 Nature is cyclical, sustained through distinct, repeating periods of time (days, months, seasons). The rhythms and tempos of our Earth, Moon, Sun, constellations, and worlds, act upon the physical and internal nature of the human being in definitive ways. Such forces have been judiciously studied throughout numerous astrological and astronomical traditions, which all point with exactitude to particular cosmic influences. Regardless of our knowledge, beliefs, or acceptance of the facts, such conditions profoundly act upon our body, energies, and mind, often moving humanity to act in unconscious, mechanical, or revolutionary ways. Just as there are planetary seasons, there are also celestial periods of time. Humanity, while knowledgeable of and dependent upon the conditions of spring, summer, autumn, and fall, is also dependent, but ignorant of greater cosmic phenomena, which determine not only our physical existence, but the trajectory, level, and quality of our spirituality.  (The Constellation of Aquarius) Our solar system travels across the zodiacal belt, receiving the stellar influences of particular constellations. Just as the hand of a clock points with precision to the time of day, likewise our zodiac determines cosmological aeons or periods of time within zodiacal history. Our solar system experiences twelve distinct eras or periods, which respectively take prominence every two thousand years. Presently, our humanity has moved away from the Era of Pisces and is now governed by the constellatory influence of Aquarius.   Aquarian SexualityOn February 4–5, 1962, humanity witnessed a new moon, a full solar eclipse, and the remarkable alignment of the seven primary planets of our solar system with the Earth: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. All seven planets were within three degrees of each other, indicating with prophetic exactitude the initiation of a new cosmic era with all of its cataclysms, revolutions, and transformations: the Age of Aquarius. Uranus is the chief planet associated with Aquarius and bears a direct relationship to sexual behavior. The Chaldean Ur-Anas signifies "fire" or the Hebrew אור Aur, "light," and anas, "water." These fires of spirituality are born from the Genesiatic waters, a symbol of sexual energy within all ancient cosmogonies and scriptures. Light, understanding, and practical spirituality are born when aspirants learn to work with the source of their creative genius: the transformation of the base sexual matter into a purified, synthetic energy: a sacrament of Uranus, Ouranos, the Greek word for "heaven." This is the metallurgical science of alchemy: the symbolic transformation of inferior metals (dense matter and egotism) into the purified gold of the spirit (conscious development). This is how spiritual aspirants can truly generate a new life, a revolution of conscious expression. Sexual energy is not only the power of physical life, but spirituality as well. There is sexuality amongst molecules that make chemical compounds; between atoms, neutrons, and electrons; between planets and the sun; within the animal kingdom; and lastly, amongst humans and divine beings. Sexuality is also the basis of authentic religion [from the Latin religare, to "reunite"]. It is literally the union, on a psycho-physical, bio-spiritual, and sexual-chemical level, of two bodies and souls: one who loves more, the other who loves better. In the sexual act, man and woman have the capacity to create, and with this power, become a living representation of divinity. Sexual behavior has the greatest impact for psychological well-being. It is also the source of many intense psychological traumas and diseases, which are deviations from divine principles. Satyrion or nymphomaniacal desires, which only see sexuality as the means for carnal pleasure, impel one to act at the expense of one's conscience or ethical nature, originating the degradation of the soul. However, sexual expression can be divine when it is pure. Yet the term "purity" should not be associated with conservative adherence to religious organizations, institutionalization, fanaticism and dogmas, which are remnants of the antiquated Piscean traditions. Such views are divorced them from the practical import, revolutionary character, and liberating science of love. Purity, in Aquarian language, refers to the transformations of energy and the qualities of the consciousness, which become free of egotistical conditions like anger, pride, fear, resentment, lust, and jealousy. Purity has nothing to do with belief in a tradition or fulfilling moral obligations, but to the quality of one's mind, which becomes radically illuminated when empowered through sexual force. This creative, Aquarian influence is an energy that pushes entire populations to act. But depending upon the level of spirituality of the individual and the masses, such forces are either channeled through the awakened consciousness, or through the desires of the animal mind. Humanity is ignorant of how to utilize this Aquarian energy in a practical and spiritual way, as demonstrated by the schisms, revolutions and upheavals in modern culture, politics, and sexual relations from the 1960's onward.  Sexual Revolutions, Inebriation, and Spiritual EcstasyAquarius is a revolutionary sign. It is the cosmic force of inspired rebellion against decrepit institutions, repressive idealism, and profound ignorance that produces suffering. As evidence for this, humanity has witnessed, in the 1960's, a tremendous upheaval in the world of politics, religion, institutions, education, and most of all: sexuality. This is a direct result of the Aquarian influence. The Hippie Movement of the 1960's, with its identification with Epicurean and nihilistic ideals, led to the disassociation, disenfranchisement, and ethical deterioration of its adherents. This is represented by the Nordic Rune Yr, a symbol of the inverted human being with arms and head to the earth and feet in the air. While commonly interpreted as a symbol for peace, the Rune Yr demonstrates a polarization, inversion, or downward flux of consciousness and energy, a symbol of the involution of spirituality into density, matter, and inferior states of perception. Rather than symbolize "peace" and "prosperity," it actually indicates mental, emotional, and spiritual degeneration. The fallen man, with his head to the ground, demonstrates modern humanity's fascination with money, materialism, and avarice, which is the source of violence, suffering, and war.  The Rune Man represents the conscious ascent, the redirection and sublimation of creative sexual impulses from one's genitalia to the brain. This is the synthesis of Aquarian wisdom and the significance of medieval alchemy: the transformation of the lead of desire and personality into the gold of spirituality. The Aquarian Era is constituted by two principle influences: the awakening of revolutionary spiritual longings within the sexual, alchemical sphere, and their antithesis: the exacerbation of desire, egoism, sensuality, and suffering born from indulgence in pleasure. Such a polarity was discussed by Samael Aun Weor in The Three Mountains as the Dionysian Pole: Positive Dionysian Pole: sexual enjoyment by means of sublimation; voluntary transmutation of the entity of semen; awakened consciousness; objective knowledge; superlative intuition; transcendental music of the great classical masters, etc. Negative Dionysian Pole: sexual degeneration; infrasexuality of many types; homosexuality, lesbianism; demonic pleasures within the infernal worlds by means of drugs, mushrooms, alcohol, etc., infernal music such as the “music” of these modern days, etc. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Three Mountains  The result of sexual expression is dual: specific behaviors can produce the most genuine fulfillment, or the most profound pain. This duality is referenced in the Greek myth of Bacchus (the Roman Dionysus). Dionysus is the god of wine (the source of the Christian Eucharist) or mysteries of transubstantiation: the transmutation of the fermented grape into the flesh and blood of divinity. He professed liberation through ecstasy and rituals of love, which bear a dual significance. In the ancient mystery schools, sexuality was symbolized by the transformation of water (sexual matter) into wine (spiritual substance) through a matrimony, allegorized in the parables of Jesus at the wedding of Cana (John 2:1-11) and before the woman at the well (John 4:13-16). This produced the intoxication and liberation of the soul from suffering. Its opposite is represented by bacchanalia: indulgence in inferior pleasures, drugs, psychedelia [psyche: soul, and delia: drugs, delusions or perceptions within the internal hell realms of nature], bestial sexuality and orgies; the drunkenness, stupor, and deterioration of our intelligence through intoxicating substances, animal desire, violence, sadism, etc. Inferior sexuality is degenerated, since it does not result in psycho-genesis: the creation of the soul mentioned by Jesus. Through his instruction to Nicodemus about the second birth, Christ prophesied the promulgation of the alchemical teachings in the future Aquarian age: "Except a man be born of water (the sexual energy, Aquas) and of the Spirit (sexual fire, Aries, synthesized as the wisdom of Aquarius), he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (Ouranos, Uranus, the heavens). That which is born of the flesh is flesh (through common sexuality); and that which is born of the Spirit (through the transformed sexual act) is spirit." (John 3:5-6). People ignore their spiritual potential because the majority are addicted to inferior forms of sexuality: the fulfillment of lower desires through orgasm. Rather than constituting a sexual revolution, humanity, under the influence of Aquarian, Dionysian vibrations, is intensifying latent and repressed sexual desires. This is going with the flow of animal nature, which is progressively entering greater states of ignorance and suffering. Sexual revolution is the doctrine of the Aquarian Era. It is a rebellion against lust, animality, and depravity, since Aquarian, sexual spirituality vivifies the noblest aspirations in humanity while fulfilling the ethical conduct of all spiritual traditions: altruism, perseverance, philanthropy, service, compassion, conscious love, and moral purity. Pisces, which was eclipsed by the Aquarian influence, was noted for its conservatism of the esoteric knowledge and the repression of sexual expression from the public sphere. Such Victorian ideals are opposed by the Aquarian influence, whose chief astrological character is divine spirituality, catalyzed, expressed and taught through harnessing the sexual impulse. As Rumi aptly stated: "If in [spiritual] thirst you drink water from a cup [approach sexuality with spiritual longings], you see God in it. Those who are not in love with God will see only their own faces [lustful desires] in it." ―Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi It was only in 1950, with the publication of The Perfect Matrimony, that the teachings for how to consciously channel sexual volatility were first taught. Such knowledge, within the Piscean Era, remained veiled, but now, due to Aquarian generosity, is being disseminated.  