenomena, develops from moment to moment, from instant to instant, and the scientifistic mind in fact kills it by stopping it in order to analyze it. Any manner is the same as reality. Any inference extracted from any natural phenomenon, is in no manner equal to the concrete reality of that phenomenon; regrettably, the scientist’s mind deluded by its own theories, firmly believes in the reality of its inferences. Not only does the hallucinated intellect only see in phenomena the reflection of its own concepts, but worse than that, it dictatorially wants to make the phenomena be exactly and absolutely equal to all those concepts carried in the intellect. The phenomenon of intellectual hallucination is fascinating. None of those stupid, ultramodern scientists would admit the reality of their own hallucination. Certainly, in no way would the know-alls of our time admit being qualified as hallucinated. The power of self-suggestion has made them believe in the reality of all those concepts of the scientifistic jargon. Obviously, the hallucinated mind boasts of being conscious and dictatorially wants all natural processes to march in step with pedantries. As soon as a new phenomenon appears, it is classified, labelled and put in this or that place, as though it had really been understood. Thousands of terms have been invented to label phenomena, but the pseudosapients know nothing about the reality of phenomena. As a vivid example of all what we are stating in this chapter, we refer to the human body. In the name of truth we can affirm emphatically that the physical body is absolutely unknown to modern scientists. Such an affirmation could appear very insolent to the pontiffs of modern scientifism; without doubt we will deserve excommunication by them. Nevertheless, we have very sound grounds to make such a tremendous affirmation. Unfortunately, hallucinated minds are so convinced of their pseudo-sapience that not even remotely could they accept the harsh reality of their ignorance. If we told the hierarchs of modern scientifism that Count Cagliostro, a very interesting personage of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries is still alive in the very 20th century, if we told them that the distinguished Paracelsus, the renowned doctor of the Middle Ages does still exist, you can be sure that the hierarchs of present scientifism would laugh at us and never accept our affirmations. However, it is so. The genuine mutants, immortal men whose bodies date from thousands and millions of years ago, live on the face of the Earth at present. The author of this book knows the mutants. Nevertheless, he does not ignore modern skepticism, the hallucination of scientifists and the state of ignorance of the know-alls. For all this, in no way would we be under the illusion of believing that the fanatics of scientifistic jargon would accept the reality of our unusual statements. The body of any mutant is an open challenge to the scientific jargon of these times. The body of any mutant can change its shape and then return to its normal state, without receiving any harm. The body of any mutant can instantly penetrate into the fourth vertical and even adopt any vegetal or animal form, and afterwards return to its normal state receiving no damage at all. The body of any mutant violently challenges the old texts of official Anatomy. Regrettably, none of these declarations could convince those who are hallucinated by scientifistic jargon. Those gentlemen seated upon their pontifical thrones, unquestionably will regard us with disdain, perhaps with anger, and possibly even with some pity. However, the truth is what it is and the reality of mutants is an open challenge to any ultramodern theory. The author of this book knows the mutants but expects no-one’s belief. Every organ in the human body is controlled by laws and forces, which are not even remotely known of by those hallucinated with scientifistic jargon. Nature’s elements in themselves are unknown to official science. The best chemical formulae are incomplete: H2O, two atoms of Hydrogen to one of Oxygen to make water, is something empirical. If we attempt to join in a laboratory an atom of Oxygen with two of Hydrogen, it does not result in water or anything, because the formula is incomplete. The fire element is missing. Only with this cited element would it be possible to create water. Intellection, however brilliant it might seem, can never lead us to the experience of the real. The classification of substances and the difficult terms with which we label them, only serve as a cover for ignorance. The intellect believing this or that substance to have a specific name and characteristics, is absurd and unbearable. Why does the intellect boast of being omniscient? Why does it delude itself believing that substances and phenomena are just the way it believes them to be? Why does intellection want nature to be a perfect replica of all its theories, concepts, opinions, dogmas, preconceptions, prejudices? In reality, natural phenomena are not as they are believed to be, and in no way are natural substances and forces as the intellect thinks they are. The awake consciousness is not the mind, neither is it memory nor anything similar. Only the liberated consciousness is capable of directly experiencing for itself the reality of life free in its motion. We must emphatically affirm however, that as long as any subjective element exists within us, consciousness will remain bottled among such element and hence will be unable to enjoy continuous and perfect enlightenment. Samael Aun Weor

In the esoteric work related to the elimination of the undesirable elements which we carry within, annoyance, tiredness and boredom emerge sometimes. Without question, we need to always return to the original starting point and re-evaluate the basis of the psychological work, if we truly yearn for a radical change. To love the esoteric work is indispensable when a complete inner transformation is really wanted. As long as we do not love the psychological work which leads to change, the reevaluation of principles is absolutely impossible. It would be absurd to suppose that we could be interested in the work if in fact we have not come to love it. This means that love is unpostponable when we are trying once and again to re-evaluate the foundations of the psychological work. Above all it is urgent to know what is that which is called consciousness, for there are many people who have never been interested in knowing anything about it. Any ordinary person would never ignore that a boxer loses consciousness when he is knocked out in the ring. It is quite clear that when the unfortunate boxer comes round, he regains consciousness. Consequently, anyone can understand that a clear difference exists between personality and consciousness. When we come into this world we all have in the existence a three per cent of consciousness and a ninety-seven per cent which can be distributed among subconsciousness, infraconsciousness and unconsciousness. The three per cent of awake consciousness can be increased as we work upon ourselves. It is not possible to increase consciousness by exclusively physical or mechanical procedures. Undoubtedly, the consciousness can only awake through conscious work and voluntary suffering. Various types of energy exist within us, we must understand: First. – Mechanical energy. Second. – Vital energy. Third. – Psychic energy. Fourth. – Mental energy. Fifth. – Energy of the will. Sixth. – Energy of the consciousness. Seventh. – Energy of pure spirit. No matter how much we multiplied the strictly mechanical energy, we would never awake consciousness. No matter how much we increased the vital forces within our own organism, we would never come to awake consciousness. Many psychological processes take place within ourselves without the consciousness taking part at all. However great the disciplines of the mind may be, mental energy can never achieve the awaking of the diverse functionalisms of the consciousness. The strength of will, even if multiplied infinitely, can never achieve the awaking of consciousness. All these types of energy are graded into different levels and dimensions which have nothing to do with consciousness. The consciousness can only be awoken by conscious work and upright efforts. The small percentage of consciousness which humanity possesses, instead of being increased is usually futilely wasted in life. It is obvious that by identifying with all the events of our existence, we uselessly waste the energy of the consciousness. We should see life as a film, without ever identifying with any comedy, drama or tragedy, thus we would save conscious energy. Consciousness in itself is a type of energy with a very high frequency of vibration. We should not confuse consciousness with memory, since they are as different from each other as the light of the car’s head lamps in relation to the road upon which we drive. Many acts take place within ourselves with no participation whatsoever of that which is called consciousness. Many adjustments and readjustments take place within our organism, without the consciousness taking part in them. The motor center of our body can drive a car or direct the fingers which play the piano keys, without even the most insignificant participation of the consciousness. Consciousness is the light which the unconscious does not perceive. A blind person cannot perceive physical solar light either, however, it does exist in itself. We need to open ourselves for the light of the consciousness to penetrate the terrible darkness of the myself, of the oneself. Now we will understand better the meaning of John’s words, when he said in the Gospel: “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness does not understand”. It would be impossible however, for the light of consciousness to penetrate within the darkness of the self, should we not previously use the marvelous sense of psychological auto-observation. We need to make way for light to illuminate the tenebrous depths of the “I” of psychology. We would never auto-observe ourselves if we did not have an interest in changing, and such interest is possible only when we truly love the esoteric teachings. Our readers will understand now the reason why we advise to re-evaluate, time and time again, the instructions concerning the work on oneself. Awake consciousness allows us to experience reality directly. Unfortunately, the intellectual animal mistakenly called man, fascinated by the formulative power of dialectical logic, has forgotten about the dialectic of consciousness. Unquestionably, the power to formulate logical concepts is basically terribly poor. From thesis we can pass onto antithesis and through discussion reach synthesis, but the latter remains in itself an intellectual concept which in no way can coincide with reality. The Dialectic of Consciousness is more direct, permitting us to experience the reality of any phenomenon in itself and by itself. Natural phenomena in no way coincide exactly with the concepts formulated by the mind. Life develops from instant to instant and when we capture it to analyze it, we cause its death. When, observing this or that natural phenomenon, we try to infer concepts, in fact we stop perceiving the reality of the phenomenon and we only see in it the reflection of theories and stale concepts which have nothing to do at all with the observed fact. Intellectual hallucination is fascinating and we forcibly want all natural phenomena to coincide with our dialectical logic. The dialectic of consciousness is based on lived experiences and not on mere subjective rationalism. All of nature’s laws exist within ourselves and if we do not discover them in our interior, we will never discover them outside of ourselves. Man is contained in the Universe and the Universe is contained in man. Real is what we experience within ourselves, only the consciousness can experience reality. The language of the consciousness is symbolic, intimate, and profoundly significant and only those who are awake can understand it. Whoever may want to awake consciousness, must eliminate from within all the undesirable elements which constitute the Ego, the “I”, the myself, within which the essence is bottled. Samael Aun Weor

It is interesting to have in the house a clock with a pendulum, not only for checking the time but also for reflecting a little. Without its pendulum, this type of clock does not function; the movement of the pendulum is profoundly significant. In ancient times the dogma of evolution did not exist. In those days the sages understood that historical processes always take place according to the Law of the Pendulum. Everything has its ebb and flow, its rise and fall, increase and decrease, moves to and from in accordance with this marvellous Law. It is not strange at all that everything oscillates, that everything is subject to the swaying of time, and that everything evolutes (evolves) and involutes. Joy lies at one extreme of the pendulum, sorrow lies at the other one. All our emotions, thoughts, longings and desires swing in accordance with the Law of the Pendulum. Hope and desperation, pessimism and optimism, passion and suffering, triumph and failure, profit and loss, assuredly correspond to the two extremes of pendular movement. Egypt rose, with all its power and majesty, on the banks of the sacred river, but when the pendulum went to the other side, when it rose by the opposite end, the country of the pharaohs fell and Jerusalem rose, the city beloved by Prophets. Israel fell when the pendulum changed position and the Roman Empire rose at the other extreme end. The pendular movement raises Empires and makes them fall, it causes the ascent of powerful civilizations and afterwards brings about their destruction, etc. At the right side of the pendulum can be placed the various religions, sects, pseudoesoteric and pseudo-occultist schools. At the left side of the pendulum’s movement can be placed all the schools of materialist type, Marxist, Atheist, Scepticist, etc. Which are the antithesis of pendular movement, changeable, subject to incessant permutation. The religious fanatic, due to any unusual event or disappointment, can move to the other extreme of the pendulum, becoming an atheist, a materialist, a sceptic. Due to any unusual incident, perhaps a metaphysical or transcendental event or a moment of indescribable terror, a materialistic and atheistic fanatic can shift to the opposite extreme of the pendulum’s motions and become an unbearably religious reactionary. Example: a priest defeated by the polemics of an esotericist, in desperation became incredulous and materialistic. We knew the case of a sceptical, atheistic woman who, because of a conclusive and definite metaphysical event, became a magnificent exponent of practical esotericism. In the name of truth we must declare that the true and absolute materialistic atheist is a sham, is nonexistent. Faced with the proximity of inevitable death; faced with an instant of indescribable terror, the enemies of the eternal, the incredulous ones and the materialists, instantaneously pass to the other extreme of the pendulum and end up praying, weeping and crying out with infinite faith and enormous devotion. Karl Marx himself, author of the Dialectical Materialism, was a fanatically religious jew who, after his death, was accorded the tributes of a chief Rabbi. Karl Marx prepared his Materialistic Dialectics with a sole purpose: “TO CREATE A WEAPON TO DESTROY THROUGH SCEPTICISM ALL THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD” This is a typical case of religious jealousy taken to the extreme, in no way could Marx accept the existence of other religions and preferred to destroy them with his Dialectics. Karl Marx complied with one of the protocols of Zion, which states literally: “It does not matter if we fill the world with materialism and repugnant Atheism. The day when we triumph we will disseminate the religion of Moses properly codified in a dialectical form and will not permit any other religion in the world” It is very interesting to note that in the Soviet Union, religions are persecuted and that the Soviet people are taught the materialistic dialectics whilst within the synagogues the Talmud, the Bible and the religion are studied and they work freely without any problem. The lords of the Soviet government are religious fanatics of the law of Moses, yet they poison the people with the farce of Dialectical Materialism. We would never pass judgement against the people of Israel, we are only making a declaration against certain elite double-dealers who pursue undisclosed ambitions. Whilst poisoning the people with Materialistic Dialectics, they secretly practice Moses’ religion. Materialism and Spiritualism with all their resulting theories, prejudices and preconceptions are processed in the mind, in accordance with the Law of the Pendulum and are fashionable according to custom and time. Spirit and matter are highly debatable, thorny concepts which no one understands. The mind knows nothing about spirit, it knows nothing about matter. A concept is nothing other than just that: a concept. Reality is not a concept, although many ideas can be conceived about reality. The spirit is the spirit (the Being) and can only be known to itself. It is written: THE BEING IS THE BEING AND THE REASON FOR THE BEING TO BE IS THE SAME BEING”. The fanatics of matter-God, the scientists of Dialectical Materialism are a hundred per cent absurd and empiristic. They talk about matter with dazzling and stupid selfsufficiency when in fact they know nothing at all about it. What is matter? Which of those dumb scientists know? The so much hackneyed matter, also is a very prickly and highly disputable concept. What is matter? Is it cotton? Iron? Flesh? Starch? Stone? Copper? A cloud or what? Saying that all is matter would be as empirical and absurd as asserting that the whole human organism is a liver or a heart, or a kidney. Obviously, one thing is one thing and another thing is another thing, each organ is different and each substance is distinct. Then, which of all these substances can be the matter they so much talk about? Many people play with the pendulum’s concepts. However, concepts are not in fact reality. The mind knows only illusory forms of nature, but it knows nothing of the truth contained within such forms. Theories go out of fashion with time and the passing of years and we find that what we learned at school is useful for nothing afterwards; in conclusion: nobody knows anything. Concepts of the extreme right or the extreme left of the pendulum go out of date like women’s fashion. All those concepts are processes of the mind, things that take place on the surface of the understanding, nonsense, vanities of the intellect. To any psychological discipline, another discipline is opposed, any logically structured psychological process is opposed by another one similiar to it and, at the end of the day, what? The real, the truth, is what interests us, but this is not a question of the pendulum, it cannot be found amongst the swings of theories and beliefs. Truth is the unknown from instant to instant, from moment to moment. Truth is found at the centre of the pendulum, not at the extreme right and not at the extreme left either. When Jesus was asked: “What is the truth?”, he kept a profound silence. And when the Buddha was asked the same question he turned his back and left. The truth is not a question of opinions, neither of theories, nor of prejudices of the extreme right or the extreme left. The concept which the mind may build up about the truth, is never the truth. The idea that the understanding may have about the truth, is never the truth. The opinion we may hold regarding the truth, however respectable it be, is in no way the truth. Neither spiritual tendencies nor their materialist opponents can ever lead us to the truth. Truth is something that must be directly experienced, just as when we stick a finger into fire and it burns, or when we take in water and choke. The centre of the pendulum is within ourselves, and it is there where we must directly discover and experience the real, the truth. We need to directly auto-explore ourselves in order to auto-discover and profoundly know ourselves. The experience of the truth only comes when we have eliminated the undesirable elements which as a whole constitute the myself. Truth comes only by eliminating error. Only by disintegrating the Self, my mistakes, my prejudices and fears, my passions and desires, beliefs and fornications, all types of intellectual obstinacy and of self-sufficiency, does the experience of the real come to us. The truth has nothing to do with what has or has not been said, nor with what has or has not been written. It only comes to us when the myself has died. The mind cannot seek the truth because it does not know it. The mind cannot recognise the truth because it has never known it. The truth comes spontaneously to us when we have eliminated all those undesirable elements which constitute the myself, the self. As long as the consciousness remains bottled in the self, it will be unable to experience that which is real, that which lies beyond the body, affections and the mind, that which is the truth. When the myself is reduced to cosmic dust, the consciousness is liberated, it finally wakes up and directly experiences the truth. The Great Kabir Jesus rightly said: “KNOW THE TRUTH AND IT WILL MAKE YOU FREE”. John 8:31 What use is there for us in knowing fifty thousand theories if we have never experienced the Truth? Anyone’s intellectual system is very respectable, but any system has its opponent and neither one nor the other are the truth. It is better to auto-explore ourselves in order to auto-know ourselves and, one day get to directly experience the real, the TRUTH. Samael Aun Weor

Freedom The meaning of freedom is something that has not yet been understood by humanity. Always presented more or less erroneously, very serious mistakes have been made about the concept of freedom. Certainly, we struggle for a word. We come to absurd conclusions; we commit all types of atrocities and shed blood on the battlefields. The word freedom is fascinating, the whole world relishes it. Nevertheless, we have not grasped a real understanding of the term, and there is confusion regarding this word. It is impossible to find a dozen people for whom the word freedom means the same thing, in the same way. The term freedom will never be understandable by subjective rationalism. Everyone has different ideas about this term; people’s subjective opinions are totally devoid of objective reality. When the question of freedom is propounded, in each mind there is incoherence, vagueness, and incongruity. I am sure that even Immanuel Kant, author of Critique of Pure Reason and Critique of Practical Reason, never analyzed this word to find its exact meaning. Freedom, a lovely word, a beautiful term: so many crimes have been committed in its name! During the French Revolution at least one million people were murdered. Unquestionably, the term freedom has hypnotized the masses. The mountains and valleys, the rivers and seas have been tainted with the blood conjured up by this magical word. How many flags, how much blood, and how many heroes have come to pass in the course of history whenever the question of freedom has been posed in life’s scenario? Genocide in America The United States, founded to acheive freedom from the British, was built upon genocide of the Native American nations (image at left) and enslavement of Africans (image at right). Unfortunately, after achieving independence at such a high price, enslavement continues to exist within each of us. Who is free? How many have attained this famous freedom? How many have been emancipated? Alas, alas, alas! Adolescents long for freedom. It seems incredible that while having food, clothing, and shelter they should want to flee their homes in the pursuit of freedom. It is incongruous that a teenage boy who has everything he needs at home is willing to run away, to escape from his abode, fascinated with the term freedom. Strangely, despite enjoying all the comforts of a happy home, he is ready to risk everything he has to travel the world and even come to grief. It is right that the pariahs in life, the outcasts of society, the poor should be eager to quit the slums and hovels in order to seek a change for the better. Yet, the spoiled child, the mama’s boy, in search of a way out, is paradoxical and even an absurdity. However, this is how it is. The word freedom fascinates and enchants, although no one is able to define it precisely. It is logical that a young girl wants freedom, longs to move away from home, to marry in order to escape from under the parental roof and lead a better life. This is in part due to her right to be a mother. Nevertheless, once married, she finds she is not free, and with resignation she must bear the shackles of slavery. A worker, tired of so many regulations, wants to be free. Even if he achieves independence, he soon encounters the problem of continuing to be a slave to his own interests and concerns. Certainly, each time that we fight for freedom we are disappointed, despite victory. So much blood is shed pointlessly in the name of freedom while we continue to be slaves of ourselves and of others. People fight for words they will never understand, although dictionaries give them the grammatical explanations. Freedom is something that can only be achieved within ourselves. No one can achieve it outside of themselves. “Riding through the air,” is a very Eastern phrase which allegorizes the sense of genuine freedom. No one can really experience freedom while their consciousness remains bottled up inside of the me, myself, the “I.” Understanding the myself, “my persona, what I am,” is imperative if we sincerely wish to attain freedom. There is no way we can destroy the fetters of our enslavement without previously and totally comprehending this question of “mine” and all that concerns the me, myself, the “I.” What constitutes slavery? What is it that keeps us enslaved? What are the obstacles? We must discover all of this. Rich and poor, believers and nonbelievers, all are actually prisoners, although they consider themselves to be free. We will remain imprisoned, as long as the consciousness, the Essence, the most dignified and decent part within us, remains bottled up inside of the me, myself, the “I”—in our cravings and fears, in our desires and passions, our preoccupations and our violence, and in our psychological defects. The sense of freedom can only be fully understood when we have annihilated the shackles of our very own psychological incarceration. While the “I” exists, the consciousness remains imprisoned. Escaping from that prison is only possible through Buddhist Annihilation: dissolving the self, reducing it to ashes, to cosmic dust. The liberated consciousness, devoid of the “I,” absolutely absent of ego, without desires, without passions, without cravings and fears, directly experiences true freedom. Any idea we might have about freedom is not freedom. Those opinions that we hold about freedom are far from reality. The ideas that we form on the subject of freedom have nothing to do with genuine freedom. Freedom is something that has to be experienced directly, and that is only possible by dying psychologically, dissolving the “I,” ending the me, myself forever. It would do no good to continue dreaming about freedom if we continue being slaves. It would be better to take a look at ourselves as we really are, carefully observing the fetters of slavery that keep us imprisoned. Knowing ourselves, seeing what we are inside, we shall discover the door to authentic freedom. Samael Aun Weor

