Psychology and Self Knowledge Practices

A Collection of Gnostic Practices for Psychology and Self-Knowledge

Practice to Help Discover Your Defects (Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Mediation-Prayer)

A man, after having studied himself discovered that he had twelve defects that were bothering him. This man said, “Just as it is impossible to catch ten hares at the same time, because the hunter who wants to try this would not catch any, so is it also impossible to do away with my twelve defects at the same time.” This man arrived at the conclusion that it would be better to catch one hare and then another, first to do away with one defect and then another. Therefore he decided to dedicate two months to each defect. After twenty-four months, this man no longer had the defects; he had done away with the twelve defects that hindered him from success. The result was marvelous. This man became the foremost citizen of the United States, his name: Benjamin Franklin. Imitate this person. Examine yourself and see how many defects you have, count them, number them. Then dedicate two months to each defect, successively, until you eliminate all of them.

Practice:

Sit in a comfortable chair and pray to your Internal God like this,

“You who are my true Being, you who are my Internal God, enlighten me, help me, make me see my own defects. Amen.”

Concentrate on this prayer until deep sleep arrives. Try to discover all your defects. We advise you to read the Bible. The word of the Divine Master is found in the four Gospels. There you will see the virtues that you need, there you will discover the virtues that you lack. Wherever a virtue is lacking, a defect exists.

-Introduction To Gnosis, Samael Aun Weor

Practice to Help Recognize Necessity vs Covetousness (Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Meditation)

Only by comprehending the complex process of covetousness in all the levels of the mind can we arrive at experiencing the Great Reality.

Practice:

1. Lie down in the form of a star, opening your legs and arms to the left and the right.
2. Concentrate now on your immediate physical needs.
3. Meditate, reflect on each one of those needs.
4. Lull yourself to sleep trying to discover, on your own, where necessity ends and where

covetousness begins.

5. If your practice of concentration and inner meditation is correct, in an internal vision you will discover what your legitimate necessities are and which of these are covetousness. Remember that only by profoundly comprehending necessity and covetousness will you be able to establish true foundations for the correct process of thinking.

-Introduction to Gnosis, Samael Aun Weor

Practice to See Our Contradictory Desires (Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Meditation)

When we resolutely see the vanity of desires, when we comprehend that desire is the cause of our conflicts and bitterness, then true peace arrives. 

Practice:

Seated in a comfortable chair, or lying down in your bed, close your eyes.

Then concentrate on your interior, studying yourself investigating your desires, your contradictions.

It is necessary for you to comprehend what your contradictory desires are so that, in this way, you may know the causes of your internal conflicts. Peace of mind comes from the knowledge of the causes of mental conflict. Practice this simple exercise daily. It is necessary that you know yourself.

-Introduction to Gnosis, Samael Aun Weor

Meditation Practice for Self Discovery (Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Meditation)

Lie down and remain calmly in bed. Open your arms and legs to the right and left to form the flaming five-pointed star. Relax your muscles properly. The process of relaxation is easy if combined with imagination. (Practice the exercise of relaxation as was indicated to you in Lesson Two.) Mental relaxation: once the relaxation of the physical body has been obtained, it is necessary to relax the mind. Mental relaxation is also obtained with the help of the imagination. Observe all the thoughts that come to mind, all the memories that assault you, all the worries, etc., and study them to find out their origin. The study of all this will reveal many things to you; it will make you get to know your defects, your errors, etc. In this manner, you will know how your “I,” your Ego, works. Analyze each defect. Try to comprehend each defect in all the levels of the mind, study each thought, memory or emotion that assaults you, comprehend each thought. Then imagine a profound abyss and throw each studied thought, each memory, worry, etc., into that abyss. In this manner, your mind will remain silent and still. In the silence and quietude of the mind you will be able to see and hear the Intimate. He is the Internal Master. He is your internal God. 

-Introduction to Gnosis, Samael Aun Weor

WORK-MEMORY (Psychology and Self-Knowledge)

When somebody starts to auto-observe himself, that is an unmistakable sign that he has accepted the tremendous reality of his own psychology. someone who initiates auto-observation becomes a fellow very different from others, in fact indicates the possibility of a change. The seven demons that the Great Master Jesus the Christ threw out from the body of Mary Magdalene, are the seven deadly sins: Anger, Covetousness, Lust, Envy, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony. In old Egypt of Pharaohs, the initiate had to eliminate the red demons of SETH from his inner nature if he did want to achieve the awaking of the consciousness. 

-Read The Great Rebellion by Samael Aun Weor for more information

THE SYSTEM TO TRANSFORM THE IMPRESSIONS OF THE DAY (Psychology and Self-Knowledge)

There are impressions which are not so pleasant, for example the words of an offender, isn’t that so? Could we transform the words of an offender?

Words are as they are, so, what can we do? Transform the impressions that such words produce in us, and this is possible. The Gnostic teachings tell us how to crystallize the Second Force, the Christ in us, through the postulate which says: “One has to receive with gladness the unpleasant manifestations of our fellowmen.”