The Avatar of Aquarius and the Sexual MysteriesEach cosmic era has always determined the spiritual and religious climate of humanity through the qualities particular to each zodiac. Such powers demarcate the beginning and end of prophetic intervention: the manifestation of divine aid in the form of avatars, messengers, or heavenly beings, who come to renew and revitalize spirituality upon the earth after the divine teachings (dharma) degenerate. "Though I [Krishna, the Cosmic Christ] am unborn and of imperishable nature, and though I am the Lord of all beings, yet, ruling over My own Nature, I am born by My own Maya [I enter materiality and manifestation]. "Whenever there is a decline of righteousness, O Arjuna, and rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself! "For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age." ―Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 4:6-8 "Avataras [Avatar: (Sanskrit) avatāra अवतार literally, “descent”] appear for special reasons in special circumstances. Whenever there is much unrighteousness, whenever confusion and disorder set in on account of unrighteousness and baffle the well-ordered progress of people, whenever the balance of human society is upset by selfish, ruthless and cruel beings, whenever irreligion and Adharma prevail, whenever the foundations of social organisations are undermined, Avataras appear to establish Dharma and to restore peace. Avatara is a descent of God for the ascent of man. A ray from the Hiranyagarbha descends on earth with mighty powers to keep up the harmony of the universe. The work done by the Avataras and their teachings produce a benign spiritual influence on human beings and help them in their upward divine unfoldment and Self-realisation. The Avatara comes to reveal the divine nature in man and makes him rise above the petty materialistic life of passion and egoism." ―Swami Sivananda, Lord Krishna, His Lilas and Teachings Aquarius is symbolized by a female water carrier, and is the age when spiritual truth, knowledge, and esoteric instruction is freely given. Direct knowledge of divinity has always been represented in ancient traditions by water: the well of wisdom that nourishes and refreshes the soul in its thirst for divinity. The symbol of Aquarius represents the proliferation, depth, magnitude, and vastness of the secret teachings, which finds its culmination and synthesis within the writings of Samael Aun Weor.   As the avatar of the Aquarian Age and the founder of the modern Gnostic movement, he is known for his comprehensive approach to practical spirituality: the explanation of meditative and spiritual exercises to awaken consciousness. His particular gift to humanity is the wisdom or science of the waters, the methods for storing, sublimating, and elevating the sexual energies as a tool for spiritual transformation. The creative sexual energies have always been symbolized by water and woman, the primordial Eve who is not only the departure, but the entry back into paradise: a blissful, conscious state before humanity had desecrated the sexual mysteries. Every Biblical cosmogony speaks, in symbolism, of the spiritual powers of water, a direct reference to sexual conduct. Through harmonizing one's sexuality with divine laws, the aspirant can return back to paradise, since the power of all life, including spirituality, is based on the creative impulse or libido. Samael Aun Weor's writings, marked by the unique character of the Aquarian influence, is a revolution against stagnant ideologies, dogmas, and incipient spiritual beliefs. His teachings are a war against all that is ineffective and weak, since the majority of spiritual aspirants, out of fear, superstition, inheritance, or religious indoctrination, cling to systems that do not affect genuine change, ignoring that without consciously harnessing the sexual energy, one cannot create spiritually. These facts are evident to any person who seriously analyzes and meditates upon the state of humanity, whose terrifyingly profound and pervasive suffering, predicated upon the misuse of sexuality, is unprecedented in our history. If humanity, which is so attached to its religions, beliefs, and doctrines, knew and practiced the science for overcoming suffering, then it would already be transformed. While many spiritual traditions and modern spiritual schools talk about divine principles, few actually offer effective methods to obtain direct experience of it. The sad reality is that most aspirants are ignorant of effective methods, or if in possession of them, lack consistent application, indulging in behaviors that produce sorrow. Since many do not want to renounce egotism, addiction, and theories, change becomes impossible and the doors of initiation remain closed. Samael Aun Weor came to teach the knowledge of how to work with the Aquarian waters, which we carry within our body in the form of our sexual energy, the sexual fluid. Through its conservation and transmutation, we can learn to become initiates: true spiritual revolutionaries who enter into direct experience of the divine, based on the most powerful, creative force of the universe for the empowerment of our spirituality.  Aquarian Philosophy and AlchemyAlchemy is the science of Dionysian, Aquarian intoxication and spiritual elevation that Friedrich Nietzsche knew and articulated in his philosophy: "Watch for every hour, my brothers, in which your spirit wants to speak in parables (the language of Kabbalah through the science of dreams): there lies the origin of your virtue (etymologically relating to the root word virya, virility, sexual potency). There your body is elevated and resurrected; with its rapture it delights the spirit so that it turns creator and esteemer and lover and benefactor of all things... "With knowledge (gnosis), the body purifies itself; making (sexual) experiments with knowledge, it elevates itself; in the lover of (Dionysian, alchemical) knowledge all (sexual) instincts become holy; in the elevated, the soul becomes joyful." ―Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: 'On the Gift-Giving Virtue' "All solar (conscious) love is innocence and creative longing. Look there: how she approaches impatiently over the sea. Do you not feel the (Dionysian) thirst and the hot breath of her love? She would suck at the sea and drink its depth into her heights (through raising the sexual energies up the spine); and the sea's desire rises toward her with a thousand breasts. It wants to be kissed and sucked by the thirst of the sun (the Solar Logos: the Superman or Rebel Christ); it wants to become air and height and a footpath of light, and itself light (אור Aur, through the mysteries or Ouranos, Ur-Anas, the fire and waters of spiritual sublimity). "Verily like the sun (divinity) I love life and all deep seas (the sexual force of creation). And this is what perceptive knowledge (alchemy, gnosis) means to me: all that is deep shall rise up to my heights." ―Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: 'On Immaculate Perception' Such a stellar influence is referenced within the writings of M. in The Dayspring of Youth: "The Dayspring of Youth has several strands that run into us as a stream runs into the ocean, and each strand is the manifestation of some attribute of the Innermost. Though at first we cannot register these ever-increasing waves of energy we can tune our own wave-lengths by aspiration (transmutation, to in-spire the vital breath and raise it, as-pire, to the mind and heart). We then bend these waves into our secondary system (our sexual glands and energies) by attracting their (spiritual) atoms into us and gaining their intelligence." ―M. The Dayspring of Youth The primary power of the Aquarian influence, the Dayspring of Youth, is its capacity to grant spiritual intelligence, wisdom, and understanding. Master M. (Morya) indicates how the sexual energy, influenced by the Dionysian influence: the Dayspring of Youth, determines every aspect of our existence, including our spirituality: "When we determine to do a thing it has already been accomplished within our secondary system (sexual glands, nervous channels, and energies, since the transformation of the libido grants one the power to create and perform either profound spiritual action or negative behaviors), and this gives us a determination to work and accomplish this on the objective plane. But we generally fail if we do not consciously or unconsciously draw upon the determinative (sexual, Dionysian) energy in Nature (through the astrological sign of Aquarius). If we use this principle we shall complete our determined work in this life or in our next incarnation (since the Aquarian influence accelerates all spiritual endeavors through its rebellious character). For we all incarnate to gain certain experiences, and we can not be happy if we fail in this." ―M., The Dayspring of Youth  ConclusionThe Aquarian New Year commemorates the advent of the initiatic, alchemical knowledge to humanity. Since all of us were born from the sexual seed, our potential to create the spiritual human being is also predicated on yoking both internal and universal forces. The synthesis of a person is their seminal matter, which, as the prima matter of any cosmic body, is the source and originator of all things, including animals, demons, human beings, and gods.