People work daily; they struggle to survive. Somehow they want to exist. However, they are not happy. The word happiness is like ‘Greek’ to people, as we say around here. However, worst of all is that they know this. But amid so much bitterness, it seems they do not lose the hope of achieving happiness one day without knowing how or in what way. Wretched people! They suffer so much! However, they want to live and are afraid of dying… If people understood something about revolutionary psychology, possibly they would even think differently; but the fact is that they do not know anything. What they want is to survive in the midst of their misfortune, and that is all. There are pleasant and enjoyable moments, but this not happiness. People confuse pleasure with happiness. Parties, bar hopping, drinking sprees and orgies are brutish pleasures, but they are not happiness… There are, however, wholesome get-togethers without over-indulgence, vulgar behavior and the abuse of alcohol. But that is not happiness either. Are you a kind person? How do you feel when you dance? Are you in love? Is it true love? What do you feel when you dance with the one you love? Allow me to be a little bit cruel for a moment by saying that this is not happiness either. If you are an older person, if you are not attracted to these pleasures, if they leave a bad taste in your mouth, forgive me if I tell you that it would be different if you were young and full of illusions. At any rate, whatever you might say, parties or no parties, love or no love, whether you have that which is called money or not, you are not happy, although you might think the opposite. People spend a lifetime looking for happiness everywhere and die without ever having found it. In America and everywhere there are many who hope to win the lottery some day; they think that this way they will find happiness. Some in fact do win. However, this does not bring them the happiness for which they yearn so much. When one is a young man, one dreams of the perfect woman, a princess from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, someone extraordinary. Then the harsh reality of life hits: a wife and small children to support, difficult financial problems, etc. There is no doubt that as the children grow so do the problems, and they might even become impossible to cope with… Naturally, as children get bigger they need bigger shoes, which are more expensive. This is obvious. Naturally, as the children grow, their clothing is ever more costly. If you have money it is no problem; but if not, then it is a serious matter and there is a great deal of suffering. Everything would be more or less bearable with a good wife, but if a man is betrayed, that is, if his wife cheats on him, then what is the use of him struggling to earn money for the household? There are unfortunately extraordinary examples of wonderful women, true companions through both fortune and misfortune. However, to make matters worse, their husbands take them for granted, and worse still, abandon them for other women who will embitter their lives. There are many young girls who dream of their prince. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is in fact different, and they end up marrying tyrants. The greatest dream for a woman is to have a lovely home and be a mother, a blessed predestination. However, even if she marries a good man, who may be unlikely, all things come to pass in the end. Sons and daughters get married and leave home or they are ungrateful to their parents. Ultimately, family life ends. All in all, in this cruel world in which we live there are no happy people… All the unfortunate human beings are unhappy. In life we have met many individuals who are loaded with money and full of problems: they are involved in lawsuits, overtaxed, etc. They are not happy. What is the use of being rich if one does not have good health? Wretched rich people! Sometimes they are more unfortunate than any beggar. Everything passes in this life: things, people, ideas, etc. Those who have money and those who have none also pass away. Nobody experiences genuine happiness! Many people want to escape from themselves through drugs or alcohol. In truth, they not only fail to escape, but worse, they get trapped in an inferno of vice. Friends in alcohol, marijuana or L.S.D. disappear as if by magic when an addict resolves to change his life. Happiness is not achieved by running away from the Me, Myself, the Ego. Instead it would be interesting to grab the bull by the horns, to observe the ‘I’, to study the ‘I’ in order to discover the causes of suffering. When one discovers the real cause of so much misery and bitterness, it becomes obvious that something can be done… If we manage to eliminate our Me, Myself, our ‘I’ of drinking sprees, our ‘I’ of vices and our ‘I’ of attachments that cause so much heartfelt sorrow in us; if we manage to eliminate those worries that torment our minds and make us ill etc., etc., then clearly what arrives is that which is timeless, that which is beyond the body, that which is beyond attachments and beyond the mind, that which is truly beyond our comprehension and is called happiness! Unquestionably, while our consciousness remains trapped within the Ego, the Me, Myself, the ‘I’ , in no way will it be able to know genuine happiness. Happiness has a quality that neither the Me, Myself, the ‘I’ , or the Ego has ever known. Samael Aun Weor

Soon, millions of people living in Africa, Asia and South America, can die from starvation. Gases released from sprays can radically put an end to the Ozone Layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. Some experts forecast that by the year Two Thousand the subsoil of our Earth’s globe will be exhausted. It has already been proved that marine species are dying due to contamination of the sea. Unquestionably, at this rate, by the end of this century all the inhabitants of big cities will have to wear oxygen masks to protect themselves from pollution. If contamination goes on at this alarming pace, very soon it will be impossible to eat fish. Because of living in totally infected waters, it will be a serious danger to health. Before the year Two Thousand it will be almost impossible to find a beach where one can swim in pure water. Due to excessive consumption and exploitation of the topsoil and the subsoil, soon the land will not be able to harvest the amount necessary to feed the world. The “Intellectual Animal”, mistakenly called man, by contaminating the oceans with so much waste, poisoning the air with fumes from cars and factories, destroying the Earth with underground atomic explosions and abusing of elements harmful to the Earth’s crust, has clearly subjected the planet Earth to a long, appalling agony which will undoubtedly have to end with a Great Catastrophe. It will be difficult for the world to survive past the year Two Thousand, as the “Intellectual Animal” is destroying the natural environment so rapidly. The “Rational Mammal” mistakenly called man is intent on destroying the Earth, making it uninhabitable. Obviously he is succeeding. As far as the seas are concerned, it is obvious that all nations have turned them into some kind of Grand Waste Dump. Seventy per cent of the world’s waste is going into the seas. Enormous quantities of oil, all kinds of insecticides, masses of chemical substances, poisonous gases, neuro-toxic gases, detergents, etc, are annihilating all the species living in the oceans. Sea birds and plankton which is so essential for life, are being destroyed. Without a doubt, the annihilation of marine plankton is of incalculable seriousness, for it is this micro-organism which produces seventy per cent of the Earth’s oxygen. It has been possible to verify through scientific research that certain parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are contaminated with radioactive residues, produced by atomic explosions. In different large main cities of the world and especially in Europe, tap water is drank, is eliminated, is purified and then drank again. In large “Super-civilized” cities, drinking water goes through the human organism many times. In the city of Cucuta, Colombia, near the Venezuelan border, in South America, the inhabitants have to drink the black dirty waters from the river which carries all the filth coming from Pamplona. I am referring emphatically to the Pamplonita river which has been such a blight upon the “Pearl of the North” (Cucuta city). Fortunately, there is another water supply for the city now, but the Pamplonita river’s sewage is still being drunk. Huge filters, gigantic machines, and chemical substances are being used to try to purify the sewage of Europe’s big cities. However, epidemics continue to break out because of that filthy water which has gone through human organisms so many times. Bacteriologists, so popular now, have found all types of viruses, collibacilluses, pathogens, tuberculosis bacteria, typhus and small pox bacteria, larvae, etc, in the drinking water of large capital cities. Although it may seem incredible, in the very same water-purifying factories, in European countries, viruses of the vaccine for poliomyelitis have been found. Besides, the wastage of water is appalling: some modern scientists assert that by the year 1990 the rational humanoid will die of thirst. The worst of all this, is that the underground fresh water reserves are in danger due to the abuses of the Intellectual Animal. The merciless exploitation of oil wells continues to be fatal. Oil extracted from the Earth’s interior goes through the underground waters and contaminates them. As a consequence, oil has made the Earth’s subterranean water supply not drinkable for more than a century. Obviously, as a result of all this, vegetation and even a multitude of people die. Now, let us talk a little about the air which is so indispensable for the life of all creatures… Our lungs take in half a litre of air with every breath, that is, about twelve cubic metres per day. Multiply this quantity by four thousand five hundred million people living on the Earth, and we have the exact amount of oxygen consumed by humanity daily. This does not take into account the consumption of oxygen by all the other animal creatures living on the Earth. The total amount of oxygen we inhale is found in the atmosphere and it is due to the plankton we are now destroying with pollution, and also to the photosynthetic activity of plants. Unfortunately, the reserves of oxygen are already becoming exhaust. The Rational Mammal mistakenly called man, through his innumerable industries is constantly diminishing the solar radiation essential for photosynthesis. For this reason, the quantity of oxygen produced by plants at present, is significantly less than in the last century. The worst in all this world tragedy is that the “Intellectual Animal” continues contaminating the sea, destroying plankton and getting rid of the vegetation. The “Rational Animal” proceeds destroying deplorably his sources of oxygen. The smog which the “Rational Humanoid” is constantly discharging into the air, is lethal and also it is endangering the life of our planet. Not only is smog exhausting the oxygen resources, but it is also killing people. Smog gives rise to strange incurable illnesses. This has already been proved. The Poles have already begun to thaw out and a new Great Flood is coming, preceded by fire. Smog impedes the entrance of sunlight and ultra-violet light, thus causing serious disorders in the atmosphere. An era of climatic changes is approaching, glaciations, advance of polar ice towards the equator, terrifying cyclones, earthquakes, etc. By the year Two Thousand some regions of the planet Earth will be hotter, not because of the use of electric energy but because of its overuse. This will contribute to the process of Revolution of the Earth’s Axes. Soon the Poles will become the Earth’s equator and the equator will become the poles. The Poles have already begun to thaw out and a new Great Flood is coming, preceded by fire. Forthcoming decades will see an increase in “Carbon Dioxide” which will form a thick layer around the Earth’s atmosphere. Regrettably, such a filter or layer, will absorb thermal radiation and will act as a fatal greenhouse. The Earth’s climate will become hotter in many places and the heat will make the ice in the Poles melt, thus causing a shocking rise in the level of the oceans. The situation is extremely serious; fertile soil is disappearing and two hundred thousand people who need food are born every day. The world-wide famine to come, will certainly be terrifying; this is already at our doorstep. Nowadays, forty million people are dying from starvation yearly, because of lack of food… The criminal industrialisation of the forests and the merciless exploitation of mines and oil wells, are turning the Earth into a desert. It is certainly known that nuclear energy is fatal for humanity and it is no less certain that at present there are “Death Rays”, “Microbial Bombs”, and many other terribly destructive, malignant elements invented by scientists. Unquestionably, attainig nuclear energy requires vast amounts of heat, which are difficult to control and may cause a disaster at any time. To obtain nuclear energy, enormous quantities of radioactive minerals are required of which only thirty per cent is used. This is rapidly exhausting the world’s subsoil. The atomic waste which is left in the ground is posing a horrific danger. There is no safe place for atomic waste. Should gas ever leak from one of those atomic dumps, however minute the amount, thousands of people would die. Contamination of food and water brings about genetic mutations and human monsters: creatures who are born deformed and monstrous. Before the year 1999 there will be a serious nuclear accident which will cause real terror. Certainly humanity does not know how to live. It has degenerated frightfully and, frankly, it has precipitated itself into the abyss. What is most serious in this question, is that the factors of such desolation, starvation, wars, destruction of the planet in which we live, etc, exist within ourselves. We carry them within, in our own psyche. Samael Aun Weor

As incredible as it may sound, it is certainly true that this so-called modern civilization is frightfully ugly. It does not even fulfill the transcendental characteristics of aesthetics and is devoid of inner beauty. We greatly boast of those conventional, horrifying structures that resemble mouse holes. The world has become terribly monotonous; everywhere there exist unchanging streets and appalling housing. All this has become tiresome throughout the world, in the north, the south, the east and the west. The same uniformity exists everywhere, horribly nauseating and sterile. “Modernization,” exclaim the multitudes. We resemble vain peacocks with our fine clothes and shiny shoes while here, there and everywhere are unhappy, undernourished, and wretched millions. Simplicity and natural beauty, spontaneous and genuine with no need for vain accessories and cosmetics, has disappeared in the female sex. Nowadays we are modern; such is life. People have grown dreadfully cruel. There is a chill on kindness. Nobody has compassion for anyone anymore. The display windows of luxury stores glisten with extravagant merchandise, which the less fortunate definitely cannot afford. In our society those who are outcast can only gaze upon silks and jewels, costly bottles of perfume and umbrellas for downpours. They can look but they cannot touch, a torment similar to that of Tantalus. The modern human being has become grossly rude. The perfume of friendship and the fragrance of sincerity have, for the most part, disappeared. The teeming masses complain of being overtaxed; everyone has problems; someone owes us or we owe them; we are sued and have nothing with which to pay; worries ravage our brains; nobody lives in peace.… Bureaucrats sustain themselves psychologically upon their smugly curved paunches and fat cigars, while cunningly playing political mind games with absolutely no concern for people’s suffering. Nowadays, no one is happy, least of all those of the middle class who find themselves with their backs to the wall facing the sword. Rich and poor, believers and nonbelievers, merchants and beggars, shoemakers and tinsmiths only live because they must. They drown their torments with wine and even become drug addicts to escape themselves. People have become malicious, suspicious, distrustful, astute and perverse; no one believes in anyone anymore. Every day they invent new conditions, certificates, all kinds of restrictions, documents, credentials, etc., none of which serves a real purpose anymore. The astute mock all this nonsense: they do not pay; they evade the law even though they risk being hauled off to jail. No job provides happiness. The sense of true love has been lost, and people are married today, divorced tomorrow. Lamentably, family unity has been lost. There is no longer an innate sense of modesty. Lesbianism and homosexuality have become as common as drinking a glass of water. The purpose of this book is certainly to find out more about all this, to try to understand the causes of such moral breakdown, to investigate, to seek. I am speaking in an everyday, practical language in hopes of finding out what is hidden behind this horrible masquerade of existence. I am thinking aloud, and let the swindlers of the intellect say whatever they please. Theories have already become humdrum. They are even sold and resold in the marketplace… then what? Theories serve only to worry us and embitter our lives. Goethe rightly said: “Every theory is grey and only the tree of the golden fruits of life is green.” The wretched people are already weary of many theories. Nowadays they talk a great deal about being practical. We need to be practical and really come to know the causes of our sufferings. Samael Aun Weor

Observation, judgement, and execution are the three basic factors of dissolution. First: one observes oneself. Second: judgement is passed. Third: execution takes place. In war, spies are first observed; secondly, they are judged; thirdly, they are shot. Self-discovery and self-revelation exist in our inter-relationships. Therefore, whosoever renounces living together with his fellowmen also renounces self-discovery. Any incident in life, regardless of how insignificant it may seem, undoubtedly has as its cause an intimate actor within us, a psychic aggregate, an “I.” Self-discovery is possible when we are in a state of alert perception, alert novelty. Any “I” discovered flagrantly must be carefully observed in our mind, heart, and sexual center. Any “I” of lust could manifest itself in the heart as love and in the mind as an ideal. Yet, as we pay attention to the sexual center, we may feel a certain morbid, unmistakable excitement. The judgment of any “I” must be definitive. We need to sit it down on the bench of the accused and judge it mercilessly. Evasion, justification, and consideration must be elimin-ated if in reality we want to be conscious of the “I” that we struggle to extirpate from our psyche. Execution is different. It would not be possible to execute any “I” without previously observing it and judging it. Prayer in the psychological work is fundamental for the dissolution of the “I.” We need a power superior to the mind if indeed we want to disintegrate this or that “I.” The mind by itself can never disintegrate any “I”; this is indisputable and irrefutable. To pray is to talk with God. We must appeal to God the Mother in the depths of our heart if we truly want to disintegrate “I’s.” The one who does not love his or her Mother, the ungrateful child, will fail in the work upon himself. Each one of us has his or her particular, individual Divine Mother. She, in Herself, is a part of our own Being, but a derivative part. All ancient civilizations adored “God the Mother” within the most profound part of our Being. The feminine principle of the Eternal One is Isis, Mary, Tonantzin, Cybele, Rhea, Adonia, Insoberta, etc. If in our merely physical aspect we have a father and a mother, likewise within the deepest part of our Being we also have our Father who is in secret, as well as our Divine Mother Kundalini. There are as many Fathers in Heaven as there are humans on Earth. God the Mother within our own intimacy is the feminine aspect of our Father who dwells in secret. He and She are certainly the two superior parts of our inner Being. Undoubtedly, He and She are our very true Being beyond the “I” of psychology. He unfolds into Her. He commands, directs, instructs. She eliminates the undesirable elements which we carry in our interior with the condition that we continuously work on ourselves. Thus, when we have died radically, when all the undesirable elements have been eliminated, after many conscious labors and voluntary sufferings, then we shall fuse and integrate ourselves with our “Father-Mother.” Then, we shall be terribly divine Gods, beyond good and evil. Any of those “I’s” that have been previously observed and judged can be reduced to cosmic dust by means of the fiery powers of our own individual, particular Divine Mother. A specific formula in order to pray to our Inner Divine Mother is not necessary. We must be very natural and simple when we address Her. The child who addresses his/her mother never has a special formula. The child utters what comes from his/her heart and that is all. No “I” is instantaneously dissolved. Our Divine Mother must work and even suffer very much before achieving the annihilation of any “I.” Make yourselves introversive, direct your prayer within, seeking within your interior your Divine Lady. Thus, with sincere supplications, you shall be able to talk to Her. Beg her to disintegrate the “I” that you have previously observed and judged. As the sense of Self-observation develops, it shall permit you to verify the progressive advancement of your work. Comprehension and discernment are fundamental. Nonetheless, something more is necessary if indeed what we want is to disintegrate the “myself.” The mind can give onto itself the luxury of labeling any defect, passing it from one department to the other, exhibiting it, hiding it, etc. However, the mind can never fundamentally alter the defect. A special power superior to the mind is necessary, a fiery power that is capable of reducing any defect to ashes. Stella Maris, our Divine Mother, has that power. She is able to pulverize any psychological defect. Our Divine Mother lives in our intimacy, beyond the body, affections and the mind. She is, by Herself, an igneous power superior to the mind. Our own particular, individual Cosmic Mother possesses wisdom, love, and power. Absolute perfection exists within Her. Good intentions and their constant repetition lead nowhere. These are good for nothing. It serves no purpose to repeat, “I will not be lustful,” because within the very depth of our psyche, the “I’s” of lasciviousness will continue to exist anyway. It is useless to repeat daily, “I will not have anger,” because within our psychological depths the “I’s” of anger will continue to exist. It would be useless to repeat daily, “I will no longer be covetous,” because within the different depths of our psyche, the “I’s” of covetousness shall continue to exist. It would be useless to separate ourselves from the world and lock ourselves up in a convent or live in a cavern, because the “I’s” within us will continue to exist. Some hermits who isolated themselves within caves, based on rigorous disciplines, attained the ecstasy of the saints and were taken up to heaven. There they saw and heard things that are not easily comprehended by human beings. Nevertheless, their “I’s” continued to exist within their interior. Unquestionably, the Essence, through rigorous discipline, can escape from within the “I”; thus, it enjoys ecstasy. However, after such bliss, the Essence returns into the interior of the “myself.” Those who have become accustomed to ecstasy without having dissolved the ego believe that they have already reached liberation. They fool themselves by believing themselves to be Masters. They even enter into the submerged devolution. Nonetheless, we are not pronouncing ourselves against mystical ecstasy, against the ecstasy and happiness of the Soul while in the absence of the ego. We only want to place emphasis on the necessity of dissolving “I’s” in order to achieve the final liberation. The Essence of any disciplined hermit, accustomed to escaping from within the “I,” repeats such a feat after the death of his physical body. Then, his Essence enjoys the ecstasy for some time. Yet, after such time, his Essence returns as the Genie of Aladdin’s lamp, back into the interior of the lamp, the ego, the myself. Thereupon, he has no other choice but to return into a new physical body with the purpose of repeating his life on the stage of existence. Many mystics who lived and died in the caverns of the Himalayas in central Asia reincarnated again and are now vulgar, common and current people in this world, in spite of the fact that their followers still adore and venerate them. Therefore, any attempt at liberation, no matter how great it might be, if it does not take into consideration the necessity of dissolving the ego, it is condemned to failure. Samael Aun Weor

