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We are continuing our course on the path of meditation, as taught by Samael Aun Weor and the great masters of the White Lodge. Today, specifically, in the theme of our present course, as well as having covered and spoken about Sufism in depth, we’re going to elaborate on a teaching given by the Master Samael in his book Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology, as well as Tarot and Kabbalah, in conjunction with the teachings or the Sufis, the Muslim initiates. I hope to convey and emphasize that this teaching is more than just from one man, but was given by different masters in different periods of time. So, the very same teachings that Samael Aun Weor gave, were given by the Sufis, except that, Samael Aun Weor’s commentary is explicit, whereas, many of the teachings of the Muslim masters were very cryptic, and did not provide an exegesis on the symbol of the teaching, the allegory.
So, the reason why we study these three stages – imagination, inspiration, intuition – is to really enter into the path of initiation itself. Initiation is established by working with these three stages, these three forms of knowledge, and if we wish to really understand scripture, teachings of a religious nature, we need to really understand these three stages. The path of imagination, inspiration, intuition helps us to unlock many mysteries, contained within the writings of the different masters. Particularly the Qur’an, which as a sacred text of initiation is based on kabbalah and alchemy. We’re going to explain how meditation unfolds as a result of developing the capacity to perceive, as well as to interpret our experiences. And, to come face to face with our Being, without any mediation. We need to really examine our mind, and to understand what type of knowledge that it is we need to develop, if what we want is to, firstly, have experiences, and then moreover, be able to interpret those experiences, and to understand their connections to our physical life, as we’re going to explain. Samael Aun Weor explains in his writings that a real occultist is an individual who has awakened within the internal planes. We study meditation and practice meditation, and these three stages of knowledge, in order to investigate. If we wish to really investigate the mysteries of life and death, we need to fully understand these stages. As I am going to elaborate, there isn’t a plateau of development that one progresses through, stage by stage, but is a very dynamic principle, relating to the expansion and experience of our consciousness. Likewise, by studying this form of knowledge, we can read any book, and understand the meaning of any scripture, such as in the Qur’an. 
On this first graphic, we have an image of Arabic calligraphy, which says Al-Nūr. which means, “the light.” When developing imagination, inspiration, intuition, we seek to develop light, inside; the light of our cognizance, our Being. As Muhammed, the Prophet of Islam, taught in the Surah Al-Nūr, which is the Surah of the light, the symbolic manner of imagination, inspiration and intuition:
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche wherein is a lamp… ―Qur'an: Surah Al-Nūr (النور (24:35
The lamp is, we could say, our Innermost, our Inner Spirit, our Being, Atman, Chesed in Kabbalah, which is within a glass, known as Buddhi, the Divine Soul, the Spiritual Soul.
…is in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star―lit from a blessed olive tree (The sexual, creative force of our Divinity, the Third Logos), neither eastern nor western, whose oil almost lights up, though fire (meaning: no passionate, negative, fornicating fire, crystallized within our body) should not touch it. Light upon light! ―Surah Al-Nūr (النور (24:35
Or, as the book of Genesis teaches, יהי אור ויהי־אור, “‘Let there by light’ and there was light.” What is this light? It is the light of imagination; the capacity to develop perception. Our Being is the omniscience, the capacity to experience the multidimensionality of the Heavens and the Earth – the superior worlds and the physical plane. Imagination is, as we explained previously, the capacity to perceive images, clairvoyance, which means “clear vision,” which is a technical term given in French. So, the Qur’an teaches us that we need to develop this imagination, so that we can really know Allah, for, as it continues in this text:
Allah guides to His Light whomever He wishes (meaning, when we meditate, and when we know how to travel out of our body, to interpret the great symbols of nature that He teaches). Allah draws parables (allegories, symbols, in other words, knowledge of an inspirational type, pertaining to the interpretation of symbols) for mankind, and Allah has knowledge (gnosis) of all things. ―Surah Al-Nūr (النور (24:35
What is this gnosis? It is intuition. Intuition, we say, is the capacity to know without having to think, to rationalize. We simply experience the nature of divinity, we experience through God, from our Being, as we need no thought nor rationalization.
This excerpt synthesizes the entire teaching that Master Samael gave, in a very beautiful way, and we are going to elaborate from the writings of Samael Aun Weor in Tarot and Kabbalah, and Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology, in order to explain the symbolism. But, first off, we need to have light, to imagine, to perceive light, images. Then, comes the experience of symbolism, parables, allegories, such as Surah Al-Nūr teaches. Likewise, to be drawn to Allah, to experience divinity, is to comprehend the messages that come from our Being, in the world of intuition, which is the superior dimensions, the seven heavens mentioned in the Qur’an. He speaks in synthesis of this teaching. When we know the path of imagination, inspiration, intuition, we can read any scripture; we sit to meditate, concentrate, and experience the great symbolism of that teaching. To really emphasize that this teaching is universal, we are going to explain how it ties in to the Qur’an, which is a very much an ostracized and closed book, but a beautiful teaching of kabbalah, as we were explaining. Literal and Symbolic Meaning in the Qur’an
Every scripture has a literal and symbolic meaning, and we seek to study the scriptures, in order to understand the symbolism contained within it, so that, when we are traveling out of our body, in the internal planes, we know how to interpret what we experience. We imagine, we perceive the imagery in the superior worlds, we feel inspired by the presence of those images, those symbols, and we learn to interpret without the interference of our ego. Then, intuition is the cognizance, the knowing; we immediately know what that symbol means. It is a cognition born from divinity. The Qur’an teaches this very beautifully, as we will explain. But, just to emphasize how this teaching is a symbolic book, we have a teaching by Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi, a great Sufi poet, who is very beloved by practitioners of all religions. He teaches the following about the Qur’an, and how it ties into imagination, inspiration, intuition:
Ibn Muqri reads the Koran correctly. That is, he reads the form of the Koran correctly, but he hasn't a clue as to the meaning. The proof of this lies in the fact that when he does come across a meaning he rejects it. He reads without insight, blindly (We need to have insight, imagination, to really have the experience of what the symbols in the book teach). He is like a man who holds a sable (the fir from a martin, an animal in the Middle East) in his hand. If offered a better sable he rejects it. We realize therefore that he does not know the sable (Meaning, he does not know the teaching in depth). Someone has told him that what he has is sable, and so he holds onto it in blind imitation. It is like children playing with walnuts; if offered walnut oil or walnut kernels, they will reject them because for them a walnut is something that rolls and makes noise, and those other things do not roll or make noises. God's treasure houses are many, and God's knowledge is vast (meaning, His intuitive knowledge, the knowledge of the superior laws of the cosmos, kabbalah and mathematics). If a man reads one Koran knowledgeably, why should he reject any other Koran? ―Rumi
There are many Qur’ans, many recitations or Words of God: the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, the Torah, the Zohar, the Tantras and Sutras of Buddhism, the Yoga teachings of Hinduism, and, we have the writings of Samael Aun Weor, which is a Qur’an. But, we need to know the real symbolic meaning behind it. And, the path to understanding symbolism is precisely through study, and through experience; it is to have insight, clairvoyance, awakened in our meditation and out of the body, so that we know what the scriptures teach us, fully. Rumi beautifully teaches that; there are many Qur’ans. Unfortunately, many Muslims read their scripture literally, and they reject everything else. They are killed by the dead letter. But, as Samael Aun Weor explains, we need to vivify the Spirit of the letter that kills. We need to read the spirit in the scripture, not the dead letter that kills so many souls, who interpret literally in a dogmatic manner.