In the previous postulate is found the way to transform the impressions which the words of an offender produce in us. Receive with gladness the unpleasant manifestations of our fellowmen. This postulate will naturally lead us to the crystallization of the Second Force, the Christ in us; it will cause the Christ to come and take shape in us…

Certainly, the words of an insulter do not have any more value than that which the insulted person gives them. Therefore, if the insulted person does not give them any importance, I repeat, they remain like a check drawn against insufficient funds.

When one comprehends this, one then transforms the impressions of such words, for example, into something different, into love, into compassion for the insulter and this, naturally, means transformation. Therefore, we need to be incessantly transforming impressions, not only the present ones but also the past and the future ones…

We have to digest the impressions of the same day, in the following way:

1.— Absolute relaxation.

2.--- Reach the state of meditation.

3.— Relive the scene just as it occurred.

4.— Seek within oneself the ‘I’ which caused the problem.

5.— Observing serenely, one places the ego in the defendant’s bench and one then proceeds

with the judgment

6.— Ask the Divine Mother Kundalini for the disintegration of the I-problem.

-The Revolution of The Dialectic, Samael Aun Weor

Practice to Observe (Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Meditation) 

First of all, relax. Relax as deeply as you can. There should be no muscle in tension.

Become more aware of yourself. Deeply, fully, actively aware. To be aware means to be actively looking.

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 does not signify that we are observing the chair. 

Try to see yourself as separate from yourself, as if this body is merely an actor.

The thoughts and feelings are a critic next to the stage, a critic who will not shut up. Do not try to make him be quiet. Just stop giving him your attention. Separate from him.

The sense of separation, the sense of active awareness, is the foundation of every mystical practice that exists on the face of the earth and in every other dimension.

- Samael Aun Weor, Revolutionary Psychology

Self-Remembering (Psychology and Self Knowledge) 

Whoever wants to awaken consciousness here and now should begin to comprehend the three subconscious factors called identification, fascination, and sleep.

All types of identification produce fascination and sleep.

Forgetting oneself is an error with incalculable consequences. To identify with anything is the height of stupidity because fascination and sleep are the result. It is impossible for someone to awaken consciousness if he forgets himself, if he identifies with anything. It is impossible for the aspirant to awaken consciousness if he allows himself to become fascinated, to fall asleep.

-Buddha’s Necklace, Samael Aun Weor

Self-Remembering (Psychology and Self Knowledge-Astral) 

Gnostic students must remember themselves while in the presence of any kind of interesting representation, one must remember oneself and ask oneself the following questions: Where am I? What am I doing here? Could I be out of my physical body?

Then, carefully observe everything surrounding you; observe well the sky with inquisitive eyes; any kind of detail from the internal worlds; be it a set of foreign colors, be it a strange animal, the beloved shadow of a deceased person, ect., this will conform that you are out of your physical body; the you will awaken the Consciousness. It becomes very useful, in those instants of reflection and self-remembering, to hop with the intention of floating in that environment. It is logical that if we float it is because we are out of our physical body.

If all the dormants, while sleeping, ask themselves such  reflective questions, it is logical that they would awaken consciousness. If the ego, after death, asks itself such questions in the presence of any representation, then it would awaken instantly. Unfortunately, the ego never thinks about those questions because during its life it has never had the custom of questioning itself. It is necessary to grasp this custom and to live it intensely. Only in this way, can we conceive of the idea of asking ourselves such questions while sleeping and after death. The result of this practice is the awakening of the consciousness. Anyone who awakens their consciousness may become clairvoyant. Anyone who awakens the consciousness lives fully awakened in the Superior worlds while the physical body sleeps. The Great Masters do not dream.

-Esoteric Course of Kabbalah, Samael Aun Weor

Key of S.O.L.  (Psychology and Self Knowledge) 

We have to awaken, and learn to live alert from moment to moment, from instant to instant. The action of always dividing attention into three parts cannot be delayed.

First ………… Subject

Second …….. Object

Third .………. Location

SUBJECT: Do not forget ourselves, watch ourselves at each second, at each moment. This implies a state of alertness in relation to our thoughts, gestures, actions, emotions, habits, words, etc.

To not fall into the forgetting of oneself before any representation.

OBJECT: Minute observation of all those objects or representations that reach the mind through the senses. Never become identified with things, because in this manner one falls into fascination and into the sleep of consciousness.

To observe everything, every representation, every fact, every event no matter how insignificant the latter may seem, in detail, without forgetting oneself.

LOCATION: Daily observation of our house, of our bedroom, as if it was something new, asking ourselves daily: Why have I arrived at this place? At this market? In this office? In this temple? etc. 