It is urgent to study Gnosis and to utilize the practical ideas which we give in this book in order to work seriously on ourselves. Nonetheless, we cannot work on ourselves with the intention of dissolving this or that “I” without having previously observed it. The observation of oneself permits a ray of light to penetrate within our interior. Each “I” manifests itself one way through the head, another way through the heart, and in another way through the sexual center. We need to observe the “I” which we have captured at a given moment; it is urgent to see it in each of these three centers of our organism. If we are alert and vigilant, like a watchman in time of war, while relating with other people, we can then discover ourselves. Do you recall at what time your vanity was hurt by someone? Your pride? What was it that upset you the most during the day? Why did you have that vexation? What was its secret cause? Study this, observe your head, heart and sexual center... Practical life is a marvelous school. So, through interaction with others is how we can discover those “I’s” that we carry within our interior. Any annoyance, any incident can lead us through inner self-observation to the discovery of any “I,” whether it be of self-esteem, envy, jealousy, anger, covetousness, suspicion, calumny, lust, etc. We need to know ourselves before being capable of knowing others. It is urgent to learn to see others” point of view. If we place ourselves in the place of others, we discover that the psychological defects that we attribute to others exist in abundance within our interior. To love our neighbor is indispensable; however, in the esoteric work, if one does not firstly learn how to place his own self in the position of another person, such a one cannot love others. Cruelty will continue existing on the face of the Earth as long as we have not learned to put ourselves in the place of others. But, if one does not have the courage of seeing himself, then how can one put himself in the place of others? Why should we only see the bad side of people? The mechanical antipathy towards another person that we meet for the first time indicates that we do not know how to put ourselves in the place of our fellow men. This indicates that we do not love our fellow men, that we have our consciousness extremely asleep. Do we feel antipathy towards a certain person? Why? Perhaps he drinks? Let us observe him... Are we certain of our virtue? Are we certain of not carrying the “I” of drunkenness within our interior? When we see a drunkard doing all kinds of stupidities, it would be best if we said to ourselves: “This is me, what tomfoolery am I doing...?” Are you an honest and virtuous woman and because of that you do not like a certain woman? Do you feel antipathy towards her? Why? Do you feel sure of yourself? Do you believe that you do not have the “I” of lust within your interior? Do you think that this woman, discredited by her scandals and lasciviousness, is perverse? Are you sure that the lasciviousness and perversity that you see in that woman does not exist within your interior? It would be better to observe yourself intimately, and while in profound meditation you may occupy the place of that woman you despise. If, indeed, we yearn for a radical change, then it is urgent to value the Gnostic esoteric work. It is indispensable to comprehend and appreciate it. It is indispensable to know how to love our fellow men, to study Gnosis and to take these teachings to all people. Otherwise, we will fall into egotism. If one dedicates himself to the esoteric work on oneself, but does not give these teachings to others, his inner progress becomes then very difficult due to lack of love for our fellow men. “For whosoever gives to him shall be given, and the more he gives, the more he shall receive, but whosoever gives not, from him shall be taken away even what he has.” This is the Law. Samael Aun Weor

It is impossible to have continuity of purpose without a true individuality. If the psychological individual does not exist, if many people live in each one of us, if there is no responsible subject, it would be absurd to demand continuity of purposes from someone. We well know that many people live inside a person, so the full sense of responsibility does not really exist in us. What a certain I affirms at a given moment cannot be serious due to the concrete fact that any other I can affirm the exact opposite at any other moment. The serious thing about all this is that many people believe they have a sense of moral responsibility and deceive themselves by claiming to always be the same. There are people who, at any moment of their existence, come to Gnostic studies, glow with the strength of yearning, get enthusiastic about esoteric work and even swear to dedicate their entire existence to these matters. Unquestionably all the brethren of our movement even admire such an enthusiastic one. One cannot but feel great happiness in listening to these kinds of people, so devoted and definitely sincere. However, the idyll does not last very long. Any given day, due to this or that reason, just or unjust, simple or complex, the person withdraws from Gnosis and abandons the work. Thus, in order to right the wrong, or in trying to justify himself, he joins any other mystical organization and thinks that he is then doing better. All this coming and going, all this incessant change of schools, sects, religions, is due to the multiplicity of I’s that struggle amongst themselves for their own supremacy within our interior. This constant fluttering around among organizations, from idea to idea, this change of opinions is but normal, since every “I” possesses its own criteria, its own mind, its own ideas. Therefore, such a person in himself is nothing more than a machine who just easily serves as a vehicle to one “I” or another. Some mystical I’s deceive themselves after having abandoned this sect or the other. They decide to believe themselves to be Gods. Thus, they shine like fatuous lights and finally disappear. There exist people who show themselves for a moment to the esoteric work, then, all of a sudden, another “I” intervenes. Thus, they definitely abandon these studies and allow themselves to be swallowed by life. Obviously, if one does not struggle against life, then one is devoured by life. Very rare are the aspirants who truly do not allow themselves to be swallowed up by life. The permanent center of gravity cannot exist within us as long as a whole multiplicity of I’s exist inside of us. It is normal that not all people achieve intimate Self-Realization. We know very well that the intimate Self-Realization of our Being demands continuity of purpose. Therefore, it is not strange that only very few people can attain the profound inner Self-Realization, since it is very difficult to find someone with a permanent center of gravity. What is normal in this subject matter is for someone to become enthusiastic for the esoteric work and then to abandon it. What is strange is for someone to not abandon the work and to reach the goal. Indeed, in the name of the truth, we affirm that the Sun is conducting a very complex and terribly difficult laboratory experiment. Germs exist within the intellectual animal (mistakenly called human being) that when conveniently developed can convert us into solar humans. Nonetheless, it is not irrelevant to clarify that the development of these germs cannot be taken for granted. What is normal is for these germs to degenerate and become lamentably lost. In any event, the above-mentioned germs which can convert us into solar humans need an adequate environment. It is well known that the seed in a sterile environment does not germinate; it is lost. Continuity of purposes and a normal physical body are necessary in order for the real seed of the human being, deposited in our sexual glands, to be able to germinate. Yet, if the scientists continue experimenting with the glands of internal secretion, then any possibility of development for these aforementioned germs can be lost. Although it may seem incredible, the ants already passed through a similar process, in a remote, archaic past of our planet Earth. One is filled with wonder when contemplating the perfection of the nests of ants. There is no doubt that the order established in any ants nest is overwhelming. The Initiates who have awakened their consciousness know through direct mystical experience that in ages which the most famous historians of the world do not even remotely suspect, the ants were a human race who created a very powerful socialist civilization. At that time, the dictators of such a race eliminated the diverse religious sects and free will, for all of these things undermined power away from them. They needed to be totalitarians in the most complete sense of the word. So, in these conditions, after having eliminated individual initiative and religious rights, these intellectual animals precipitated themselves downwards into the path of devolution and degeneration. Moreover, they added to the aforementioned scientific experiments: transplant of organs, glands, hormonal tests, etc., whose outcome was the gradual diminishing in size and the morphological alteration of their human organisms until finally, through the ages, they became the ants that we now know. Thus, their entire civilization, all those movements related with their established social order, became mechanical and were inherited from parents to children. Today, one is astonished when seeing an anthill, but we cannot but lament its lack of intelligence. Therefore, if we do not work on ourselves, we devolve and degenerate horribly. Indeed, the experiment that the Sun is conducting in the laboratory of Nature, besides being difficult, has given very few positive results. The creation of solar humans is only possible when true cooperation exists within each one of us. Thus, if first of all we do not establish a permanent center of gravity within our interior, then the creation of the solar human being is impossible. How can we have continuity of purpose if we do not establish a center of gravity in our psyche? Certainly, any race created by the Sun has no other objective in Nature but to serve the interests of this creation and the solar experiment. Yet, if the Sun fails in its experiment, then it loses all interest for such a race. Thus, such a race is left condemned to destruction and devolution. Each of the root races that have existed on the face of the Earth has served the Solar experiment. From each root race, the Sun has managed to get a few to fruition, that is to say, the sun has harvested small groups of solar humans. After a root race has given its fruits, it disappears in a progressive manner, or perishes violently due to great catastrophes. The creation of solar humans is possible when one struggles to become independent from the lunar forces. There is no doubt that all those I’s that we carry within our psyche are exclusively of a lunar type. By no means is it possible to liberate ourselves from the lunar forces if we do not previously establish within ourselves a permanent center of gravity. How can we dissolve the total of the “I” if we do not have a continuity of purpose? How could we have continuity of purposes if we do not establish the center of gravity in our psyche? Hence, this contemporary race has condemned itself towards devolution and degeneration, since instead of becoming independent of the lunar influence, it has unquestionably lost all interest for the solar intelligence. It is not possible for the true human being to appear through evolving mechanics. We know very well that evolution and its twin sister devolution are nothing else but two laws which constitute the mechanical axis of all Nature. One evolves to a certain perfectly defined point, and then the devolving process follows. Every ascent is followed by a descent and viceversa. We are machines that are controlled exclusively by different I’s. We serve Nature’s economy. We do not have a defined individuality as is erroneously supposed by many pseudo-esoterists and pseudo-occultists. We need to change with maximum urgency so that the germs of the human being will give its fruits. We can become solar humans only by working on ourselves with true continuity of purpose and a complete sense of moral responsibility. This implies the total consecration of our existence to the esoteric work on ourselves. Those who hope to reach the solar state through the mechanics of evolution fool themselves and condemn themselves, in fact, to a devolving degeneration. In the esoteric work, we cannot afford the luxury of versatility. Those who have fickle ideas, those who work on their psyche today and let themselves be swallowed by life tomorrow, those who seek subterfuges and justifications in order to abandon the esoteric work will degenerate and devolve. Some postpone the error, leave everything for tomorrow while they improve their economic situation, without taking into consideration that the solar experiment is something very different from their personal criteria and their aforementioned projects. It is not so easy to become a solar human when we carry the Moon in our interior (the ego is lunar). The Earth has two moons. The second one is named Lilith and is a little farther away than the white moon. Astronomers often see Lilith like a lentil, since it is very small in size. It is the black moon. The most disastrous forces of the ego come to the Earth from Lilith and produce infrahuman and bestial psychological results. The crimes mentioned in the news, the most monstrous murders in history, the most unsuspected crimes, etc. are due to the vibratory waves of Lilith. These two lunar influences are represented within the human being through the ego that we carry in our interior and which makes of us true failures. Therefore, if we do not see the urgency of surrendering our total existence to the work on ourselves with the purpose of liberating ourselves from the double lunar force, then we shall end up swallowed up by the Moon, devolving, degenerating more and more into certain state which we could very well classify as unconscious and infraconscious. The sad part of all this is that we do not possess true individuality, if we had a permanent center of gravity we would then truly work seriously in order to achieve the solar state. There are so many excuses in these matters, so many evasions, so many fascinating attractions, that it usually becomes almost impossible to comprehend the urgency of the esoteric work. Nevertheless, the small amount that we have in free will and the Gnostic teaching oriented towards practical work can serve as a basis for our noble intentions in relation to the solar experiment. What we are stating here is not understandable by the fickle mind. The fickle mind reads this chapter and then forgets it; it reads another book, then another. To that end, our fickle mind tends to end up joining any institution which sells us a passport to heaven, that talks to us in a more optimistic manner, that assures us of comforts in the beyond. This is how people are mere marionettes controlled by invisible strings, mechanical dolls with fickle ideas and without continuity of purpose. Samael Aun Weor

As one works on oneself, one comprehends more and more the necessity of radically eliminating from one’s inner nature all that which makes us so abominable. The worst circumstances of life, the most critical situations, and the most difficult deeds are always marvelous for intimate self-discovery. The most secret “I’s” always surface in those unsuspected, critical moments, and when we least expect them. Unquestionably, if we are alert, we discover ourselves. The most tranquil moments of life are precisely the least favorable for the work upon oneself. Moments in life exist which are too complicated. In those moments we have the marked tendency of identifing easily with the events and completely forgetting about ourselves. In those instances, we do foolish things which lead nowhere. If, in those moments, we are alert, if instead of losing our minds we remember our own selves, we would discover with astonishment certain I’s of which we never had the slightest suspicion of their possible existence. The sense of intimate self-observation is atrophied in every human being. Yet, such a sense will develop in a progressive manner by working seriously, by observing oneself from moment to moment. As the sense of self-observation continues its development through the continuous use, we will become more and more capable of directly perceiving those I’s about which we never had any data related to their existence. Indeed, while in the sight of the sense of inner self- observation, each of those “I’s which inhabit our interior assume this or that figure. This figure is secretly related to the defect that is personified within it. Undoubtedly, the image of each of those “I’s has a certain unmistakable psychological flavor. We, through this image, instinctively apprehend, capture, trap its inner nature, and the defect which characterizes it. In the beginning, the esoterist does not know where to start. He feels the necessity of working on himself but is completely disoriented. Yet, if we take advantage of the critical moments, of the more unpleasant situations, the most adverse instances, we shall then discover if we are alert, our outstanding defects, the “I’s that we must urgently disintegrate. Sometimes one can begin with anger or pride or with the wretched second of lust, etc.. However, if we truly want a definite change, it is necessary to take note of our daily psychological states. Before going to bed, it is wise to examine the events that occurred during the day, the embarrassing situations, the thunderous laughter of Aristophanes, or the subtle smile of Socrates. It is possible that we may have hurt someone with a laugh, or that we caused someone to fall ill with a smile or with a look that was out of place. Let us remember that in pure esotericism good is all that is in its place; bad is all that is out of its place. For instance: water is good in its place, but if the water is out of place, if it floods the house, then it would cause damage; it would be bad and harmful. Likewise, fire in the kitchen, when in its place, besides being useful, is good. Yet, the fire out of its place, burning the furniture of the living room, would be bad and harmful. Thus, any virtue, no matter how holy it might be, is good in its place; yet, it is bad and harmful out of its place. We can harm others with our virtues. Therefore, it is indispensable to place virtues in their corresponding place. What would you say about a priest who preaches the Word of the Lord inside a brothel? What would you say about a meek and tolerant male who blesses a gang of assailants attempting to rape his wife and daughters? What would you say about that type of tolerance taken to such an extreme? What would you say about the charitable attitude of a man who, instead of taking food home, shares his money among beggars who have a vice? What would be your opinion of a helpful man who in a given moment lends a dagger to a murderer? Remember, dear reader, that crime also hides within the rhythm of poetry. There is much virtue in the perverse one and as much evil in the virtuous one. Even though it may appear incredible, crime also hides in the very perfume of prayer. Crime disguises itself as a saint. It uses the best virtues; it presents itself as a martyr and even officiates in the sacred temples. As the sense of intimate self-observation develops in us, through its continuous use we can see all those “I’s” that serve as a basic foundation to our individual temperament, whether it be sanguine or nervous, phlegmatic or bilious. Although you may not believe it, dear reader the fact is that behind the temperament that we possess, the most remote profundities of our psyche, the most abominable diabolic creations are hidden. To see such creations, to observe these monstrosities of hell within which our very same consciousness is imprisoned, is only possible with the ever progressive development of the sense of intimate self-observation. Therefore, as long as a human being has not dissolved these creations of hell, these aberrations of himself, undoubtedly in the deepest part, in the most profound part of him, he will continue being something that must not exist, a deformity an abomination. The most critical aspect of all of this is that the abominable person does not become aware of his own abomination. He believes himself to be beautiful, just, a good person, and he even complains about the lack of comprehension of others. He laments the ingratitude of his fellowmen. He says that they do not understand him. He cries affirming that they owe him, that they have paid him back with black coins, etc. The sense of intimate self-observation allows us to verify for ourselves, and in a direct manner, the secret work by which in a given time we are dissolving this or that “I” (this or that psychological defect), possibly discovered in difficult conditions and when we least suspect it. Have you, sometime in your life, ever thought of what you like or dislike the most? Have you reflected on the secret causes of action? Why do you want to have a beautiful house? Why do you desire the latest model car? Why do you want to always be wearing the latest fashion? Why do you covet not being covetous? What offended you the most in a given moment? What flattered you the most yesterday? Why do you feel superior to this or that fellow in a specific moment? At what hour did you feel superior to someone? Why do you feel conceited when you relate your triumphs? Couldn”t you keep quiet when they gossiped about someone you know? Did you receive the goblet of liquor out of courtesy? Did you accept smoking, although not having the vice, possibly because of the concept of education or out of manliness? Are you sure that you were sincere in your chatter? And when you justify yourself, when you praise yourself, when you boast about your triumphs and do so repeating what you have previously told others, do you comprehend that you are vain? The sense of intimate self-observation, in addition to allowing you to see clearly the “I” that you are dissolving, will also allow you to see the pathetic and defined results of your internal Work. In the beginning, these creations of hell, these psychic aberrations that unfortunately characterize you, are more ugly and monstrous than the most horrendous beasts that exist at the bottom of the oceans or in the most profound jungles of the earth. Yet, as you advance in your work, you will be able to evince through the sense of internal self-observation the outstanding fact that those abominations lose bulk; they grow smaller. It is intriguing to know that such bestialities, as they decrease in size, as they lose bulk and become smaller, they gain in beauty; they slowly assume a childlike figure. Finally, they disintegrate; they become a cloud of cosmic dust. Then the imprisoned Essence is liberated; it is emancipated; it awakens. Undoubtedly, the mind cannot fundamentally alter any psychological defect. Obviously the intellect can give itself the luxury of naming a defect with this or that name, of justifying it, or passing it from one level to another, etc. But it could not by itself annihilate it, disintegrate it. We urgently need a flaming power superior to the mind, a power that by itself is capable of reducing this or that psychological defect to a mere cloud o cosmic dust. Fortunately, that serpentine power exists within us, that wonderful fire that the old medieval alchemists baptized with the mysterious name of Stella Maris, the Virgin of the Sea, the Azoe of Science of Hermes, the Tonantzín of Aztec Mexico, that derivation of our own being. intimate, God the Mother in our interior always symbolized with the sacred serpent of the Great Mysteries. If after having observed and profoundly comprehended this or that psychological defect (this or that “I”), we beg our individual cosmic Mother, since each of us has his own, to disintegrate, to reduce to a cloud of cosmic dust this or that defect, that is, the “I,” the motive of our interior work, Then you can be sure that it will lose mass and it will be slowly pulverized. All of this naturally implies successive deep works, always continuous, since no “I” can ever be disintegrated instantly. The sense of intimate self-observation will be able to see the progressive advance of the work in relation with the abomination whose disintegration truly interests us. Although it may appear incredible, Stella Maris is the astral signature of the human sexual potency. Obviously, Stella Maris has the effective power to disintegrate the aberrations that we carry in our psychological interior. The decapitation of John the Baptist is something that invites us to reflect. No radical psychological change is possible if we do not first pass through decapitation. Our own derivative-Being, Tonantzin, Stella Maris, as an electric power, is unknown to the entire humanity. Yet, she abides latent in the depth of our psyche. Ostensibly, she enjoys the power that permits her to decapitate any “I” before its final disintegration. Stella Maris is that philosophical fire that is found latent in all organic and inorganic matter. Psychological impulses can provoke the intensive action of such a fire and then decapitation is made possible. Some “I”s are usually decapitated at the beginning of the psychological Work, others in the middle and the last ones at the end. Stella Maris, as a sexual igneous power, has full consciousness of the work that must be performed. She performs the decapitation at the opportune moment, at the appropriate instant. As long as the disintegration of all these psychological abominations, of all this lasciviousness, of all these curses: robbery, envy, secret or manifest adultery, ambition for money or psychic powers, etc. has not been produced, even when we think ourselves honorable persons, true to our word, sincere, courteous, charitable, beautiful in our interior, etc., obviously, we are nothing more than whitened sepulchers, beautiful from outside, yet full of disgusting filthiness inside. Erudition is good for nothing: the pseudo-wisdom of the complete information on the sacred writings, whether these be from the east or the west, from the north or the south, the pseudo-occultism, the pseudo-esotericism, the absolute certainty that one is well informed, the intransigent sectarianism with complete convincing, etc. This is because, indeed, at the bottom exists what we ignore, which is, creations of hell, curses, monstrosities that hide behind the pretty face, behind the venerable countenance, underneath the most holy garb of the sacred leader, etc. We have to be sincere with ourselves and ask ourselves what we want, if we have come to the Gnostic teaching out of mere curiosity, if in reality what we desire is not to pass through decapitation, then we are fooling ourselves; we are defending our own filthiness; we are proceeding hypocritically. In the most venerable schools of esoteric wisdom and occultism there are many sincerely mistaken ones who really want to self-realize but who are not dedicated to the disintegration of their interior abominations. Numerous are these people who assume that through good intentions it is possible to attain sanctity. Obviously, as long as one does not work intensely on those “I’s” that we carry within our interior, they will continue to exist beneath the depth of our godly appearance and our upright conduct. The time has come for us to know that we are perverse ones disguised with the robe of sanctity: wolves in sheepskin, cannibals dressed in gentlemen”s clothing, executioners hidden behind the sacred sign of the cross, etc. As majestic as we may seem inside our temples or inside our classrooms of light and harmony, as serene and sweet as we may seem to our fellowmen, as reverent and humble as we may appear, the abominations of hell and all the monstrosities of the wars continue to exist at the bottom of our psyche. In revolutionary psychology, the necessity of a radical transformation is evident to us and this is only possible by declaring on oneself a merciless and cruel war to the death. Indeed, all of us are worthless, each one of us is the disgrace, the abomination of the earth. Fortunately, John the Baptist taught us the secret way: to die in oneself through psychological decapitation. Samael Aun Weor