The Qur’an teaches how we need to interpret our experiences, symbolically. It teaches how we need to be scientific in our analysis, and holistic; meaning, that when we study, we study, integrally, all teachings, all scriptures, and to understand it in a synthetic manner. When we look at any book, any teaching, we are reading the intuitive and inspired knowledge of any master that is expressing within that Bodhisattva. The important thing is that, in order to understand what the symbolism really means, we need to be mediators, every day. We need to learn to be traveling out of our body. For, as it says in Al-Imran, about the symbolic nature of any scripture, that the symbolism of which we need to interpret through and experience: It is He who has sent down to you the Book (the Qur’an). Parts of it are definitive verses (meaning, literal teachings), which are the mother of the Book, while others are metaphorical (allegorical, symbolic, kabbalistic, that need to be interpreted through experience). As for those in whose hearts is deviance, they pursue what is metaphorical (allegorical, symbolic or kabbalistic) in it, courting temptation and courting its interpretation (as we know, inspired knowledge is the path of interpreting its symbols, as we will elaborate). But no one knows its interpretation except Allah and those firmly grounded in knowledge; they say, "We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord." And none takes admonition [no one will know its meanings] except those who possess understanding. ―Al-Imran [3:7]
What is this understanding? I really emphasize, the need for all of us to practice more diligently, and to really apply what we study, in order that this teaching does not remain in the intellect solely. But, in order for that symbolism to be of use, we need to develop the capacity to imagine, to develop insight, to develop understanding. Understanding, in kabbalah, relates to Binah, the Holy Spirit, to be working with the creative power of God in our body, in our mind.
We need to become, as Samael Aun Weor explains in his books, highly scientific masters of the path of meditation. Meaning, to study and to practice. Symbolism is enigmatic and useless for us if we do not experience the meaning of it when we practice. Otherwise, if we do not develop the capacity to imagine, to perceive, to experience, we cannot subsequently enter into the meaning of any symbol, which is inspired knowledge, and therefore develop intuition as to its meaning. What is this that we need to develop? The Qur’an teaches us exceptionally well: Those who have no knowledge (Marifah, in Arabic, gnosis, direct experience) say, "Why does not Allah (or, we could say, Christ, the Buddha inside) speak to us, or come to us a sign?" So said those who were before them, [words] similar to what they say. Alike are their hearts. We have certainly made the signs clear for a people who have certainty (yūqinūn, yaqin in Arabic). ―Al-Baqarah [2:118]
We are going to explain what it means to have certainty when we meditate. This is precisely what we develop through these three stages: certainty of what we experience. It is one thing to imagine, to have that perception when we meditate, or when we are in the astral plane, and then to develop certainty from having received the symbol that pertains to how to live our physical life in a more profound manner. Likewise, there is more certainty when we unite with God, in which the soul is unified with the Being. That is another form of certainty that is very profound that pertains to intuitive knowledge.
God Most High has said, "In that are signs for those who read the signs" (15:75). "By those who read the signs" means "for those who can see the inward state of things" or "those who have insight.” ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism
As we were explaining previously, insight is imagination, clairvoyance―there is no difference; it is to perceive spiritually. If we want to know what the books of Samael Aun Weor are teaching us, or what the Qur’an teaches us, or what the Bhagavad Gita teaches, we need to have insight; we need to develop the capacity to perceive, we need imagination, otherwise, we cannot interpret.
The Three Forms of Certainty
When discussing these three paths, we talk about three forms of certainty, and we mentioned this previously, on the lecture on spiritual insight. This is a very simple dynamic to understand practically. In this image, we have a Muslim master riding on the Angel Gabriel, and a host of Elohim who are manifested in the superior worlds. So, the fact that this initiate is on the back of Gabriel emphasizes that he is riding on the Gibor-Ra-El, the Rune Gibor, which is the swastika, the sexual power in motion. The swastika is a Nordic symbol that was unfortunately misappropriated in 1939, and later, by the Germans. But, the symbol of riding on Gabriel is riding on that energy directly to the superior worlds. That is how we grow the wings of inspiration and insight, to fly into those superior dimensions, as Nietzsche teaches, in his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra: “How is it I escaped from nausea?” he said, “Did not my nausea grow from me wings of the spirit and water diving powers?”’ Those waters of sex are what is going to illuminate our mind and clarify our imagination, so that we can develop certainty about what we study, about what we practice. This is how we really develop very rigorous faith that is unbreakable. Even if the whole world were to condemn us, persecute us, we would not change our attitude, or our conviction; it doesn’t matter what anyone says. We know the truth.