"In the crude root of our existence, we only find the coitus of a man and a woman... "We were born nude; somebody cut our umbilical cord; we cried, and then we searched for the maternal breast... "Clothing? Schools? Theories? Erudition? Money, etc.? All of these came later on, as an addition. "Beliefs of all types exist everywhere. However, the unique force that can transform us in an integral and unitotal way is the force that placed us on the carpet of existence. I am referring to the creative energy of the first instant, to the sexual potency. "The delightful love, the erotic enjoyment, is by logical sequence the greatest joy... "To know how to wisely copulate is indispensable when a definitive psychological change is sincerely longed for. "The hippies forebode all of this when they revolted against Mammon, but they erred in their way. They did not know how to synchronize themselves with the positive pole of Dionysus. "We, the Gnostics, are different; we know how to enjoy. To transmute and sublimate the libido is enjoyable for us. This is not a crime. "The hippie movement and subsequent cultures resolutely march on the devolving, descending path of infrasexuality. "The universal, international, Christian, Gnostic movements victoriously progress on the ascendant, revolutionary path of suprasexuality." ―Samael Aun Weor, The Three Mountains: "The Dionysian Wave" Celebrate the Aquarian New Year through profound meditation, deep reflection on the teachings, and if you can, the company of spiritual friends. To learn more about the sexual, Aquarian mysteries, you may study the following resources:
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Gnosis signifies knowledge from experience. Gnosticism, as a field of study, pertains to all the ancient schools of mysteries from both East and West, whose scriptures encompass the practical science of awakening consciousness. Gnosis is not isolated to the first Christians, but permeates all times, cultures, and spaces, for while consciousness is universal, the means of expressing such experiential wisdom of the divine is temporal and idiosyncratic to the language, mentality, and needs of a particular society. Gnosis is what we have verified through experience and experimentation, predicated upon practical methods and personal effort. It is never the product of a belief system, of adopting a religious or mystical attitude, demeanor, or behavior. It is never achieved through attendance, adherence to, or acceptance from a group, by believing in doctrine or creed. It is the flowering and natural unfolding of the soul, which is created and developed when the proper causes and conditions have been met. Just as there are laws that govern the physical universe, so too are there spiritual laws, causes, and methods to originate the soul: the awakening of the consciousness. Therefore, the Greek term γνῶσις gnosis is synonymous with genuine faith. Faith has nothing to do with belief, with accepting or rejecting a concept in the mind or upholding a sentiment in the heart. Faith is what we know from facts, from witnessing and understanding reality. Belief takes no effort to foster or develop, whereas the awakening of consciousness and divine experience requires tremendous discipline and the application of spiritual works. Many religious traditions today fail to recognize this distinction, yet it constitutes an essential dynamic for genuine spirituality as taught within the ancient mystery schools: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." ―James 2:14-17 "Here we think a note on faith should be of interest. Initiates say its meaning has been misunderstood. Faith, as the world uses it, possesses no spiritual nature; though in the secondary system it means power and energy applied to action. All success in Yoga comes from this application; for the true quality of faith is a Solar force that illumines the mind and attracts to it atoms of power and energy. More human wrecks have resulted from the misconception of this quality than man realises." ―M., The Dayspring of Youth Esoteric schools have always represented the highest divinity by the sun, the Platonic or Solar Logos, the Absolute Good or creative Verb that initiates and sustains any cosmos. Therefore, the realization of divine knowledge is a solar quality, distinguished by the luminosity of character, the brilliance of conduct, and the limitless power of any master who has fully developed divinity within themselves. The solar quality of faith can only be actualized through practical spirituality, since it indicates the complete application of one's energies and efforts to the awakening of consciousness.  The opposite of solar faith is lunar belief. The moon represents all that is mechanical, repetitious, and destitute of life. Just as divinity originates all life, the moon is the culmination of the process of death; it is a dead planet. Any lunar satellite operates like a parasite of any planet or sun. Individuals who only cultivate theories are like the moon, empty, cold, and cadaverous, borrowing the light of insight from others in the same manner that a vampire gains its vitality from stealing and sucking blood. They have no real individuality or spiritual understanding born from experience; they have to borrow or merely repeat what others have learned, what the prophets said, what certain teachers have written, or what groups have discussed, but have no real cognizance of the truths contained within religion. Such persons are completely mechanical and conditioned by their own negative habits, obscuring the light of consciousness in the same manner as a solar eclipse. While the sun of knowledge gives life, the beliefs and theories of humanity have thrust it into limbo, a mechanical, psychological slumber wherein the consciousness is hypnotized and incapable of acting on its own. Theories fascinate, debilitate, and intoxicate. High on theories, humanity has precipitated itself towards complete degeneration, with all of its wars, prostitution, and modern-day slavery. Since the reality of suffering is too intense for most people to confront, belief has been used to opiate the masses and to fundamentally ignore its tragic and terrible trajectory. Therefore, the great initiates have always used the moon to symbolize all the complicated, contradictory, and convoluted theories of the masses that perpetuate mistaken views and sorrow. When an individual bases him or herself upon the assumption that one already knows truth, such a person will never strive in the implementation of solar values and the elimination of the causes of suffering. Therefore with just reason did Jesus of Nazareth state, "With patience possess ye your souls" (Luke 21:19), for it is only through patiently working with effective spiritual methods that one can develop one's solar consciousness. When individuals are not willing to experiment, test, and verify spiritual truths, they ensure the repetition of their sorrows, dramas, comedies, and tragedies of life, the perils of fortune sung so painfully in Carl Orff's "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana. No real spiritual knowledge can be realized without efforts and change, for as Christ taught in the Gospel of Thomas, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find."