The “Great Work” is, first of all, the creation of the true human being by dint of our will, based on conscious labors and voluntary sufferings. The “Great Work” is the inner conquest of oneself, of our true liberty in God. Therefore, if in reality we want the perfect emancipation of our willpower, we need, with a maximum and unavoidable urgency, to disintegrate all those “I’s” that live in our interior. Nicholas Flammel and Raymond Lully were both meager men, yet they liberated their will and accomplished innumerable psychological prodigies that caused astonishment. Agrippa never progressed past the first part of the “Great Work.” He lamentably died while struggling in the disintegration of his “I’s” with the objective of possessing himself and establishing his independence. The perfect emancipation of willpower assures the sage absolute dominion over fire, air, water and earth. The assertion of our former paragraphs, in relation with the sovereign might of the emancipated willpower, may seem exaggerated to many students of contemporary psychology Nonetheless, the Bible narrates wonders about Moses. According to Philo, Moses was an Initiate in the lands of the Pharaohs on the banks of the river Nile. He was a Priest of Osiris, and he was the Pharaoh’s cousin, educated among the columns of Isis, the Divine Mother, and of Osiris, our Father who is in secret. Moses was a descendant of the Patriarch Abraham the great Chaldean Magus, and of the very respectable Isaac. Moses, the man who liberated the electric might of the willpower, possesses the gift of prodigies. This is known by the Divine Ones and humans. So it is written. All that the sacred Scriptures state about this Hebrew leader is certainly extraordinary, portentous. Moses transformed his staff into a serpent. He transformed one of his hands into that of a leper and then restored it to health again. His power was clearly demonstrated in the “burning bush;” thus, people comprehended, knelt and prostrated themselves. Moses handled a Magical Wand, emblem of royal power, of the priestly power of the Initiate in the Great Mysteries of Life and Death. In front of the Pharaoh, Moses changed the water of the Nile into blood; the fish died, the sacred river became infected, the Egyptians could not drink from it, and the irrigation canals of the Egyptians poured out blood onto the field. Moses did more; he succeeded in causing millions of disproportionate, gigantic and monstrous frogs to appear out of the river and swarm through the houses. Then, upon his signal (an indication of a free and sovereign willpower) those horrible frogs disappeared. However, since the Pharaoh did not set the Israelites free, Moses worked new miracles: he covered the earth with filth, stirred up clouds of repugnant and filthy flies, which he later gave himself the luxury of driving away. He unchained the frightening plague and all the flocks died, except those of the Jews. He took ashes from the furnace, states the sacred Scriptures, threw them into the air and they fell on the Egyptians, causing them pustules and boils. Putting forth his famous magical wand, Moses caused a hailstorm from heaven which mercilessly destroyed and killed. Next, he caused the fiery lightning bolt to strike. The terrifying thunder roared and it rained horribly. Then, with a signal, everything returned to calm. However, the Pharaoh continued to be inflexible. Moses, with a tremendous strike of his Magical Wand, as if by magic, caused clouds of locusts to appear. Then darkness came. Another strike of the wand and all returned to its original order. The end of that Biblical drama of the Old Testament is very well known: Jehovah intervened, causing the firstborn of the Egyptians to die, and the Pharaoh had no other choice but to let the Hebrews leave. Next, Moses made use of his magical wand to separate the waters of the Red Sea and to cross it with dry feet. When the Egyptian soldiers threw themselves in pursuit of the Israelites, Moses, with a signal caused the waters to close again, swallowing the followers. Unquestionably on reading this, many pseudo occultists wish they could do the same, and have the same powers of Moses. However, this is more than impossible as long as the willpower continues to be bottled up in each and every one of those “l’s” which we carry within the different depths of our psyche. The Essence, engrossed in the “myself,” is the Genie in Aladdin”s lamp, wishing for liberty… Once the Genie is free, he can accomplish miracles. The Essence is “Conscience-Willpower,” unfortunately processing itself in virtue of our own conditioning. When our willpower is liberated, then it blends or fuses itself with the Universal Willpower. Thus, as an outcome of this, when integrated like this, our willpower becomes sovereign. The individual willpower fused with the Universal Willpower can accomplish all the miracles of Moses. There are three types of actions: 1. Those which correspond to the Law of Accidents. 2. Those which belong to the Law of Recurrence, actions always repeated in each existence. 3. Actions which are intentionally determined by the Conscious Willpower. Unquestionably, only persons who have liberated their willpower through the death of the “myself” shall be able to accomplish new acts born from their free willpower. The common and current acts of mankind are always either the result of the Law of Recurrence or the mere product of mechanical accidents. Death of the Myself Whosoever truly possesses free willpower can originate new circumstances. Whosoever has his willpower bottled up in the pluralized “I” is a victim of circumstances. In all the Biblical pages, there is a marvelous display of High Magic, Seership, Prophesy, Miracles, Transfigurations, and the Resurrection of the dead by insufflation or laying of hands, or by a fixed look upon the root of the nose, etc. Abounding in the Bible is massage, holy oil, magnetic passes, the application of a little saliva on the sick part of the body, reading another person”s thoughts, transportations, apparitions, words coming from heaven, etc., true marvels of the liberated, emancipated and sovereign Conscious Willpower. Witches? Sorcerers? Black Magicians? They are found everywhere like wild weed. They are, however, not Saints nor Prophets, nor Adepts of the White Fraternity. No one can arrive at “Real Illumination” nor exercise the absolute Priesthood of the Conscious Willpower, if he has not first died radically in himself here and now. Many people write to us frequently complaining of not possessing illumination, asking for powers, demanding clues that shall convert them into Magicians, etc.; but they never become interested in observing and knowing themselves, or in disintegrating those psychic aggregates, those “I’s” within which the willpower, the Essence, is absorbed. Persons like that are obviously condemned to failure. They are people who covet the faculties of the Saints but who have, in no way decided to die in themselves. The elimination of errors is something magical, marvelous by itself, which implies rigorous psychological self- observation. The exercise of powers is possible when the marvelous power of the will is radically liberated. Unfortunately, since the willpower of people is absorbed in each “I,” obviously their willpower is divided into multiple wills that process themselves in virtue of their own conditioning. It is clear to comprehend that each “I” possesses its own particular, unconscious will. The innumerable wills engrossed in the “I’s” frequently clash with each other, making them impotent, weak, miserable, victims of circumstances, incapable, due to that reason. Samael Aun Weor

This is the introductory degree to the Gnostic philosophical studies or external degree of Gnosis. It is natural that all studies will begin with this degree and eventually continue with the first, second, third degrees, etc. One should keep in mind that these are not the Gnostic esoteric degrees; the Gnostic esoteric degrees are received when the student is prepared for them.

When reflecting a little about the diverse circumstances of life, it is worthwhile to seriously comprehend the foundations we depend upon. One person depends upon his position, another on money, a different one on his prestige, that other person on his past, someone else on this or that particular academic degree, etc. The most curious thing about this matter is that all of us, whether rich or poor, need everybody else and live off everybody else, even if we are filled with pride and vanity. Let us think for a moment on what could be taken away from us. What would our fate be in a revolution of blood and liquor? What would be left of the foundations that we depend upon? Woe to us! We believe ourselves to be very strong; yet, we are horribly weak! The “I” that in itself feels to be the foundation that we depend upon must be dissolved if indeed we wish for authentic bliss. Such an “I” underestimates people, feels he is better than the whole world, more perfect in everything, wealthier, more intelligent, more experienced in life, etc. It is very opportune to quote the parable of Jesus the Great Kabir, about the two men who went up into the temple to pray. He spoke this parable to those who felt secure in their self-righteousness and who despised others. Jesus the Christ stated: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself ‘God, I thank thee, that Jam not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the Publican standing afar off would not l up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner.’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbled himself shall be exalted.” LUKE 18: 10-14 To begin to realize our own nothingness and the misery in which we find ourselves is absolutely impossible as long as that concept of “more” exists in us. Examples: I am more just than that one, wiser than that fellow, more virtuous than the other fellow, richer, more experienced in the things of life, more chaste, more responsible in my duties, etc. It is not possible to go through the eye of a needle as long as we are “rich,” as long as that complex of “more” exists within us. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” MATTHEW 19:24 The feeling that my school is the best and my neighbor”s school is worthless; that my Religion is the only authentic one and that all others religions are false and perverse; that such a fellow”s spouse is a lousy spouse and that mine is a saint; that my friend Robert is a drunkard, yet, I am wise and abstemious, etc., is what makes us feel rich. That is the reason why we are all the “camels” of the biblical parable in relation to the Esoteric Work. It is urgent to observe ourselves from moment to moment with the purpose of clearly knowing the foundations we depend upon. When we discover that which offends us the most at any given moment, when someone bothers us by dint of one thing or another, we then discover the foundations we psychologically depend upon. Such foundations constitute, according to the Christian Gospel, “the sands upon which we built our house.” It is necessary to carefully notice when and how much one despises others, perhaps one feels to be superior because one’s academic degree or one’s social position, or because of one’s acquired experience or money, etc. It is terrible to feel oneself rich, to feel superior to this or that fellow because of this reason or another. People like this cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. It is worthwhile to discover what flatters us, what satisfies our vanity. This will show us the foundations we depend upon. Nevertheless, such a type of observation must not be something merely theoretical. We must be practical and observe ourselves closely in a direct way from instant to instant. When one begins to comprehend his own misery and nothingness, when one abandons the delirium of grandeur, when one discovers the foolishness of so many academic degrees, honors and vain superiorities over our fellowmen, then it is an unmistakable sign that one is beginning to change. If one clings to that which says: “my house,” “my money,” “my properties,” “my job,” “my virtues,” “my intellectual capacities,” “my artistic capacities,” “my knowledge,” “my prestige,” etc., then, one cannot change. So, clinging to “mine” or to “my” is more than enough In order to prevent recognition of our nothingness and interior misery. One is astonished in front of the spectacle of a fire or a shipwreck. At such a moment desperate people often seize many things that are ludicrous, things of no importance. Wretched people! They feel themselves in those objects; they lean on silly objects; they become attached to objects which do not have the least bit of importance. To feel that one exists through external things, and to lay our foundations upon those things is equivalent to being in a state of total unconsciousness. The sentiment of the “Seity” (the real Being) is only possible by dissolving all those “ which we carry within our interior. Before this annihilation, such a sentiment becomes more than impossible. Unfortunately, the adorers of the “I” do not accept this. They believe themselves to be Gods. They believe that they already possess those “glorious bodies” that Paul of Tarsus spoke about. They assume that the “I” is Divine and there is no one who can remove such absurdities from their heads. One does not know what to do with such people. The doctrine is explained to them; yet, they do not understand it. They always hold fast to the sands upon which they built their house. They are always engrossed within their dogmas, within their whims, within their foolishness. If those people were to observe themselves seriously, they would then verify by themselves the Doctrine of the Many. They would discover within themselves all the multiplicity of persons or “I’s” which live within our interior. How can the real feeling of our true Being be experienced within ourselves, when instead, those “I’s” are feeling for us and thinking for us? The most critical part of all this tragedy is that we think that we are thinking, that we feel that we are feeling, when, indeed, it is someone else who in a given moment thinks through our tormented mind and feels through our afflicted heart. Oh, how wretched we are, how many times do we believe we are loving, when what is happening is that another person filled with lust is utilizing the heart center. How wretched we are; we confuse animal passion for love! Nevertheless, it is someone else within ourselves, within our personality, who goes through these confusions. All of us think that we will never pronounce those words of the Pharisee in the biblical parable: “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are,” etc. Nevertheless, and even if this might appear incredible, this is the way we behave daily. The butcher in the market says: “I am not like the rest of the butchers that sell bad quality meat and exploit people.” The vendor of textiles in the store exclaims, “I am not like the rest of the merchants that know how to steal when measuring and who have grown rich.” The milk vendor affirms, “I am not like the rest of the milk vendors that put water in their milk. I like to be honest.” The mistress of the house comments to her visitor the following: “I am not like such a lady who flirts with other men. I am, thanks to God, a decent person, since I am faithful to my husband.” Conclusion: Others are scoundrels, unjust, adulterers, thieves and perverse persons; yet, each one of us is a humble lamb, “a saint with a golden halo,” who is worthy to be shown as a golden masterpiece inside any temple. How foolish we are! We often think that we never do all the foolishness and perversities that we see others do; this is why we arrive at the conclusion that we are magnificent persons. Unfortunately, we do not see the foolishness and wretched things we do. Unusual moments exist in life when our mind rests without worries of any kind, when the mind is calm, when the mind is in silence. Then, the new arrives. In such instants, it is possible to see the bases, the foundations we depend upon. When the mind is in profound interior restfulness, we can verify for ourselves the crude reality of the sand of life, upon which we built our house. (Read Matthew 7, Verses 24-29; the parable that talks about the two foundations). Samael Aun Weor

We have been wisely told that we have ninety-seven percent of Sub consciousness, and three percent of Consciousness. Plainly and bluntly speaking, we shall state that the ninety-seven percent of Essence that we carry within ourselves, is bottled up, stuffed, inserted within each one of the “I’s” which in their conjunction constitute the “Myself.” Obviously, the Essence or Consciousness, bottled up within each “I” processes itself in accordance with its own condition. A determined percentage of Consciousness is liberated when any “I” is disintegrated. Hence, the emancipation or liberation of the Essence or Consciousness without the disintegration of each “I” is impossible. The greater the quantity of disintegrated “I’s,” the greater the degree of self-cognizance. The lesser the quantity of disintegrated “I’s,” the lesser the percentage of awakened Consciousness. Therefore, the awakening of Consciousness is only possible by dissolving the “I,” by dying in oneself, here and now. Unquestionably, as long as the Essence or Consciousness continues bottled up within each one of the “I’s” that we carry within our interior, it will always be asleep, in a subconscious state. It is urgent to transform the sub-consciousness into consciousness. This is only possible by annihilating the “I’s” by dying within ourselves. So, it is impossible to awaken without first having died within ourselves. Those who try to awaken first and then die, do not possess a real experience of what they affirm. They advance resolutely on the path of error. Newly born children are marvelous. They enjoy total self-awareness. They are totally awake. The Essence or Consciousness is re-embodied within the body of the newly born child. This is what gives the baby its beauty. We do not mean to state that one hundred percent of the Essence or Consciousness is reembodied within the newly born child; it is only the three percent of free consciousness that normally is not bottled up within the “I’s. Nevertheless, that free percentage of Essence, re-embodied within the organisms of newly born babies, gives them full self-cognizance, lucidity; etc. Adults look at the newborn with pity, they think that the infant is unconscious, but they are unfortunately wrong. The newborn looks at the adults exactly as they actually are: unconscious, cruel, perverse, etc. The “I of the newborn come and go. They circle around the cradle and wish to enter into the new body. However, because the newborn child has not yet built a personality; all attempts by the “I’s to enter the new body are more than impossible. Sometimes, babies are frightened when they see those phantoms or “I’s” that approach their crib, and then they cry, scream. Yet, adults do not understand and assume that the child is ill or is hungry or thirsty; such is the unconsciousness of adults. As the new personality forms the “I’s” that come from previous existences penetrate the new body little by little. When the totality of the “I have entered into the new body, then, we appear in the world with that horrible ugliness that characterizes all of us. We then wander like somnambulists everywhere, always unconscious, always perverse. When we die, three things go to the sepulcher: 1) The physical body 2) The vital organic body 3) The personality The vital organic body floats like a phantom in front of the grave and disintegrates little by little, as the physical body also disintegrates. The personality is subconscious or infra-conscious. The personality enters and leaves the sepulcher whenever it wants. The personality rejoices when mourners bring flowers, it loves its relatives and dissolves very slowly until it becomes cosmic dust. That which continues beyond the sepulcher is the ego, the pluralized “I” the myself, a bunch of devils, in which the Essence, the Consciousness is bottled up. The ego, in its due time, returns and reincorporates. It is lamentable that the “I” also re-embody when the new personality of the child is built.