There are three forms of certainty that the Sufis teach: • 'ilm al-yaqin, "the knowledge of certainty” • 'ayn al-yaqin, "the eye of certainty” • ḥaqq al-yaqin, "the truth of certainty” Ilm al-yaqin is sometimes translated as the “science of certainty.” It pertains to receiving intellectual knowledge: knowledge from books, scriptures, lectures, teachings of any type. Through this we develop a type of certainty that helps us to practice more effectively. This is why lectures and books are helpful, because, by understanding the structures of spirituality and the path of initiation itself, we can really verify how it connects to religion. And, from an intellectual basis, we have a form of certainty, but it is not as profound, as when we have the experience of what religion teaches. There is a form of knowledge that, when we read, and verify things from our experience, that sits well with us, and helps us to inspire us to practice more effectively. Ayn al-yaqin is the eye of certainty. Ayn in Hebrew and Arabic, is “eye, eyes.” This is when we actually see for ourselves and experience what religion teaches. Meaning, we awaken imagination, clairvoyance. We’re in meditation, we have an out-of-body experience, we have a Jinn experience, placing our body in the fourth dimension, and we have faith from what we’ve seen, from our spiritual eyes. Lastly, we have ḥaqq al-yaqin, which is the truth of certainty. This is a type of experience in which one is consumed by the Being, and the soul is fully united with the Innermost, or even beyond, and experiences life in its true reality. There is a Sufi Master by the name of Ibn Arabi, or it might have been Hujwiri, that I believe explained that these three forms of certainty are compared to three things: the knowledge of certainty is like hearing about fire, learning about properties of lighting a stove or fire. Ayn al-yaqin is seeing the fire. Haqq al-yaqin is being burned by the fire. What is that fire? It is our inner God, our Being; our Innermost is the flame, like the flame from which that light upon light, that Surah al-Nur teaches in the Qur’an, as we cited in the beginning. Really, the highest form of certainty that we can have in our experience, is of an intuitive type. Meaning, we’ve passed beyond this physical plane, and our soul has been absorbed by our Innermost, and even beyond the Spirit, to Christ, or even in the Ain Soph of Kabbalah, the star that is in the void of our Being, in the Absolute. That is really the ultimate certainty that we can have, which the Yogis refer to as Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the highest Samadhi, in which you are not you anymore―you are the Being. In that state, there is only God, knowing Himself, through you, the soul―no ego present. That is what it means to be burned by fire. When we read the Sufi teachings of Rumi, or even the writings of Sivananda, he beautifully explains how one needs to be absorbed by Atman, the truth, Sat. This highest form of certainty, as taught by Al-Hassan Al-Nuri, teaches that certainty is contemplation. We explained previously what this term means in Arabic, which is Mushahadah; this is where we get the word Shahidah, “to witness,” or Shahid, “a witness.” A true witness of divinity is one who has been absorbed by the Being, and experiences God at that level. That is ḥaqq al-yaqin, the truth of certainty. Mushahadah can also refer to meditation itself, to witness. A real Muslim or real Gnostic is one who has witnessed divinity, and is working to experience that and to really integrate that fully. This type of certainty is light, cognizance―awakening our perception, our imagination. There is a teaching by Hujwiri, from his Revelation of the Mystery, Kashf al-Mahjub, where he teaches the following anecdote, about different teachings of Sufi Masters about the nature of the light of certainty, and what this entails for us: It is related that [Abu'l Hasan Muhammad Ibn Ismail Khayr Al-Nassaj] said in his place of meeting: "God hath expanded the breasts of the pious with the light of certainty, and hath opened the eyes of the possessors of certainty with the light of the verities of faith." ―Hujwiri, Revelation of the Mystery
And, he explains what we need to develop that light, insight; it means piety. Our clairvoyance is pure as we maintain our purity of mind and the heart, when we really work on our ego, everyday, diligently, to eliminate defects, because that is what clouds our perception, obscures our sight.
Certainty is indispensable to the pious, whose hearts are expanded with the light of certainty, and those who have certainty cannot do without the verities of faith, inasmuch as their intellectual vision consists in the light of faith. ―Hujwiri, Revelation of the Mystery
So, this translation is speaking about how we have faith based on our capacity for perception. Faith is knowing for ourselves, from experience, what is true. This can contradict everything that people tell us, and what science tells us in a dogmatic manner. Certainty is what expands our heart, it is what inspires us, gives us inspirational knowledge. There is many times in the Qur’an where Allah, the Being is speaking through Muhammad, said, “Have we not expanded thy breast, expanded in your heart?” Meaning, given you a heart that has been enriched with faith from having known divinity, even when there is great tribulation and suffering.
Accordingly, where faith is, certainty is there. And where certainty is, piety is there, for they go hand in hand with each other. ―Hujwiri, Revelation of the Mystery
So, we cannot have faith and certainty if we are not pious. That does not mean we become ascetics, or adopt a pious attitude. Piety is death of the ego, in a full manner; eliminating pride, fear, jealousy, hatred, gluttony, lust, etc. Real faith or certainty is to witness the unity of divinity, and the Muslims speak diligently about the need to witness the divine, the unity of the Being, which in Muslim doctrine is known as Tawhid. This is the same teachings as Vedanta in Hinduism. The Advaita Vedanta was given by Shankaracharya; it is the same teaching as the Muslims.