Practice, therefore, and not theories, produce radical changes and the experience of the real. If you wish to experience divinity, you must enact the proper causes for its fruition. This is why we offer so many spiritual practices in this tradition. While numerous spiritual schools exclusively focus on memorization, recitation, and labyrinthine discussions of esoteric philosophy, the Gnostic Academy of Chicago and other Gnostic institutions integrate profound study with conscious action. It is through precise methods that one can see concrete results and achieve the complete development of the human being. We invite you towards the realization of your intimate potential and the full expression of your innermost divinity, here and now. For further study, please see the following resources on practical spirituality:  Students who approach Gnosticism are often overwhelmed by the vastness and profundity of its knowledge. Presented with a plethora of teachings, techniques, and exercises, beginning practitioners normally experience a great sense of intimidation, disorientation, and longing. While recognizing the need to change and overcome the internal causes of affliction, newcomers usually do not know how or where to begin their process of transforming suffering and acquiring practical, personal knowledge of divinity. The answer to such confusion, bewilderment, and aspiration is to reflect within: “In the beginning, the esotericist 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.” —Samael Aun Weor, Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology All suffering and happiness come from within. To find liberation, we must perceive the obscurations that prevent the light of divinity from reflecting within our inner nature. By studying ourselves, our identity, our sense of self in the most difficult circumstances, we acquire knowledge of that which imprisons the mind, the soul, the consciousness. By comprehending and removing the psychological conditions that afflict us, we in turn live life with greater serenity, understanding, and contentment. By seeing ourselves as we are, exploring the reasons for why we suffer, and by transforming our most hidden reactions to adverse circumstances, we open the doorway to genuine knowledge of the mysteries of life and death. Through learning to give birth to spiritual perception and compassionately serving others, we establish the foundations by which to receive divine favor. To aid in such a process, Gnosticism offers extensive instruction on spiritual psychology, Hebraic kabbalah, medieval alchemy, ceremonial magic, tantrism, prayers, astrology, tarot, kundalini, meditation, astral projection, dream yoga, and more. All of these teachings form one unique whole, the synthesis of the “straight and narrow gate that leads to life” that “few find” (Matthew 7:14). None of these instructions are isolated or unrelated, but constitute an integral method for achieving the full awakening, development, and birth of the consciousness. Therefore, all aspects of the teaching are important. However, the gnostic teachings should be approached in accordance with the disposition and needs of the student. There is no set, perfect curriculum by which to approach gnosis, since a “one-size-fits-all” for developing the soul does not exist. This is why, in this tradition, so many books have been written on diverse topics, to address a wide variety of spiritual subjects, interests, and needs. While gnosis encompasses many forms of esoteric wisdom, it is a unique, indivisible, and inclusive system, devoid of the speculations, theories, and exclusivity of spiritual schools that study one form of knowledge at the expense and rejection of the others. What matters is that the student is interested in a particular subject, seeks to move beyond the limitations of scholasticism, theory, dogmatism, and debate, and practices with the longing and aspiration for change. Gnosis is an introduction to an infinite science, and should be approached with patience, close attention, and application to one's daily life. It is impossible to fully comprehend the entire teaching in a short span of time, but must be integrated within one's routines and life gradually. Study should be accompanied with strong application and practice of the methods. We recommend that you approach these studies with the purpose of learning how to change yourself, how to comprehend the psychological causes of suffering. Meditation is the best means for accomplishing deep, lasting, internal change. Below are recommendations for where to start if you are new to Gnosticism, as well as a list of books and a general sequence of instruction that you can follow on our courses page. These lectures and courses help prepare students to comprehend and apply the practice of meditation in their own lives. This is by no means an exhaustive or mandatory list, since students are always welcome to study whatever subjects resonate most with their level of understanding, interests, and needs. Books
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May you find what you seek!  Gnostic Commentary on a Buddhist Text:On a certain day when the Buddha dwelt at Jetavana, a celestial deva (angel, master) came to him in the shape of a Brahman (priest), whose countenance was bright and whose (inner) garments (solar bodies) were white as snow (due to his perfect chastity).
The deva asked the Buddha, "What is the sharpest sword? What is the deadliest poison? What is the fiercest fire? What is the darkest night?" The Buddha replied, "A word spoken in wrath is the sharpest sword (because it cuts both speaker and hearer); covetousness is the deadliest poison (because poison kills the entire body, not just the mouth that ingests it); hatred is the fiercest fire (the agony of hatred burns without rest); ignorance is the darkest night (lack of gnosis is the deepest suffering)." The deva asked, "What is the greatest gain? What is the greatest loss? What armor is invulnerable? What is the best weapon?" The Buddha replied, "The greatest gain is to give to others (this is the law of the Christ); the greatest loss is to receive (Kabbalah) without gratitude (those who receive wisdom and horde it, or who corrupt it, suffer the greatest loss, because the Christ will never incarnate in them). Patience is an invulnerable armor (patience is the secret key to initiation, and with it, one can never be harmed by any ordeal); wisdom (Chokmah, Christ) is the best weapon." The deva asked, "Who is the most dangerous thief? What is the most precious treasure?" The Buddha replied, "Unwholesome thought is the most dangerous thief (the mind is our worst enemy); virtue (vir- comes from virility: sexual potency) is the most precious treasure." The deva asked, "What is attractive? What is unpleasant? What is the most horrible pain? What is the greatest enjoyment?" The Buddha replied, "Wholesomeness (that which is in accordance with the Law; that is, it is whole in Christ) is attractive; unwholesomeness (that which is contrary to the Law) is unpleasant. A bad conscience is the most tormenting pain (that is, a consciousness trapped in evil deeds); awakening the height of bliss (ecstasy, samadhi, the clear perception of the awakened bodhicitta)." The deva asked, "What causes ruin in the world? What breaks off friendships? What is the most violent fever? Who is the best physician?" The Buddha replied, "Ignorance (lack of gnosis / da'ath) causes ruin in the world; envy and selfishness break off friendships; hatred is the most violent fever; the (inner) Buddha is the best physician." (These are the three poisons which are the axle of the wheel of suffering.) The deva then continued, "Now I have only one doubt to be cleared away: What is it fire cannot burn, nor moisture corrode, nor wind crush down, but is able to benefit the whole world?" The Buddha replied, "Blessing! Neither fire, nor moisture, nor wind can destroy the blessing of a good deed (right action); and blessings benefit the whole world." (Therefore, learn how to embody right action: the will of the Inner Buddha as performed by his human soul: Tiphereth.) Hearing these answers, the deva was filled with joy. Bowing down in respect, he dissapeared suddenly from the presence of the Buddha.  Herein is contained The Introduction to Awareness: Natural Liberation through Naked Perception, which is an extract from the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities: A Profound and Sacred Teaching, entitled Natural Liberation through Recognition of Enlightened Intention. The Introduction to AwarenessThough this single nature of mind, which completely pervades both cyclic existence and nirvana, Has been naturally present from the beginning, you have not recognised it. Even though its radiance and awareness have never been interrupted, You have not yet encountered its true face. Even though it arises unimpededly in every facet of existence, You have not as yet recognised this single nature of mind. In order that this single nature might be recognised by you, The Conquerors of the three times have taught an inconceivably vast number of practices, Including the eighty-four thousand aspects of the sacred teachings. Yet, despite this diversity, not even one of these teachings has been given by the Conquerors, Outside the context of an understanding of this nature! And even though there are inestimable volumes of sacred writings, equally vast as the limits of space, Actually, these teachings can be succinctly expressed in a few words, which are the introduction to awareness. The Actual Introduction to AwarenessOf fortunate children, listen to these words! The term 'mind' is commonplace and widely used, Yet there are those who do not understand its meaning, Those who falsely understand it, those who partially understand it, And those who have not quite understood its genuine reality. Thus there has arisen an inconceivably vast number of assertions as to the nature of mind, Posited by the various philosophical systems. Further, since ordinary persons do not understand the meaning of the term 'mind,' And do not intuitively recognise its nature, They continue to roam through the six classes of sentient rebirth within the three world-systems, And consequently experience suffering. This is the fault of not understanding this intrinsic nature of mind. The Three ConsiderationsThe following is the introduction to the means of experiencing this single nature of mind Through the application of three considerations: First, recognise that past thoughts are traceless, clear, and empty, Second, recognise that future thoughts are unproduced and fresh, And third, recognise that the present moment abides naturally and unconstructed. When this ordinary, momentary consciousness is examined nakedly and directly by oneself, Upon examination, it is a radiant awareness, Which is free from the presence of an observer, Manifestly stark and clear, Completely empty and uncreated in all respects, Lucid, without duality of radiance and emptiness, Not permanent, for it is lacking inherent existence in all respects, Not a mere nothingness, for it is radiant and clear, Not a single entity, for it is clearly perceptible as a multiplicity, Yet not existing inherently as a multiplicity, for it is indivisible and of a single savour. This intrinsic awareness, which is not extraneously derived, Is itself the genuine introduction to the abiding nature of all things. Consequences of the Introduction to AwarenessWhen the introduction is powerfully applied in accordance with the above method for entering into this reality: One's own immediate consciousness is this very reality! Abiding in this reality, which is uncontrived and naturally radiant, How can one say that one does not understand the nature of mind? Abiding in this reality, wherein there is nothing on which to meditate, How can one say that, by having entered into meditation, one was not successful? Abiding in this reality, which is one's actual awareness itself, How can one say that one could not find one's own mind? Abiding in this reality, the uninterrupted union of radiance and awareness, How can one say that the true face of mind has not been seen? Abiding in this reality, which is itself the cogniser, How can one say that, though sought, this cogniser could not be found? Abiding in this reality, where there is nothing at all to be done, How can one say that, whatever one did, one did not succeed? Given that it is sufficient to leave this awareness as it is, uncontrived, How can one say that one could not continue to abide in that state? Given that it is sufficient to leave it as it is, without doing anything whatsoever, How can one say that one could not do just that? Given that, within this reality, radiance, awareness, and emptiness are inseparable and spontaneously present, How can one say that, by having practised, one attained nothing? Given that this reality is naturally originating and spontaneously present, without causes or conditions, How can one say that, by having made the effort to find it, one was incapable of success? Given that the arising and liberation of conceptual thoughts occur simultaneously, How can one say that, by having applied this antidote to conceptual thoughts, one was not effective? Abiding in this immediate consciousness itself, How can one say that one does not know this reality? Observations Related to Examining the Nature of MindBe certain that the nature of mind is empty and without foundation.