A person is what his life is. Therefore, if he does not modify anything within himself, if he does not radically transform his life, if he does not work on himself, he is miserably wasting his time. Death is the return to the very beginning of one’s life with the possibility of repeating it once again. Much has been stated in pseudo-esoteric and pseudo- occultist literature about the subject of successive lives. Yet, it is better to be concerned about successive existences. The life of each one of us with all its seasons is always the same. Life repeats itself from existence to existence throughout innumerable centuries. Unquestionably, we continue in the seed of our descendants. This is something which has already been demonstrated. The life of each one of us is individual. Life is a living movie that we carry along with us to eternity when we die. Each one of us takes his movie with him and brings it back to project it once again on the screen of a new existence. The repetition of dramas, comedies and tragedies is a fundamental axiom of the Law of Recurrence. The same circumstances always repeat themselves in each new existence. The actors of such scenes, which are always repeated, are those people who live in our interior, our “I’s “ If we disintegrate those actors, those “I’s who originate the ever-repeating scenes of our lives, then the repetition of such circumstances would become something more than impossible. Obviously, there cannot be any scenes without actors. This is irrefutable, indisputable. This is how we can liberate ourselves from the Laws of Return and Recurrence. This is how we can truly free ourselves. Obviously, each one of the characters (“I’s”) that we carry in our interior repeats, existence after existence, its same role. Therefore, if we disintegrate that “I” if the actor dies, the role concludes. By reflecting seriously through inner self-observation on this subject matter, we discover the secret springs of the Law of Recurrence or repetition of scenes in each return. If in the past existence at the age of twenty-five years of age a man had a love affair, it is indubitable that in his new existence, the “I” of such a commitment will seek the lady of his dreams at the age of twenty-five again. If the lady in question was only fifteen years old then, in her new existence, the “I” of that affair will seek her beloved one at the exact age again. It is easy to comprehend that the two “I’s,” both his and hers, seek each other telepathically and meet once again in order to repeat the same love affair of their former existence. Two enemies who fought to death in a past existence will look for each other again in the new existence to repeat their tragedy at the corresponding age. If two persons had a fight over real estate at the age of forty years in the past existence, they will find each other telepathically at the same age in order to repeat the same thing. Thus, inside each one of us live many people full of commitments. This is irrefutable. A thief carries within a “den” of thieves each with different criminal commitments. A murderer carries within himself a “club” of murderers, and the lustful one carries a “whore house” in his psyche. The critical thing about this subject matter is that the intellect ignores the existence of such people or “I’s” within oneself and of such commitments that are fatally fulfilled. All those commitments of the “I’s” which abide within us are happening regardless of our reasoning. These are commitments that we ignore, things that happen to us, events that are processed in the sub-consciousness and unconsciousness. This is why we have been rightfully told that everything happens to us just as when it rains and thunders. Indeed, we have the illusion of doing; yet, we do nothing. Things happen to us. This is fatal, mechanical… Our personality is merely the instrument of different people, “I’s.” Each one of those persons (“I’s”) fulfills its commitments through the personality. Many things happen underneath our cognitive capacity. Unfortunately, we ignore what happens underneath our wretched reasoning. We believe that we are wise when, indeed, we do not even know that we do not know. We are miserable logs dragged by the boisterous waves of the sea of existence. To emerge from within this misfortune, from within this unconsciousness, from within such an unfortunate state in which we find ourselves, is only possible by dying within ourselves… How could we awaken without first dying? What is new arrives only with death! If the seed does not die, the plant does not sprout. The one who truly awakens attains, as an outcome, full objectivity of his or her consciousness, authentic enlightenment, happiness… Samael Aun Weor

The moment in order to very seriously reflect about that which is called “internal consideration” has arrived. There is not the least bit of doubt regarding the disastrous consequences of “intimate self-consideration.” Besides hypnotizing the consciousness, it causes us to lose a lot of energy. If one would not make the mistake of identifying too much with oneself, then internal self-consideration would be something more than impossible. When one becomes identified with his “self,” such a one loves his own self too much and feels self-pity. Often, such a person thinks that he has always behaved very well with this or that fellow, with the spouse, children, etc. and that nobody has appreciated it, etc. In sum, one is a saint, and all others are scoundrels and rascals. Preoccupation about what others might think about our own selves is one of the most common forms of inner self-consideration. They might suppose that we are not honest, sincere, truthful, courageous, etc. The most intriguing aspect of all this subject matter is that we unfortunately ignore the enormous loss of energy that this kind of worrying causes us. Precisely such worries born from our inner self- consideration are the cause of many hostile attitudes towards certain persons who have done us no evil. In these circumstances, loving oneself too much, considering oneself in this way, it is clear that the “I” or better if we say the “I’s,” instead of disappearing, become horribly fortified. A person who is identified with his “self” pities his own situation, and it even occurs to him to keep a count of his problems. This is why he thinks, in spite of all his well-known generosities, this or that fellow, the godfather, godmother, the neighbor, the boss, the friend, etc. have not repaid him as they were supposed to. Therefore, bottled up within this, he becomes unbearable and boring to the entire world. Practically, one cannot talk with such a person, because any conversation will certainly end up in his accounting book of such boastful sufferings. Regarding the Gnostic esoteric work, it is written that the growth of one’s soul is only possible through the forgiveness of others. If someone lives from instant to instant, from moment to moment, suffering because he feels that others owe him something, because others have mistreated him, because others have caused him bitterness, then nothing will be able to grow in his interior, because he will always sing the same song. The Lord’s Prayer says: “Forgive us our trespasses as we, forgive those who trespass against us.” the feeling that people owe us something or the pain we experience is due to the evil deeds which others caused against us, etc., are obstacles for all internal progress of the soul. Jesus, the Great Kabir, said: “Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge. and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” MATTHEW 5:25,26 If they owe us, we owe. If we demand to be repaid to the last denarius, we should first pay the last farthing. This is the “Law of the Talion,” “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” absurd. “Vicious circle.” The apologies, compliance and the humiliations which we demand from others for the wrongs they caused us are also demanded from us, even if we consider ourselves to be “humble sheep.” So, to place oneself under unnecessary laws is an absurdity. It is better to place oneself under new influences. The Law of Mercy is a more elevated influence than the Law of the violent man: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” It is urgent, indispensable and non-excludable to place ourselves intelligently under the marvelous influences of the Gnostic esoteric work, in order to forget that people owe us and to eliminate from our psyche any form of self-consideration. We must never allow within ourselves feelings of the wrongs inflicted on us, sentiments of revenge, resentment, negative emotions, anxieties, violence, envy, incessant remembering of debts, etc. Gnosis is destined for those sincere aspirants who truly want to work and change. If we observe people, we can see in a direct way that each person has his own song. Each one sings his own psychological song. I want to emphatically refer to the subject matter of “psychological accounting” which is the feeling that people owe us. One complains, one auto-considers his own “self,” etc. Sometimes people “sing their song, just like that,” without anyone winding them up, without anyone’s invitation and on other occasions, after a few glasses of wine… We affirm that our boring song must be eliminated, because it incapacitates us internally; it robs us of much energy. In matters of revolutionary psychology, someone who sings too well (we are not referring to a beautiful voice or to physical singing) certainly cannot go beyond himself. He remains in the past… A person impeded by sad songs cannot change his Level of Being. He cannot go beyond what he is. In order to pass to a superior Level of Being, it is necessary to cease being what one is. We need to not be what we are. If we continue being what we are, we will never pass to a superior Level of Being. In the field of practical life, unusual things happen. Very often, a person starts a friendship with another, just because it is easy to sing his song to that person. Unfortunately, such types of relationships end when the singer is asked to shut up, to change the record, to talk about something else, etc. Then the resentful singer leaves in search of a new friend, of someone who is willing to listen to him for an indefinite time. The singer demands comprehension, someone who comprehends him, as if it was easy to comprehend another person. In order to comprehend another person, first of all, it is necessary to comprehend our own self. Unfortunately, the good singer believes that he comprehends himself. Many are the disenchanted singers who sing the song of not being comprehended and dream with a marvelous world where they are the central figures. Nevertheless, not all singers are public singers. There are also the reserved ones. They do not sing their song directly, but they do so secretly. They are people who have worked much, who have suffered a great deal, who feel cheated. They think that life owes them all that which they were never capable of achieving. Usually, they feel an internal sadness, a sensation of monotony and frightening boredom, inner exhaustion or frustration around which thoughts accumulate. Unquestionably, secret songs prevent us from accessing the path of the Intimate Self-realization of the Being. Unfortunately, such inner secret songs go by unnoticed within ourselves, unless we intentionally observe them. Obviously, all self-observation allows light to penetrate into ourselves within our inner depths. No interior change can occur in our psyche unless we allow the light of self-observation to penetrate. It is indispensable to observe oneself when alone in the same manner as when associated with people. Very different “I’s,” very different thoughts, negative emotions, etc. present themselves when one is alone. One is not always in good company when alone. It is just normal, very natural to be very badly accompanied when in complete solitude. The most negative and dangerous “I’s” present themselves when one is alone. If we want to transform ourselves radically, we need to sacrifice our own sufferings. Often, we express our sufferings in articulated or inarticulate songs. Samael Aun Weor

The world of relationships has three very different aspects that we need to clarify in a precise manner. First: We are related with the planetary body, in other words, the physical body. Second: We live on the planet Earth and by logical consequence we are related with the exterior world and with our personal matters such as relatives, business, money, office matters, profession, politics, etc. Third: We have the relationship of a person with himself. For the majority of people, this kind of relationship does not have the least importance. Unfortunately, people are only interested in the first two kinds of relationships. They look at the third type with the most absolute indifference. Indeed, nourishment, health, money and business constitute the principal worries of the “intellectual animal” mistakenly called the “human being.” Now then, it is evident that the physical body as well as worldly matters is exterior to ourselves. The planetary body (physical body) is sometimes sick, sometimes healthy and so on. We always believe that we have some knowledge of our physical body; yet indeed, not even the best scientists of the world know much about the body of flesh and bone. There is no doubt that the physical body, given its tremendous and complex organization, is certainly much beyond our comprehension. Regarding the second type of relationship, we are always victims of circumstances. It is lamentable that we have not yet learned how to consciously originate circumstances. Many are the people who are incapable of adapting themselves to anything or anyone or to have true success in life. When we think in ourselves in relation with the Gnostic esoteric work, it is then imperative to discover if we are at fault with any of these three types of relationships. A concrete case can come to pass that we become physically ill, as a consequence of being incorrectly related with our physical bodies. It can happen that we are incorrectly related with the exterior world. Thus, as a result, we have conflicts, economical and social problems, etc. It can come to pass that we are incorrectly related with ourselves. Accordingly, we suffer deeply due to the lack of inner enlightenment. Obviously, if the lamp of our room is not connected to the electrical installation, our room will be in darkness. Therefore, those who suffer from a lack of inner illumination must connect their mind with the superior centers of their Being. Unquestionably, we need to establish correct relationships not only with our planetary body (physical body) and with the exterior world but also with each of the parts of our own Being. Pessimistic patients, tired of so many doctors and medicines, no longer desire to be cured. Yet, optimistic patients struggle to live. Many millionaires who lose their fortune gambling in the Casino of Montecarlo commit suicide, while millions of poor mothers work to support their children. There are countless depressed aspirants who, due to lack of psychic powers and intimate illumination, have renounced the esoteric work on themselves. Few are those who know how to take advantage of the adversities. During times of rigorous temptations, discouragement and desolation; one must appeal to the intimate remembering of the Self. Deep within each one of us is the Aztec Tonantzin, Stella Maris, the Egyptian Isis, God Mother, waiting for us in order to heal our painful heart. When one gives to oneself the shock of “Self-Remembering,” then indeed, a miraculous change in the entire work of the body is produced, so that the cells receive different nourishment. Samael Aun Weor

It is urgent, unavoidable and non-excludable to observe our internal chatter and its precise place of origin. Unquestionably, many present as well as future disharmonious and unpleasant psychic states have their cause causorum in our erroneous internal chatter. Obviously, all that insubstantial, vain wordiness of ambiguous chattering and all harmful, damaging and absurd jabber in general, uttered in this external world, has it’s origin in our wrong internal gibberish. The esoteric exercise of internal silence exists in Gnosis. Our disciples in “Third Chamber” know of it. It is not irrelevant to state with complete clarity that internal silence must specifically refer to something precise and definite. This internal silence is achieved when the process of thinking is intentionally exhausted during profound inner meditation. Nevertheless, this is not what we want to explain in the present chapter. “To empty the mind” or “to make it blank” in order to achieve internal silence is not what we want to explain in these paragraphs either. The practice of internal silence to which we are referring does not mean to impede something from penetrating into the mind either. Indeed, right now we are talking about something very different, a different kind of internal silence. This is not something vague and ordinary… The internal silence that we want to exercise is related with something that is already in our mind: a person, event, our business or another one’s business, what we were told, what such a fellow did, etc., without our interior tongue commenting about these things, without internal discourse… To learn how to remain silent not only with the exterior tongue, but also with the secret, internal tongue, is something extraordinary and marvelous. Many keep quiet externally; however, with their internal tongue they skin their fellow men alive. The internal, poisonous and malevolent chatter produces inner confusion. If one observes wrong internal chatter, one then will see that it is made up of half-truths or of truths that are more or less incorrectly related to each other or of things that were added or omitted unto it. Unfortunately, our emotional life is exclusively based on “self-sympathy.” To top off so much infamy, we only sympathize with ourselves, with our much “beloved ego.” Moreover, we feel antipathy and even hatred towards those who do not sympathize with us. We love ourselves too much. We are one hundred percent narcissists; this is irrefutable, indisputable. As long as we continue bottled up in “self-sympathy,” any development of the Being becomes something more than impossible. We need to learn to see others” points of view. It is urgent to know how to place ourselves in the place of others. “Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” MATTHEW 7: 12 What truly counts in these studies is the manner in which human beings behave internally and invisibly with one another. Unfortunately and even if we were very courteous and even sincere at times, there is no doubt that invisibly and internally we treat each other very badly. People who are apparently very generous drag their fellow men daily into the secret caves of themselves to do with them whatever they please (abuse, mockery, contempt, etc.). Samael Aun Weor

Who or what can guarantee that concept and reality are absolutely equal? Concept is one thing and reality is another. There is a tendency to overestimate our own concepts. Reality equalling concept, is almost impossible. However, people, hypnotized by their own concept, always suppose that it and reality are the same. Any psychological process correctly structured by a precise logic, is opposed by a different one strongly formed with a similar or superior logic. So, what then? Two minds severely disciplined within ironclad intellectual structures, arguing with one another, polemising, in dispute over this or that reality, each one of them believing its own concept to be exact and the other’s to be false: but, which of them is right? Who could honestly guarantee either case? In which of them do concept and realit y prove to be equal? Without question each head is a world on its own. In each and every one of us, a kind of pontifical, dictatorial dogmatism exists which wants to make us believe in absolute equality of concept and reality. No matter how strong the structures of reasoning may be, nothing can guarantee absolute equality between concept and reality. Those who are self-imprisoned within any intellectual logistic procedure, always want to make the reality of phenomena coincide with the elaborated concepts. This is nothing else than the result of the reasoning hallucination. To open oneself to the new, is the rare faculty of the man from classical times. Unfortunately, people want to see, to discover, in every natural phenomenon their own prejudices, ideas, preconceptions, opinions and theories. No-one is actually receptive, seeing anew with a clear and spontaneous mind. The proper thing would be that phenomena talked to the sage. Unfortunately, sages of this day and age do not actually see the phenomena. They only want to see in them the confirmation of all their preconceptions. Although it may seem incredible, modern scientists know nothing about natural phenomena. When we see in the phenomena of nature exclusively our own concepts, certainly we are not seeing the phenomena, but the concepts. Nevertheless, foolish scientists hallucinated by their fascinating intellect, stupidly believe each of their concepts to be absolutely equal to this or that observed phenomenon, whilst reality is different. We do not deny that our affirmations are rejected by everyone who be self-incarcerated by this or that logistic procedure. Without doubt, in no way could the pontifical and dogmatic condition of the intellect accept that any correctly elaborated concept would not coincide exactly with reality. As soon as the mind, through the senses, observes some phenomenon, it immediately hurries to label it with this or that scientific term which undoubtedly serve to cover over its own ignorance. The mind does not really know how to be receptive to the new, but it does know how to invent extremely complicated terms with which it seeks to qualify in a self-deceitful way what it certainly ignores. Speaking in a Socratic sense, we will say that not only does the mind ignore, but it is even ignorant of its ignorance. The modern mind is terribly superficial. It has specialized in inventing terms, which are made extremely difficult in order to cover its own ignorance. Two types of science exist: the first one is nothing else than just that compost heap of subjective theories which are so abundant. The second one is the pure science of the great enlightened ones, the objective science of the Being. Undoubtedly, it is not possible to penetrate the amphitheatre of cosmic science without having first died in ourselves. We need to disintegrate all those undesirable elements that we carry within and which jointly constitute the oneself, the “I” of psychology. As long as the superlative consciousness of the Being continues to be bottled in the myself, in my own concepts and subjective theories, it is absolutely impossible to directly know the harsh reality of natural phenomena in ourselves. The key to nature’s laboratory is held in the right hand of the Angel of Death. We can learn very little from the phenomenon of birth, but from death we will be able to learn everything. The inviolate temple of pure science is found at the bottom of the dark sepulcher. If the germ does not die, the plant is not born. Only with death does the new come. When the Ego dies, the consciousness wakes up and can see the reality of all of nature’s phenomena as they are in themselves and by themselves. The consciousness knows that which it directly experiences by itself, the harsh reality of life beyond the body, affections and the mind. Samael Aun Weor

Internal self-observation is a practical means to achieve a radical transformation. To know and to observe are different. Many confuse the observation of oneself with knowing. For example, even though we know that we are seated in a living room, this, however, does not signify that we are observing the chair. We know that at a given moment we are in a negative state, perhaps with a problem, worried about this or that matter, or in a state of distress or uncertainty, etc. This, however, does not mean that we are observing the negative state. Do you feel antipathy towards someone? Do you dislike a certain person? Why? You may say that you know that person… Please observe that person; to know is not the same as to observe! Do not confuse knowing with observing… The observation of oneself, which is one hundred percent active, is a way to change oneself. However, knowing, which is passive, is not a way to change oneself. Indeed, knowing is not an act of attention. Yet, the attention directed into oneself, towards what is happening in our interior, is something positive, active… For instance, we may feel antipathy towards a person, just because we feel like it, and many times for no particular reason. If we observe ourselves in such a moment we will notice the multitude of thoughts that accumulate in our mind. We will also notice the group of voices that speak and scream in a disorderly manner and that say many things within our mind, as well as the unpleasant emotions that surge in our interior and the unpleasant taste that all this leaves in our psyche, etc. Obviously, in such a state we also realize that internally we are badly mistreating the person for whom we feel antipathy towards. But, unquestionably, in order to see all of this, we need attention intentionally directed towards the interior of our own selves. This is not a passive attention. Indeed, dynamic attention proceeds from the side of the observer, while thoughts and emotions belong to the side, which is observed. All of this causes us to comprehend that knowing is something completely passive and mechanical, in evident contrast with the observation of the self which is a conscious act. Nevertheless, we are not affirming that mechanical self- observation does not exist; it does, but such a kind of observation has nothing to do with the psychological self- observation to which we are referring. To think and to observe are also very different. Any person can give himself the luxury of thinking about himself all he wants; yet, this does not signify that he is truly observing himself. We need to see the different “I’s” in action, to discover them in our psyche, to comprehend that a percentage of our own consciousness exists within each one of them, to repent of having created them, etc. Then we shall exclaim: “But what is this “I” doing?” “‘What is it saying?” “What does it want?” “Why does it torment me with its lust, with its anger?” etc. Then we will see within ourselves the entire train of thoughts, emotions, desires, passions, private comedies, personal dramas, elaborated lies, discourses, excuses, morbidities, beds of pleasure, scenes of lasciviousness, etc. Many times, before falling asleep, at the precise instant of transition between vigil and sleep, we feel within our own mind different voices that talk to each other. Those are the different “I’s” that must in such moments break all connection with the different centers of our organic machine, so as to then submerge themselves in the molecular world within the Fifth Dimension. Samael Aun Weor