Again, my emphasis in this quote is to express that if we want to develop insight, imagination, we need to become sanctified in our heart, so that light can expand fully, inside. This is from Al-Risalah, by Al-Qushayri: Al-Jalajili al-Basri said, "For the testimony of unity (tawhid) to be in force, faith is prerequisite, for whoever has no faith cannot testify to the unity. For faith to be in force the divine law is prerequisite, for whoever does not hold to the divine law (meaning, the scriptures, the teachings of Tantra, the writings of Samael Aun Weor, the Qur’an) has no faith and cannot testify to the unity. For the divine law to be in force refined conduct is prerequisite, for whoever has not refined his conduct (in self-observation, meditation, in real discipline of mind, moment-by-moment) cannot hold to the divine law, has no faith, and cannot testify to the unity." ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism
This means, do not fornicate, whether in body, speech or mind. Don’t speak evil, hatred, don’t calumniate our neighbor, don’t speak sarcasm, don’t act upon psychological elements of violence, even if it’s in our speech and not physically, with one’s hands. Nor should we be pessimistic or morbid, but to develop real faith is to be pious, to work in the factor of death, eliminating defects. That is the best way to develop certainty and experience of the divine.
Awareness, Unveiling, and Contemplation
Besides this point, I emphasize this quote that we have previously mentioned many times, by Qushayri―this is probably one of the most important quotes from this scripture, on how to really understand imagination, inspiration, intuition and how to enter onto the path of initiation itself.
So, the these three terms that I just mentioned different names in Arabic. The translations are slightly different, but, you’ll see by examining what the Sufi scripture teaches, it emphasizes the same teaching. I am going to explain this in the Muslim way. [Al-Jurayri] said, "Whoever does not establish awe of duty and vigilance (muraqaba, or awareness: muhadarah, sometimes translated as meditation) in his relationship to God will not arrive at disclosure of the unseen (mukashafah) or contemplation (mushahadah) of the divine.” ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism
What is disclosure of the unseen? It means an unveiling. In the beginning is imagination, to perceive images, vigilance, to be in vigil. To be vigil means to not sleep. Likewise, mukashafah, unveiling, is when we are unveiling the mysteries for ourselves; when we experience the symbolism that is taught within the different scriptures, in meditation or out of the body. That is inspired knowledge; to be inspired by symbols, because we are unveiling the veil of Isis, which traps our understanding.
Likewise, mushahadah is the world of witnessing. It is to have intuitive experience. The world of intuition is beyond thought, feeling and will, where we are the Being itself. That is contemplation, witnessing the divine. How do we get to that point? We need to establish awe of duty. It is essential to understand what awe of duty is. We have to feel reverence for the tradition we study, and the practices we fulfill more importantly. It is that respect of the teaching and the practices that we feel the impetus and the drive to fulfill what this teaching is giving for us. And, to have that reverence for the fact that these practices are going to transform our mind and give us insight into divinity, that is veiled from humanity. Awe of duty is to feel even that fear – not egotistical fear, but pehad, in Hebrew, which in the Gnostic pentagram, you see on one of the legs of the pentagram is the word pehad, which means fear, reverence. The Bible teaches us that the beginning of knowledge is fear of the Lord, pehad. Awe is the same thing; it is to guard – as you see that it is written on the thigh of the pentagram – the sexual power. That is how we understand awe of duty. It is to transmute every day, to work with the sexual power, otherwise there is no vigilance, there is no insight. If one fornicates, there is no duty. It is our duty to the Being, our duty as practitioners to establish that reverence in our discipline, and to fulfill it. If we do not fulfill it, then God will demand it of us. Vigilance is next. We have to make it our duty to establish esoteric discipline, and to be in vigil; to not sleep, psychologically, but to be what in Arabic is called muhasabah, which is “inner accounting.” Samael Aun Weor explains that we need to make an inner account of who we are. We need to make an account of our defects; what we have in excess, and what is deficient in us. That is part of awe of duty 
In this image, we have a Sufi in meditation, who is experiencing the divine, represented by the Sun. We see the Arabic calligraphy for the word Allah. The Sun is the Solar Logos, the Christ; Allah, in Arabic, is the same divinity.
I am going to parallel these next slides: what Samael Aun Weor explains in his books, as well as a parallel with the Sufi teaching, to show you that this teaching is profound, and was known by many Masters. But, by the grace of divinity, Samael Aun Weor explained, in a very didactic manner, in a very clear manner, this teaching. The fact this Sufi is communicating with his Being, that is intuition, intuitive knowledge. It is to be beyond the presence of the mind, and to really converse with our God, inside. The Three Stages of Initiation
Samael Aun Weor explains:
Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition are obligatory steps of the Initiation. ―Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
What is initiation? To initiate, to begin, to become. We need to become what we are not, in order that he who already is, can become what he is. Our Being needs to become inside of us, to be, for the Being to shine within us, as this Sufi is emphasizing in this graphic.
Whosoever has raised these three steps of direct knowledge has reached supraconsciousness. ―Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
We explained that supraconsciousness is to perceive without the ego, to perceive as God. A particular experience that you may have is, if you meditate on the Chakra Sahasrara, the crown, and learn to project yourself from that chakra, you can experience your star, your Lord, the Ain Soph. It is in that height in which one is beyond the consciousness; it is supraconsciousness, beyond ego.
The world of Imaginative Knowledge is a world of symbolic images. Inspiration grants us the power of interpreting symbols. In the world of Intuition, we see the great cosmic theater and we are the spectators. We attend the great drama of life. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
What is interesting about this quote is that one is part of the great movement of life in the superior worlds. One is a witness, a shahid, pertaining to the Shahadah in Islam, the declaration of faith: “I believe in God, God is God and Muhammad is His prophet.” One is not only a spectator, but if one is united with the Being, one is the witness and the witnessed and the act of witnessing. One is the Being, one is observing the Being as knowing himself through the soul, and one is that very precise cognition itself.
The Sufis teach the same thing: Awareness (muhadarah) is the beginning; then follows disclosure (unveiling, mukashafah), then contemplation (mushahadah). ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism
Awareness / imagination; disclosure / unveiling as inspiration; and then contemplation is witnessing / intuition. We’re going to elaborate on each stage, in synthesis.
It is important to remember that the reason why awareness in Sufi doctrine pertains to imagination is because, when we are aware, we are experiencing many signs and proofs in meditation; such as lights, experiences, sounds, color, sensations of a psychic type, and therefore we are becoming aware of our true nature. We are developing imagination. Likewise, unveiling is what it means to be inspired, as we were explaining. When you really experience a symbol that you know came from your Being, that is tearing a part of the veil, and it is inspiration to know that, directly. Intuition is when we fully know the meaning of that symbol. 