The rigorous observation of the place where we may be, ask ourselves, “What place is this? Why am I here?” Within this Place factor, we should include the dimensional issue, since it could be the case that we are really in the fourth or in the fifth dimension of nature during the moment of observation; let us remember that nature has seven dimensions. The law of gravity reigns in the three-dimensional world. The Law of Levitation exists within the superior dimensions of nature. Upon observing a place, we should never forget the matter of the seven dimensions of nature; it is convenient, therefore, to ask ourselves: “In what dimension am I? Then, it is necessary, in the way of verification, to take the highest possible jump with the intention of floating in the surrounding atmosphere. It is logical that if we float it is because we are outside of the physical body. We should never forget that when the physical body sleeps, the Ego with the Lunar Bodies and the Essence within, unconsciously ambulates like a somnambulist in the Molecular World. The Division of Attention into Subject, Object and Place, leads to the awakening of Consciousness. After becoming accustomed to this exercise, to this Division of Attention into three parts, to these questions, to this little jump, etc., many Gnostic students ended up practicing the same exercise during the sleep of the physical body, when they were really in the superior worlds and when they made the famous experimental jump, they floated delightfully in the surrounding atmosphere; they then awoke Consciousness, they then remembered that the physical body had remained asleep in the bed and full of joy they were able to dedicate themselves to the study of the mysteries of life and death in the superior dimensions.

-Hermetic Astrology, Samael Aun Weor

These three aspects of the division of attention in no way constitute a chapter set apart, nor something different from the process of the dissolution of the “I”.

Undoubtedly we need to study ourselves, to observe ourselves from moment to moment, if we really want to discover our own psychological defects; since as we have said in relating with our fellowmen, the hidden defects spontaneously, naturally flower.

It is not a matter of merely self-observing the steps we take, nor the forms of the body, etc. The vigilance of oneself implies the silent and serene study of all our inner psychological processes, emotions, passions, thoughts, words, etc.

The observation of things without identification will allow us to know the processes of covetousness, attachments, ambition, etc.

It is irrefutable that for a covetous person, it will entail a lot of work to not become identified with a diamond ring or with a few dollar bills from the bank, etc.

Observation of places will allow us to know how extensive our attachments and fascination are in relation to diverse places.

This triple set of attention is then a complete exercise to self discover ourselves and to awaken consciousness.

-Yes there is Hell, Yes there is Evil, Yes there is Karma, Samael Aun Weor

Observation of the Ego in meditation (Psychology and Self Knowledge) 

Then we should close our eyes so that no worldly things distract us, and observe our own mind in action: if a thought comes to us, we study it, carefully observe it, deeply comprehend it, and then forget about it. If a memory comes to us, we have to do the same thing: study it, weigh it, measure it, and after comprehending it deeply, integrally, and totally, forget about it. Each thought, each desire, each memory, each idea, etc., etc., etc., should be rigorously studied and deeply comprehended.

This is how we will get to know our Ego, our “I”, our Myself; because everything that comes to our mind when we try to meditate, all of that which tries to sabotage our work is our own Ego, our own desires; because our Ego are our thoughts, our desires, our ideas, our appetites, our fears, our hatreds, our envies, our selfishness, our lustfulness, our pride, etc.

The Fifth Gospel, Conference: Ephemeral Mechanisms of the Mind, Samael Aun Weor

Control Your Mind (Psychology and Self-Knowledge)

We should liberate ourselves from all types of preconceptions and desires. We should move

only under the impulses of the Inner-Self. Covetousness, anger, lust, have their den in the

mind. Covetousness, anger, lust, lead souls to the Avitchi. Man is not the mind. The mind is merely one of the four bodies of sin. When man becomes identified with the mind he goes into the abyss.

The mind is merely a donkey upon which we should ride in order to enter the celestial

Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

When the mind besieges us with useless representations, let us talk to it in this manner:

“Mind, remove these representations, I do not accept them from you, you are my slave and I

am your lord!”

When the mind besieges us with representations of hatred, fear, anger, cravings, covetousness,

lust, etc., let us talk to it in this manner:

 “Mind, remove these things from me, I do not accept them from you, I am your master, I am your lord and you should obey me because you are my slave until the end of time!”

-The Revolution of The Dialectic, Samael Aun Weor

Method to Command the Mind (Psychology and Self-Knowledge)

When our mind is filled with passionate desires, let us stop for a moment and imperiously command our mind as follows:

“Mental body, withdraw these thoughts from me. I do not allow you to hold them.”

When our mind is filled with anger, then let us command our mind like this:

“Mental body, withdraw this anger from me. I do not allow you to hold anger.”

When our mind is filled with hatred, then let us command our mind like this:

“Mental body, withdraw this hatred from me. I do not allow you to hold hatred, etc.”

The Being is not the mind, the Being is the Being. He is the Intimate and He can control our mind by means of willpower. The den of desire is within the mind. The body of desires is nothing else but an emotional instrument of the mind. We can converse with our mind in the internal worlds, when we momentarily have deprived ourselves from it. Then, the mind seems to be almost an independent entity which sits in front of us, face to face, in order to converse.