To observe and to self-observe oneself are two completely different things; however, both demand attention. When we observe through the windows of the senses, our attention then is directed outwardly towards the external word. Yet, in self-observation, the senses of external perception are worthless, because attention is directed inward. Consequently, this is the factual reason why the self-observation of inner psychological processes is difficult for the neophyte. The point of departure of official science in its practical side is the observable the point of departure for the work on oneself is self-observation, the self-observable. Unquestionably, these two points of departure take us in two completely different directions. Someone could grow old engrossed within the intransigent dogmas of official science, studying external phenomena, observing cells, atoms, molecules, suns, stars, comets, etc without experimenting any radical change within himself. The type of knowledge that transforms someone internally can never be achieved through external observation. The true knowledge that can really originate in us a fundamental, internal change has as its basis direct self- observation of oneself. We urgently need to encourage our Gnostic students to observe themselves and in what manner they must observe themselves and the reasons for this. Observation is a way to modify the mechanical conditions of the world. Yet, internal self-observation is a way to intimately change. Consequently, and as a corollary to the former statement, we can and must emphatically affirm that two types of knowledge exist: the external and the internal. Therefore, if we do not have within ourselves the magnetic center that can differentiate between these two qualities of knowledge, then confusion would be the only outcome of this mixture of two canons or orders of ideas. Sublime pseudo-esoteric doctrines with marked scientism at heart belong to the field of the externally observable. Nevertheless, they are accepted by many aspirants as internal knowledge. We find ourselves then before two worlds, the external and the internal. The first, the external, is perceived by the senses of external perception. The second, the internal, can only be perceived through the sense of internal self-observation. Thoughts, ideas, emotions, longings, hopes, disappointments, etc., are internal, invisible to the ordinary, common and current senses. Yet, they are more real to us than the dining table or the living room couch. Indeed, we live in our internal world more than in our external world. This is irrefutable, indisputable. In our internal worlds, in our secret world, we love, desire, suspect, bless, curse, yearn, suffer, enjoy, we are disappointed, rewarded, etc. Unquestionably the two worlds, internal and external, are experimentally verifiable. The external world is the observable. The internal world is in itself and inside oneself the self-observable, here and now. Whosoever truly wants to know the internal worlds of the planet Earth or of the Solar System or of the Galaxy in which we live, must previously know his intimate world, his individual, internal life, his own internal worlds. “Man, know thyself and thou wilt know the Universe and its Gods” The more we explore this internal world called “myself,” the more we will comprehend that we simultaneously live in two worlds, in two realities, in two confines: the external and the internal. In the same way that it is indispensable for one to learn how to walk in the external world so as not to fall down into a precipice or not get lost in the streets of the city or to select one’s friends or not associate with the perverse ones, or not eat poison, etc.; likewise, through the psychological work upon oneself we learn how to walk in the internal world, which is explorable only through self-observation. Indeed, the sense of self-observation is atrophied in this decadent human race of this tenebrous era in which we live. As we persevere in self-observation, the sense of intimate self-observation will progressively develop. Samael Aun Weor

Indeed, to detach oneself from the disastrous effects of life in these tenebrous times is very difficult, but indispensable. Otherwise, one is devoured by life. Any work that one does on oneself with the purpose of achieving a spiritual and psychic development is always related with a very well understood type of isolation. This is because the personality is the only thing that one can develop under the influence of life as we have always lived it; anything else is impossible. We do not intend to oppose the development of the personality in any way. Obviously this is necessary in life. Yet, indeed the personality is merely something artificial. The personality is neither the truth nor the reality in us. If the wretched intellectual mammal, mistakenly called the human being, does not isolate himself, but identifies with all the occurrences of practical life, if he wastes his strength in negative emotions, in personal self-consideration and in insubstantial vain wordiness of ambiguous chattering, then nothing constructive, no real element can be developed within him, except that which belongs to this world of mechanicity. Indeed, whosoever wants to truly achieve the development of the Essence in himself must become hermetically sealed. This statement refers to something intimate, closely related to silence. The phrase “hermetically sealed” comes from ancient times when a doctrine on the internal development of a human being associated with the name of Hermes was secretly taught. Therefore, if one wants something real to grow within his interior, it is evident that one must avoid the escape of one’s psychic energies. When one’s energies drain away and one is not inwardly isolated, then it is unquestionable that one will not be able to attain the development of something real within one’s psyche. Ordinary routine life wants to devour us mercilessly. Hence, we must fight against life daily; we must learn to swim against the current. This work goes against daily life. It deals with something very different from that of daily life and something that we must, nonetheless, practice from moment to moment. I am referring to the revolution of the consciousness. Evidently, if our attitude towards daily life is fundamentally mistaken, if we believe that everything should turn out well because that is the way it is supposed to be, then we will be disappointed. People want things to turn out well, “because that is the way it is meant to be,” because everything should be in accordance with their plans. Nevertheless, crude reality is different; therefore, as long as one does not change internally, whether one likes it or not, one will be a victim of circumstances. Many sentimental stupidities are uttered and written about life. Yet, this Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology is different. This Doctrine goes straight to the point, to concrete, clear and definite facts. This doctrine emphatically affirms that the “intellectual animal,” mistakenly called a human being, is a mechanical, unconscious, sleeping biped. “The Good Master of the House” will never accept revolutionary psychology. “The Good Master of the House” fulfills all his duties as father, husband, etc., and because of it, thinks the best of himself. Nonetheless, he only serves Nature’s ends. That is all. On the other hand, we shall state that “the Good Master of the House” who swims against the current, who does not want to be devoured by life, also exists. However, this type of individual is very rare in the world. There are very few of this type. When one behaves in accordance with the ideas of this Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology, one obtains an upright perception of life. Samael Aun Weor

If we carefully observe any day of our life, we will see that we certainly do not know how to live consciously. Our life seems like a train in motion, moving upon the fixed tracks of the mechanical and rigid habits of a vain and superficial existence. The intriguing aspect of this matter is that it never occurs to us to modify habits. It seems that we never get weary of always repeating the same thing. We have become petrified by our habits, nevertheless we think that we are free. We are dreadfully ugly, yet we think of ourselves as Apollo. We are mechanical people, which is more than enough reason to deprive us of any true sensibility in regard to what we are doing in life. We move daily in the old lane of our outdated and absurd habits and so it is clear that we do not have a real life; instead of living, we vegetate miserably, and receive no new impressions. If a person begins his day consciously, then it is evident that such a day would be very different compared to other days. When the day one is living is taken as the totality of one’s life, when one does not leave for tomorrow what one must do this day, then indeed one gets to know what the work on oneself really means. A day never lacks importance; therefore, if we really want to transform ourselves radically, we must then see, observe and comprehend ourselves daily. However, people do not want to see themselves, some wanting to work on themselves, justify their negligence with phrases like the following: “Work in the office does not allow working on oneself.” These words are meaningless, hollow, vain, absurd, which only serve to justify indolence, laziness, lack of love for the Great Cause. Obviously, people like these, although they may have great spiritual longings, will never change. To observe ourselves is something unavoidable and non-excludable, since intimate self-observation is fundamental for a true change. What is your psychological state when you get out of bed? What is the level of your emotional mood during breakfast? Were you impatient with the waiter? With your wife? Why were you impatient? What is that which always disturbs you, etc.? Smoking less or eating less is not a complete change; yet indeed it indicates a certain progress. We know very well that vice and gluttony is inhumane and bestial. It is not right for someone dedicated to the Secret Path, to have a physical body, excessively fat and with a bulging belly and outside of all eurythmy of perfection. That would indicate gluttony, voracity and even laziness. The daily life, the profession, the employment, although vital for the existence, constitute the dream of the consciousness. To know that life is a dream does not mean that we have comprehended it. Comprehension is attained through self-observation and intense work on oneself. Hence, in order to work on oneself, it is indispensable to work on one’s daily life, this very day. Thus, one will comprehend that phrase from the Prayer of the Lord (Pater Noster) which states: “Give us this day our daily bread.” The phrase “daily bread” means the “super substantial bread” in Greek or the “bread from the Highest.” Gnosis gives us this “bread of life” in a double meaning; this is ideas and strength, which allow us to disintegrate our psychological errors. We gain psychological experience, we eat the “bread of wisdom,” and we receive new knowledge every time that we reduce to cosmic dust this or that “I.” Gnosis offers the “super substantial bread,” the “bread of knowledge,” thus indicating to us with precision the new life that begins in oneself, inside oneself, here and now. Now then, no one can alter his life or change anything related with mechanical reactions unless one can count on the help of new ideas and receive divine help. Gnosis gives those new ideas and points out the “modus operandi” by which one can be assisted by forces superior to the mind. We need to prepare the inferior centers of our organism in order to receive the ideas and forces that come from the superior centers. In the work on oneself there does not exist anything worthless. Any thought, however insignificant it might be deserves to be observed. Any negative emotion, reaction, etc must be observed. Samael Aun Weor

By no means can we deny that the Law of Recurrence processes itself in every moment of our life. Indeed, repetition of events, states of consciousness, words, desires, thoughts, volitions, etc., exist in each day of our existence. It is obvious that when one does not observe oneself, one cannot observe this incessant daily repetition. It is evident that whosoever does not have any interest in observing himself also does not desire to work in order to achieve a true radical transformation. To top it all off, there are people who want to transform themselves without working on themselves. We do not deny the fact that each person has a right to the true happiness of the Spirit. Nonetheless, it is also true that such happiness would be more than impossible if we do not work on ourselves. When one truly manages to modify his reactions against the diverse happenings that occur daily, one then can change intimately. However, we could not change our way of reacting against the facts of practical life, if we do not work seriously upon ourselves. We need to change our way of thinking. We need to be less negligent. We need to become more serious and to face life in a different manner. We need to face life in its real and practical sense. However, if we continue the way we are, behaving the same way every day, repeating the same errors, repeating the same negligence as always, then, indeed, any possibility of change will be eliminated. If one truly wants to know oneself, one must then begin by observing his own conduct while facing the events of any day of his life. We do not want to imply by this that one must not observe oneself daily. We only state that self-observation begins with the first day that one starts observing oneself. There must be a beginning in everything; thus, to start by observing our conduct in any given day of our life is a good beginning. Certainly, the most appropriate beginning is to observe our mechanical reactions when facing all those small details at home, in the bedroom, in the dining room, in the house, on the street, at work, etc., what we say, feel and think. Then, what is important is to see how or in what manner we can change these mechanical reactions. However, we will never change if we think that we are good persons, that we never behave in an unconscious and mistaken manner. First of all, we need to comprehend that we are machine-persons, simple marionettes controlled by secret agents by hidden “I’s” Many people live inside of us; we are never identical. Sometimes, a selfish person manifests through us, other times an irritable person, in any other instant, a generous, benevolent person later on a scandalous one, a slanderous person, afterwards a saint, then, a liar, etc. Thus, inside of each one of us we have people of all types, “I” of all species. Our personality is nothing more than a marionette, a talking doll, something mechanical. Let us start by acting consciously during a small portion of our day. We need to stop being simple machines, even if it is for at least a few brief daily minutes. This will have a decisive influence on our existence. When we observe ourselves and do not do what this or that “I” wants us to do, then it is clear that we begin to stop being machines. A single moment in which one is sufficiently conscious as to stop being a machine, if it is done with will, tends to radically modify many disagreeable circumstances. Unfortunately, we live daily a mechanical, routine and absurd life. We repeat occurrences; our habits are the same; we never want to modify them. They are the mechanical tracks on which circulates the train of our miserable existence. Nevertheless, we think the best of ourselves. “Megalomaniacs” abound everywhere. Those who think themselves to be Gods, nonetheless, are mechanical routine creatures, people from the mud of the earth, wretched dolls moved by diverse “I’s.” People like this will never work upon themselves. Samael Aun Weor

A person is what his life is. That which continues beyond death is life. This is the meaning of the book of life that opens with death. When this subject matter is contemplated from a strictly psychological point of view, indeed, a routine day of our life is just a small replica of the totality of our life. Therefore, as an outcome of all of this, we can infer the following: If a human being does not work on himself today, he will never change. When it is stated that we want to work on ourselves, and we do not work on ourselves today, postponing it for tomorrow, such affirmation will be a simple project and nothing more, because today is the replica of our entire life. There is a common saying out there that says: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today.” If a human being says I will work on myself tomorrow, then he will never work on himself, because there will always be a tomorrow. This is very similar to a certain notice, announcement or sign that some merchants put in their stores: “TODAY I DON’T SELL ON CREDIT, I WILL TOMORROW”. When any penniless person arrives asking for credit, he comes upon this terrible sign and if he returns the next day, once more he finds this wretched notice or poster. * This is what in psychology is called the “sickness of tomorrow.” As long as a person says “tomorrow,” he will never change. We need, with maximum urgency, to work on ourselves and not dream lazily of a future or any extraordinary opportunity; Those who say: “I will first do this or that and then work” will never work on themselves. They are the dwellers of the earth mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, (Jeremiah 51:48). I knew a powerful landlord that used to say: “First of all, I need to be well-off, then I will work on myself.” When I visited him on his deathbed, I then asked him the following question: “Do you still want to be well-off?” He answered me: “I truly lament having wasted my time.” He died some days later, after having acknowledged his mistake. That man had many lands; however, he wanted to own the neighboring properties so that he could become “well-off,” so that his estate would be bordered exactly by four roads. The Great Kabir Jesus said: “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” MATTHEW 6:34 Let us observe ourselves today, in whatever concerns the ever-recurring day, which is a miniature of our entire life. When a human being begins to work on his own self, here and now, today, when he observes his displeasure and pain, he then walks upon the path of success. It is impossible to eliminate what we do not know. Therefore, we must first observe our own errors. We need not only to observe our day, but also our relationship to it. A certain ordinary day that each person experiences directly exists, with the exception of unusual and uncommon incidents. So, it is interesting to observe daily recurrence, the repetition of words and events towards each person, etc. That repetition or recurrence of events and words deserves to be studied; it leads us to self-knowledge. Samael Aun Weor *This refers to a cultural and sociological custom from Latin-American countries where the cost of living has forced citizens to go about asking for credit in mini markets across their towns in order to provide bread to their tables in a daily basis.

Unquestionably, just as the External Country in which we live exists, so the psychological country also exists within ourselves. People never ignore the town or region where they live, unfortunately, it happens that they do not know the psychological place where they are located. At a given instant, anybody knows in which district or housing estate he finds himself, but it does not happen the same in the psychological field, normally people do not even remotely suspect the place to where they have got in their psychological country. Just as in the physical world districts exist of decent and educated people, so it also happens in the psychological region of each one of us; there is no doubt that very elegant and beautiful districts exist. Just as in the physical world there are districts or areas with most dangerous alleyways full of assailants, so the same also happens in the psychological region in our interior. It all depends on the sort of people accompanying us, if we have drunkards as friends we will end up at the pub, and if they are gay dogs we will end up at the brothel. Within our psychological country each one of us has his companions, his “I”S which will take one to where they must according to their psychological characteristics. A virtuous and honorable woman, splendid wife, of exemplary conduct, living in a beautiful mansion in the physical world, could be located at dens of prostitution in her psychological country due to her lustful “I”S. An honorable gentleman, of blameless honesty, splendid citizen, could be located at a den of thieves in his psychological region, due to very bad companions, “I”S of theft, very submerged in the unconscious. A penitent anchorite, possibly a monk of a particular type living austerely in his cell, in some monastery, could psychologically be located in a district of murderers, gunmen, robbers, drug addicts, due precisely to infraconscious or unconscious “I”s deeply submerged among the most difficult bends of his psyche. There is a reason why we have been told that there is much virtue in the wicked and much wickedness in the virtuous. Many canonized saints still live in the psychological dens of theft or in houses of prostitution. This which we are emphatically affirming could shock prudes, pietistical ones, taught ignoramuses, know-alls, but never shock true psychologists. Although it might seem incredible, crime also hides among the incense of prayer, crime also hides among the cadences of verse, beneath the sacred dome of the most divine sanctuaries crime puts on the robes of sanctity and uses sublime words. In the profound depths of the most venerable saints, live “I”S of brothel, theft, homicide, etc. Infrahuman companions hidden in the unfathomable depths of the unconscious. Much did the diverse saints of history suffer because of this reason; let us remember the temptations of Saint Anthony, all those abominations against which our brother Francis of Assisi had to fight. Nevertheless, those saints did not say it all, and the majority of anchorites kept silent. One is astonished by thinking that some penitent and most holy anchorites, live in the psychological districts of prostitution and theft. But they are saints, and if they have not yet discovered those frightening things in their psyche, when they discover them, they will use cilices upon their flesh, they will fast, possibly flog themselves, and will plead with their divine mother KUNDALINI to eliminate from their psyche those bad companions which have got them into those dark dens in their own psychological country. Much has been said about life after death and the beyond, by the different religions. Poor people, let them not rack their brains any more about what is there on the other side, beyond the grave. Unquestionably, after death each one of us goes on living in the same psychological district as always. The thief will continue in the dens of thieves; the lustful person will carry on in the houses of call, like a bird of ill omen; the irascible, the furious one will keep on living in the dangerous alleyways of vice and anger, there where also the dagger glitters and pistol shots ring out. The essence in itself is very beautiful, it came from above, from the stars and, regrettably, it finds itself inside all these “I”s which we carry within. By opposition, the essence can retrace its steps, return to the original starting point, go back to the stars, but first it must free itself from its bad companions who have it put in the slums of perdition. When Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua, distinguished christified masters, discovered within themselves the “I”s of perdition, they suffered indescribably and there is no doubt that, by means of conscious work and voluntary suffering, they achieved to reduce to cosmic dust the whole of the inhuman elements which were living within them. Unquestionably, those Saints Christified themselves and returned to the original starting point after having suffered a lot. First of all, it is urgent, unpostponable, that the magnetic center which is abnormally established in our false personality, is transferred to the essence, thus the complete man will be able to initiate his journey from the personality up to the stars, ascending in a progressive, didactic way, degree after degree up the mountain of the BEING. As long as the center of gravity continues to be established in our illusory personality we will live in the most abominable psychological dens, though in practical life we might be splendid citizens. Each person has a magnetic center which characterizes him; the businessman has the magnetic center of business and because of this he develops in markets and attracts that which has an affinity, customers and merchants. The man of science has the magnetic center of science in his personality and subsequently attracts to himself all the things of science, books, laboratories, etc. The esoterist has in himself the magnetic center of esoterism and, as this kind of center becomes different from the matters of personality, undoubtedly, for this reason transference occurs. When the magnetic center becomes established in the consciousness, in the essence, then the return of man to the stars begins. Samael Aun Weor