Imaginative Knowledge
We have in this image, Arabic calligraphy of a chakra. This image demonstrates the nature of the energetic channels that we need to do develop, in order to activate our imagination. Particularly the Chakra Ajna, in the third eye, or the Church of Philadelphia in the Book of Revelation. This chakra between our eyes is what helps us to become clairvoyant within the internal planes.
Audience: This is the pituitary gland, related with the pineal gland, from my understanding? Instructor: Correct. The pituitary gland pertains to this Chakra Ajna, the pineal gland relates with the crown. But, to develop imagination, we develop the faculty of the Chakra Ajna. As I was explaining, if we want to learn to develop insight in our mind, in meditation, out of the body, we can work with this chakra specifically, as we do with the mantra INRI. As Samael Aun Weor explains and elaborates, that only those who have awakened in the superior worlds have conscious imagination. Those who are learning to astral travel. A true occultist is one who is, through meditation, learning to investigate in the astral plane, and beyond. This pertains to the development of the heart chakra, but also Ajna. For the wise, to imagine is to see. Imagination is the translucence of the soul.
This is really important to emphasize, because, usually we go to sleep at night, eight hours pass, and we don’t remember anything. We wake up, and we have vague memories about having spoken with someone, or certain events that occurred that we thought were real, but really were subjective. We are constantly experiencing life in the internal planes, but we have no awareness of it. This is what we have to change.
It is enough to have a moment of cognition in the astral plane, walking in the city of Chicago, or finding oneself in another country in the astral plane, to shock us and to show us how asleep we are. We are perceiving life all the time in the astral plane, doing our normal chores and activities, but, without understanding where we are. Therefore, we need to develop awareness in that state, which is in Arabic muhadarah. As the Sufis teach. It comes from the Arabic, hudur, which means “presence.” That presence is our Being. That is how we learn to become cognizant, to perceive images, in the internal worlds. Now he moves himself among them with an awakened consciousness even when his physical body is profoundly asleep.
Likewise, any book we read. We understand that the insight given by the prophets is something that we sense, we feel its power, but we don’t understand it fully. That is what we need to meditate on, whatever we read, take a line or section of a text or chapter, and really meditate on the concept, so that is can help us to understand what the scripture is teaching us. But, likewise, all of nature is a scripture, full of images, symbols, which have great meaning for us. Like in the Qur’an, if you have the experience of seeing a date palm in the astral plane, or rain, it pertains to the science of transmutation, because it is how the Qur’an teaches the nature of alchemy, in that scripture. So, these scriptures and symbols have meaning that we need to analyze.
The student needs to elevate himself into Inspired Knowledge in order to interpret the sacred symbols of Great Nature. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
As I was explaining, awareness, as the Sufis teach, is the same doctrine that Samael Aun Weor gave. When we are aware of our Being, we can start to open the internal senses. We need to become aware of our hudur, our presence, moment by moment.
Awareness [from the same Arabic root as hudur, presence], is presence of heart, which may be produced by the coming together of innumerable small proofs of what is real. ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism
What does it mean by “innumerable small proofs?” Meaning, we’re sitting to meditate, and then suddenly, a distant landscape emerges in our psyche, a situation with a family member or friend, a conversation, a sound, a symbol, an experience, a smell even, a sensation of a psychic nature―these are small proofs of what is real. Meaning, imaginative knowledge is beginning to open; we’re beginning to gain insight to the internal planes. Samael Aun Weor explains that this is a very good step. If we’re in meditation, and we’re starting to see imagines, hear sounds, have these experiences, psychically, it means that we’re developing our imaginative knowledge. However:
It is still behind the veil, even if the heart is present with the overwhelming power of the practice of remembering God. ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism
We have images and experiences, but they are fleeting, they appear, they disappear. Usually what happens, in the beginning, is that we sense an image or a sound or an experience, and before we even realize what happened, we’re back in our chair, meditating. Usually what happens is that we’ve left our body at that point: we were drowsy enough so that we were able to enter into the internal worlds. That is why drowsiness is essential, in order to develop imaginative knowledge. When we meditate, we need that faculty in the superior worlds, active.
However, we need to tear the veil. To do that, we need to learn how to develop the faculty of imagination, competently. 
In this image we again have Arabic calligraphy. This is the heart, the Being or the heart, and the word Allah written on it; it is the Chakra Anahata. If we want to develop insight, we have to develop, in conjunction with our practice, a profound study of the scriptures. We have to be scientific in what we study. That is how we make sense of what we experience.
It is important that we also learn to balance our psychological states, to develop piety, sanctification, benediction we could say, by purifying our mind and heart, for: Logical thought and exact concept is needed for the purpose of developing the internal senses absolutely perfectly.
What does it mean by “every incoherence?” Really, any time we speak in a harmful way, when we are not connected with our Being, or joking around and speaking gibberish… we need to understand that the Verb, speech, creates, energetically, in our psyche. So, that type of incoherence in the mind, where, we’re not really connected with our heart, our Being, as represented in this image of the calligraphy, we destroy the chakras. Anger especially is highly destructive. The Buddha said that, when someone wishes to harm someone else out of their anger, it is like picking up a hot coal and trying to throw it at that person, in order to harm them. Meanwhile, it is the person that grabbed it that gets burned. Anger develops a poison called imperil, that Samael explained in the Igneous Rose. It is a poison in the chakras that blocks the senses from developing. Any lack of logic, of the superior type, or moral equilibrium, causes damage.