-Treatise of Occult Medicine and Practical Magic, Chapter: The Mind, Samael Aun Weor

BLUE TIME OR REST THERAPEUTICS (Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Meditation)

On the mysterious threshold of the Temple of Delphi, there was a Greek maxim inscribed on living stone which read Nosce Te Ipsum, “Man, know thyself and thou shalt know the Universe and the Gods.” It is obvious that in the last instant, the study of oneself, serene reflection, concludes in the stillness and silence of the mind. When the mind is still and in silence, not only on a superficial, intellectual level, but also in each and all of the 49 subconscious departments, then comes the novel, the essence, the consciousness becomes unbottled and the awakening of the soul, ecstasy, and Samadhi come. The daily practice of meditation radically transforms us. People who do not work on the annihilation of the ‘I’ live like butterflies going from school to school and do not find their permanent center of gravity, they die as failures without having attained the inner Self- Realization of the Being. The awakening of consciousness is only possible through liberation and emancipation from mental dualism, from the battle of the antitheses, from intellectual waves. Any subconscious, infraconscious or unconscious struggle becomes an impediment to the liberation of the essence. Every antithetical battle, no matter how insignificant or unconscious it might be, indicates unknown obscure points in the atomic infernos of man. In order to achieve the absolute stillness and silence of the mind, it is indispensable to observe and to know those infrahuman aspects of oneself. It is only in the absence of the ‘I’ that it is possible to experience and live the Integral Revolution and the Revolution of the Dialectic. Blue Time or Rest Therapeutics has basic rules without which it would be impossible to emancipate ourselves from the mortifying shackles of the mind. These rules are:

1. — RELAXATION: It is indispensable to learn to relax the body for meditation; no muscle should remain in tension. It is urgent to provoke and graduate sleepiness at will. It is evident that the wise combination of sleepiness and meditation results in that which is called Illumination.

2. — RETROSPECTION: What are we looking for in retrospection? Due to the mechanical life that he lives in, the intellectual animal forgets himself and falls into fascination; he goes around with an asleep consciousness without remembering what he did at the moment of rising, without knowing the first thoughts of the day, his actions and the places he has been to. Retrospection has as objective the acquisition of awareness of one’s behavior or actions of the past. On carrying out the retrospection, we will not put any objections to the mind; we will recall memories of past actions, from the moment of beginning the retrospection to the moment of our lives that we desire. We should study each memory without becoming identified with it.

3. — SERENE REFLECTION: First we need to become fully aware of the mood that we are in, before any thought surges. Serenely observe our mind, pay full attention to any mental form which appears on the screen of the intellect. It is necessary to become sentries of our own mind during any agitated activity and to stop for an instant to observe it.

4. — PSYCHOANALYSIS: Investigate, inquire, find out the origin of each thought, memory, affection, emotion, sentiment, resentment, etc. as they surge in the mind. During psychoanalysis, one should examine, evaluate and inquire about the origin, cause, reason or fundamental motive of each thought, memory, image and association, as they surge from the bottom of the subconscious.

5. — MANTRALIZATION OR KOAN: The objectives of this phase are: a.) To mix the magical forces of mantrams or koans in our inner universe. b.) To awaken the consciousness. c.) To accumulate Christie atoms of high voltage within. In this psychological work, the intellect should take upon itself a receptive, integral, unitotal, full, tranquil and profound state. One achieves the unitotal receptive state with the koans or phrases that decontrol the mind.

6. — SUPERLATIVE ANALYSIS: Consists of an introspective knowledge of oneself. During deep meditation, introversion is indispensable. In that state, one will work in the process of the comprehension of the ‘I’ or defect that one wants to disintegrate. The Gnostic student will concentrate himself on the psychological aggregate and will maintain it on the screen of the mind. Above all, it is indispensable to be sincere with oneself. Superlative analysis consists of two phases which are: a.) Self-explora1ion. To investigate, in the depth of our consciousness and in the 49 levels of the subconscious when it was that the defect first manifested itself in our lives, when it last manifested itself and in what moments it is that it has more strength to manifest itself. b.) Self-discovery: To investigate what the foods of the ‘I’ are. To fraction and divide the defect in various parts and to study each part to get to know the kind of ‘I’ it originates from and the kind of ‘I’ that originate from it.

7. — SELF-JUDGMENT: To seat the defect being studied on the defendant’s bench. To bring to judgment the damages it causes the consciousness and the benefits that the annihilation of the defect being judged, would bring into our life.

8. — PRAYER: One will ask the Divine Mother Kundalini, our inner and individual Mother, with much fervor. One will talk to her with frankness and introverting all the defects and faults we have so that She, who is the only one capable of disintegrating the I’s will disintegrate them from their very root. It is pleasant and interesting to attend the meditation Halls - Gnostic Sanctuaries, every time one is able to do so. It is essential to always practice meditation with closed eyes so as to avoid external sensory perceptions.

-The Revolution of The Dialectic Samael Aun Weor

Meditation Weekly Practice (Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Meditation)

Make a place for yourself to meditate. It should be clean, quiet, free of distractions, well-ventilated (but not drafty), and provide you with a means to sit in complete and total relaxation, with a straight back.