Indeed, to believe that we are “one” is a joke made in very bad taste. Unfortunately, this vain illusion exists within each one of us. It is unfortunate that we always think the best of ourselves. It never occurs to us to comprehend that we do not even possess true Individuality. The worst of the matter is that we give ourselves the false luxury of assuming that each one of us enjoys full consciousness and a will of our own. Woe to us! What nitwits we are! There is no doubt that ignorance is the worst of all disgraces. Many thousands of different Individuals, different persons, “I’s” or people who quarrel amongst themselves, who fight amongst themselves for supremacy and who do not have order or concordance whatsoever, exist within each one of us. If we were conscious, if we were to awaken from so many dreams and fantasies, how different life would be… Nonetheless, as if our misfortune was not enough, negative emotions, self love and self esteem fascinate us, hypnotize us, never allowing us to remember ourselves, to see ourselves exactly the way we are… We believe that we have one will, when in reality we possess many different wills. Each “I” has its own will. The tragic comedy of all this interior multiplicity is dreadful. The different internal wills clash against each other, they live in continuous conflict, and they act in different directions. If we had true individuality, if we were a unity instead of a multiplicity, then we would also have continuity of purpose, awakened consciousness, a particular, individual will. To change is the best; however, we must begin by being sincere with ourselves. We need to make a psychological inventory of ourselves in order to know what we have in excess or what we lack. To attain individuality is possible; yet, if we believe that we already have it, then such a possibility will disappear. It is evident that we would never struggle to obtain individuality if we believe that we already have it. Fantasy makes us believe that we are possessors of individuality and there are even schools in the world that teach it that way. To struggle against fantasy is urgent. Fantasy makes us appear as if we were this or that, when, indeed, we are miserable, shameless and perverse. We think that we are humans, when in truth we are merely intellectual mammals lacking individuality. Megalomaniacs believe themselves to be Gods, Mahatmas, etc., without even suspecting that they do not even have an individual mind and Conscious Will. Ego worshipers adore their beloved ego so much that they would never accept the multiplicity of egos within themselves. Paranoids, with all the classic pride that characterizes them, will not even read this book… It is indispensable to fight to death against the fantasy regarding our own selves, if we do not want to be victims of artificial emotions and false experiences. This is because fantasy, besides placing us in ridiculous situations, stops all possibility of internal development. The intellectual animal is so hypnotized by his fantasy, that he dreams that he is a lion or eagle when in truth he is nothing more than a vile slug from the mud of the earth. The megalomaniac would never accept these aforementioned affirmations. Obviously, regardless of what people might say, he feels to be an arch-hierophant, without suspecting that fantasy is merely nothing. “Fantasy is nothing else but fantasy.” Fantasy is a real force which acts universally upon mankind. It keeps the intellectual humanoid in a state of sleep (hypnotic state), causing him to believe that he is already a human being, that he possesses true individuality, a will, awakened consciousness and a mind of his own, etc. When we think that we are “one,” we cannot move from where we are within ourselves; thus, we remain stagnant, and lastly, we degenerate, we devolve. Each one of us is situated in a determined psychological phase. We cannot remove ourselves from within this psychological state unless we directly discover all those persons that live within our own person. It is clear that only through inner self-observation shall we be able to see the people who live in our psyche and who we need to eliminate in order to achieve a radical transformation. This perception, this self-observation, fundamentally alters all the mistaken concepts that we had regarding ourselves; thus, as an outcome, we witness the concrete fact that we do not possess true individuality. Therefore, as long as we do not observe ourselves, we will then live in the illusion that we are “one” and consequently our life will be a mistake. To correctly relate with our fellowmen would be impossible as long as we do not perform an internal change in the very core of our psyche. Any internal change demands the previous elimination of the “I’s” that we carry within. We cannot by any means, eliminate such Is if we do not internally observe them. Those who consider themselves “one” those who think the best of themselves, those who would never accept the Doctrine of the Many; will never desire to observe their “I’s” Therefore, within them, any possibility of change will be impossible. It is not possible to change if one does not eliminate; yet, whosoever considers himself a possessor of individuality, even if he would accept that he must eliminate, would indeed ignore what it is that he must eliminate. Nonetheless, we must not forget that whosoever believes himself to be “one” will deceive himself, thinking that he does know that which he must eliminate. Yet, indeed, he does not even know that he does not know; he is a learned ignoramus. We need to “de-egotize” ourselves so we can “individualize” ourselves; however, to “de-egotize” is impossible for the one who thinks that he possesses individuality Individuality is one hundred percent sacred; rare are those who have it, nevertheless everyone thinks they have it. How can we eliminate “I’s” if we think that we have a unique “I”? Certainly, only the one who has never seriously observed his own self can think that he has a unique “I” Nevertheless, in regard to this teaching, we must be very clear, because there exists the psychological danger of confusing authentic individuality with the concept of some species of a “Superior I,” or something similar. Sacred individuality is very far beyond any type of “I” Sacred individuality is what it is what it has always been and what it shall always be. Legitimate individuality is the Being, the reason for the Being to be is to be the Being Himself. Distinguish between the Being and the I, those who confuse the “I” with the Being have certainly never observed themselves seriously. As long as the Essence, the Consciousness, is bottled up within all of that conjunction of “I’s” that we carry inside, radical change will be something more than impossible. Samael Aun Weor

In this devolving and decadent era, it is unusual for anyone to think with profundity and with full attention. Diverse thoughts surge from the intellectual center, not from a permanent “I” as the learned ignoramuses foolishly assume, but from the different “I’s” in each of us. When a person is thinking, he firmly believes that he is the one who is thinking in himself and by himself. The wretched intellectual mammal does not want to realize that the multiple thoughts that cross his mind have their origin in the different “I’s” which we carry within. This signifies that we are not true thinking individuals. Indeed, we do not yet have an individual mind. However, each of the different “I’s” that we carry within utilizes our intellectual center. At any time, as often as possible, each of them utilizes the intellectual center in order to think. Therefore, to identify ourselves with this or that negative and harmful thought, believing it to be our particular property, would be an absurdity. Obviously, this or that negative thought proceeds from any “I” which in a given moment has abusively used our intellectual center. Different types of negative thoughts exist, namely: suspicion, distrust, ill-will towards another person, passionate jealousy, religious jealousy, political jealousy, family or friendship jealousy, covetousness, lust, revenge, anger, pride, envy, hatred, resentment, theft, adultery, laziness, gluttony, etc. Indeed, we could not succeed in enumerating all the psychological defects we have since they are too many, not even if we had a steel palate and a thousand tongues to speak. Therefore, and as a corollary to the former statement, to identify us with negative thoughts is an absurdity Since it is impossible for an effect to exist without a cause, we solemnly affirm that a thought could never exist by itself, by spontaneous generation… The relation between thinker and thought is obvious. Each negative thought has its origin in a different thinker. Many negative thinkers exist within each one of us, as many thoughts of the same class. Examining this subject matter from the pluralized angle of “thinkers and thoughts,” it is understood then that each one of the “I’s” that we carry in our psyche is certainly a different thinker. Unquestionably, too many thinkers exist inside each one of us. Nonetheless, each one of these inner-thinkers, in spite of being merely one part, believes himself to be the whole, at any given moment… The mythomaniacs, megalomaniacs, ego worshipers, narcissists and paranoid ones would never accept the thesis of the “Plurality of Thinkers,” because they love themselves too much. They believe themselves to be “Superman’s daddy” or “Wonder Woman mommy.” How could such abnormal people accept the idea that they do not possess an individual, brilliant and marvelous mind? Nevertheless, those know-it-all ignoramuses think the best of themselves and even wear the robe of Aristippus in order to demonstrate wisdom and humility… It is stated, in accordance with legend of time, that Aristippus wanted to demonstrate wisdom and humility. So, he decked himself with an old robe full of patches and holes, then held the rod of philosophy with his right hand and walked the streets of Athens… ‘When Socrates saw him coming, he exclaimed in a loud voice: “Oh Aristippus, your vanity is shown through the holes of your vestments.” The one who unceasingly does not live in a state of alert novelty, alert perception, thinking that he is thinking, easily becomes identified with any negative thought. Thus, lamentably, as an outcome of his behavior, he strengthens the disastrous power of the “Negative I” who is the author of the corresponding thought in question. The more we identify ourselves with a negative thought, the more we shall be slaves of the corresponding “I” that characterizes it. Regarding Gnosis, the Secret Path and the work upon oneself, our own particular temptations are precisely found in those “I’s” who hate Gnosis, who hate the esoteric work. These “I’s” do not ignore that their existence within our psyche is mortally threatened by Gnosis and by this Work. Those quarrelsome and negative “I’s” easily take control of certain mental films that are stored in our intellectual center, which sequentially originate harmful and noxious mental currents. If we accept those thoughts, those negative “I’s,” which at any given moment control our intellectual center, we shall then be incapable of freeing ourselves from their influence. We must never forget that every negative “I” deceives itself and betrays to that end; it lies. Each time that one feels a sudden loss of strength, when the aspirant becomes disillusioned about Gnosis, about the esoteric work, when one loses the enthusiasm and abandons what is best, it is obvious that one has been deceived by some negative “I.” The negative “I” of jealousy deceives those beings who adore each other and destroys their happiness. The negative “I” of mystical pride deceives the devotees of the Path. Thus, believing themselves to be wise, they despise their Master and betray Him… The negative “I” appeals to our personal experiences, our memories, our best wishes, our sincerity. Hence, amidst all of these things, through a rigorous selection, this negative “I” presents something under a false light, something that fascinates. Thus, the outcome is failure… Nonetheless, when one discovers that “I” in action, when one has learned to live in a state of alertness, then, such a deception becomes impossible. Samael Aun Weor

It is very clear and not difficult to comprehend that when one seriously begins to observe oneself, from the point of view that the “myself” is not “one” but “many,” one then really begins to work on all that is carried within. Hindrances, obstacles, stumbling blocks for the work of intimate self-observation, such are the following psychological defects: Megalomania (delusions of grandeur, to believe that one is a God). Self-worship (belief in a permanent “I” adoration of any type of alter-ego). Paranoia (know-it all ignoramus, self-sufficiency, vanity, thinking oneself infallible, mystic pride, person who does not like to see another person’s point of view). When one continues with the absurd conviction that we are One, that we have a permanent Self, serious work on oneself becomes more than impossible. Whosoever always considers himself as “one” will never be able to separate the Self from his own undesirable elements. Such a person will consider each thought, sentiment, desire, emotion, passion, affection, etc. as different and unchangeable functionalisms of his own nature and will even justify himself before others saying that such and such personal defects are of a hereditary nature. Whosoever accepts the Doctrine of the Many “I”, understands based on observation that each desire, thought, action, passion, etc., corresponds to this or another different Self, different “I”. Whosoever works very seriously on himself, as any athlete of inner Self-Observation, exerts upon himself the effort to separate from his psyche the diverse undesirable elements which he carries within… Thus, if one truly and very sincerely begins to observe oneself internally, one ends up dividing himself in two: the Observer and the Observed. If such a division is not produced, it is then evident that we would never take a step forward in the marvelous Pathway of Self Knowledge. How can we observe ourselves if we commit the error of not wanting to divide ourselves into Observer and the Observed? If such a division is not produced, it is obvious that we will never take a step forward upon the path of Self Knowledge. Undoubtedly, when this division does not occur, we then continue identified with all the processes of the pluralized “I”. Whosoever identifies himself with the diverse processes of the pluralized “I” is always a victim of circumstances. How could the one who does not know himself modify circumstances? How could a person who has never observed himself internally know himself? In what way can someone observe himself if this one, first of all, does not divide himself into Observer and Observed? Now then, no one can start to change radically as long as such a one is incapable of saying: “This desire is an animal “I” which I must eliminate.” “This egotistical thought is another “I” that torments me and that I need to disintegrate.” “This sentiment that hurts my heart is an intruding “I,” which I need to reduce to cosmic dust.” etc. Naturally, the statements of the former paragraph are impossible to say for the one who has never divided himself between Observer and Observed. Whosoever takes all his psychological processes as functionalisms of a unique, individual and permanent “I” is identified with all his errors. He has them so tied to himself that he has lost the capacity to separate them from his Psyche. Obviously, people like that can never change radically; they are people condemned to the most complete failure. Samael Aun Weor

As long as a person persists in the error of believing to be one unique individual, it is evident that radical change would be more than impossible. The very fact that the esoteric work begins with the observation of oneself is indicating to us a multiplicity of psychological factors, “I’s” or undesirable elements that need be urgently extirpated, eradicated from our interior. Unquestionably, it would not be possible in any way to eliminate unknown errors. It is urgent to previously observe that which we want to separate from our psyche. This type of work is not external but internal and those who think that any manual of manners or external and superficial system of ethics can take them to success are, in fact, totally mistaken. The concrete and definite fact that the internal work begins with attention, which is concentrated in the full observation of oneself, is more than enough reason to demonstrate that this demands a very particular and personal effort from each one of us. Speaking frankly and bluntly, we emphatically affirm the following: no human being could do this work for us. No change whatsoever is possible within our psyche without the direct observation of the whole sum of subjective factors that we carry within. When the multiplicity of our errors is accepted as something factual, yet one discards the necessity of study and direct observation of the errors, it is an evasion or escape, an escape from oneself, a form of self-deceit. Indeed, it is only by applying a rigorous effort and a judicious observation of the myself without evasions of any type, that we will be able to verify that we are not “one” but many. To admit to the plurality of the “I” and to experience it through rigorous observation are two different aspects. Someone could admit to the Doctrine of the Many “I’s” without ever having experienced it. The latter is possible only by carefully observing oneself. To flee the work of inner observation, to seek evasions, is an unmistakable sign of degeneration. Obviously, the goal of this work is precisely to achieve a gradual change in our internal life. Yet, as long as a human being holds onto the illusion that he is one and the same person, he cannot change. Radical transformation is a defined possibility which is normally lost when one does not work on oneself. The initial point of radical change remains hidden as long as the person continues believing himself to be one. Those who reject the Doctrine of the Many “I’s” are clearly demonstrating that they have never observed themselves seriously. The severe observation of the “myself” without subterfuges of any type, permits us to verify by ourselves the crude reality that we are not “one” but “many.” Amidst the subjective opinions of this world, the diverse pseudo-esoteric or pseudo-occultist theories always become an alley we use to flee from ourselves… Unquestionably, the illusion that one is always one and the same person serves as a hidden obstacle for self observation… Someone could say: “I know that I am not one but many; Gnosis taught me this.” Yet, if a fully lived experience regarding this aspect of the doctrine does not exist, then such an affirmation, even if very sincere, would obviously be something merely external and superficial. Therefore, what is fundamental is to perceive, to experience and to comprehend. Only thus is it possible to work consciously in order to achieve a radical change. Hence, affirming is one thing and comprehending is another. When someone says: “I comprehend that I am not one but many,” if this comprehension is authentic and not merely insubstantial, vain wordiness of ambiguous chattering, then this indicates, points out, declares a full verification of the Doctrine of the Many “I’s.” Knowledge and comprehension are different. Knowledge is of the mind. Comprehension is of the heart. Therefore, the mere knowledge of the Doctrine of the Many “I’s” is good for nothing. Unfortunately, in these times in which we live, knowledge has gone far beyond comprehension. This is because the wretched intellectual animal, mistakenly called human being, exclusively developed the side of knowledge, lamentably forgetting the corresponding side of the Being. To know the Doctrine of the Many “I’s” and to comprehend it is fundamental for any true radical change. When a person begins to observe his inner self in detail, from the angle that he is not one but many, it is obvious that he has initiated a serious work upon his inner nature. Samael Aun Weor

Since superior and inferior are two portions of the same thing, it is not irrelevant to state the following corollary: superior “I” and inferior “I”, are two aspects of the same tenebrous and pluralized ego. The so-called divine “I” or superior “I,” alter ego or anything of the sort, is certainly a trick of the “Myself,” a form of self-deceit. When the “I” wants to continue here and in the beyond, it deceives itself with the false concept of being a divine and immortal “I”. None of us has a true “I” that is permanent, immutable, eternal, ineffable, etc. Indeed, none of us has a true and authentic Unity of Being. Unfortunately, we do not even possess a legitimate individuality. Although the ego continues beyond the sepulcher, it has, nonetheless, a beginning and an end. The ego, the “I,” is never something individual, unitary, a total unity. Obviously the “I” is “I’s” In Oriental Tibet, the “I’s” are called psychic aggregates, or simply, positive or negative values. If we think of each “I” as a different person, we can then emphatically state the following: “Many people exist within each person living in the world.” Unquestionably, many different persons live inside each one of us, some of them are better than others, and others are worse… Each one of these “I’s” each one of these persons, struggles for supremacy. As often is possible, each one of these “I’s” wants to be exclusive. Each one wants to control the intellectual brain or the emotional and motor centers until other substitutes it… The Doctrine of the many “I’s” was taught in Oriental Tibet by the true clairvoyants, by the true enlightened ones… Each of our defects is personified by one “I” or another. Since we have thousands and even millions of defects, it is obvious that many people live within our interior. In psychological matters, we have been able to clearly verify that paranoid subjects, self-worshipers and mythomaniacs would never abandon the cult to their beloved ego for anything in the world. Unquestionably, such people mortally hate the doctrine of the many “I’s.” Indeed, when one wants to know oneself, one must observe himself and try to know the different “I’s” which abound inside the personality. If any one of our readers does not yet comprehend the doctrine of the many “I’s” it is due exclusively to the lack of practice in the field of self-observation. As one practices inner self observation, one discovers many people, many “I’s” who live inside our personality. Those who deny the doctrine of the many “I’s”, those who adore a divine “I”, have undoubtedly never observed themselves seriously. Pointing at them, this time in a Socratic style, we state that those people not only ignore, but moreover, they ignore that they ignore. Certainly, we can never know ourselves without serious and profound self-observation. As long as any person continues considering himself as only one, it is clear that any internal change would be something more than impossible. Samael Aun Weor https://www.lanuevaeradeacuario.org/english/the-beloved-ego/

What makes every newborn child beautiful and adorable is his Essence; the Essence in itself constitutes his true reality. In all creatures, the normal growth of the Essence is certainly scanty, insufficient. The human body grows and develops in accordance with the biological laws of the species; however, such possibilities in themselves are extremely limited for the Essence. Unquestionably, without help, the Essence can only grow to a small degree. Speaking frankly and bluntly, we will say that the spontaneous and natural growth of the Essence is only possible during the first three, four and five years of life; in other words, during the first phase of life. People think that the growth and development of the Essence always occurs in a continuous way, according to the mechanics of evolution, but Universal Gnosticism teaches clearly that this does not occur in such a manner. Something very special must happen, something new must be fulfilled so that the Essence may grow more. I want to emphatically refer to the work upon oneself. The development of the Essence is only possible on the basis of conscious works and voluntary sufferings. It is necessary to understand that this work does not refer to professional matters such as banking, carpentry, masonry, railroad repairs, or office matters. This work is for any person who has developed his personality; it concerns something psychological. We all know that we have within ourselves that which is called ego, I, me, myself. Unfortunately, the Essence is completely imprisoned, absorbed inside the ego, and this is lamentable. To dissolve the psychological “I,” to disintegrate its undesirable elements, is something unavoidable and non-excludable. This is the meaning of working upon oneself. We would never be able to liberate the Essence without previously disintegrating the psychological “I.” Religion, the Buddha, Wisdom, the particles in pain of our Father who is in heaven, and all the information we need for the realization of our Innermost Self, of our Inner Being, are within the Essence. No one would be able to annihilate the psychological “I” without previously eliminating the inhuman elements that we carry within ourselves. We need to reduce to ashes the monstrous cruelty of this day and age: envy which has unfortunately become the secret trigger of action, the unbearable covetousness that has made life so bitter, the disgusting slander, the calumny which gives rise to so many tragedies, the drunken revelries, the filthy lust that smells so hideously, etc. Accordingly, as all these abominations are being reduced to cosmic dust, the Essence, besides becoming emancipated, will harmoniously grow and develop. Unquestionably, the Essence shines within ourselves when our psychological “I” has died. The liberated Essence confers upon us inner beauty. Perfect happiness and true love emanate from such a beauty. The Essence possesses multiple senses of perfection and extraordinary natural powers. When we die within ourselves, when we dissolve the psychological “I,” we can then enjoy the precious senses and powers of the Essence. Samael Aun Weor