He is not talking about logic in the sense of sitting down and studying Immanuel Kant’s theories of aesthetics, or Kantian philosophy; he is really talking about the superior logic of the Being, the knowledge of dianoia, revision of beliefs, awakened consciousness, intellectual synthesis, logic of the superior understanding of the Being, without needing to intellectualize. We have to understand the structure of meditation itself; to have logic and structure in our meditation practices. It is necessary to understand the dynamic involved, and the steps we need to practice, in order to really develop that, otherwise, we are sailing blindly. That is why we study meditation in a didactic way. A practice that we give for developing imaginative knowledge, to develop that type of logical coherence and moral equilibrium, is to sit to meditate on a plant, such as an aloe. You sit, concentrate on the plant, even go online and study some of the structures of what makes the internal physiology of a plant, so that having that logical, scientific explanation of the parts of the plant so that you can visualize what is inside of it. Then, you sit down, imagine it, concentrate on the plant and imagine its birth, its life and its death. Imagine the prana flowing in its cells, the cellulose and the glucose, the different cells, the membranes, the structures and the life that these particles emit, and make those images vivid, inside. It is by being logical in this way, scientific in how we approach our imagination, that we can learn to go out of our body, and talk to the soul of the plant, the elemental of the plant. That helps us to develop strength in our imagination. If we tend to lack experience when we go to bed at night, or when we meditate, it is good to sit and do an imagination practice. You can perform the mantra INRI to invoke those energies, and then, likewise, to imagine a plant, so that you can communicate with that elemental, so that it can help you. But, also, to give strength and flexibility to our perception. 
Inspired Knowledge
We chose this image in relation to inspired knowledge, a door of a mosque, because this is the doorway that leads to intuition.
Inspired knowledge, as we were explaining, is when we experience the symbol of an internal type in our clairvoyance, in our imagination, and we seek to understand its meaning. What is important to understand is that inspiration, as Samael explains, pertains to the interdependence of all phenomena. Any experience we have in the internal worlds is given to us in relation to how live our daily life. People usually think that an astral experience is something very fantastic or is something that has nothing to do with our physical existence. Usually we think that these types of experiences that are divine transcend our daily life, but really, any master in the internal planes and our Being, will always give us experiences to tell us how to live physically. This physical plane is part of the internal planes, and we need to become aware of all dimensions of life. Nothing is separate. Internal experiences pertain to how we have to work here and now. Inspiration is understanding the interdependence of all phenomena. Nothing is isolated, in terms of our perception of life. We become inspired, as we develop our imagination, and we begin to understand the thoughts of people, and to really understand how other people function, and how to develop that art of communicating with love to friends and family, how to speak and when to say it, and to understand and be inspired in a way to know how to help our fellow men and women, to benefit. Inspired Knowledge grants us the power of interpreting the symbols of Great Nature. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
The rest of this quote explains the necessity of interpreting without ego. This is a great problem with many spiritual movements, including the Gnostic movement, where many people have had experiences and then have interpreted it through the ego, through the ‘I’ and have made mistakes. Also, people who have clairvoyant experiences, but do not study the doctrine very thoroughly make many intellectual assumptions about who they are, saying, “I am the reincarnation of John the Baptist,” or Samael Aun Weor even… there is a Latin American man who says that the is the reincarnation of Samael Aun Weor. And, if you look at this life, you see that he is doing a lot of drugs, etc., etc. So, knowing the scriptures and knowing the teaching helps us to differentiate our experiences.
When the “I” interferes by translating and interpreting symbols, then it alters the meaning of this secret scripture, and the clairvoyant falls into a crime that can conduct him to jail. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
I knew one Gnostic, who had the experience that his family were black magicians, not understanding that he was perceiving the egos of that person. He started to accuse them, in an open manner, and sadly, this individual caused a lot of chaos and harm, because he did not understand that what he was experiencing was the internal psyche of those individuals; it is not that in this life those people were practicing witchcraft. When the "I," ego interprets experiences of that nature… we have to be careful of this tendency. We have to be judicious and scientific.
If we have an experience about a person, a place or an event, we have to understand it in a very comprehensive manner, and a cold manner, like we are a doctor dissecting a corpse. Meaning, we have a procedure; we are methodical; we do not jump to conclusions, but take the time to really test the experience, to see whether or not it is true. If it has nothing to do with physical facts, we have to discard what we experience. For example, we get many students on our forum who write, wanting to have an instructor to tell them their experience, as if any one on a forum could really tell, clairvoyantly, what this individual is experiencing. Some students say, almost as a joke, “I had an experience where a monkey flew over, riding a bicycle...” things that are very strange, that obviously have no objectivity. Usually, we have dreams of a incoherent type that we need to also analyze, because they reflect our psychological states. But, we have to have the judiciousness of not accepting things at face value. This is the path of inspired knowledge. There is a Sufi teaching that says, even if you are walking in a garden, and all the birds of that trees greet you in chorus, “Hail to you, friend of God!” If that individual, if we are not questioning that experience, even if it is a beneficent type, even if it feels good to us and close to us, it feels well, then something is wrong. We need to, even with experiences that we feel really come from our Being, we have to judge and analyze them, and have the patience to let the experience unfold over many years. Personally, I have had experiences that I had years ago that I haven’t been able to interpret until one day, when I am in my garden or not necessarily thinking of anything, and suddenly the insight comes in a flash regarding what the experience was talking about; perhaps I was reading a book by the Master Samael that verifies what I experienced. We have to have the patience to understand that understanding of this type, intuition of our experience, may come many years later. Imagination, inspiration, intuition are not three grades that we successfully cross over; we finish imaginative knowledge and we move onto inspiration, then to intuition. It is dynamic. We can have perception of an experience, be inspired by its symbolism and immediately know its meaning in the instant. Sometimes, when we perceive a symbol, we are inspired with that symbol, but we don’t really know its meaning until years later. But, most of the time, we don’t perceive anything at all. That means that we need to develop imagination. But, when we have those experiences, we need to really be judicious, as I was explaining. Interpretation must be tremendously analytical, highly scientific, and essentially mystical. There is a need to learn how to see and how to interpret in the absence of the “I,” of the myself. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
In the example I gave of receiving inquiries of students dreams, we typically don’t answer those types of questions. We want students to become self-reliant, and to interpret experiences of their own. In terms of understanding whether or not an experience is valid, we have to really connect it to our daily life, our physical, concrete facts. If the experience of a monkey on a tricycle does not pertain to anything in our physical life, then we probably have to discard it. But, if the experience is symbolic, and the symbolism pertains to scripture, to a certain meaning that we are very knowledgeable about, and it is related to a situation in our life that is very concrete, then we can be very sure that it is definitive, and that it is real.
