Today we are going to discuss the nature of occult laws, the nature of spirituality as a scientific method, and the importance of studying esoteric science in conjunction with conventional science. We are going to discuss specifically how this science pertains to our spiritual development. We are going to talk about the nature of consciousness and the nature of occult investigation into the very mysteries of life and death: the way to verify from our own experience the nature of divinity, and particularly the foundations of this scientific method.
So Gnosis, as we have explained before, is a Greek term, meaning “knowledge.” The word science comes from the word scientia, which means “knowledge.” But this type of knowledge is very direct, and pertains to what we can verify with what we call the consciousness, which is a term that is very superficially used in these times, and very common. But as will be evident in this lecture, few rarely comprehend the real magnitude and the real depth of what it means to awaken the consciousness. When talking about occult science to people, they hear the term occult and they think this is something satanic and evil, or something bad. The word occult comes from the Latin cultare, which means “to cultivate.” Occult means the hidden. So in an occult science, we cultivate that which is unseen, and just as there are methods and procedures for verifying the causes and laws behind physical phenomena, likewise do we ascertain that there is a method, a science for comprehending the noumena behind phenomena. Phenomena is appearance, literally speaking. Pneuma is “spirit” in Greek, and noumena refers to the highest state of awakening spiritually. Noumena in Immanuel Kant's philosophy was expressed as “the truth,” things in themselves. So this science pertains to how we directly verify, through our own experience, what religion teaches. As part of this lecture, we are going to discuss the nature of Ether, which is very famously postulated within physics as well as occult science, and even many different traditions. We are going to explain how the Ether, as a substance and energy, can assist us in the awakening of consciousness. Alongside this, we will talk about the nature of parallel universes. The science of consciousness is about experiencing the different realms, known as heavens, known as Nirvana, known as Jannah in Arabic. And fundamentally, we are going to discuss the science of spiritual perception. What does it mean to perceive and how can we perceive the truths contained within religion? 
Science and Religion: The Synthesis of Conscious Investigation
So his Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama states in his book The Universe in a Single Atom, the need for practitioners of science, official science, to study the mystical teachings of Buddhism or religion, which explain many of the phenomena that quantum mechanics or mechanics physicists are discovering now. He explains in this book that it is necessary and develop an occult methodology.
In order for the study of consciousness to be complete, we need a methodology that would account not only for what is occurring at the neurological and biochemical levels but also for the subjective experience of consciousness itself. Even when combined, neuroscience and behavioral psychology do not shed enough light on the subjective experience (meaning what we can verify through our own consciousness), as both approaches still place primary importance on the objective, third-person perspective. Contemplative traditions on the whole have historically emphasized subjective, first-person investigation of the nature and functions of consciousness, by training the mind to focus in a disciplined way on its own internal states. ―The Dalai Lama, The Universe in a Single Atom ―The Dalai Lama, The Universe in a Single Atom
This is precisely the demarcation between conventional science and occult science. The conventional physicists and scientists only verify things based on physical matter. They do not investigate what is the activating principles behind matter, because they ignore, unfortunately, that the only way to verify occult phenomena, or noumena, we need to awaken our consciousness, and this relies on a very specific type of work in which we discipline our own mind, in order to truly awaken our spiritual capacities and to verify what religions have taught us.
The Brain, Mind, and Consciousness
Many people think that the mind is the brain. Many scientists affirm that we are just a functionalism [or epiphenomenon] of our brain, ignoring that the mind itself and the consciousness are something that is separate that can inhabit the body or can dis-inhabit the body, as is explained in the science of dream yoga, astral projection, out of body experiences.
Neural science cannot explain many of these occult phenomena and many of these scientists stubbornly reject that there is even the capacity or possibility to experience God, to verify what God is, to know our inner divinity directly. Unfortunately, it is this type of fanaticism and dogmatism in the scientific realm which is blinding many individuals from the study of spirituality, but fortunately due to some recent discoveries, such as in quantum mechanics, the study of subatomic particles, they are discovering that even light has consciousness, that light makes choices. This is a strong revelation on the part of conventional science, that even the smallest particles of matter have a type of awareness. This is something that has been affirmed by the teachings of Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, many of the ancient esoteric traditions. It is precisely the fact that we do not rely exclusively on physical means but occult methods that many scientists simply scorn and reject any possibility of investigation, which is sad, precisely because they fail to enact the very scientific methods that they have vowed to verify, to test. But sadly, like a new priesthood, they are blindly enamored by their own ideas and fail to even want to question themselves. It is precisely this type of discrimination and questioning of our own nature that leads us on the path or to the path that leads to that direct realization of Christ, of Buddha, of Allah. Even Albert Einstein, the great scientist, who was very spiritual in his heart, and as may be evident from the quote will be citing, he knew a little bit about this teaching. He states that it is important for any system or methodology to be effective, it has to be verifiable. But also, the fact that any method that is divorced from any type of experiential knowledge is empty of content, empty of real significance or meaning. He also states that it is important that to verify things for oneself in order for a system to be valid, whEther conventional but in our case, esoteric, hidden. There are two ways of regarding concepts, both of which are necessary to understanding. The first is that of logical analysis. It answers the question, How do concepts and judgments depend on each other? In answering it we are on comparatively safe ground. It is the security by which we are so much impressed in mathematics. But this security is purchased at the price of emptiness of content (Meaning: it is just recognizing numbers and knowing relationships, but how does it apply to our physical life or even spiritual life?). Concepts can only acquire content (meaning significance or impact) when they are connected, however indirectly, with sensible experience. (So concepts can only acquire content when they are connected with sensible experience). But no logical investigation can reveal this connection; it can only be experienced. And yet it is this connection that determines the cognitive value of systems of concepts. ―Albert Einstein, The World As I See It: “The Problem of Space, Ether, and the Field in Physics”
Here he is saying that it is not enough just to have theories, but to test it and to verify it. The same thing with occult science. We begin with a theory. We begin with beliefs. We practice. We verify through experience. This is why Jesus said "Blessed are those who believe and yet who do not see," because by practicing we can verify these things.
A system is worthless if it is not verified, if it does not apply to experience. Here, Albert Einstein in his book The World As I See It, the chapter I quoted from, “The Problem of Space, Ether, and the Field in Physics,” he explains that one needs to verify with sensible experience. Here we are talking about occult experience, mystical experience. Conflicts Between Conventional and Esoteric Science
It is important to note that mysticism is a science. The word mysticism comes from the Greek myein, which means “to close one’s eyes” physically, but by closing one’s physical eyes, one learns to proceed with spiritual senses, which is the nature of our intimate divine consciousness. It is unfortunate that many reject outright the capacity to experience different dimensions, different states of being, matter, energy, consciousness. It is this lack of investigation, which is really the emptiness of the physical sciences, which many have been divorced from any spiritual principles. But fortunately, there are many scientists who are realizing that, due to their findings, such as with light making conscious decisions, that they need to rely on more spiritual principles to explain these phenomena.
It is the tendency in the scientific world to ostracize and condemn anyone who rejects their theories or beliefs. As I said, this is a new priesthood, in which there is an indomitable, dogmatic institution that says “We are the distributors of knowledge, and then you have to receive what we tell you.” I would like to quote for you, in relation to this topic, a saying by a great Yogi or a great initiate by the name of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. She wrote a text called The Secret Doctrine and she explains in this quote what it is to really investigate occult science and the need to verify things for ourselves, to not take things at face value, but to experiment, to investigate, because this really entails the scientific method. As I mentioned earlier, we are going to talk about the Ether, and she quotes a little bit about this mysterious substance, which, as we will explain, is what can provoke the awakening of our spiritual perception. Blavatsky states: The present writer, claiming no great scientific education, but only a tolerable acquaintance with modern theories, and a better one with Occult Sciences, picks up weapons against the detractors of the esoteric teaching in the very arsenal of modern Science. The glaring contradictions, the mutually-destructive hypotheses of world-renowned Scientists, their mutual accusations, denunciations and disputes, show plainly that, whether accepted or not, the Occult theories have as much right to a hearing as any of the so-called learned and academical hypotheses. Thus whether the followers of the Royal Society choose to accept Ether as a continuous or a discontinuous fluid matters little, and is indifferent to the present purpose. It simply points to one certainty: Official Science knows nothing to this day of the constitution of Ether. Let Science call it matter, if it likes; only neither as akâsa nor as the sacred Æther of the Greeks, is it to be found in any of the states of matter known to modern physics. It is matter on quite another plane of perception and being, and it can neither be analyzed by scientific apparatus, appreciated, nor even conceived by “scientific imagination,” unless the possessors thereof study the Occult Sciences. ―H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Book I, Part III, Chapter III: “An Lumen Sit Corpus, Nec Non?”
So, exactly reiterating what Albert Einstein stated: that we cannot really appreciate the meaning of studying phenomena if the theory does not apply to our cognizant experience, and by verifying through testing, studying, and approaching it. It cannot be analyzed just by scientific apparatus, physical means. We need superior means, but if we ignore our very capacity to experience God, if we reject it with, “Oh, it's not possible," and then we shut the door for ourselves to really knowing what God is. And so, this type of science cannot be conceived by scientific imagination unless, as Blavatsky states, it is occupied under the occult sciences.