Sit in a very relaxed posture. Take a few moments to make sure you are relaxed in every way. Take note of your psychological mood.

Determine that you will not reflect on any problems in your life, or unresolved situations, or plans, or memories. Take this time as a break from everything.

For the next few minutes, vocalize the vowel “O” and imagine a warm light glowing in your heart. Relax deeper and deeper. Allow the sound to penetrate throughout your entire being, and imagine the light growing and illuminating everything within. Relax deeper and deeper. Let go of everything but that light and warmth. Focus completely on imagining the light in your heart and the sound “O” filling everything.

Rest silently.  Observe yourself with a sense of detachment or distance. Watch every impression that enters into you or that emerges from within.  Watch carefully, but without tension.  Rest, and watch.

Afterward, when you get up from this practice, look around you as if you have never been in this place before. See everything as if it were new.

Do this practice everyday without fail. Continue with this practice for at least one week before moving on to the next practice.

-Gnostic Teachings

Preliminary Concentration Experiment 1: The Candle Practice 1   (Meditation)

Find a place where you can sit in complete comfort. Place a candle so you can see the flame. Keep your eyes open and have a very relaxed posture.

Steadily and progressively become aware of the muscles of the body. Start at the top of your head and move downward, relaxing all the muscles. Imagine the tension evaporating, rising up like smoke or steam. Be thorough. You will find tension in surprising places.

After relaxing all the muscles of the body, place your attention on the candle flame. Then you simply keep your attention on the candle flame. Do not allow your mind to pull your attention into thoughts or dreams or memories or plans. Your goal is to maintain complete concentration on the candle flame.

Maintain this control over attention for ten to fifteen minutes. Every time you lose your attention into a distraction, simply return to concentrating on the candle. Do not judge yourself or congratulate yourself. Simply observe.

Time yourself by setting an alarm. Do not watch the clock or trust your sense of time. These are distractions of attention. You need to develop the capacity to be 100% focused on one thing. Even a little 5% awareness of time is not acceptable.

In the beginning, do not meditate for too long. You will burn yourself out. Short sessions are better, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. If you want more than that, do 10 minutes, take a break, then do another ten minutes. You are more likely to develop deeper concentration if you work in small sessions. Sitting longer means there is a higher risk of losing concentration or becoming distracted. Only gradually should you increase your Meditation time. Of course, in later stages you should have developed enough conscious awareness that the length of the session is irrelevant, because you never lose your attention into anything. At this stage, one meditates for as long as it takes to accomplish whatever goals we have for that session. Monks in the Tibetan tradition begin learning to meditate by performing short sessions of ten to fifteen minutes. They will do this twenty or thirty times a day, and only gradually will they increase the length of the session.

Do this practice everyday. It is best to do it at a time when you are naturally at rest: in the early morning or in the evening. Some people become drowsy in the mid afternoon (4 or 5 o'clock); take advantage of the body's natural pauses. What is important is to develop consistency. If you skip days, you are crippling your own ability to progress. BE CONSISTENT.

Preliminary Concentration Experiment 1: The Candle Variation 2   (Meditation)

Follow the instructions for the first practice. Now as you observe the flame, pay attention to the fluctuations and changes of the flame. Notice how subtle changes are; changes in color, transparency, vibration, motion, rhythm, etc. The flame never stays the same; it is constantly changing. This is not an exercise in thought: it is an exercise in observational powers. Pay attention to the changes: do not think about them, or compare them, or wonder about them: just watch them happen as they happen. Do not lose a moment of its activity!

Preliminary Concentration Experiment 1: The Candle Variation 3   (Meditation)

Now, as an experiment, observe the candle flame, but pay attention to your hands. Observe how you can be looking at one thing, but paying attention to another. Attention is not dependent on sight. Neither is it dependent on any other physical sense. This is a very important phenomena to understand.

Notice that you can be looking at the candle and have your attention on your body or on a sound or on a daydream. Can you see how you can look at one thing and yet pay attention to another?

For example, you can watch the candle with your eyes, but you can be paying attention to a sensation on your body. This is called Division of Attention, and it is an important skill, but at this stage of practice it is an obstacle. In the beginning, you cannot have that separation if you want to develop strong concentration. You cannot be divided in that way. One hundred percent of your attention has to be focused on the object of attention. So when you are working to develop concentration, DO NOT divide your attention. Focus all of your attention on your object.

The reality is, though, that we all find our minds to be a see of chaos; how can we concentrate with such noise in our heads?

This is the beginning obstacle. Here is your candle, here is your attention, you are looking at it, you are watching it, but what happens inevitably? Thoughts, emotions, sensations, all kinds of information in the three brains is there to distract us; memories, worries, etc. Past and future. There is a pendulum. Bad and good, past and future etc. This is how the mind functions: the pendulum, duality, back and forth.

