Gnostic Meditation

This course will introduce you to the foundations of genuine meditation as originally taught within the world's great religions and mystical traditions. Learn about the purpose of meditation: how to receive information about oneself, the universe, and the divine, as well as how to fulfill the necessary requisites and steps leading to its complete fruition. Meditation is a practical method for developing serenity and insight into the root causes of suffering in order to transform one's life. This teaching is universal to all religions, and in the spirit of Gnostic esoteric studies, these lectures draw upon a vast array of writings and resources, specifically the literature of Samael Aun Weor, Swami Sivananda, and the Buddhist, Hindu, and Sufi scriptures.

Related Books: Igneous Rose, Kundalini Yoga, The Revolution of the Dialectic, Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology

Esoteric Discipline of Mind

Genuine meditation begins with the foundation of discipline and ethical principles: kindness, patience, mercy, compassion, and the restraint of the mind's tendencies towards negative behaviors. Through cultivating rich spiritual values, we in turn develop peace, harmony and equanimity. By reflecting upon the causes of our suffering, we can change it. This in turn produces the ability to investigate and gather internal information for ourselves through silence and contemplation. This lecture outlines the eightfold path of Yoga as taught by Patanjali as well as psychological teachings from the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita, and The Odyssey of Homer.

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Ethics, Karma, and Interdependence

"Let’s ask God to help us to self-control: for one who lacks it, lacks His Grace. The undisciplined person doesn’t wrong himself alone–but sets fire to the whole world. Discipline enabled Heaven to be filled with light; discipline enabled the angels to be immaculate and holy." ―Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi

A continuation of the study of ethical discipline, this lecture elaborates on the interdependent nature of all things: how mind, sentiment, and action, in all levels of nature, produce either happiness or sorrow. Our actions, both invisible and visible, have consequences, and it is by learning how to be ethical that we in turn place the appropriate causes in motion that will affect our spirituality, and therefore cause it to flourish. A profound study of Buddhism, Sufism, and Hinduism, this lecture explores the writings of Swami Sivananda, Samael Aun Weor, the Bhagavad-Gita, and The Risalah: Principles of Sufism by Al-Qushayri.

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Pranayama and Sexual Transmutation 

The true nature of the mind is equanimity, a profound state of silence that is actualized through our use of energy: psychological, emotional, and sexual. Prana is the basis of physical and spiritual life, synthesized and highly condensed within the sexual creative energy. It is the power that grants the sincere meditation practitioner the capacity to silence the mind and to develop strong concentration, so as to lay the foundation for genuine meditation. This lecture discusses Swami Sivananda's classic text Kundalini Yoga, the nature of energy in relation to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life and the mystical writings of the Sufis, how to work with pranayama and control of the breath, the sexual basis of prana or energy, and its necessity for entering the initial stages of true serenity and meditation.

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Calm Abiding: The Stages of Serenity

"When you lack the elements of serenity,
Even if you meditate assiduously,
You will not achieve concentration
Even in thousands of years."
―Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment

​Tibetan Buddhism has outlined nine fundamental stages for arriving at a calm, balanced, and serene mind, known in Sanskrit as Shamatha or Calm Abiding, a state of concentration marked by its perfect equanimity and effortlessness to maintain. This lecture explains the path of these nine stages of concentration, from a wild and chaotic mind to one that is perfectly under one's control, in accordance with the writings of Tsong Khapa, the Dalai Lama, and other scriptural writings.

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Spiritual Insight

"For the wise, to imagine is to see." ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology

"The key to success in worship lies in meditative reflection (fikrat)… whoever persists in such reflection in the heart will behold the invisible realm in the spirit. Whoever contemplates God through keeping watch over the thoughts which pass through his heart will be exalted by God in all of his outward deeds." ―Dhu'l-Nun al-Misri

Upon attaining serenity of mind, the practitioner of meditation must develop and rely on developing the penetrating power of insight, known in some circles by the term clairvoyance (clear vision) and vipassana (special insight). The Gnostic tradition denominates this faculty as imagination, the ability to visualize and imagine conscious imagery in order to directly perceive the object of meditation and arrive at spiritual understanding. This lecture explores the Sufi writings of Al-Qushayri and the five types of clairvoyance (or imagination) within Gnostic psychology.

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Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition

"[Al-Jurayri] said that whoever does not establish awe of duty and vigilance in his relationship to God will not arrive at disclosure of the unseen or contemplation of the divine." ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism

Continuing the discussion on spiritual insight, this lecture outlines the path of meditation in accordance with Sufi mysticism and the three fundamental stages of initiation: imagination, inspiration, and intuition. Through imagination or perception of internal imagery in meditation, one arrives at the unveiling of psychological and spiritual symbolism. The practitioner is then inspired, longing for the precise significance of such experiences. When these symbols are fully comprehended in their application to daily life, the meditator arrives to the state of witnessing and contemplation of the divine.

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Retrospection Meditation

"Blue time or rest therapeutics [retrospection meditation] has basic rules without which it would be impossible to emancipate ourselves from the mortifying shackles of the mind." ―Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of the Dialectic

The culminating lecture of this course provides definite, scientific methods for perceiving, understanding, and eliminating the causes of suffering. Learn how to perform retrospection meditation: the review, study, and transformation of internal psychological conditions. Through this practice, the meditator can experience genuine liberation, the beauty of comprehension, and the blessings of divinity.