We are going to talk later about imagination. Imagination is the capacity to perceive images, whether on the physical level or in the spiritual level, such as in dreams or when we meditate―seeing images or places or people or things. This is occult imagination: the capacity to perceive phenomena on a psychic and spiritual level. We need to comprehend the importance of developing an open mind, the necessity of investigating information in a scientific manner: one of which we do not have bias, where we do not allow our preconceived notions to infect our understanding. This requires that we have an attitude that is open and that we patiently study and contemplate the different religious traditions, as well as what they imply and what they entail. 
Learning How to Listen
This is the teaching of Buddhism, in relation to the bowl of the Buddha, which is a fundamental teaching within esoteric science.
We see here the Buddha with this bowl open waiting to receive knowledge. Saffron robes, his golden colored robes, signifies knowledge within esotericism. If we awaken within the internal planes, if we have an experience with Beings with saffron robes of Buddha, or if we have an experience with the color yellow or orange, it pertains to the mind, the nature of the consciousness. Buddha here is teaching us, in this image, that if we wish to comprehend the higher teachings, we need to have a mind that is receptive: to learn how to receive knowledge and not to instantly compare; to not theorize; to not speculate, but to receive information and to comprehend it. This is the teaching that Jesus gave, the fact that one has to pour new wine in new wineskins, but not to mix it with old wine or old wineskins. Because by pouring the new wine into an old wineskin, the old widescreen will break. This refers to adopting a new type of mind, a different type of mentality in which we can investigate things openly. We need a new attitude. We need to be open like a child, seeing the world for the first time and not instantly wanting to compare or label or debate or argue. Instead, we need a mind that can receive information in order to test it, not to think “This is going to work,” not to say “This is not going to work,” but to adopt the scientific method, the attitude that, "Well, I have my theory about how where this teaching will lead me, but I will be open to whatever occur”―to test, to verify, to experiment, and to see from experience whether it is true or not. We say that when listening to a teaching, that the bowl itself, the mind may have three faults. A vessel might have the following three faults:
This is a teaching given by Tsong Khapa. He was a great Buddhist master. He wrote this in The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, known as the Lam Rim Chen Mo.
…there is no great purpose in your hearing the teachings if you (1) do not pay attention; or, (2) though paying attention, misunderstand what is heard or listen with a bad motivation such as attachment; or, (3) though lacking these faults, do not solidify the words and meanings taken in at the time of hearing but let them fade due to forgetting them and so forth. Therefore, free yourself from all of these faults. ―Tsong Khapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment: Volume I
So the same thing when we approach occult science, as in the teachings of Buddhism, because we say that Gnosis in itself was manifest in the heart of Buddhism. But as well as Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, etc.
We're going to explain some Buddhist principles in relation to occult science, because by understanding the nature of the consciousness, we study the nature of our perception, which relates to Buddhism but also the esoteric teaching. When acquiring new knowledge, it means to approach the study of reality with an open mind. The Fourth Dimension
When we talk about the nature of cosmological laws, we talked about what is known as the fourth dimension. We are going to discuss the nature of Ether. We will discuss different natures of perception. And we are going to discuss the requisites for comprehending these laws in ourselves. So the 14th Dalai Lama continues in the same book, I mentioned The Universe in a Single Atom, and in relation to the study that Einstein provided and the study of the nature of space-time, the 4th dimension which is essential to the study of consciousness:
As I understand it, the most important implication of Einstein’s theory of relativity is that notions of space, time, and mass cannot be seen as absolutes, existing in themselves as permanent, unchanging substances or entities. Space is not an independent, three-dimensional domain, and time is not a separate entity; rather they co-exist as a four-dimensional continuum of “space-time.” In a nutshell, Einstein’s special theory of relativity implies that, while the speed of light is invariable, there is no absolute, privileged frame of reference and everything, including space and time, is ultimately relative. This is truly a remarkable revelation. ―H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama, The Universe in a Single Atom, Chapter 3: “Emptiness, Relativity, and Quantum Physics”
When we talk about consciousness, we need to talk about space and time, because the study of the nature of our experience will lead us to the awakening to superior dimensions of nature. This study that the nature of consciousness is relative and that the different dimensions of nature are relative as well, in relation to our perception of them, is a very profound esoteric statement that is affirmed by Buddhism.
So as the Dalai Lama states: In the Buddhist philosophical world, the concept of time as relative is not alien. Before the second century C.E., the Sautranika school argued against the notion of time as absolute. Dividing the temporal process into the past, present, and future, the Sautranikas demonstrated the interdependence of the three and argued for the untenability of any notion of independently real past, present, and future. They showed that time cannot be conceived as an intrinsically real entity existing independently of temporal phenomena but must be understood as a set of relations among temporal phenomena. ―H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama, The Universe in a Single Atom, Chapter 3: “Emptiness, Relativity, and Quantum Physics”
This is important to understanding our perception. How do we relate to the physical world? Even understanding, how do we perceive? Understanding our relative position of the nature of our universe, because it is this mistake of feeling that oneself is independent of this existence―that is a great delusion. When we perceive that our own mistaken senses of self are relative to us and illusory, we can begin to awaken to a much superior way of life.
Apart from the temporal phenomena upon which we construct the concept of time, there is no real time that is somehow the grand vessel in which things and events occur, an absolute that has an existence of its own. ―H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama, The Universe in a Single Atom, Chapter 3: “Emptiness, Relativity, and Quantum Physics”
So we examine the nature of our relationships to impressions of life from the scientific perspective. We seek to verify and comprehend our own perceptions, our own relationship to the impressions of life, which in truth is multi-dimensional in nature.
Space-Time: The Fourth Coordinate
We are going to discuss the fourth dimension specifically, next, and how it pertains to our conscious perception.
Previously we showed the image of what is known as the Bhavachakra in Buddhism. This image represents the illusory nature of phenomena divided into six realms. We have a course specifically dedicated to the subject on our website [Bhavachakra on Glorian.org], but we mentioned the Bhavachakra in brief because it explains aspects of our consciousness that we need to understand.
All beings who dwell within these six realms, which are symbolic in nature, dwell within suffering, within mistaken notions of self-hood or grasping and aversion to suffering: a psychological attachment that keeps them rotating within the wheel. If you are familiar with Carl Orff, there is a classical composition Carmina Burana, which is where we have the famous piece “O Fortuna.” We find that this cycle or rotation within different realms of suffering, different ways of perceiving, are mistaken notions of self that create suffering.
We study, briefly, the Bhavachakra because in order to awaken to our genuine spiritual nature, we seek to transcend this wheel. This can only come about by questioning our own perceptions, by learning to perceive our mind as we were practicing earlier, as a separate entity, and that we, as a consciousness, are something separate and distinct. Those who have freed themselves from the wheel of suffering are known as bodhisattvas. They have escaped the dualistic mentation of the mind and they have transcended to a superior region. You see them in the top corners of the image. This science of consciousness that we are explaining pertains to understanding our different modes of perception and the nature of what we call space and time, the fourth dimension. Because by understanding space and time, we understand ourselves to a deeper degree. Now people in conventional science have, at least within the past century, affirmed the existence of a fourth coordinate. We studied the nature of the 4th dimension in relation to our consciousness, because it pertains to how we perceive or the illusions of what we perceive. 
So first off we have this image. We have an eye with a clock which we are going to explain. Sand is representing the chronometric aspect of time. So when we talk about the fourth dimension, we talk about two aspects of our perception in this region, because it is this illusion of time, of thinking of the future, worrying about the past, which keeps us hypnotized and not recognizing our current state of being.
So to quote Samael Aun Weor, the founder of the modern Gnostic tradition, in his book Cosmic Teachings of a Lama: Length, width, and height are―without any possible doubt (even if these are of a Cartesian type)―the three Euclidean aspects of this three-dimensional world within which, for good or for bad, we live. It is evident that it would be absurd to exclude the fourth factor from our postulations.
In discussing consciousness, we talk about these two factors. The chronometric aspect of time is the illusion that there is a morning and an afternoon, an evening, a day. Or a five o'clock, or afternoon, or twelve o'clock at night. This illusion of time that we commonly experience and sense, that is the chronometric aspect of our perception.