Every distraction, every sensation, every thought, every feeling, has the potential to absorb some percentage of your attention. Your job is to learn how to focus 100% of your attention on the candle flame. The fastest way to do that is actually very simple: notice what in you is not paying attention to the candle flame.

You sit to meditate, you observe the candle, and you feel pain in your knee, you have this thought about money, you have a latent anxiety. These are all happening simultaneously. That means, let's say 10% of your attention is on your knee, 50% is thinking about money, 20% is anxious, and 10% is counting time (waiting for the Meditation to be over) and that leaves only 10% left there all alone trying to focus on the candle flame. What are you to do?

Mindfulness  (Meditation)

If you observe the candle and you realize thoughts of money keep coming, then you simply look at those thoughts for a moment and then you withdraw attention from them. You pay attention to them momentarily, then you stop paying attention to them. You must recognize the distraction first. If you ignore it, it will take longer. If you look at it for a moment then let it go, you will be able to develop concentration much faster. With each distraction that we notice and let go, we increase the strength of our attention on our primary object. That means you will be more and more focused on the object of Meditation.

This is the basis of mindfulness: to remain consciously aware of what we are doing. Notice what is trying to keep your attention, then marshal your willpower to focus on the object of Meditation. So gradually, by noticing what is distracting you, you focus more and more attention on the object. Gradually your concentration will become more robust. With continued practice, you will be able to focus your attention easily and the mind will naturally calm down. Take your Consciousness away from the distracting elements and they will naturally subside. It is natural, you do not have to force anything. It happens on its own.

You measure the success of this level of practice by how long you can remain focused on the object of Meditation. Actually in the beginning, you measure by whether or not you can remember you are there to meditate! That is the first gate. Many people sit to meditate and in a few seconds forget, then the whole 10 or 15 minutes goes by and they realize, "Wait a minute, I am supposed to be meditating!" That has to be changed, because if you forget that you are doing it, you are not doing it.

What if you notice a pain? In this stage of practice you can move if you have pain. Sitting in pain is pointless. The point is to develop relaxation and concentration. Develop a good posture but do not keep moving the whole time, because that will become a serious obstacle. If you have real willpower, if you really want to push, do not move at all. At certain stage of the practice you have to develop that skill. At some point, to move further, you must stop moving completely. We will talk about that later. So at this stage, make an adjustment if you have pain. The pain is just a distraction; move a little bit, let it go and keep concentrating. Eventually, pain will not be an obstacle.

Weekly Practice (Meditation)

Spend ten to fifteen minutes relaxing and vocalizing the sound "O." While vocalizing, visualize a strong, warm light in your heart.

Spend ten to fifteen minutes concentrating your attention on the flame of the candle. Do not allow your mind to wander at all. You can measure your ability to concentrate by length of time you maintain continuity of attention. If the mind becomes distracted, return to concentrating.

Throughout, one should continue relaxing deeper and deeper.

Do this practice everyday without exception. It is necessary to develop strong discipline in order to advance in the Gnostic Work.

Weekly Practice (Meditation)

Continue the previous practice of relaxing, vocalizing the vowel O and then concentrating on the candle flame. After about ten minutes of observing the candle with your eyes open, close your eyes and visualize the candle flame. If you lose your attention into thinking, simply return to the visualization. Apply the techniques from this lecture. Do not become tense. If you find that you are unable to maintain your mindfulness when you close your eyes, then simply continue to concentrate on the candle with your eyes open. Try again another day to close your eyes and visualize. Little by little we develop these skills. Regardless, do this practice every day!

-Gnostic Teachings

Relax the Three Brains (Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Meditation)

To relax the body, use your attention. Begin at the top of your head, and slowly and methodically become aware of every muscle and joint and tendon; move your attention over your body as if you are looking for something very small and subtle, and the only way you can find it is by relaxing. Each area that you examine needs to relax. You may find tension everywhere, even in places you would never expect to find it. Let it go.

It can be helpful to visualize the tension evaporating off of you like a black smoke.

Relax all of your muscles so that they become soft like a baby.

Next, relax your emotional center. Become aware of your mood. Notice any anxiety, fear, excitement, discouragement, resentment, anger, loneliness, irritation, self-loathing, self-love, etc. Become aware of them, and let them dissolve just as you let the tension go in the muscles.

Finally, become aware of the tension in your intellect. The chaotic flow of thoughts is actually a result of tension. Become aware of the variety of thoughts that are arising, and separate yourself from them. You are the observer, not the thoughts. The meditator must establish a permanent separation between the observer (the Consciousness, the attention) and the observed (any phenomena: thoughts, feelings, sensations.)

In summary, true relaxation is in all three brains. We must release the tension in all three brains, and separate from all the sensations that arise in them. Only then can we as a Consciousness, as an essence, enter into real Meditation.

Once we are properly relaxed, we can begin to concentrate on our object. But inevitably, we must overcome the many obstacles that arise in us.

-Gnostic Teachings

Weekly Practice (Meditation)

Prepare yourself to meditate by relaxing your three brains in the manner previously described.