Personal Events BY HERE FROM ORION · PUBLISHED JULY 17, 2022 · UPDATED AUGUST 28, 2022 When dealing with the discovery of wrong psychological states, a complete intimate Self-observation of the “myself” is unavoidable. Unquestionably, wrong internal states can be corrected, with correct procedures. Since our internal life is the magnet which attracts external events, we need with a maximum and unavoidable urgency to eliminate erroneous psychological states from our psyche. The correction of mistaken psychological states is indispensable when one wants to fundamentally alter the nature of certain undesirable events. The alteration of our relation with certain events is possible if we eliminate certain absurd psychological states from our interior. Destructive external situations could become inoffensive and even constructive by intelligently correcting erroneous internal states. When one purifies oneself internally, one can then change the nature of unpleasant events that happen to us. Whosoever never corrects absurd psychological states, believing himself or herself to be very strong, becomes a victim of circumstances. When one wishes to change the course of an unhappy existence, it is then vital to establish an order within one’s disorderly internal house. People complain about everything. They suffer, cry, protest. They would like to change their lives, to come out of the misfortune they are having; yet unfortunately, they do not work upon themselves. People do not want to realize that their internal life attracts external circumstances. Therefore, if the external circumstances are painful, it is because of their absurd internal states. The external is merely the reflection of the internal. Therefore, whosoever changes internally originates a new order of things. The external events are never as important as the way one reacts when facing them. Did you remain serene before the offender? Did you gladly receive the unpleasant manifestations of your fellowmen? How did you react to the infidelity of your beloved one? Did you let yourself be carried away by the poison of jealousy? Did you kill? Are you in prison? Hospitals, cemeteries or pantheons, and prisons are filled with sincerely mistaken ones who reacted in an absurd manner when faced with external events. The best weapon that a human being can use in life is a correct psychological state. One can disarm beasts and unmask traitors by means of appropriate internal states. Wrong internal states convert us into defenseless victims of human perversity. You must learn to face the most unpleasant events of practical life with an appropriate internal uprightness… You must not become identified with any event. Remember that everything passes away. You must learn to look at life like a movie; thus, you shall receive the benefits… You must not forget that if you do not eliminate mistaken internal states from your psyche, then events of no value could bring you disgrace. Unquestionably, each external event needs its appropriate fare, that is, its precise psychological state. Samael Aun Weor

Christ is the Fire of the Fire, the Flame of the Flame, the Astral Sign of Fire. The Mystery of Christ is defined on the Cross of the Martyr of Calvary, with just one word consisting of four letters: INRI. Ignis Natura Renovatur Integram. Fire Incessantly Renews Nature. The Advent of Christ in the heart of man, radically transforms us. Christ is the SOLAR LOGOS, perfect Multiple Unity. Christ is the life which throbs in the entire universe, is what is, what has always been and what will always be. Much have been said about the Cosmic Drama; undoubtedly, this drama is formed of the four gospels. We have been told that the Cosmic Drama was brought to the earth by the Elohim; the Great Lord of Atlantis performed that drama in flesh and bone. The Great KABIR Jesus also had to perform the same Drama publicly in the Holy Land. Even if Christ is born a thousand times in Bethlehem, it is of no use at all if he is not born in our heart too. Even if he had died and risen from the dead on the third day, that is of no use if he does not die and resurrect in ourselves too. To try to discover the fire’s nature and essence, is to try to discover God whose real presence has always been revealed under igneous appearance. The burning bush (Exodus III, 2) and the conflagration in Sinai, as a result of the conferring of the Decalogue (Exodus XIX, 18), are two manifestations by which God appeared to Moses. Saint John describes the master of the Universe as in the figure of a being of Jasper and Sardonyx the color of flame, sitting on a fulgurant, incandescent Throne (Revelations IV, 3-5). In his Epistle to the Hebrews, Saint Paul writes that our God is a Consuming Fire. The Intimate Christ, the Celestial Fire, must be born within ourselves and is really born when we have advanced quite a lot in the psychological work. The Intimate Christ must eliminate from our Psychological Nature the very same causes of error; the CAUSES-“I”S. The dissolution of the causes of the EGO, would not be possible while the Intimate Christ has not been born within ourselves. The living and philosopher’s fire, the Intimate Christ, is the Fire of the Fire, the pure of the pure. Fire envelopes and bathes us all over, it comes to us through the air, through the water and through the very earth, which are its preservers and its diverse vehicles. The Celestial Fire must crystallize within us, it is the Intimate Christ, our deep inner Savior. The Intimate Lord, must take charge of the whole of our Psyche; of the Five Cylinders of the organic machine; of all our Mental, Emotional, Motor, Instinctive and Sexual processes.

Indeed, the rational mammal mistakenly called the human being does not possess a defined individuality Unquestionably, this lack of psychological unity in the humanoid is the cause of so many difficulties and bitterness. The physical body is a complete unit and works as an organic whole unless it is ill. However, the internal life of the humanoid is in no way a psychological unit. The most critical aspect of all of this, in spite of what the diverse pseudo-esoteric and pseudo-occultist schools might say, is the lack of psychological organization in the intimate depths of each person. Certainly, in those conditions, an accordant work, as a complete harmonious unit in the internal life of people, does not exist. The humanoid, in regard to his internal state, is a psychological multiplicity, a sum of “I’s” The learned ignoramuses of this tenebrous era pay homage to the “I” they deify it; they place it on altars; they name it Alter Ego, Superior “I,” Divine “I,” etc. The “know-it-alls” of this dark age in which we live do not want to realize that the Superior “I” or the Inferior “I” are two sections of the same pluralized ego… Indeed, the humanoid does not have a Permanent “I,” but instead he has a multitude of different infra-human and absurd “I’s.” The wretched intellectual animal mistakenly called a human being is similar to a house in disorder where instead of one lord, many servants exist who always want to command and to perform their own whims. The greatest error of cheap pseudo esotericism and pseudo-occultism is to assume that others possess or that one has a permanent and immutable “I,” without a beginning and an end… If for at least one instant, those who think in the way previously described were to awaken consciousness, they would then clearly see for themselves that the rational humanoid is never the same “one” through a long period of time… Thus, from a psychological point of view, the intellectual mammal is continuously changing… To think that a person named Louis is always Louis is like a joke made in very bad taste… That subject called Louis has other “I’s,” other “egos” in himself, who, in different moments, express themselves through his personality. Therefore, even if Louis does not like covetousness, another “I” within him, let”s call him Peter, likes covetousness, and so on… No person is the same in a continuous manner. Indeed, one does not have to be a sage in order to fully realize the innumerable changes and contradictions of each individual… Therefore, to assume that someone possesses a permanent and immutable “I” is equivalent to committing an abuse against our fellowmen and against oneself… Thus, many people, many “I’s” live inside each person. Any awakened or conscious person can, in a direct way, verify this by himself… Samael Aun Weor

Unquestionably, while in rigorous observation of the Myself, a complete logical differentiation between the exterior events of practical life and the interior states of the consciousness is always something unavoidable and non exdudable. We urgently need to know where we are located relative to the interior state of consciousness, as well as to the specific nature of the exterior event that is happening to us in a given moment. Life in itself is a series of events that process themselves through time and space. Someone said: “Life is a chain of woes that humans carry entangled in their Souls.” Everyone is free to think as he wishes. I believe that disenchantment and bitterness always proceed the ephemeral pleasures of a fleeting moment. Each event has its special characteristic flavor. The interior states also are of a distinct type. This is incontrovertible, irrefutable. Indeed, the interior work upon oneself emphatically refers to the diverse psychological states of the consciousness. No one can deny that in our interior we carry many errors and that erroneous states also exist. If indeed we want to change, we need with maximum and unavoidable urgency to radically modify those erroneous states of our consciousness. The absolute modification of the erroneous states originates complete transformations in the field of practical life. Obviously, when one seriously works on the erroneous states, then the unpleasant events of life can no longer hurt so easily. We are stating something that can only be comprehended by living it, when indeed one experiences it, precisely in the field of actions. Whosoever does not work on himself is always a victim of circumstances; he is like a miserable log on the boisterous waters of the ocean. Events incessantly change in their multiple combinations; they come one after another in waves; they are influences… Indeed, good and bad events exist. Some events will be better or worse than others. Certainly, to modify certain events, to alter results, to modify situations, etc., is possible amidst the number of possibilities. However, some factual situations which truly cannot be altered exist. These cases must be consciously accepted, even when some become dangerous and even painful… Unquestionably such a grief disappears when we do not identify ourselves with the problem that has arisen… We must consider life as a successive series of interior states. The authentic history of our life in particular is formed by these states… When reviewing the totality of our own existence, we can then verify for ourselves in a direct manner that many unpleasant situations were possible thanks to wrong interior states… Although Alexander the Great was always temperate by nature, he gave in, due to pride, to the excesses which produced his death… Francis I died due to a dirty and abominable adultery, which is still well remembered in history… When Marat was assassinated by a perverse nun, he was dying of arrogance and envy, he believed himself to be absolutely just… Unquestionably the ladies of the “Parc des Cerfs” totally exhausted the vitality of the horrible fornicator Louis XV. Due to jealousy, Othello became an assassin. Many are the people who die of ambition, anger or jealousy; this is well known by psychologists… When our will irrevocably fixes itself on an absurd tendency, we become candidates for the pantheon or cemetery. Therefore, jails are filled with sincerely mistaken people. Samael Aun Weor

To correctly combine internal states with external events is to know how to live intelligently… Any event intelligently lived demands its corresponding specific internal state… Nonetheless, when people review their lives, unfortunately, they only think that their life is exclusively constituted by external events… Wretched people! They think that if this or that event had never happened to them, their lives would have been better… They think that fortune came to meet them; yet, they lost the opportunity to be happy… They lament what they lost, they weep regarding what they despised; they moan when remembering their old errors and calamities… People do not want to realize that to vegetate is not to live and that the capacity to consciously exist depends of the Soul… exclusively on the quality of the interior states Certainly, it does not matter how beautiful the external events of life might be; if we are not in the appropriate internal state in those moments, the best moments can seem monotonous, tiresome or simply boring to us… Someone anxiously awaits the wedding banquet as a great event. Nevertheless, it could happen that he could be so preoccupied in that precise moment that he really would not enjoy it. Thus, that party would become for him as dry and cold as protocol. Experience has taught us that not all persons who attend a banquet or a party really enjoy themselves. A bored person is always present at the best of parties and the most delightful musical compositions make some people happy and make others weep. Those who know how to consciously combine the external event with the appropriate interior state are very rare. It is unfortunate that people do not know how to consciously live; they weep when they should laugh and laugh when they should weep. Control is different; the sage can be happy but never filled with an insane frenzy, sad but never desperate and discouraged, calm in the middle of violence, abstinent in the orgy, chaste when amidst lust, etc. Melancholic and pessimistic persons think the worst of life and frankly they do not want to live. Every day we see people that are not only unhappy, but moreover, what is even worse, they make other people’s lives miserable. Such people will not change, even if they would live daily from party to party for they carry the psychological disease within them… Such persons possess internal states that are definitely perverse… Nevertheless, these people classify themselves as just, saintly, virtuous, noble, helpful martyrs, etc. They are people who esteem themselves to the extreme; people who love themselves too much… They are individuals who pity themselves too much and seek a way out to evade their own responsibilities… Persons like that are accustomed to inferior emotions and it is obvious that due to such a motive, they daily create infra psychic elements. Disgraceful events like the setbacks of fortune, misery, debts, problems etc. are the exclusive property of those persons who do not know how to live… Anyone can acquire a rich intellectual culture; yet few are the persons who have learned how to live in an upright manner… When one wants to separate external events from the internal states of consciousness, one demonstrates concretely his incapacity of existing in a dignified manner. Those who learn how to consciously combine external events with internal states march on the path of success. Samael Aun Weor

In the field of practical life, we discover astonishing contrasts. Wealthy people with a magnificent residence and with many friends sometimes suffer terribly. Humble proletarians of picks and shovels or middle dass people often live in complete happiness. Many multi-millionaires suffer from sexual impotence and rich matrons cry bitterly due to their husbands’ infidelities… In this day and age, the rich people of the earth look like vultures in golden cages. They cannot live without bodyguards. Statesmen drag chains; they are never free; wherever they go they are surrounded by people armed to the teeth… Let us study this situation more in detail. We need to know what life is. Everyone is free to think as he likes… Regardless of whatever people say, indeed, nobody knows anything. Life is a problem that no one understands… When people want to freely tell us the story of their life, they quote events, names and surnames, dates, etc. and feel satisfaction when telling their stories… Those wretched people ignore that their stories are incomplete because events, names and dates are merely the outer aspect of the movie, the inner aspect is missing… It is urgent to know “States of Consciousness.” Each event is complemented with this or that psychological state. The states are internal, and the events are external. So, external events are not everything. Let it be understood that internal states are good or bad disposition, preoccupation, depression, superstition, fear, suspicion, mercy, self-commiseration, overestimation of oneself, states of one’s sentiments of happiness, states of pleasure, etc. Unquestionably, internal states can correspond exactly to external events; they can be originated by the latter, or they cannot have any relationship with them whatsoever. In every case, states and events are different. Events do not always correspond exactly to compatible states. A pleasant event could be unrelated with its internal state. An unpleasant event could be unrelated with its internal state. When long awaited for events finally take place, we often feel that something is missing… Certainly, the corresponding internal state which should have been combined with the external event was missing… Many times, an unexpected event comes to be the one that has provided us with the best moments. Samael Aun Weor

This is a lecture given by Master Samael Aun Weor in the closing of the Gnostic congress in Guadalajara Mexico year 1976, read by Ramon T Juarez Read the entire transcript here: https://www.lanuevaeradeacuario.org/english/closing-speech-at-1976-congress/

The Essence that each one of us carries within his interior comes from above, from Heaven, from the stars… Unquestionably, the marvelous Essence emanates from the note La (the Milky Way, the galaxy we live in). The precious Essence passes through the note Sol (the Sun) and then passes through the note Fa (the Planetary Zone) then enters this world and penetrates within our own interior. Our parents created the appropriate body for the reception of this Essence that emanates from the stars… We return victoriously into the profound bosom of “Urania” by working intensely upon ourselves and sacrificing ourselves for our fellowmen. We are living in this world for some reason, for something, for some special factor… Obviously, there is much in us that we must see, study and comprehend, if indeed to know something about ourselves, about our own life is what we long for… Tragic is the existence of the one who dies without having known the purpose of his life… Each one of us must discover for himself the purpose of his own life, to discover what is that which keeps him prisoner within the prison of pain… Clearly, there is something within us that makes our life bitter, and this is what we need to firmly struggle against… It is not indispensable that we continue in disgrace; therefore, it is urgent that we reduce to cosmic dust that which makes us so weak and miserable. It is useless for us to be conceited about ranks, honors, diplomas, money, vain subjective rationalism, aforementioned virtues, etc. We must never forget that hypocrisy and the silly vanities of our false personality make of us persons that are dull, rancid, retarded, reactionary, and incapable of seeing that which is the new. Death has many meanings, both positive and negative. Let us consider the magnificent observation of the great Kabir Jesus the Christ, “Let the dead bury their dead.” Many people, although alive, are in fact dead to all possible work upon themselves and therefore to any inner transformation. They are people imprisoned in their dogmas and beliefs, people petrified in memories of many yesterdays, individuals full of ancestral prejudices, persons who are the slave of what others might say, horribly lukewarm, indifferent and sometimes “know it all ignoramuses” who are convinced that they are right because that is what they were told, etc. Those people do not want to understand that this world is a “psychological gymnasium” through which it would be possible to annihilate that secret ugliness that we all carry within. If those wretched people would comprehend the lamentable state within which they dwell, they would tremble with horror… Nonetheless, such people think the best of themselves. They boast of their virtues. They feel they are perfect, generous, helpful, noble, charitable, intelligent, responsible, etc. Practical life as a school is formidable, but to take it as a goal in itself is manifestly an absurdity. Those who take life in itself, such as it is daily lived, have not comprehended the necessity of working upon themselves in order to achieve a “radical transformation.” Unfortunately, people live mechanically and have never heard anything about the inner work… Change is necessary but people do not know how to change. They suffer greatly; however, they do not even know why they suffer. Money is not everything. Usually, the life of many wealthy people is truly tragic. Samael Aun Weor

It is not irrelevant to remind our readers that a mathematical point exists within ourselves. Unquestionably such a point is never found either in the past or in the future. Whosoever wants to discover that mysterious point must look for it here and now, within oneself at this exact moment, not a second earlier, not a second later. The two horizontal and vertical lines of the Holy Cross intersect at this point. Thus, we find ourselves from moment to moment before two paths: the Horizontal and the Vertical. It is evident that the Vertical is different; it is the path of intelligent rebels, of revolutionaries. It is apparent that the Horizontal path is too base; my buddy and every body travel it, by those who are juvenile and those who are senile. When one remembers oneself and works upon oneself, when one does not become identified with all the problems and sorrows of life, it is a fact that one is traveling along the Vertical path. Certainly, it is never an easy task to eliminate negative emotions, to lose all identification with our trend of life, with all types of problems, with business, debts, loan payments, mortgages, telephone, water and power payments, etc. The unemployed ones, those who have lost their position or job for one reason or another, evidently suffer because of lack of money and for them to forget their situation and not worry or identify themselves with their own problem becomes tremendously difficult. Those who suffer and those who cry, those who have been victims of some betrayal or injustice, victims of ingratitude, calumny, fraud, really do forget themselves; they forget their Inner Being; they identify themselves totally with their moral tragedy. The work on oneself is the fundamental characteristic of the Vertical path. Nobody treads upon the path of the Great Rebellion if he never works on himself. The work to which we are referring is of a psychological nature. This work deals with a certain transformation of the moment in which we find ourselves. We need to learn to live from moment to moment. For example, a person who is desperate about some sentimental, economical or political problems has obviously forgotten his Inner Self. If such a person would stop for a moment, observe the situation, try to remember his Inner Self and then try to understand the reason for this attitude… If he would reflect a little and think that everything passes away, that life is fleeting, illusory, and that death reduces all the vanities of the world to ashes… If he would understand that his problem in reality is nothing more than a worthless flame and soon dies, he would suddenly see with great surprise that everything has changed. It is possible to transform mechanical reactions through logical confrontation and the Intimate Auto-Reflection of the Being. It is evident that people react mechanically when faced with the diverse circumstances of life. Wretched people, they usually become the victims. When flattered, they smile, when humiliated, they suffer. They insult if insulted, they hurt if they are hurt; they are never free; their fellowmen have the power to drive them from happiness to sadness, from hope to despair. Each of these persons traveling along the Horizontal path is similar to a musical instrument on which each of his fellowmen can play the tune he wishes to. Whosoever learns how to transform mechanical reactions is in fact entering onto the Vertical path. This represents a fundamental change in the “Level of Being,” an extraordinary result of the “Psychological Rebellion.” Samael Aun Weor