But we also have what is known as the spatial depth of our perception, which could only be developed if we learn to awaken our consciousness, our spiritual capacities. We have this image of the eye with the clock to represent the spatial depth of the fourth dimension. It is important to study the fourth dimension because when we comprehend ourselves, we are learning to perceive our own multi-dimensional nature. We are learning to perceive how we are not just a three dimensional being with length, width, and height. We have actually a much more profound and deeper constitution than is admitted by conventional science. We have our emotions and our mind, which are more real to us than anything else. In fact, we always try to make the physical world concur to our own desires, the way we think and feel. We want our external world and universe to coincide with our concepts, beliefs, our emotions, our attitudes, our cravings. If we want coffee, we make an effort to fulfill our needs. It is not just a physical instinct, but it is an emotional craving. Or in our mind, we have a belief about a certain system or teaching and we strongly affirm it against another person we argue with. Therefore, this is indicating that the mind and the emotions in themselves are more real to us than anything physical. Even the way we physically live is completely contingent upon our thoughts and our feelings and our psychological constitution. Even the way we perceive the illusions of time and our own sense of self depends entirely on how we perceive. It depends entirely upon this question: what is it that we perceive and how do we know? Our multi-dimensional nature is verified even by the existence that we have thought-feeling―if we observe ourselves and analyze: where does it come from? Where do we receive thoughts? Where do emotions emerge? The truth is these elements of our constitution belong to different dimensions of nature, which interpenetrate our physical plane. We are going to be explaining in relation to the Kabbalah, which is known as the Hebrew Tree of Life: a map of the multi-dimensional nature of our consciousness. If we wish to understand the nature of our perception, if we wish to understand the mysteries of life and death, we need to overcome this illusion of time: that there is a tomorrow or that there was a yesterday. The truth is there is only this moment. Our sense of time is dependent upon physical factors and therefore our relationships, obligations family, career, job, physical objects, like home or property, our relationship to all these things create this illusion of what we call time. If we wish to comprehend the more higher spiritual principles, we need to understand the nature of our own illusions of time: to observe here and now; to not think of the future or the or the past, but to be aware of the present moment. And this is, we are going to explain, starts to develop what we know is the spatial depth, which is the ability of the consciousness to perceive physical phenomena in a new way, in a more encompassing way. Even in this physical plane we have many illusions. Samael Aun Weor states in The Doomed Aryan Race [now published as The Narrow Way] in relation to the nature of our three dimensions as well as the fourth dimension: A line is the print that a dot leaves while moving through space. A plane is the print that a line leaves while moving through space. A solid is the print that a plane leaves while moving through space. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Narrow Way
These are our three dimensions, and typically all we perceive are just length, width, and height, in terms of our physical senses: our sight, our capacity to hear, etc. We rarely recognize or are able to perceive the vital depth of a person. This is known as clairvoyance: by learning to perceive energy of people, the chakras.
Clairvoyance in French literally means “clear vision.” Do not think that only a few people have this capacity, or that they are gifted. In fact, we all have the potential to develop these faculties, if we are sincere that our inner Being, our inner God can guide us to awakening what we call the spatial depth, which is clairvoyance. When we learn to awaken our own divine perception, we could begin to perceive life in a new way. All of us have to some degree. If we are approaching this science, we have experienced something to a degree of this type of phenomena, in which we were shocked―in which, in a given moment, we question, “Why am I even here? What am I doing here? Who am I as a person? Where am I going?” Meaning spiritually. “If I die what will happen?” When we question what it is we know and we analyze what is it that we want to know, we begin to awaken. When we learn to develop that, when we follow that hunch, that yearning, we approach the science that leads us towards the development of that capacity within us. We develop the spatial sense, clairvoyance, spiritual perception. We begin to perceive different phenomena. Samael Aun Weor continues: A hypersolid is the print that a solid leaves while moving through space... ―Samael Aun Weor, The Narrow Way
So we are talking about points, lines, and planes, and that when they move through space, they create the different dimensions. When a physical object, when a solid of three dimensions moves through space, it creates what is known as a hyper solid.
Samael Aun Weor states: …it is the fourth dimension of any given body.
So that which people call auras, seeing imagery within the internal dimensions, such as in dream yoga, awakening in the astral plane, speaking to angels, conversing with the Gods: that is conscious perception. Perceiving physical life in a totally new manner, pertains to the awakening of perception and the perception of hyper solids, hyper volume. Because, the hyper solid of a person is simply the vital aura, the energy of a person―what we call the Ether of a person.
The Four States of Consciousness
When talking about the nature of Ether and energies, and how to use energy to awaken consciousness, we need to emphasize that there are really four states of consciousness in this science. If we wish to comprehend the nature of time, if we wish to develop our clairvoyance to perceive the heavenly beings within the superior dimensions when we dream, we need to comprehend that there are four states of consciousness of perception.
Eikasia
We use Greek terms from Plato who knew this science in depth. He was a Gnostic initiate. We have Eikasia (Εἰκασία). Eikasia simply means ironically, “imagination.” This is very interesting. We emphasize that Eikasia is ssleep without dreams: to be asleep as a consciousness and to not even have dreams.
We typically associate this state with being physically asleep and eight hours passing by in the night, and then we wake up and not remember anything. This is one level of meaning to this state of consciousness. But even more directly, if we look at the literal translation, Eikasia means “imagination.” It means perception. It is a type of perception, such as we have now, meaning, we physically we have our sight, our hearing, our touch, etc., and yet we fail to recognize the inherent, intrinsic reality contained within any impression that we receive. We fail to understand that the nature of any given impression of life is illusory. We simply see appearances. We do not really directly see within a person. So we are having a conversation with an individual. Unless we are really awakened spiritually, we do not perceive their thoughts. But we have a general sense of emotion, of experience. Eikasia literally means “imagination,” and it means the type of perception we all have. We are physically awake, but spiritually speaking, we are asleep. We are not aware of our energies, our divine potential on a clairvoyant level, on an observant level. Humanity is caught within this state of Eikasia. People think they are awake, physically, yes, but spiritually no. To be spiritually awake is to perceive the vital forces that animate nature, to see life in a new way, not to be caught up in thought, intellect, theories, debate, which is precisely the second state of consciousness. Pistis
πίστης Pistis, in Greek, literally means “belief.” It means sleep with dreams.
So what is a belief? It is but a dream, an idea, a concept that has not been verified. Many human beings on this globe have many theories, spiritual or scientific, and yet which are not grounded in the actual experience of the truth, that have not been verified through one's own cognizance. Pistis is to dream. If we physically go to sleep and we have dreams, that is Pistis. We are not aware that we are dreaming. We are not aware that we are receiving images on a psychic level within the dream state. Therefore, these are illusory. This is illusion. Eikasia, again, is sleep without dreams, and when we are physically awake, it does not mean that we are spiritually awake. It means that our physical senses are active, but our own consciousness is asleep. It is in a potential state. It is not developed. That can only be developed by learning to learn how to work with energy known as the Ether, as we will explain, and learning to direct our attention. Dianoia
So precisely the state of awakened consciousness is διάνοια Dianoia. Dianoia signifies “revision of belief” and we call this the state of awakening. So do not mistake that being physically awake that one is spiritually awake, because we can be physically asleep and we can be awake in the superior dimensions of nature, known as astral projection or out of body experiences. Or one can be physically awake and yet asleep as a consciousness, or better said, one could be physically asleep and psychologically asleep.
Do not think that consciousness simply means physical activity, or that in our state we possess consciousness. Yes, we perceive phenomena. We perceive images, sensations, thought, emotion; but it does not necessarily mean that we comprehend those phenomena as they exist within ourselves. As you might have noticed from the practice we did at the beginning before the lecture, we were sitting to observe our own mind, as if the mind itself is an actor and that we are a director. If we have seen that our own thoughts come and go without any control on our part, if we can experience that emotions come and go without any direction of our will, it means that we are not in control of our mind. It means that we perceive life, but we do not comprehend it. It is precisely this foundation that we seek to emphasize. Consciousness does not literally mean being physically awake. The consciousness is part of the Being, of God, that needs to be developed. So Eikasia means “sleep.” We are here present, but the question is whether we are paying attention, if we are awake as a spirit, as a psyche. Pistis is sleep with dreams. Meaning: anytime we have an idea, a preoccupation, a memory, we are driving our car but thinking about other things. We are planning our day when we are drinking coffee. Or conceptualizing, theorizing, believing. This is Pistis. These are fluctuating states of experience that do not signify that we as a consciousness, of the part of God, are really awake, vigilant, active, being aware of the thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, perceptions, comprehending them all in this instant. That is Dianoia, because noia or nous means “mind.” Dia means “side to side.” So Dianoia means “to stand aside from the mind” and to look at it for what it is, that it is a machine. It can store information. It can conceptualize. It can rationalize. it can compare things, but it cannot know God. And sadly, Immanuel Kant, a great German philosopher, was rejected because he stated this: that the mind cannot know the truth, and many philosophers were angry with him. They said, “What are you talking about?” Because they use the intellect to try to explain spiritual phenomena. Dianoia a means “to stand aside from the mind” and see it for what it is. But besides this type of perception there is something superior which we call νους Nous. Nous
Nous is illuminated awakened consciousness. It is one thing to stand aside from the mind and see it for what it is, to comprehend that it is like a separate entity in itself. It is another thing for that consciousness to unite with God and to be one with God, to perceive oneself as God, when the Being is fully manifested in that consciousness. This is known in the East among the yogis as samadhi, as experiences in which the consciousness is like a drop of water lost in the ocean of divinity.