Personally, I had an experience at my last job, where certain people were trying to take advantage of me. I had the experience, in the astral plane, where I was in my garage, and I was having a garage sale. People were coming in and taking my things without asking me, and paying me less then what I charged for. This perfectly expressed my relationship to certain people at this last job that I had. I was reflecting on this, and was wondering what this meant. I was thinking about this event in my life that was occurring at the time, and I realized that it was very definitive and concrete, because the symbolism was exactly the psychological flavor and the meaning that I was going through in that time. So, the experience has to coincide with physical facts. Or, as the Sufis emphasize, in Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism by Al-Qushayri: The divine Law commands one to the duty of servanthood (the books, the scriptures, the teachings). The Way, the inner reality is the contemplation of divine lordship. Outward religious practice not confirmed by inner reality is not acceptable. Inner reality not anchored by outward religious practice is not acceptable. Divine Law brings obligation upon the creation, while the Way is founded upon the free action of the Real. The divine Law is that you serve Him. The Way is that you see Him.
The experience has to coincide with the facts, from our practices. Practice and experience, knowledge and being have to be united, in order to illuminate our understanding about how to live, in accordance with our divinity. The Master Samael Aun Weor explains in different books that there are four types of laws that we need to study, in terms of interpretation. We have the law of philosophical analogies; the law of analogous contraries; the law of correspondences; the law of numerology. This is how we interpret internal experience.
Sometimes, like in the example I gave you, it is philosophical, because it is analogous to the experience that I was going through in my current life; people trying to manipulate me, paying me less than what they owed me, and it was represented by being paid with pennies, insufficient money. Analogous contraries is the opposite. Sometimes we have an experience about a person, place or thing that is opposite to what is going on, but it conveys the contrary of what is going on internally. For instance, I had the experience when I invoked Samael Aun Weor, about being humiliated. And, he says in his books, in order to be exalted, one must be humiliated first. And, in this experience, I was pushed to my knees and it was very graphic, where I was being defecated upon by a critic, someone who was angry against me, and people were laughing at me, and I was reflecting on the experience and what happened later in that period of time, and things were going very well for me. So, that was an analogous contrary, that was inspired by the fact that if you have an experience like that, it means that the opposite is going to happen; it means that you’re going to have good things coming your way. When people criticize and condemn you, that is good work for us, and in that way it was helping me die in certain egos that I need to work on. So, being humiliated is how we receive honor; there is no ascent without first descending. Or, for instance, I had an experience with a friend who I stopped associating with, and in the dream we were talking and laughing, and at that moment, within a short moment of time, my friendship with that person broke. So, it was contrary to what I was experiencing in the astral plane, but the fact that we were laughing was superficial; it meant that we were no longer going to associate. That is an example of contraries. Then, correspondences and numerology pertain to symbols like the cross, the moon and different kabbalastic symbols, and the study of The Eternal Tarot of Alchemy and Kabbalah. That all pertains to inspired knowledge, which has to do with the nature of disclosure, as the Sufis teach. Disclosure is when we perceive the experience or a symbol of a teaching in a meditation or internally. So, basically, we are becoming disclosed to what we need to work on. Inspired knowledge is like seeing the door; we know what we have to meditate on when we have the experience, and what to focus on: After this comes disclosure (unveiling, mukashafah) which is presence which has the quality of proof itself. ―Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism by Al-Qushayri
We have the evidence of what we’ve been seeking; we get a teaching and then we know that this is the proof that we have to study. And so, in the bible it says, a dream not interpreted is like a letter unread. So, receiving that symbol is like a letter; we have to analyze it, to study it. This is the quality of proof itself.
In the condition the heart has no need of pondering indications or searching for the road, nor seeking protection from occasions of uncertainty, and it is not screened from the nature of the Unseen. ―Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism by Al-Qushayri
We don’t have to look anywhere else. We have an image in our experience. Then we need to focus our attention on that, to let that be the focus of our meditation and investigations.
What does it mean to be inspired? It also means to in-spire, to inhale the prana. And, if we want to develop inspiration in the heart, we have to be chaste; we have to develop the assimilation of prana in our daily practices, through awe of duty. 
In this image, we have the creation of Adam, the spiritual man made into the psychological and spiritual image of divinity. This teaching is given by Al-Nuri, which is interesting. We have explained this quote previously, but here we are elaborating. It is from Hassan Al-Nuri, which means “beauty of the light”; Hassan being “beauty,” and Al-Nuri meaning “the light.” So, this Sufi Master is embodying this teaching:
If someone’s share of this light is more perfect, his vision is wiser and his judgment based on his insight is more truer. ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism
If we want to develop insight, work with inspiration, to inspire: go out in nature, go out to a lake, travel places where you can be inspired by the forces of the cosmos in nature, by space, and the prana. That is how we aspire; we in-spire the prana, and we as-spire, raise those atoms, the sexual power, to the brain. That is what it is to as-spire, so we develop our heart. That is how we develop insight.
“Do you not see how the breathing of the Spirit into Adam made it necessary for the angels to prostrate before him? For the Most High said, ‘I formed him and I breathed into him of My Spirit, so fall down before him in prostration’ (15:29).” ―Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism by Al-Qushayri
The real man is made from daily transmutation, alchemical work. Daily practice in mantra, pranayama. The breathing of the spirit is the work with transmutation.
We see that it is important to maintain this practice. So, I want to emphasize what Al-Nuri explains: …In this mention of the breathing of the Spirit [Abu-l Hasan al-Nuri] was aiming to correct those who say that souls are uncreated. ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism
So, this man that we need to create inside, the human being, is not there yet. The real human being is born in us when we develop insight, imaginative and inspirational knowledge.