Vocalize the vowel O for five to ten minutes, while visualizing a warm flame in your heart. Make the images real; enjoy the visualization, but stay focused on your heart and the sound.

Now vocalize the vowel I ("e" as in tree) while imagining a gathering of energy in your forehead, between your eyebrows. Do this for five to ten minutes.

Now imagine an apple. Fix your concentration upon your image and stay focused. Do not wander. Imagine all of the details of the apple: the color, the texture, the grain, the shape, turn it around, move it if you want, but do not allow yourself to wander to anything else. Stay focused on this visualization for about ten minutes. Notice that your mind will want to interfere, to change the apple, to make it better, or the mind will bring other elements to distract you.

Be consistent. Do this practice everyday for at least one week.

Weekly Practice (Meditation)

For this practice, you will need a plant or tree that you can easily observe from your place of Meditation.

Prepare yourself to meditate by relaxing your three brains in the manner previously described.

Vocalize the vowel O for five to ten minutes, while visualizing a warm flame in your heart. Make the images real; enjoy the visualization, but stay focused on your heart and the sound.

Now vocalize the vowel I ("e" as in tree) while imagining a gathering of energy in your forehead, between your eyebrows. Do this for five to ten minutes.

Now pray in whatever way you are comfortable. Pray for help, for assistance, for guidance, for strength.

Begin by observing the plant with complete attention. Concentrate yourself 100% upon the many details of the plant. Study it so that you can recall everything about it in your imagination. When you feel that you have arrived at a strong degree of concentration and relaxation, and have well-examined the plant, close your eyes. Now visualize the plant in your imagination. Do not allow the mind to rearrange the image, or interfere in any way. This requires subtlety of attention: the mind will try many ways to distract or divert your conscious efforts. Maintain the visualization of the plant for ten to fifteen minutes.

It can happen that with a proper balance of concentration and relaxation that you will begin to receive images of a new type: images that are not produced by the mind. This is what we need to learn: how to distinguish between images that are produced by the mind, and images that are received by the Consciousness.

Be consistent. Do this practice everyday for at least one week.

-Gnostic Teachings

Weekly Practice (Meditation)

1. Relax the Three Brains.
2. Vocalize the vowels I and O.
3. Retrospect the day with conscious visualization. Review the events of your day as if you are watching a movie. When any distraction arises, concentrate on it. Follow the chain of distractions with conscious attention.

Abandoning conceptual thought: Intellectualizing the teachings will distract us and impede our practice.  Fantasy must cease in order for intuition to function.  Thus, daydreaming, conceptualizing, and any form of mechanical imagination must be stopped.

The prerequisites are critical for effective development of our practice.  Each one requires continual effort to observe ourselves.  Thus in synthesis, we can see that self-observation is the very foundation of developing concentration:

1. Self-observation is how we discover the activities, thoughts and feelings that impede our concentration practice.
2. Self-observation is an activity of directed attention, thus it is the very same activity that we are trying to develop in our concentration practice; the more we self-observe, the stronger our concentration becomes.

Practice to Develop the Imagination /Clairvoyance (Meditation)

First: The syllables Ma Ma, Pa Pa, Ba Ba are the first syllables which we articulate in childhood. You can start the Initiation with these syllables. You must sing these syllables while assuming an innocent and infantile attitude. You can learn the intonation of these sacred syllables when listening to The Magic Flute of Mozart. Mozart placed these syllables in his marvellous opera. The disciple must fall asleep assuming an infantile attitude while remembering the first years of his childhood and then mentally singing the sacred syllables. The word Pa Pa should be vocalized intoning the first syllable Pa in a high voice, then the second syllable Pa will be uttered in a lower voice. These two syllables should be pronounced many times. You must do the same thing with the syllable Ma. Fall asleep while meditating on your childhood. Review with your imagination your whole childhood and mentally articulate the sacred syllables.

-Manual of Practical Magic, Samael Aun Weor

Liberate Ourselves from the Process of Thinking (Psychology and Self-Knowledge)

Technique to liberate ourselves from the process of thinking, through spontaneity

I believe that one should always liberate oneself from the process of thinking. I am in favor of the philosophy of momentariness; I sincerely believe in spontaneity.

If someone asks us a question, we should overcome the thinking process and answer spontaneously, instantly, with that which comes from the sincere heart; thus, little by little, we will liberate ourselves from the entire process of thinking.

The Fifth Gospel, Conference: Ephemeral Mechanisms of Mind, Samael Aun Weor

Mantra S-M-HON to Cure the Sicknesses of the Mental Body (Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Meditation)

The mental body is a material organism which has its anatomy and its occult ultra-physiology. The mantra in order to cure the sicknesses of the mental body is: S M HON.