Question: What is a yogi? Instructor: Yogi is a person who practices yoga. This teaching is essentially yoga in itself. We are learning to understand the mind and to control our own mind, so that we can attain union, which is the meaning of yoga. Yug, the Sanskrit word “to reunite,” so that we could reunite with God. Question: Is this the Indian language? Instructor: Sanskrit. The Eastern language. Nous pertains to experiencing the consciousness of God, which is very elevated and which we can only really experience through meditation, which is the fundamental teaching or practice of this tradition. If you are familiar with Plato's teaching, he talked about the Allegory of the Cave in his book The Republic. He describes as a group of men or people living in a cave, in which there is a wall, and individuals are chained by their necks in their legs and their arms to that wall facing the darkness. Behind the wall there is a fire, and individuals are carrying clay pottery on their heads and their arms past the light, and it is casting shadows on the wall. Now the individuals who only see darkness in that cave is Eikasia. They sleep. They have no dreams. They see no imagery. Meaning, they do not perceive even psychic imagery, such as if we go to sleep physically and eight hours go by and we don't remember anything. This exemplifies the fact that if this is our common state of being. It means that we are like the prisoner in the cave, unable to see even images. Another of those who see images on the wall, those are dreams, false illusions. Any belief, thought, concept, idea in itself, is an image. It is fleeting. It passes on the screen of the mind. It disappears. That is all we see. Fortunately in the allegory, we have an individual who is freed from his confines: taken, turned around to face the light, the fire in the cave, and is immediately blinded by that light. But when his eyes adjust, he realizes his surroundings and that the clay pottery that was before the light of the fire is projecting its images on the wall. He realizes that what he previously perceived was an illusion. This is Dianoia. He stands outside himself to the side of his mind and says, “Now I see that what I perceived before my ways of thinking, my ways of feeling, my ways of behaving, all that is illusory―and that my perception of these things is in itself something superficial.” But again, the story does not end there. It is not enough just to see the fire in the cave. That is Dianoia. Socrates was a teacher of Plato. Socrates says in Plato's teaching that this individual has to be forced out of the cave, dragged against his will. This is us when we are really beginning to study this type of science and if we are beginning to awaken our consciousness. We have to be dragged out. 
Divinity takes us by the cuff, pulls us out of the cave, and gives us the experience where emerging from the mountainside, one sees the stars. Even at this point, the person's eyes are weak and dim. It cannot perceive the light as it is. Then for the first time in this individual’s life who's been in the cave he sees the sun, the sunrise for the first time.
We know from Christian teachings that Christ is the sun, the solar logos, the fire, the flame of life that animates all beings. So, he sees that light for the first time and is blinded by that luminosity, and it takes them weeks to adjust to that light. And then he realizes when he is in freedom, that he feels such pity for people who are in the cave because they don't understand what freedom is. That experience of the sun for the first time is Nous. To be united with God is Nous. It is the consciousness illuminated by the spirit, by our Buddha, by Allah, by Christ: different names for that energy, that force. We are like that in the cave. We perceive thought, feeling, emotion, sensations, but we do not really comprehend how these in themselves are phenomena. They are constantly changing like the images on the wall of the cave. By learning to work with our energy, precisely the Ether which we are going to be discussing, we can generate our own fire, which is represented by the fire in the cave. In order to perceive light, we need fire. 
The Tree of Life: Our Multidimensional Nature
In spiritual studies, we talked about the need to work with energy. We talked about the need to develop spiritual forces. The nature of energy is described in this image. This glyph is known in Kabbalah as the Tree of Life.
This is one of the trees that was mentioned in the Garden of Eden, in the Book of Genesis. This tree represents a map of consciousness, from the highest realms of the Being, of God, to the lowest levels of matter, energy, and consciousness. We basically have ten spheres or סְפִירוֹת sephiroth [the Hebrew term for emanations]. Above we have Christ, the trinity above: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Below we have the different manifestations of that light which descends, down into matter and energy. through past periods of cosmic evolution, which is a different topic. But in this image, it explains the multi-dimensional nature of our Being. We all have God within. We all have a spark, a flame that unites us with the source of all creation, which above is known as the Absolute. Here we have at the top trinity. Notice we have three trinities. The top trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Hebrew, it is known as כֶּתֶר Kether, חָכְמָה Chokmah, and בִּינָה Binah. Below that we have another trinity, which is the trinity of the Spirit: God, our own particular God within. חֶסֶד Chesed, גְּבוּרָה Geburah, תִּפְאֶרֶת Tiphereth: we have the Spirit, the consciousness, and what is known as the soul or human soul. Below that we have to the right, mind, נצח Netzach. To the left we have emotions, הוד Hod. Beneath that we have יְסוֹד Yesod, which is vital energy, the foundation of all spiritual practice. Then below that we have מלכות Malkuth, which is the physical body. Notice even in this diagram the mind, the emotions, and the vitality are just the bottom of the real human being. They are not the totality. We have other aspects of being that we need to awaken to. When we talk about the multi-dimensional nature of our constitution, we talk about this glyph, because all of us have Christ within. All of us have our own spirit, that if we unite with in meditation, we can become one with that consciousness―that state of being which is to see the light of day for the first time, like in the Allegory of the Cave. We say that this glyph is divided into different dimensions. Here we are talking about the fourth dimension. We look in this image, this this glyph is divided into seven dimensions. The bottom we have our three-dimensional world Malkuth, the physical body. The fourth dimension is known as Yesod, the vital body. When we talk about bodies and energy, we are talking about vehicles which exist within more subtle levels of nature, of matter, energy, and consciousness that we can access when we know how to awaken in dreams. The way we do that is precisely working with the Ether, known as our vitality, what gives us strength, which gives us the capacity to perceive life in this physical plane. The physical body Malkuth is just an instrument of the vital body. If you are familiar with the Kirlian camera, Russian scientists developed this camera that can photograph the aura of living things. Even minerals have vital depth, vital energy. It is this energy that is going to grant us the capacity to ascend, up this tree. It is the Ether, the light, which illuminates the different spheres, which form the Christmas tree. So that tree is the Tree of Life, fully illuminated by the Ether of our body, of our energies, which, when we work with that energy, it illuminates and creates the Christmas tree, the Christ-Mass-tree, which is a harmony or reunion with the Christ force. 
Question: Do you view that as a ladder then?
Instructor: Yes, we even talk about in the Bible, Jacob's ladder. Question: So we all start at the bottom per say and then we can experientially work up? Instructor: Yes, this is the process of initiation, which is another lecture. Question: Is that why they put lights on the Christmas tree? Instructor: Because that represents the human being, fully illuminated, the different sephiroth to the star, which is the really the goal that we seek, our own inner Being at the heights. So, again, we talk about seven dimensions. The Christ known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Above they relate to the seventh dimension. This light is the zero dimension. It is the first emanation or light that emerges from that source we call the Absolute. Time does not exist in the source of divinity, the Absolute. However, that energy, that light known as Christ, descends and enters the different levels of matter, energy, and perception. Beneath that we have the sixth dimension, which is where we find the Spirit, the consciousness, and our human soul. This is known as Nirvana among the Buddhists. Nirvana literally means “cessation,” and it means that in order to acquire that state, one needs to acquire the cessation of suffering, a mind that is serene so that one can experience those realms only by controlling the mind. Beneath that we have two sephiroth, two spheres. We have on the right Netzach, which is mind, intellect. On the left we have Hod, emotions, the astral vehicle. The mind and the emotions constitute the fifth dimension, which is beneath Nirvana. The fifth dimension is where we go to dream. We typically travel in what some call the astral body or the mental body, which are vehicles or lunar vehicles. Nature gives us certain vehicle so that we can exist with thought and feeling in those realms. Beneath that we have Yesod, the fourth dimension, which we equate with space and time as well as the Ether. Question: Yesod is the fourth dimension? Instructor: Yes, and in Al-Qur’an, the teaching given by Prophet Muhammad, he said that paradise is a land of milk and honey. So, this is the fourth dimension that he was talking about. Many of the saints who acquire beatitude and sanctification in their life, they enter into paradise, which is Yesod, a voluptuous and blissful state. Then beneath that we have Malkuth, the physical plane. I am going to explain to you just a little bit about from the teachings of Samael Aun Weor, the nature of these different dimensions. We have been told that the fourth dimension is time (in its exclusively temporal aspect).
As I mentioned it is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit above.
The intellectual beast… ―Samael Aun Weor, The Narrow Way
…and this sounds very harsh, but the truth is all of us are, we could say animals with intellect. The word animal comes from anima, which means “soul.” So we are souls with intellect, and if we are constantly identified with negativity and anger and pride and passion, it means that we were bestial in a sense, negative, and we use our intellect and create many problems for ourselves.