One's own mind is insubstantial, like an empty sky. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not. Divorced from views which constructedly determine the nature of emptiness, Be certain that pristine cognition, naturally originating, is primordially radiant -- Just like the nucleus of the sun, which is itself naturally originating. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- Be certain that this awareness, which is pristine cognition, is uninterrupted, Like the coursing central torrent of a river which flows unceasingly. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- Be certain that conceptual thoughts and fleeting memories are not strictly identifiable, But insubstantial in their motion, like the breezes of the atmosphere. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- Be certain that all that appears is naturally manifest in the mind, Like the images in a mirror which also appear naturally. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- Be certain that all characteristics are liberated right where they are, Like the clouds of the atmosphere, naturally originating and naturally dissolving. Look at your own mind to see whether it is like that or not! ---------- There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind. So, how could there be anything on which to mediate apart from the mind? There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind. So there are no modes of conduct to be undertaken extraneous to those that originate from the mind. There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind. So, there are no commitments to be kept extraneous to those that originate from the mind. There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind. So, there are no results to be attained extraneous to those that originate from the mind. There are no phenomena extraneous to those that originate from the mind, So one should observe one's own mind, looking into its nature again and again. If, upon looking outwards towards the external expanse of the sky, There are no projections emanated by the mind, And if, on looking inwards at one's own mind, There is no projectionist who projects thoughts by thinking them, Then, one's own mind, completely free from conceptual projections, will become luminously clear. ―Excerpts from The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Padmasambhava Listen to an audio lecture on this subject: Gnostic Psychology: Introduction to Awareness  Flee, my friend, into your solitude (meditation)! I see you dazed by the noise of the great men (who pretend to be initiates) and stung all over by the stings of the little men (the common rabble, the fornicators). Woods and crags know how to keep a dignified silence with you. Be like the tree (of life of the Kabbalah) that you love with its wide branches: silently listening (in comprehension, knowledge, and understanding), it hangs over the sea (the creative waters of transmutation). Where solitude (meditation) ceases the market place begins (the pseudo-spiritual and esoteric groups); and where the market place (esoteric schools) begins the noise of the great actors and the buzzing of the poisonous flies begins too. In the world even the best things amount to nothing without someone to make a show of them (not even the great teachings of the prophets, the messengers of the Superman, can remain alone; they are prostituted by the rabble): great men (initiates, masters) the people call these showmen. Little do the people comprehend the great—that is, the creating (through sexual alchemy). But they have a mind for all showmen and actors of great things. Around the inventors of new values the world revolves: invisibly it revolves (since the prophets, the heralds of the Superman, guide humanity). But around the actors revolve the people and fame: that is the way of the world. The actor has spirit (גדולה Gedulah, the Innermost) but little conscience (awareness, conscious knowledge, or initiatic development) of the spirit. Always he has faith in that with which he inspires the most faith—faith in himself. Tomorrow he has a new faith, and the day after tomorrow a newer one (since these students are mere butterflies who wander from esoteric group to esoteric group, adopting and abandoning multiple teachings). He has quick senses, like the people, and capricious moods. To overthrow (in an argument)—that means to him: to prove. To drive to frenzy (through impassioned speech)—that means to him: to persuade. And blood (energy, attention, adulation) is to him the best of all reasons. A truth that slips into delicate ears alone he calls a lie and nothing (because these so-called "initiates" really are not that; they have no development). Verily, he believes only in gods (egos, idols in his mind) who make a big noise in the world! Full of solemn jesters is the market place (these pseudo-esoteric and esoteric institutions throughout the world)—and the people (gnostics) pride themselves on their great men, their masters of the hour. But the hour presses them; so they press you. And from you too they want a Yes or No (they secretly want you to agree with them or to provide an answer to their obtrusive questions). Alas, do you want to place your chair between pro and con (the battle of the antitheses, the subjective rationalizations of the animal ego)?  Do not be jealous of these unconditional, pressing men, you lover of truth (you genuine gnostic, initiate, who has suffered too much)! Never yet has truth hung on the arm of the unconditional (those who do not place into action the causes and conditions that would make these people genuine initiates). On account of these sudden men, go back to your security: it is only in the market place (public, esoteric schools) that one is assaulted with Yes? or No? Slow is the experience of all deep wells (for the hermits of the ninth arcanum, as described by Nietzsche in "On the Adder's Bite," do not genuinely understand the true initiates; the so-called practitioners of gnosis or esotericism are easily insulted by genuine generosity and the progress of others): long must they wait before they know what fell into their depth. Far from the market place and from fame happens all that is great (away from the politics of esoteric institutions, the Gnostic Movement): far from the market place and from fame the inventors of new values have always dwelt. Flee, my friend, into your solitude (upon the mountain of initiation): I see you stung all over by poisonous flies (the gossip and slander of these so-called missionaries and gnostic students). Flee where the air is raw and strong. Flee into your solitude! You have lived too close to the small and the miserable. Flee their invisible revenge! (For as Samael Aun Weor stated, "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.)." -Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology). Against you they are nothing but revenge. No longer raise up your arm against them. Numberless are they, and it is not your lot to shoo flies. Numberless are these small and miserable creatures; and many a proud building (initiate) has perished of raindrops and weeds (gossip, criticism, and slander). You are no (philosopher's) stone (perfected completely through the Mountains of Initiation, Resurrection, and Ascension), but you have already become hollow from many drops. You will yet burst from many drops. I see you wearied by poisonous flies, bloody in a hundred places; and your pride (solar dignity) refuses even to be angry. Blood (energy and attention) is what they want from you in all innocence. Their bloodless souls crave blood, and so they sting in all innocence. But you, you deep one (you genuine hermit of Arcanum Nine), suffer too deeply even from small wounds; and even before you have healed, the same poisonous worm crawls over your hand. You are too proud (dignified) to kill these greedy creatures. But beware lest it become your downfall that you suffer all their poisonous injustice. They hum around you with their praise too: obtrusiveness is their praise. They want the proximity of your skin and your blood. They flatter you as a god or devil; they whine before you as before a god or devil. What does it matter? They are flatterers and whiners and nothing more (they have no development and they will sooner or later enter devolution and the Second Death). Often they affect charm. But that has always been the cleverness of cowards. Indeed, cowards are clever! They think a lot about you with their petty souls—you always seem problematic to them. Everything that one thinks about a lot becomes problematic. They punish you for all your (solar) virtues. They forgive you entirely—your mistakes. Because you are gentle and just in disposition you say, "They are guiltless in their small existence." ("They do not know any better and perhaps in time, through Gnosis, they will learn"). But their petty souls think, "Guilt is every great existence." Even when you are gentle to them they still feel despised by you: and they return your benefaction with hidden malefactions. Your silent pride (humility and dignity) always runs counter to their taste; they are jubilant if for once you are modest enough to be vain (to entertain them and be a fool, to act upon the whims and enthusiasm of their animal ego, such as through functions and gatherings for these so-called esoteric groups). That which we recognize in a person we also inflame in him: therefore, beware of the small creatures. Before you they feel small (they recognize they are not initiates), and their baseness glimmers and glows in invisible revenge. Have you not noticed how often they became mute when you stepped among them, and how their strength went from them like smoke from a dying fire? Indeed, my friend, you are the bad conscience of your neighbors: for they are unworthy of you. They hate you, therefore, and would like to suck your blood. Your neighbors will always be poisonous flies; that which is great in you, just that must make them more poisonous and more like flies.  Flee, my friend, into your solitude (upon the Mountain of Initiation, the Superior Worlds) and where the air is raw and strong! It is not your lot to shoo flies.