The ‘S’ is pronounced as a piercing hissing sound, similar to the sound which the brakes of compressed air produce, like this: Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss…

The ‘M’ is pronounced as when one imitates the bellow of the oxen: Mmmmmmmmmm

The “H’ is like a deep sigh. The syllable ‘ON’ is pronounced by elongating the sound of the ‘O’ and the ‘N’, like this: OoooooooooooooooNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

This mantra must be vocalized daily for one hour. The disciple must invoke daily the Archangel Raphael and Hermes Trismegistus, supplicating them to heal his mental body. When the sicknesses of the mental body crystallize in the physical brain, then madness is the outcome.

Samael Aun Weor

Treatise of Occult Medicine and Practical Magic, Chapter “Sicknesses of The Mental Body”

Controlling the Emotional Center through Superior Emotions (Psychology and Self Knowledge) 

It is also possible to CONTROL INFERIOR EMOTIONS THROUGH SUPERIOR EMOTIONS. There are many types of Inferior Emotions (you know it very well). A family member dies: We scream, we cry, we despair. Why? Because we do not want to cooperate with the inevitable, and this is the worst of the worst (in life must LEARN TO COOPERATE WITH THE INEVITABLE). We do not conform because of the death of a loved one, and we scream filled with anxiety and we do not accept it, and we see the body there inside the coffin, and nevertheless we do not think that the loved one is dead, and we do not believe it, it is not possible for us that this person has died; and we give in to anguish and desolation. This is terrible!

How could we control this state? In two ways: first, we could appeal to the “two elephants” (the Motor Center and the Intellectual Center), by relaxing our body and quieting and silencing our mind (this would be one method).

Another one: We could appeal to a different emotion, a Superior Emotion. Maybe it would do us much good in these moments to listen to a Symphony of Beethoven, or the “Magic Flute” by Mozart, or immerse ourselves filled with emotion in profound meditation, reflecting on the Mysteries of Life and Death. Then, using a Superior Emotion we control the Inferior Emotion and we cancel the pain the death of a loved one gives us; this is obvious.

The Emotional Center is very interesting, but we have to take ownership of the Inferior Emotions, control them, govern them, and this is possible by means of our didactic.

-The Fifth Gospel, Conference: The Wonders and Mysteries of Fire, Samael Aun Weor

Exercise To Control Anger (Health- Psychology and Self-Knowledge-Mediation-Prayer)

Do you feel irritated or full of anger? Are you nervous? Reflect a little; remember that anger can provoke gastric ulcers. Control anger through breathing. Inhale the vital air very slowly (do not inhale through your mouth; inhale through your nose, keeping your mouth properly closed) mentally counting 1-2-3- 4-5-6. Hold your breath, mentally counting 1-2-3-4-5-6. Now, exhale very slowly through your mouth, mentally counting 1- 2-3-4-5-6. Repeat the exercise until your anger subsides.

-Introduction to Gnosis, Samael Aun Weor

Exercise to Relax (Meditation)

Without mental force it is impossible to achieve the crystallization of a project (commercial, etc.). It is necessary for our students to learn how to handle mental force; but first it is necessary for the student to learn how to relax his physical body. It is indispensable to know how to relax the body to achieve the perfect concentration of thought.

We can relax the body seated in a comfortable chair or lying down in the corpse posture (in decubito dorsal, that is to say on our back, mouth up, with our heels touching each other and our arms at our sides).The second of the two positions is better. Imagine that your feet are subtle, that a group of dwarves escape from them.  Imagine that your calves are full of small playful dwarves that leave one by one and that, as they leave, the muscles become flexible and elastic. Continue with your knees, performing the same exercise. Continue with the thighs, sexual organs, abdomen, heart, throat, face and head muscles, successively, imagining that those small dwarves flee from each of those parts of the body leaving the muscles completely relaxed.

-Introduction to Gnosis, Samael Aun Weor

Mental Force Exercise (Meditation)

Hang a silk thread from the ceiling of your room with a needle at the end of the thread. Concentrate on that needle and try to move it with the power of thought. Mental waves, when developed, can move this needle. Work ten minutes daily on this exercise. In the beginning, the needle at the end of the silk thread will not move but, with time, you will see that the needle oscillates and moves vigorously. This exercise is to develop mental power. Remember that mental waves travel through space and pass from one brain to the next.

-Introduction to Gnosis, Samael Aun Weor

Retrospective Exercise of our Past Lives (Meditation- Psychology and Self Knowledge-Astral)

The key to remembering our past lives is in the retrospective exercise.

The disciple submerged in profound meditation should carry out a retrospective recapitulation of all the events that have occurred in his lives, from the present to the past.

The disciple should try to remember all transpired events in a reverse order, beginning with the last ones until going back to the first events of his infancy.

We can remember all memories of our infancy by practicing the retrospective exercise during those instants of dozing off.

In those instants we can exert ourselves to recall the last experiences of our past reincarnation. So, in a retrospective order, we can review our entire past and past reincarnations.

The important thing is to practice this retrospective exercise during instants of dozing.

Like this, in visions in our sleep, we shall remember all our past lives.

-Manual of Practical Magic, Samael Aun Weor