The intellectual beast is bottled up in Euclidean geometry because he has never awakened his consciousness. The consciousness that slumbers is content with Euclid’s tri-dimensional geometry (meaning: just isosceles triangles and other shapes relating to the physical plane, ignoring that there is a higher mathematics, a higher type of teaching). One-dimensional creatures only possess sensations of pleasure and pain, likes and dislikes, such as for example, the snail. Bi-dimensional creatures such as dogs, cats and horses, etc., possess sensations and representations (they not only feel pain of good and bad, pleasure and displeasure, they also see representations; images such as the person, the master, etc.). The tri-dimensional biped (mistakenly called a human being) [and we will elaborate on this point] possesses sensations, representations, and concepts. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Narrow Way
We talk about the human being made into the image of God. People think the image of God is the physical body, and they are mistaken, because this image is psychological and spiritual. To be made in the image of God is to be a mind united with the spirit, because the word mind in Sanskrit is manas, man. The spirit is hum in Sanskrit. The breath, the wind, that floated above the face of the waters in the Book of Genesis, that inner spirit needs to work with our energies known as Ether, in order to create the image of God within.
A human being is just that: a Christmas tree fully illuminated, because if we take this image and put it on the person, we find it matches with the physical body with the highest aspects of God in the brain. We have the spirit in the heart, and they have our vital energies or forces within sexuality.
The spatial sense can never be developed without the awakening of the consciousness.
This is precisely our goal in these studies, to become what the Bible calls a human being. What is a being is the Christ, the inner Buddha, our spirit within. A hum-man is a mind that obeys God within. So, it is psychological. It is not physical. When we talk about the nature of Ethers, we will explain why.
The fourth dimension precisely is the foundation that leads us towards the path of spiritual development. The Ether in itself is a mysterious substance that was pondered about by physicists, and there has been much speculation about the nature of this substance. They talked about space-time as taught by Einstein, but many really failed to understand that this Ether is what can grant us the capacity to experience the spiritual realms. Notice how even going back to this image, this Tree of Life is centered on this sephirot Yesod, known as Ether, known as energy. It gives our vitality in our body. It is the second to bottom in the very center. It is right above Malkuth. We have here Yesod and then Malkuth below. So, our foundation of the entire Tree of Life, of the unity with God, is precisely by knowing how to work with this energy called Ether. More specifically we call it the sexual force. The sexual energy. Question: Why is the bottom upside down? Instructor: It is a good question. That is known as hell. In Kabbalah, it is called קְלִיפּוֹת Klipoth, which literally translates as “shells.” It is the inverted aspect of the Tree of Life. Just as there is heaven, there is hell. Hell refers to our own pride, anger, negativity, vanity, laziness, gluttony, our defects. It is the shadow of the tree that we need to eliminate if we want to illuminate our Christmas tree, meaning our own inner Being, our own higher constitution. Question: Is that why the different areas, sephiroth, are? Like gluttony, vanity... Instructor: Not specifically. You cannot correlate necessarily each of the nine inverted sephiroth with a specific defect. Instead, there are astrological influences that Master Samael explains in books like Hell, Devil and Karma, in which he describes how different planetary influences govern the different spheres of hell, but that's another topic, because hell in itself is not just a place in the internal dimensions where people suffer. There is a place, but instead it more importantly refers to our psychological states. Question: Being in a physical body, that is almost like being in hell itself? Instructor: We can say that, yes, and our body needs to be purified and become a house for God, like symbolized by the Virgin Mary. Mary represents the physical body, the matter, the mother, that needs to be purified in order to incarnate Christ. The way that we work with that is by working with the Ether. Ether: The Sexual Energy
We are going to explain more about this energy and how it applies to our spiritual development. I like to actually quote for you Albert Einstein again from the same book The World As I See it. This is from a chapter of “The Problem of Space, Ether, and the Field in Physics,” explaining how many scientists are debating this concept of space-time, and what is this Ether that is so essential to physics.
The mechanical properties of the Ether were at first a mystery. Then came H. A. Lorentz’s great discovery. All the phenomena of electro-magnetism then known could be explained on the basis of two assumptions: that Ether is firmly fixed in space―that is to say, unable to move at all, and that electricity is firmly lodged in the mobile elementary particles. Today his discovery may be expressed as follows: ―Physical space and the Ether are only different terms for the same thing; fields are physical conditions of space. For if no particular state of motion belongs to the Ether, there does not seem to be any ground for introducing it as an entity with a special sort alongside space. ―Albert Einstein, The World As I See It: The Problem of Space, Ether, and the Field in Physics
There is this big great debate about the nature of Ether and whether it is a different substance from space or if it is one with space. So we talk about, especially in these teachings, how in order to develop our spatial sense, our capacity to perceive life in a completely different manner, we need to work with that energy, that Ether, which is precisely within our sexual organs. It is a vital energy that gives us life.
We have our parents. They copulate it and now we have a physical body. That energy also has the potential to create spiritually if we know how to use it correctly. So here Einstein is explaining that, you know, they are trying to resolve this issue of how does electromagnetism work? How do forces manifest and act through matter? Precisely, the answer is to the Ether, known as the fourth dimension. Question: You are saying that there is a direct link between Ether and our sexual organs? Instructor: Yes. Question: That is where the capacity is to see these forces behind nature?... Instructor: Yes, precisely so. This substance known as Ether, which permeates every atom of our physical body, grants our body the capacity to transmit electricity, energy, forces, biochemistry, such as the different processes of digestion, of excretion, of many processes in our physical body which we take for granted. Our life depends on the health of our vital body. When a person dies, it means that the vital body has lost its energies and it basically separates from the physical body or disintegrates. If the physical body never had its vital depth, meaning, those Ethers or energies present in the body, we would die. Our very life, even our lifespan depends on how we use our energies, whether mental, emotional, or sexual. Remember we talked about the mind, we talked about the emotions, and we are talking about Yesod now, the foundation of spiritual practice as the Ether. 
This Ether also manifests again in different ways. We have it not only in our sexual organs as the vital foundation of life. We also have it within space. It is a substance that permeates all of nature. It allows for the spiritual forces of God to manifest physically. So just as we have it within our body, we have it within the cosmos. As represented by this glyph or this image.
Many people have debated about the nature of Ether from different religions, different traditions, trying to explain what it is. Many having very conflicting and contrary opinions about it. But we explained in synthesis that the Ether as we know it is in our sexual organs. It is a condensation of spiritual forces that come from even from the galaxies, from the stars, from the highest realms of the Tree of Life as we mentioned. This Ether, as we are going to explain, enters into our body and manifest in different ways, the different ways that we can work with this energy in order to awaken our consciousness. I would like to quote again from Blavatsky from The Secret Doctrine. She states: The septenary gradation, and the innumerable subdivisions and differences, made by the ancients between the powers of Ether collectively, from its outward fringe of effects, with which our Science is so familiar, up to the “Imponderable Substance,” once admitted as the “Ether of Space,” now about to be rejected... ―H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Book I, Part II, Chapter III: “Primordial Substance and Divine Thought”
Meaning: people used to think it was a separate substance from space, ignoring that the cosmos, the space, is one with that energy, and through the condensation of forces on the Tree of Life that enters into our body, enters our sexual organs. Then it is a matter of returning that energy inward and upward towards the source. Not only physically, but within our different levels of our constitution represented by that tree. This:
..."Imponderable Substance," once admitted as the “Ether of Space,” now about to be rejected, has been a vexing riddle for every branch of knowledge. The mythologists and symbologists of our day, confused by this incomprehensible glorification, on the one hand, and degradation on the other, of the same deified entity and in the same religious systems, are often driven to the most ludicrous mistakes. (So many people they think this substance Ether mentioned in religion is basically the abode of hell to some. So Blavatsky states:) The Church, firm as a rock in each and all of her early errors of interpretation, has made of Ether the abode of her Satanic legions. ―H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Book I, Part II, Chapter III: “Primordial Substance and Divine Thought”
There is a lot of misconceptions about Ether. They think it is some kind of physical chemical to put someone to sleep or it is some demonic substance that it channels evil forces. The truth is Ether, in itself, in its most unmodified original substance, which we seek to work within ourselves, is known as the Divine Mother Space.
We see in this image, in a Hindu depiction of the Divine Mother, and from Her emerges three figures Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. These are just different terms for the Holy Trinity of Christianity: Brahma the father, Vishnu the Son, the Christ, and Shiva the Holy Spirit. These are energies, not people, but forces.