Thus spoke Zarathustra.  I have a question for you alone, my brother: like a sounding lead, I cast this question into your soul that I might know how deep it is. You are young and wish for a child and marriage. But I ask you: Are you a man entitled to wish for a child? Are you the victorious one (who has conquered Netzach: the mind, Victory in Hebraic Kabbalah), the self-conqueror, the commander of your senses (pratyahara in the eightfold path of meditation), the master of your virtues (Bodhichitta)? This I ask you. Or is it the animal (ego) and (lustful) need that speak out of your wish? Or loneliness? Or lack of peace (Shamatha: the nine stages of calm abiding) with yourself? Let your victory (Arcanum 7: Triumph in the spiritual revolution) and your freedom long for a (golden) child (of alchemy: the revolutionary Christos or Superhuman). You shall build living monuments (solar bodies) to your victory and your liberation. You shall build over and beyond yourself (through sexual magic), but first you must be built yourself, perpendicular in body and soul (you must achieve the four points of the cross in yourself, the equilibrium of the four elements: air (thought), fire (emotions), water (sexuality) and earth (physicality) This is achieved by becoming the fourth type of human being in the Fourth Way teachings: a psychologically equilibrated human being). You shall not only reproduce yourself (for that which is born of the flesh is flesh), but produce something higher (since that which is born of the spirit, is spirit; John 3:6). May the garden of marriage (עֵדֶן Eden, signifying voluptuousness and sexual bliss in Hebrew) help you in that! You shall create a higher (solar) body (Christ Astral, Christ Mental, and Christ Causal), a first movement (Kether, for "He is the One Who He is" or "I Am the One Who is Becoming" in a perpetual state of movement), a self-propelled wheel (or chakra, since the chakras are enlivened and permanently spin once awakening / raising the sexual Kundalini fire through initiation)—you shall create a creator (since the solar bodies create Christic power continually through the continuum of tantra). Marriage: thus I name the will of two (Adam and Eve, male-female, י Iod and הוה Chavah) to create the one (יהוה Iod-Chavah: the Solar Human Being) that is more than those who created it. Reverence for each other (Awe or פחד pechad on the leg of the gnostic pentagram indicates reverence for controlling the sexual energy, the thigh where is written "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" [Revelation 19:16] since this power makes one a מלך Melech, a solar king of nature), as for those willing with such a (solar) will (תִפאֶרֶת Tiphereth, the human soul), is what I name marriage. Let this be the meaning and truth of your marriage. But that which the all-too-many, the superfluous (fornicators), call marriage—alas, what shall I name that? Alas, this poverty of the soul in pair! Alas, this filth of the soul in pair! Alas, this wretched contentment in pair! Marriage they call this; and they say that their marriages are made in heaven. Well, I do not like it, this (egotistical) heaven of the superfluous. No, I do not like them—these (lustful) animals entangled in the heavenly net (who use marriage papers to justify fornication and prostitution of the soul). And let the god who limps near (Vulcan) to bless what he never joined keep his distance from me (since when man and woman sexually unite, they establish a bond in the world of eternity, Hod and Netzach; fornicators abuse the powers of the forge of Vulcan / Yesod: sexuality)! Do not laugh at such marriages! What child would not have cause to weep over its parents? Worthy I deemed this man (initiate), and ripe for the sense of the earth (how to practice sexual magic by dominating his own מַלְכוּת Malkuth, his kingdom / body, so as to become a King, מלך Melech); but when I saw his wife, the earth seemed to me a house for the senseless. Indeed, I wished that the earth might tremble in convulsions when a saint (initiate) mates with a goose (a woman who has no inclination to practice gnosis). This one went out like a hero in quest of truths, and eventually he conquered a little dressed-up lie. His marriage he calls it. That one was reserved and chose choosily. But all at once he spoiled his company forever: his marriage he calls it. That one sought a maid with the virtues of an angel (a woman who practices transmutation and gnosticism). But all at once he became the maid (slave) of a woman (who does not want anything to do with the spiritual work); and now he must turn himself into an angel (since certain gnostics marry persons who do not support them in the path of initiation). Careful I have found all buyers now, and all of them have cunning eyes. But even the most cunning still buys his wife in a poke. Many brief follies—that is what you call love (גדולה Gedulah, the spirit). And your marriage concludes many brief follies, as a long stupidity. Your love of woman, and woman's love of man—oh, that it were compassion for suffering (Bodhichitta), and shrouded gods (Elohim)! But, for the most part, two beasts (fornicators) find each other.  But even your best love is merely an ecstatic parable and a painful ardor. It is a torch that should light up higher paths for you (upon the Tree of Life). Over and beyond yourselves you shall love one day (since חֶסֶד Chesed / גדולה Gedulah, the spirit, is above תִפאֶרֶת Tiphereth and גבורה Geburah: the human and divine souls). Thus learn first to love (as גדולה Gedulah / Love or Goodness, the Innermost Spirit). And for that you had to drain the bitter cup of your love (in meditation upon the death of your defects). Bitterness (karmic suffering) lies in the (alchemical) cup of even the best love: thus it arouses longing for the Superman; thus it arouses your thirst, creator (alchemist). Thirst for the creator (Chesed, Binah, Chokmah, and Kether, since the upper trinity of the Tree of Life creates along with the spirit), an arrow and longing for the Superman: tell me, my brother, is this your will to marriage? Holy I call such a will and such a marriage.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra. From Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann  Meditation is a means of acquiring information about ourselves, why we suffer, and what we can do to transform our suffering into wisdom and happiness.