So the Divine Mother is the space that we find in the universe, which is the habitat of that energy known as Ether, the sacred force. The Hindus give it a different name. They call it Prakriti. They say Prakriti, this energy, is the Divine Mother. When we talk about the Virgin Mary, we are addressing that divinity, which cannot be conceptualized with images necessarily. Question: Is that the same as prana? Instructor: Yes, prana is another term. We say prana is a life force. A lot of these terms are really synonymous. They indicate aspect of the same force. The reason we study this cosmological perspective in relation to the science of consciousness is because by working with these energies, divine forces, we can awaken to superior levels of experience. Prakriti means “nature,” literally, from Sanskrit. We can also call her Mulaprakriti at the same time. Mula means “root.” She is the root of nature, which is the space. Remember in the Book of Genesis, “the spirit of God hovered above the face of the waters.” Or it says in Hebrew, the רוח אלהים Ruach Elohim hovered above the face of the waters, the face of the deep, meaning the space, and then God said “Let there be light, and there was light.” So working with the waters is precisely how God created the light within. Although there is a cosmological relationship to this myth, more importantly it refers to how we develop psychologically, spiritually. The waters are precisely those Ethers, the vital forces of nature, which we have in our sexual glands, and when we know how to work with our inner Being, the Spirit, the Ruach Elohim, God can create light within. God can awaken the consciousness. Again, that light is developed by working with those waters known as Ether. Some call it Akash. It has different names, and we find it precisely within our sexual glands, because if you are familiar with Hinduism, the yogis, they teach the base chakra, the base of the spine is known as Muladhara. It is the abode of Prakriti, they say. It is the abode of the Divine Mother. So relating to Hinduism, the energies of God, the Divine Mother force known as Kundalini, She is Prakriti within us that can awaken and ascend up our spinal column when we know how to work with those energies, known as Ether. Or, we could say Akash, another term for that. Question: How do you exactly work with those energies, so as to activate them? Instructor: To awaken sparks of that force, one can work with mantra, but specifically we refer to the necessity for what we call scientific chastity. People think chastity simply means to abstain from sex. It really means purity within sex. If one is single, one can practice exercises of pranayama. We have them available in our literature [see the lecture Pranayama and Sexual Transmutation], but also mantras help stimulate that energy in order to channel those forces and we can awaken sparks of that fire. The only way to fully awaken the Kundalini is precisely in a matrimony, which we could not explain in depth today, but it is the union of man and woman, sexually speaking, in which the most powerful forces of God, the fires of creation, can give birth to the spirit. As Jesus said, "that which is born of the flesh is flesh." Meaning: if one copulates in the normal fashion, one can give birth to a child, a physical child. “But that which is born of the spirit.” In the same sexual act, we can develop the spirit if we conserve that energy and we don't expel it, meaning: to not reach the orgasm, specifically. Question: When a woman is having her cycle or time of the month, it is dangerous to work with the pranayama, right? Instructor: Women, when they are in their menstruation cycle, should not mantralize, should not transmute. Just to meditate, because it is a natural process in the female body that needs to expel negative substances from the body. It is a natural process for women because the feminine body is more receptive and receives energies and needs to purify every month. During that process, women should only meditate. Do not mantralize. Do not transmute. Question: Not even mantralize? Instructor: You can, but physically the vocalization is a special creation that occurs when physically mantralizing. So, not to do pranayama, not to do that, but to pray. One can pray, one can meditate during those times, because the body needs to clean itself basically. So Prakriti is precisely within that chakra known as Muladhara. Dara means “foundation.” Mula means “root.” As I mentioned with some of the exercises, we seek to awaken that fire. So that fire, like in the Allegory of the Cave, can illuminate us, so that we can leave the mountain, leave the cave, and ascend to the highest realms basically speaking. Question: Is the Kundalini force both within the sexual organs and the root of the spine? Instructor: The Kundalini is a serpent fire that is coiled three and a half times in the Muladhara Chakra. It is at the base of the spine. But we have that energy active in our sexual organs basically, and so when we know how to work with the Divine Mother, we can awaken our consciousness. So again, this energy is in space, but we also find this energy within our sexual glands. Samael Aun Weor states in one of his books of astrology: Prakriti, the Divine Mother, is the primordial substance of nature. Several substances, different elements and sub-elements exist within the universe, but all of these are different manifestations of a single substance. The Great Mother, the Prakriti, the Primordial Matter, is the Pure Akasha contained within the entire space (we sometimes say Akasha. We sometimes say Ether. Really they are synonymous). Millions and billions of universes are being born and dying within the bosom of the Prakriti. Every cosmos is born from the Prakriti and is dissolved within the Prakriti. Every world is a ball of fire that becomes ignited and extinguished in the bosom of Prakriti. Everything is born from the Prakriti; everything returns to the Prakriti. She is the Great Mother. ―Samael Aun Weor, Practical Astrology: The Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology
So just as we have Divine Mother space, we also have the Divine Mother as a serpentine fire within our coccyx.
Again, we have another image of space representing the forces of nature, divine nature.
Question: How does one activate the Merkabah? Instructor: The Merkabah, which is a chariot of the initiates, is a representation of what we call the solar bodies. These are vehicles that can express the energies of Christ here and now. Christ knows that if it tried to incarnate within a person who did not have those vehicles within, that person would be obliterated. Question: Even if they are spiritually awake? Instructor: Even if one develops the consciousness, one is at another point to walk the path of initiation to create what we call the solar bodies. So many people, they talk about the astral body, mental body, but the truth is that as we are now, we typically possess what are called lunar vehicles: vehicles that we inhabit when we dream, that were given to us by nature. But we need to create a superior type of vehicle, which is only possible through alchemy or the perfect matrimony. Question: Merkabah is activated... Is that the same effect as the Kundalini? Instructor: When we awaken the Kundalini and develop it up the spinal medulla, not only within the physical body, but the vital body, the astral body, the mental body, the bodies above, that creates what we call solar bodies. So, the Kundalini force, the Divine Mother can create those vehicles of soul. Question: Even though they are one, but they are still different? Instructor: We could say they are different aspects of ourselves, just in the same way that our thoughts are dealing with our emotions and our body. We have the distinctions, but usually they interpenetrate in such a way that we don't know the difference, but that's why we need to awaken ourselves consciously so that we can differentiate between thought, feeling, emotion, sensation, etc. Question: And the Kundalini expands your consciousness? Instructor: It can give us greater capacities for awakening. Yes. Question: The Merkabah does the same thing? Instructor: The Merkabah: having solar bodies, can give oneself capacities to experience superior dimensions. The Merkabah are the solar bodies, the vehicles that can take us up to God. The way that we develop those vehicles is precisely by working with this primordial root matter. We call it Ether. We call it Akasha. We call it Prakriti. And so, this energy is really the root of all cosmogonies, not only in the physical universe that we know of, but also even in our internal universe. We need to create our own spiritual, we could say world, from the chaos. That chaos is precisely in reference to our own energies in our body that are untamed, and also our mind, because like it says in the Book of Genesis "and the world was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep." That darkness is our own mind. But if we know how to work with the energies―we call Akasha, we call Ether, by working with the breath, the spirit that floated above the waters, working with our breath, with mantra, with pranayama, or working in alchemy in a marriage―those energies can create our inner universe. What is the primordial Chaos but Æther? Not the modern Ether; not such as is recognized now, but such as was known to the ancient philosophers long before the time of Moses; but Æther, with all its mysterious and occult properties, containing in itself the germs of universal creation. Upper Æther or Akâsa, is the celestial virgin and mother of every existing form and being, from whose bosom, as soon as “incubated” by the Divine Spirit [the Ruach Elohim as I mentioned], are called into existence: Matter and Life, Force and Action. Æther is the Aditi of the Hindus, and it is Akâsa. Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, and chemical action are so little understood even now that fresh facts are constantly widening the range of our knowledge. Who knows where ends the power of this protean giant―Æther; or whence its mysterious origin? Who, we mean, that denies the spirit that works in it, and evolves out of it all visible forms? ―H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Book I, Part II, Chapter III: “Primordial Substance and Divine Thought”
As I mentioned to you, this energy has created the universe: the worlds, the stars, and we precisely carry the same power within our sexual glands. So as Mulaprakriti in nature, we find as the Hindus teach us, the Prakriti is in the base of our spine and our sexual organs, which when we know how to work with the different practices of the tradition, we can awaken that fire and therefore illuminate our Christmas tree. We could say our spinal medulla as well, because if we take the Tree of Life and you put it on a person, the middle column refers to the spine, because the spine of a person is the Tree of Life. Without that one cannot exist. The spine also refers to willpower. Like we say, if this person has no spine, basically it is a kind of rude condemnation of another person.
Question: When you say illumination, you mean enlightenment right? Instructor: Yes. Question: Does the Merkabah, the Kabbalah bring the same effects as that? Instructor: Merkabah is just a vehicle. It can transmit higher energies. Now, if one has those bodies, one has an extra benefit to be able to transmit more force, but what is necessary is to still, discipline the mind. So, it is a medium that can help. It is not an end in itself. 
The Elements of Nature
When we talk about the Ether or Akash, we talk about how it relates to our physical body as well. We are discussing the nature of this energy within the cosmos, but also within our physicality. This Ether, Akash, is what manifests in this physical plane as the different elements that we experience.
We have Sanskrit terms. When the Akash modifies itself to manifest in the physical world, Akash, when it is petrified, when it becomes solid, it forms the Earth, known as Prithvi. When that Ether condenses as a fluidic substance, it becomes the water, Apas. When the Akash is in an igneous, flaming state, it becomes Tejas, which is fire. When it becomes like fluidic and gaseous, it becomes Vayu, air. This is just one level in terms of nature. We have these principles known as tattvas, modifications of that force, Ether, within nature. Also, importantly, we have these forces in our body, which we need to work with to help us, we could say, awaken our consciousness. These elements relate to different aspects of our body, of our psychology. Prithvi relates to the physical body, is our Earth. Apas, the waters, pertain to our seminal fluid, any fluids in our body, that help with the process of the endocrine system, the nervous systems. The waters that circulate in our body, as in our blood, which is a vehicle of fire, Tejas. The fire relates to heat, even combustion in our body. Many processes like catabolic and metabolic states, breaking down of waste in our body, etc. We also have Vayu related to our breath, which gives us life in every instant. The Akash precisely pertains to a fire that permeates all of that, all these elements within our body, but most precisely within sexuality. We say that the Kundalini is Akash: that mysterious fire of the Divine Mother is Akash. She is the fire of creation. Question: Those are Hindu words, right? Instructor: Yes, we could say Sanskrit, more precisely, but you know, it's not my intention to go much more in depth, but we state that in order to preserve the health of our physical body, we need to consume elements that are beneficial for our psyche, basically. So different foods have different condensation of these forces. Grains have a lot of Prithvi, meaning Earth, or legumes, beans, things of that nature. It is good to consume elements from these different forces, the tattvas, to help balance our psychology, to create a more harmonious energy in our body. We have Apas, which we find in fish, specifically, because the fish of the sea, they channel the waters of the earth and the cosmos. The energies that enter the planet and enter the waters and strengthen those animals, the fish. So, it's good to consume fish in balance in order to consume that element Apas, which helps us to control the waters of our body. Just as the Prithvi, consuming grains in moderation, helps to strengthen our body, we have Tejas, which we find in red meat which, as you know, red meat has what we call fire, because it is energy. It is good to eat in moderation. But if one is vegetarian, that is acceptable. But if one wants to have a little bit more fire, particularly for work in alchemy, the perfect matrimony, one can consume red meat in moderation. Usually, no more than a palm full or the size of one's palm once a week, typically, we say. Then Vayu we find within grape juice. Not alcohol, but it is better to drink grape juice, the non-alcoholic element. This is represented by the eucharist. We consume these elements in our diet because it helps to give us strong energies. Our diet helps feed our spirituality basically, and so in studying the science of consciousness, we study that all these forces manifest in our bodies so as to take advantage of them. Those who are lacking a certain elements should learn to harmonize the body by consuming in a balanced way, these different elements. It is these elements that we consume, the air we breathe, the food we eat, whether grains, meat, fish, legumes, grains, etc., that is going to be transformed in our body precisely as what we call the seminal energy. This energy has the capacity to awaken ourselves spiritually. It is represented as the Tree of Knowledge in the Book of Genesis, that forbidden tree that was commanded of Adam and Eve not to eat, meaning: not to indulge in the passions of sexuality, but to know how to use that force wisely, which we explain is in relation to the doctrine of chastity, purity. So precisely our sexual energies are the Akash, and that energy awakens in us when we know how to work with mantras, vocalizations, exercises like pranayama, working inter-nostril breathing, activating those energies through prayer, meditation, and work with breath, because just as the breath the spirit of God hovered above the waters, so too must we work with our own breath―breathing with sacred sound―in order to activate those forces. 
The Four Ethers
Lastly, we are going to just explain in brief how the Ether can be divided also into four, in relation to our psychological processes, as well as physical.
We talked about how the Ether manifests as the four elements, but also we are going to explain these four ethers as they are explained in the Bible.The Bible talks about the four rivers of Eden. These are what we call the four Ethers. So those four rivers are Chidekel (the Tigris), Pishon, Gihon, and Phirat (the Euphrates) in the Bible. They represent what we call the four Ethers. This is also another way of looking of how the Ether manages our organism: how the Ether in itself can help us to understand our psychology. So we have the Chemical Ether: The Chemical Ether is related with all the processes of organic assimilation and nourishment. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
All of our physical processes in our body, digestion, consumption the breaking down of fats, production of bile, biochemistry in our body, is related to the Chemical Ether.
The Ether of Life is related with the reproduction processes of the race. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
This is the energy that gives life through procreation and creates a child, but we have also two superior ethers related to our perception. They are known as the Luminous Ether and the Reflecting Ether.
The Luminous Ether is related with the processes of sensorial perception. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
How we perceive physically depends on the health of this Ether, which is luminous.
The Reflecting Ether is intimately related with the faculties of memory, imagination, willpower, etc., etc. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
So Luminous Ether pertains to our physical perception, but Reflecting Ether pertains to our spiritual perception. As I have been mentioning, these ethers and forces, they help us to channel the consciousness. They help us to manifest consciousness, and we mentioned in passing, some exercises that one can use to work with that force in order to awaken the consciousness.
When talking about these four Ethers, if you are familiar with Merkabah, Max Heindel, another occultist, he explained that two superior Ethers need to be separated from the inferior Ethers. This is the meaning of the Bible when God said “Let the waters be divided into a heaven and to the lower firmament.” These two Ethers are separated, or purified or elevated, especially within a matrimony, by working with one's partner, connecting sexually with love, purity, and devotion to God, and never wasting that force, never expelling it through the orgasm, specifically. The Luminous Ether and the Reflecting Ether are strengthened and they help to form what is known as the vital body, or the beginning of the Merkabah, we could say. These energies and forces explain many of our physiological processes, but also, when we talk about these forces, we emphasize that they aid us towards awakening spiritually. We have practices of meditation, of concentration, which are strengthened when we know how to work with these forces within us. Audience: People who have true astral projection, it is mandatory that they separate the higher ethers from the lowers...The lower Ethers must remain in the physical body and your spiritual practices... Instructor: Those higher ethers pertain to our perception and can illuminate us within the internal planes. So if we want to have experiences out of the body, working in the dream state, it is necessary to work with that vital energy. We do it through mantra, pranayama, some of our yoga practice. One thing Heindel mentioned that was a bit incomplete was that he said that in order to create the so called To Soma Psuchikón, the bodies of the psyche, one needs to just separate the ethers. That is one step. There is a deeper process that we have mentioned elsewhere in which one creates these spiritual bodies, but that is another topic in itself. But the ethers are important. We talked about many things, space and time, how our illusions of perception are based on the misperception of our psychological states, but in order to access the higher regions of spirituality, we must learn to conserve our energies and work with them through a spiritual practice, specifically. That energy is what is going to allow us to perceive. Without fire, we do not have that power, the energy. We cannot perceive light. Only from fire comes light, as represented in the myth of the cave by Plato. Questions and Answers
Question: Merkabah… you ever hear of Drunvalo Melchizedek?