It is also a technique for accessing personal knowledge of the divine and receiving insight on how to live with greater rectitude and love. Meditation is a means of awakening and expanding consciousness beyond conditions and limitations of the physical senses. Since consciousness is the ability to perceive, meditation is a deepening of that perception, a means of perceiving facts on a psychological and spiritual level. Meditation is the natural state of the unconditioned, liberated consciousness. Therefore, the practice of meditation is a method of stripping away conditioning, illusions, and misperceptions. It is a means of gathering information about who we are. It is not "spacing out," nor is it solely focused on having ecstatic mystical "experiences." Meditation is also not produced through artificial means, technology, machines, or drugs, since chemicals and psychedelic substances further condition the mind and psyche. Meditation is a state of being free of conditioning; therefore it is unnecessary to take substances or use technology in order to produce the natural state of awakened perception. In order to perceive in its natural state, the consciousness must be purified of its conditions through practice and the application of conscious attention. By removing the conditions of the psyche that make us suffer: anger, pride, fear, resentment, anxiety, desire, envy, etc., we can in turn see past illusions in order to access the essential nature of the consciousness: a profound state of happiness and contentment. The meditator also possesses subtle energies in the mind, heart, and body that can be harnessed for meditative discipline. This is well explained in certain schools of Yoga and Buddhism. Since we have everything we need within ourselves in order to strip away what is unnecessary within our consciousness, learning to return to the natural state of perception is only a matter of individual training. As a practical technique and way of life, meditation is a method of gaining comprehension and guidance in relation to problems, difficulties, and challenges in life that seem impossible to resolve. By gaining direct knowledge about the causes of our most intimate problems, we can then arrive at peace, serenity, and insight. This personal, self-knowledge has been called gnosis in Greek. Gnosis is beyond belief, theory, scholasticism, argumentation, debate, concepts, etc. It is in fact the direct apprehension of truths through our very capacity to perceive. In meditation, we rely on facts and evidence to support our understanding of the truths contained and taught within different traditions. Here, we do not speculate. We know. For as the founder of the modern Gnostic tradition, Samael Aun Weor, stated: "Gnosis is lived upon facts, withers away in abstractions, and is difficult to find even in the noblest of thoughts." -The Revolution of the Dialectic Interested in learning how to meditate? Attend a class! Want to listen to lectures about meditation? See the resources below: Looking for explanations of spiritual practices to help prepare for meditation? See:  (Note: The writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, particularly his Thus Spoke Zarathustra, is esoteric and requires a strong knowledge of Kabbalah, Alchemy, Initiation, the Tarot, Dream Yoga, and Esotericism. Here is an excerpt of an important chapter in the aforementioned text, which will demonstrate that his writings convey a depth of knowledge that goes beyond the limits and interpretations of academia). Is it your wish, my brother (fellow initiate), to go into solitude (meditation)? Is it your wish to seek the way to yourself (Ain Soph)? Then linger a moment, and listen to me. "He who seeks (initiation), easily gets lost (in the abyss and second death). All loneliness (contemplation and self-remembering) is guilt"—thus speaks the herd (fornicators). And you have long belonged to the herd. The (egotistical) voice of the herd will still be audible in you. And when you will say, "I no longer have a common conscience with you," it will be a lament and an agony. Behold, this agony itself was born of the common conscience (the collective lunar mind of intellectual animals), and the last glimmer of that conscience still glows on your affliction (for you are entering into initiation through conscious works and voluntary sufferings). But do you want to go the way of your affliction (the path of sacrifice and self-denial of the ego), which is the way to yourself (Ain Soph Paranishpanna)? Then show me your right and your strength to do so. Are you a new strength and a new right (the aspiration, longing, and power of Bodhichitta, which claims for itself the end goal, Self-realization: Ain Soph Paranishpanna)? A first movement (Kether)? A self-propelled wheel (of the Bhavachakra: the wheel of becoming)? Can you compel the very stars (divinity) to revolve around you (through your initiatic works)? Alas, there is so much lusting for the heights (the three mountains of initiation, resurrection, and ascension)! There are so many convulsions of the ambitious (mythomaniacs and false gurus who proclaim to be initiates, and yet are not). Show me that you are not one of the lustful and ambitious. Alas, there are so many great thoughts which do no more than a bellows: they puff up and make emptier (for theories and beliefs amount to nothing: only conscious works and actions produce results and the entrance into initiation, since as Goethe stated: every theory is gray and only the leaves from the Tree of Life are green). You call yourself (spiritually) free? Your dominant (Dianoetic) thought I want to hear, and not that you have escaped from a yolk (from one pseudo-spiritual / pseudo-esoteric group to another). Are you one of those who had the right to escape from a yoke (by finding and entering into initiation)? There are some who threw away their last value when they threw away their servitude (to a particular religion or tradition). Free from what (a religion, school, or esoteric system of thought)? As if that mattered to Zarathustra! But your eyes should tell me brightly: free for what (the Ain Soph Paranishpanna)?  Can you give yourself your own evil (the black Pillar of Justice) and your own good (the white Pillar of Mercy upon the Tree of Life, the Kabbalah) and hang your own will over yourself as a law (as an Apostolate of Arcanum 12 of the Initiatic Tarot)? Can you be your own judge and avenger of your law (Ain Soph, Glorian)? Terrible it is to be alone with the judge and avenger of one's own law (Glorian). Thus is a star (Ain Soph) thrown out into the void and into the icy breath of solitude (meditation and contemplation within the hell realms). Today you are still suffering from the many, being one (an initiate who has integrated his or her psyche through psychoanalytic meditation): today your courage and your hopes are still whole. But the time will come when solitude (meditation) will make you weary, when your pride (solar dignity) will double up, and your courage gnash its teeth. And you will cry, "I am alone!" The time will come when that which seems high to you will no longer be in sight (since you will undergo a spiritual night, whereby internal, mystical experiences remain obscured to you), and that which seems low (the fornicating ego) will be all-too-near; even what seems sublime to you will frighten you like a ghost (just as Hamlet's dead father, representative of the Innermost Spirit, haunted his son in Shakespeare's play, begging the Prince to avenge his murder from Claudius, the animal ego, since Chiram Abiff must resurrect from the dead after his death at the hands of the three traitors). And you will cry, "All is false!" There are feelings which want to kill the lonely; and if they do not succeed, well, then they themselves must die. But are you capable of this—to be a murderer (of your own egos)? My brother (initiate), do you know the word "contempt" yet? And the agony of your justice—being just to those who despise you? You force many to relearn about you; they charge it bitterly against you (since people you knew before you were an initiate want you to remain stagnant, the same, degenerate person). You came close to them and yet passed by; that they will never forgive. You pass over and beyond them (through climbing the mountain of initiation): but the higher you ascend, the smaller you appear to the eye of envy. But most of all they hate those who fly (to the heights of the Empyrean, Kether). "How would you be just to me?" you must say. "I choose injustice as my proper lot." Injustice and filth they throw after the lonely one (the initiate): but, my brother, if you would be a star (Ain Soph Paranishpanna, an Ain Soph or supra-atomic star with Self-cognizance), you must not shine less for them because of that. And beware of the good and the just (those who pretend to be initiates and yet are not)! They like to crucify those who invent their own virtue for themselves (the self-generated or Twice Born)—they hate the lonely one. Beware also of holy simplicity! Everything that is not simple it considers unholy; it also likes to play with fire—the stake (criticism, since in numerous esoteric circles, the students and instructors envy the masters and crucify them). And beware also of the attacks of your love (your longing and desire to be understood)! The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters. To some people you may not give your hand, only a paw: and I desire that your paw should also have claws.  But the worst enemy you can encounter will also be you, yourself; you lie in wait for yourself in caves and woods (the psychological country / landscape of the ego as cited by Samael Aun Weor in The Great Rebellion and illustrated by Hieronymus Bosch in his "Temptation of St. Anthony"). Lonely one, you are going the way to yourself. And your way leads past yourself and your seven devils (seven principal defects: lust, pride, anger, gluttony, laziness, greed, envy). You will be a heretic to yourself and a witch and soothsayer and fool and doubter and unholy one and a villain (because within the field of psychological self-observation, you will perceive all of your secret evilness and degeneration). You must wish to consume yourself in your own flame (Glorian, your Intimate Christ, the Superman): how could you wish to become new unless you had first become ashes (through mystical death and psychological decapitation of the animal ego, of animal desire)!
Lonely one, you are going the way of the creator (the Twice-born, those who are born again through sexual alchemy, who generate the solar bodies in the Perfect Matrimony): you would create a god for yourself out of your seven devils (for through Arcanum 15: Passion, you white-wash the devil, you burn the devil in you in order to free the Essence, the consciousness. Through mystical death, you chastise and clean the demon-I's in your psyche, thereby freeing the soul from bondage and uniting it with the Lion of Judah, the Superman). Lonely one, you are going the way of the lover (Arcanum 6: Indecision): yourself (Ain Soph) you love (through scientific chastity), and therefore you despise yourself (your fornicating, animal ego), as only lovers (initiates in sexual transmutation, in holy alchemy) despise. The lover (initiate) would create (the solar bodies) because he despises (his ego). What does he know of (conscious) love who did not have to despise precisely what he loved (when he was a fornicator)!  Go into your loneliness (meditation) with your love (Gedulah, Spirit, Innermost) and with your creation (solar bodies), my brother; and only much later will justice limp after you (relating to Arcanum 8: the blessings of the Divine Mother born from expiation and the balancing of the scales or measurements of karma).