Instructor: Someone who calls himself Melchizedek? Question: Drunvalo Melchizedek. He has a school called School of Remembering, and he teaches how to remember, how to activate the Merkabah. Do you know anything about that? Instructor: Precisely we talked about the perfect matrimony in order to develop these vehicles of the soul. The Merkabah is literally a chariot that Ezekiel was taken on in order to experience the highest realms. So those are what we call solar vehicles, which we emphasize are only created in the sexual act. But not in the common way, because as Jesus of Nazareth taught, “You must be born again of water and spirit.” Water is the Ether or Akash, that substance in our body that we can give birth to the spirit―born of the wind and the spirit. The wind is working with our breath, with mantras such as in the perfect matrimony. When uniting with our partner, one is sexually connected and never spills that force. Otherwise if one ejaculates that energy in the orgasm, one is expelled from Eden. As mentioned in the Hebraic myth, Eden is a Hebrew word that means “bliss.” The ultimate bliss between a man and a woman is, sexually speaking, when they are united. But if they do not know how to control that serpent, that fire that is awakened in them, if they expel it, that serpent goes down and forms what we call the tail of Satan. But if that serpent is tamed, that sexual passion is controlled and transformed, it rises up the spinal medulla only in accordance with moral rectitude, work in the heart, controlling and annihilating anger, pride, vanity. The Divine Mother is that fire, that Kundalini force that can create the solar bodies, the Merkabah, but only if we are working on ourselves, meaning: we are meditating and trying to comprehend our faults. Otherwise, we take that energy we feed it to our desires, and that is bad. Question: Does this presume that you have to use some type of force over that energy to negate, again, the erotic element involved? It is common in sex. You have to neutralize that to make sure there is no ejaculation and to keep it spiritual. This could be a test in itself. Instructor: We call that energy Lucifer. People think it is some guy in a red suit with a pitchfork who is living in a kingdom of brimstone and fire. Lucifer literally means luci ferrus, “bearer of light.” The fire is that serpent, that sexual power, which is very tempting to indulge, in that pleasure, and to waste it. But the Lord in the Garden of Eden said, “Do not eat of that fruit,” meaning, do not culminate in the animal orgasm, symbolically speaking. Otherwise, you'll be ejected from Eden. That energy, if we conserve it, if we control it and dominate it, it will rise like in Moses' serpent upon a staff. That staff is the spinal column. When that serpent rises inwardly and upwardly, it forms, it illuminates the Tree of Life, out body, our psyche. That creates the Christmas tree. When Moses, representing the willpower of an of an initiate, who is dominating the sexual energy, he can then go to Egypt and try to free his people. It is not just physically a group of people in the Middle East that existed. Instead, it refers to the parts of our soul that are trapped in ego, in suffering. That energy has the power to create or destroy. Question: You mentioned willpower, which you also said has to do with the heart, Tiphereth, is that correct? Instructor: Yes, Tiphereth in the Kabbalah is the heart, the human soul. Question: When you are saying matrimony, are you meaning a man and a woman married, or two partners in love? Instructor: I am saying in terms of what a real matrimony is, and this is a good question. Samael Aun Weor stated that a real matrimony is decided between the two Beings of the couple and that a marriage only consists when a couple is in love and they live in a legitimately constituted home. Some people have tried to interpret this as: you have physical papers that you are married. But elsewhere he stated, you know, this contrivance of physical papers and marriage papers and all that conflict and all that difficulty, is really superficial and meaningless. When a man and woman unite sexually, when they love each other, that is marriage. They are united sexually through that bond. That energy is so powerful that it unites them through eternity. Therefore, the one who decides the married couple is really God within. If we have our partner and we are living together, but we are not necessarily married and have papers, that is not important. What is important is that the Being within us has decided that this is our partner and that we work with her. A real matrimony is dependent upon the will of God, not on papers. Question: So you are talking about partnerships. Not necessarily a man and a woman being married with papers. Instructor: When we talk about matrimony, we mean sexual connection. To be sexually connected is to be married. That is a bond that cannot be broken. It is very serious. If we have a partner and we want to work with this energy, it is what can unite us with God. As taught by Jesus, the cross is the path of the cross, basically. The phallus is the vertical beam. The uterus is a horizontal beam. It is through that energy in which we can die to our most horrible defects, which is symbolized by the Passion of Jesus bearing his cross and suffering what he did. So that's another topic, but matrimony is really when two beings love each other fully, even if they don't have physical papers―that they're married. What is important is that one has love. If there is no love, then papers mean nothing. Papers are a necessity in these times, you know, for tax purposes, but at the same time, it is not the most essential thing. Are there any other questions or comments? Question: You said that with Merkabah you can experience higher realms of consciousness, right? Does the Kundalini does that as well? Instructor: They are related. So, the solar bodies are precisely when that sexual fire rises up the spinal column to the brain and then to the heart. So when that fire is fully active and manifest within that given body, whether the physical body, the vital body, the astral body, the mental body, or the causal body, that forms the Merkabah. The Merkabah is the vehicle of the soul. In order to express God fully, we need to develop those vehicles through precisely that work with these ethers that we mentioned. So that energy is what creates those vehicles through which God can act, and is literally the fire that illuminates that tree. So that body has fire only because of the Kundalini and that fire creates those vehicles. So that is what the Merkabah is Question: That is why you said Christ cannot incarnate in you without those vehicles. Instructor: As I said, if the Being were to try to incarnate without the person having the vehicles, the person would be obliterated because the Being is the power of a galaxy, of a solar system, of a star. That is the power of Christ. It is that force which, if we want to manifest that, we need to work with that energy precisely. Question: I wanted to talk about clairvoyance because that is something that I am trying to develop too, and I remember a particular time, it must have been a couple of years ago, but I notice that I kind of had the power to read those closest to me. Like their thoughts, and there was a particular time, this was when I was younger, when I was experimenting with hallucinogens and stuff like that in order to see different types of perspective. I remember a time my friend and I were on LSD and I looked him, and his face was melting, and I was a little freaked out and then he told me like a couple seconds later. He's like, it feels like my face is melting, and that really freaked me out, because I think for a split second I was in his mind and I was seeing something that, you know, I was seeing something before he even said something, and that kind of freaked me out. Now was that a kind of moment of clairvoyance, to be able to see or to hear someone else's thoughts? Instructor: We call that in that sense, but because of the involvement of drugs, we call it negative clairvoyance. It is a type of perception, but it is channeled through the mind, through desire. So, we do not suggest the consumption of drugs in any manner, but those substances awakened negative perception. So, like we talked about Eikasia, meaning the lowest state of consciousness, meaning just: sleep without dreams―there are those who take drugs and they awaken their consciousness trapped in the darkness, so to speak. It is a type of Eikasia meaning “imagination.” You are perceiving images, but it is from unconsciousness. It is a type of perception, like animals that see at night, who are accustomed to that type of perception. We say that is negative and that is actually the type of perspective that demons have. Angels have positive clairvoyance. They see things objectively. They see the realities of the different dimensions without confusion and without any obstruction to their perception, but a demon learns the see precisely by using drugs and by alcohol or fornication, especially―the abuse of the sexual energy. They develop power in the mind to see in the mind and so it is another topic in itself, but it explains those types of perception. It is a perception that you have through the mind, but a negative one. Question: But this is perceived through the pineal gland, right? Instructor: We say the clairvoyance relates specifically to what we call the pituitary gland in between the eyebrows. As we mentioned a little bit ago about the physical body, our organs play an intimate role in our own internal chemistry, but also the working of spiritual forces. The endocrine system plays a role in terms of how we can perceive forces. So if we develop our heart we can learn to astral travel. If we develop the pituitary gland between the eyebrows, that can help develop clairvoyance. We have different glands like the thyroid related with throat and can help with we call clairaudience: learning to hear psychic sounds, such as in dreams or out of the body. So that gland relates to clairvoyance specifically. Question: So it’s the pituitary gland that is related to clairvoyance, but is the pineal gland more of a received? Instructor: The pineal gland is a transmitter. When we transmit thought, which is a vibration, it comes from the pineal gland. We receive through the solar plexus. People call it telepathy or transience, the ability to communicate through energy. The brain is the transmitter, the pineal gland. The solar plexus is the receiver of a thought or vibration. Audience: So people on the left hand path, when they want to get you over and over, they go for the solar plexus apparently. That is what you feel when they try to weaken you. There are people who can drain you. Instructor: The solar plexus is where we store energy. It is like our sun basically. A good healthy intestinal tract goes a long way in spiritual studies. It may sound interesting. What does spirituality have to do with the body? But as we have been mentioning, the forces in our body can help us awaken spiritually, so the solar plexus has a lot of those solar energies, which we attempt to use in our practices. Question: You spoke of the fourth dimension. What is that, in the astral plane? Instructor: The astral plane is the fifth dimension. Yes, the fifth dimension is the mind, Netzach and Hod, the heart. The fourth dimension is the vital energy. Above that we have mental and emotional energy, or mental and emotional matter. It is important to clarify, since some people, when they hear of astral projection, they think it is something vague. In fact, the internal planes are as material as the physical plane. They have a type of sustenance or matter or forces, which are tangible. The thing is we do not perceive that because we do not work with our energies, basically, but if we learn to work with transmutation, using our vital energies, the ethers, we can awaken the Luminous and Reflective Ethers, and they can expand in our consciousness, so that we can perceive these things. But the fifth dimension is the astral plane. Above that is the spirit, and Christ is the seventh dimension, beyond. Audience: One more thing I wanted to bring up about the pineal gland. I remember the first time I came here, I was talking about how the presence of fluoride in water and food is, over time, has calcified that pineal gland. So, I did some research and I recently bought this thing. I am not sure you guys are familiar with the site Infowars. It has a site that has alternative news media, you know related to the government exposing the kind of things that goes on, but this thing actually works really well. It is fluoride shields. Its got like a bunch of organic things in here. Its got organic tamarind, zeolites, fulvic acid, shilajit, and organic cilantro, but this has honestly helped me when I try to meditate. Sometimes I cannot focus because I feel like there are too many thoughts. So with the calcified pineal gland, since you said, that is where your thoughts are associated, since it is calcified, it would also mean that it would be harder for you meditate because of all the other thoughts that are in your mind and you can't really think about your one true self because of the calcified pineal gland. Instructor: I would say that a healthy body is a healthy mind, but do not get so worried about, “I can't meditate because my pineal gland is calcified.” If you feel like you have suffered damage to your pineal gland, and most of us have, I do not know so much about the substances you are mentioning, but I do know that when you work with transmutation of your sexual energies, and you raise that energy, inward and upward to the brain, it illuminates the mind, and there are some studies, based on Kellogg, we have available on our website, that explain how the hormones of our body are intimately related with our sexual energy, our sexual matter. So, we conserve the semen, the seminal matter, and transform it into energy, those transform into hormones and can nourish the pineal gland and regenerate the brain. So the greatest composers, artists, musicians, philosophers, they had illuminated minds, meaning that their brain was seminized we could say. Their semen was cerebralized. There is an intimate relationship between the waters of sex and the waters of the brain. This is the meaning of this mysterious name מִרְיָם Miriam, because the letter מ M [in Hebrew] signifies water. Miriam is the Divine Mother, water below and water above in the brain: the two firmaments mentioned in Genesis. So, if you have a healthy body, you have a healthy mind. We all suffer some problems in our bodies because of past mistakes, but the thing is to take advantage of what we have now, and not to fret over it, but to work with that energy within the body called the Kundalini force or sexual energy.
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