With my tears go into your loneliness, my brother. I love him who wants to create over and beyond himself (create the solar bodies through the Perfect Matrimony) and thus perishes (through initiatic death). Thus spoke Zarathustra. From Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann  (Note: the Old Iranian root of the name Zarathustra comes from: Zarat, "golden" combined with ushtra, "camel." This is significant for understanding this passage. Gnostic exegesis is provided in parentheses.)
Of three metamorphoses of the spirit I tell you: how the spirit becomes a camel; and the camel, a lion; and the lion, finally, a child. There is much that is difficult for the spirit, the strong reverent spirit that would bear much (karma through initiation): but the difficult and the most difficult are what his strength demands. What is difficult? asks the spirit (of the neophyte) that would bear much, and kneels down like a camel (ushtra in Old Iranian, גמל Gamal in Hebrew) wanting to be well loaded (to take upon itself the bitter path of initiation). What is most difficult, O (solar) heroes, asks the spirit that would bear much, that I may take it upon myself and exult in my (sexual) strength (און aun)? Is it not humbling oneself to wound one's haughtiness? Letting one's folly shine to mock one's (false) wisdom? Or is it this: parting from our cause when it triumphs (Sattvic action mentioned in the Bhagavad-Gita)? Climbing high mountains (of initiation) to tempt the tempter (Christus-Lucifer)? Or is it this: feeding on the acorns and grass of knowledge (דעת da'ath, gnosis) and, for the sake of the truth, suffering hunger in one's soul (like Tantalus awaiting the solemn banquet of the Pascal Lamb)? Or is it this: being (psychologically) sick and sending home the comforters (by not seeking spiritual advice from others, but delving into profound meditation in order to receive wisdom within) and making friends with the (spiritually) deaf, who never hear what you want? Or is it this: stepping into filthy waters (in transmutation) when they are the waters of truth (poisoned by fornication as mentioned in "On the Rabble" in Part Two of Thus Spoke Zarathustra), and not repulsing cold frogs and hot toads? (This signifies not running away from our own internal, psychological ugliness that we begin to perceive when working with the "hot" and "cold" synpathetic cords of our spinal column, the solar and lunar energetic channels known as Ida and Pingala, which come from our waters, wherein reside the frogs and toads, symbolic of the fertility of Yesod). Or is it this: loving those who despise us and offering a hand to the ghost (our Innermost) that would frighten us? (since our animal mind is terrified before the presence of the divine; in Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Claudius, the ego, has slain the King of Denmark, and now the ghost of the dead king, the Intimate Being, haunts our very souls through intense spiritual inquietudes). All these most difficult things the spirit (of the neophyte) that would bear much takes upon itself: like the camel (ushtra) that, burdened, speeds into the desert (מִּדְבָּר Hebrew: mid'bar), thus the spirit (of the neophyte) speeds into its desert (for in the מִּדְבָּר wilderness, the desert of life, we work to incarnate and worship the Word, דָּבָר Dabar, the Christ; see Exodus 3:18). In the loneliest desert, however, the second metamorphosis occurs: here the spirit becomes a lion (from the Tribe of Judaea through the Venustic Initiation) who would conquer his freedom and be master in his own desert (his מִּדְבָּר mid'bar by incarnating דָּבָר Dabar, the Word). Here he seeks out his last master (the black psychological moon, Lilith): he wants to fight him and his last god (the dragon of darkness of our atomic psychological infernos mentioned by Samael Aun Weor in The Three Mountains); for ultimate victory he wants to fight with the great dragon. Who is the great dragon whom the spirit (of Christ in the Venustic Initiation) will no longer call lord and god? (for "Thou shalt have no other אֱלֹהִים Elohim, gods, before me." -Exodus 20:3). "Thou shalt" is the name of the great dragon (for our own animal ego takes the commandments, the Law of Moshe, and subverts it for itself; it abuses the law and seeks to make us slaves of Egypt, מצרים Mitzraim, Malkuth). But the spirit of the lion (of the Tribe of Judah, the Cosmic Christ) says, "I will" (or we can say, Eheieh Asher Eheieh אהיה אשר אהיה, "I AM THAT I AM," better translated as "HE IS WHAT HE IS"). "Thou shalt" lies in his way, sparkling like gold, an animal covered with scales; and on every scale shines a golden "thou shalt" (resembling the golden calf of Moloch, mentioned in Exodus 32, and his tenebrous agents of darkness who strive to tempt and slay the Superman). Values, thousands of years old, shine on these scales (with false, diabolic light); and thus speaks the mightiest of all dragons: "All value of all things shines on me. All value has long been created, and I am all created value (through fornication). Verily, there shall be no more 'I will ( אהיה Eheieh, I AM, or better said, HE IS).'" Thus speaks the dragon (of darkness). My brothers, why is there a need in the spirit for the lion? Why is not the beast of burden (the initiate who has not incarnated the Lion of Christ), which renounces (self-will) and is reverent (to the Law of Moses), enough? To create new values—that even the lion (the Bodhisattva of the Straight Path) cannot do; but the creation of freedom for oneself for new creation—that is within the power of the lion (for the acquisition of Mastery is one thing, but perfection in it is another; see the Three Wise Men or Magi in The Gnostic Nativity of Christ). The creation of freedom for oneself (through the First Law of the Glorian) and a sacred "No" even to duty (the written commandments or Second Law: Deuteronomy)—for that, my brothers, the lion (the Bodhisattva) is needed (since only Christ incarnated within the initiate can perform the Great Work by transcending the Second Law). To assume the right to new values—that is the most terrifying assumption for a reverent spirit (the neophyte or initiates who have not yet become lions of Judaea). Verily, to him it is preying (immorality, since the neophytes do not comprehend the Path of the Bodhisattva, the Rebel Christ), and a matter for a beast of prey (who renounces and annihilates the morals of the populace). He once loved "thou shalt" as most sacred (because before incarnating the First Law, one must follow the Second Law): now he must find illusion and caprice even in the most sacred (for he once followed the Second Law, but now must incarnate the Revolutionary Christ, Who transcends the Second Law), that freedom from his love (psychological attachments) may become his prey: the lion is needed for such prey (since only Christ, the First Law, can annihilate the entirety of the ego on the Second Mountain). But say, my brothers, what can the child (of the Resurrection) do that even the lion (Bodhisattva of compassion) could not do? Why must the preying lion (the warrior of the Straight Path) still become a child? The child (of the Resurrection) is innocence and forgetting (through purification and the waters of Lethe; see also Matthew 18:3), a new beginning, a game, a self-propelled wheel (Sanskrit: chakra, which now turns through the bhava, the becoming, of אהיה אשר אהיה Eheieh Asher Eheieh, "I AM HE WHO BECOMES," "I AM HE WHO INITIATES," see the Bhavachakra course), a first movement, a sacred "Yes." (As Samael Aun Weor stated in Igneous Rose, "Our Innermost is Yes, Yes, Yes. The wisdom of our Innermost is Yes, Yes, Yes. The love of our Innermost is Yes, Yes, Yes.") For the game of creation (as a Cosmocreator), my brothers, a sacred "Yes" is needed (we need our Innermost to be realized within ourselves through Resurrection): the spirit (Kether, upon Resurrection) now wills his own will (for תפארת Tiphereth is united with the will of the Father, for אהיה אשר אהיה "HE IS WHO HE IS"), and he who had been lost to the world (through initiation) now conquers his own world (through Resurrection). Of the three metamorphoses of the spirit (through initiation) I have told you: how the spirit became a camel (a neophyte on the path of renunciation); and the camel, a lion (of Judah, a Bodhisattva of Compassion); and the lion, finally, a (golden) child (of Alchemy and the Resurrection—golden in Old Iranian is Zarat, which when combined with ushtra, the camel of the renunciate, is Zarathustra). Thus spoke Zarathustra (the golden camel who traverses the wilderness in order to become a Superman). And at that time he sojourned in the town that is called The Motley Cow (the sacred Hindustani symbol of the Divine Mother Kundalini). - From Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None, translated by Walter Kaufmann. |
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