The situation is not as it might occur to the hearts of the weak (Meaning, those who do not meditate, who do not have strong enough will. All of us are like that. We need to develop strength by dying in the ego. That is how we develop the beauty of the light). That to which this breathing (and union and separation) are properly attributed is liable to influence and alteration, which are signs of the transitoriness of created things. Yet God Glorious and Exalted has chosen the believers (those who transmute, those who be-lieve, who be through the power of love, of Alchemy) for perceptions and lights through which they come to possess insight. ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism
So, through internal experiences; that is how we believe, how we have certainty.
In essence, these are forms of the knowledge of God (imagination, inspiration, intuition). This is the import of the Prophet’s saying, “The believer sees by the light of God”―that is, by a knowledge and inner vision for which God Most High has specially chosen him and by means of which He has distinguished him from others like him. To call these kinds of knowledge and perceptions “lights” is not an innovation, and to describe that process as “breathing” (pranayama, transmutation) is not reaching far afield. What is intended is one’s created nature. ―Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism by Al-Qushayri
Jesus taught that with patience possess ye your soul. We do not yet possess soul yet. How we develop that is through initiation and through developing insight, inspiration.
To emphasize this point, how to develop inspired knowledge, I’d like to quote for you from the book Revelation of the Mystery, in which we have a beautiful teaching, a prayer, given by a Sufi Master by the name of Sari, about the nature of inspired knowledge, and how transmutation is integral to this teaching: Oh God, whatever punishment thou mayest inflict upon me, do not punish me with the humiliation of being veiled from Thee, because if I am not veiled from Thee, my torment and affliction will be lightened by the remembrance and contemplation of Thee. ―Hujwiri, Revelation of the Mystery
So again, veiling is to lack inspiration. All of us are like this. We need to be more inspired, to really work more diligently. To be veiled is to not have inspiration; to possess unveiling is to receive those experiences.
But, if I am veiled from Thee, even Thy bounty will be deadly to me. There is no punishment in hell more painful and hard to bear than that of being veiled.
When we have that experience, the message from our Lord, then we feel comforted. We’re not necessarily afflicted by uncertainty, because we know precisely what action we need to take to change.
If we want to develop inspiration, we can sit and listen to a piece of classical music, such as by Mozart, The Magic Flute, which reminds of an Egyptian initiation; such as in the overture, the three crescendos, which refer to the three pyramids of Giza. Or, we can sit, concentrate and visualize and really reflect on the inspiration that we feel by listening to Beethoven, the nine symphonies; or Wagner. That is how we develop inspirational knowledge 
Intuitive Knowledge
Lastly, the world of intuition pertains to the world of mathematics and Kabbalah. In this image, we have a group of Sufis, 12 in number, prostrating before Allah. Those of us who know Kabbalah know that there are 12 emanations, 12 aeons, followed by the 13th, relating to the constellations as well. Here we see that Allah is, in Kabbalah, Ain, Lord, the highest divinity, the Absolute. The Sufis are in meditation, prostrating. This refers to a very illuminated master; all the aeons or spheres of consciousness, the Tree of Life and the Absolute, fully realized. That is the world of intuition:
The world of intuition is the world of mathematics. The student that wants to elevate himself to the world of intuition must be a mathematician or at least must have notions of arithmetic. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
This is because mathematics, Kabbalah, the science of Tree of Life, the Hebrew letters, the Tarot, teaches the nature of numerology in the Astral plane and the internal worlds, which have symbolic meanings. So, if you have an experience of certain numbers, such as through the Tarot, I suggest you study Tarot and Kabbalah, because there the Master Samael explains the meaning of the different cards and the numbers, as they relate to the teaching and our daily life.
In the world of Intuition, we find only omniscience. The world of intuition is the world of the Being; it is the world of the Intimate.
With the study of numerology we are understanding the dynamics of our consciousness. For example, we have an experience of the number 7, relating to 7, it means that we need to go to war―it is the chariot. 7 relates to the Innermost, who drives the lower bodies of the soul. The Hebrew letter Zayin is the sword of justice to fight the ego. Or, if we have the experience of 12, it relates with the Apostolate, the hanged man who sacrifices himself for humanity, the work with alchemy, or the Psalm 12, the repentance of Sophia. These numbers teach us the nature of our Being, because the Being is 1, the Divine Mother is 2, creation is 3, and these numbers pertains to laws that exist inside and outside. That is why we study kabbalah, to understand the world of mathematics in the internal planes.
The Sufis elaborate what Samael Aun Weor explains in relation to this image: Then comes contemplation which is the presence of the Real without any remaining doubt (meaning, there is no ego; one cannot doubt in that plane of being, one knows). Suddenly the sky of one’s hidden inner being (sirr) becomes clear of the clouds of the veil, and the sun of vision rises in the sign of honor (as we see in this image). The truth of contemplation is as Junayd said, “Finding the Real comes with losing yourself." ―Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism by Al-Qushayri
Meaning, losing your ego. There is no obstruction there. Contemplation is mushahadah, witnessing, which is intuition.
We quoted the Sufis to show us that what Samael Aun Weor taught is present in this religion, this teaching. We compare the two to emphasize the universal nature of this teaching. So, what is real contemplation? As we were explaining, it is intuition. We have the following explanation from Hujwiri, from Revelation of the Mystery: And it is related that [Abu Said Fadlallah Ibn Muhammad Al-Mayhani] said, "Sufism is the subsistence of the heart with God without any mediation." This alludes to contemplation, which is violence of love (for only the violent take heaven by force), and absorption of human attributes in realizing the vision of God, and their annihilation by the everlastingness of God. ―Hujwiri, Revelation of the Mystery
Meaning, the soul is annihilated, there is only the Being; there is no self, there is only the Being. To experience that breaks any clouds of dissolution about who we are. It gives us real faith as to who is the eternal inside of us, in order to help us to navigate our daily life.
To develop intuitive knowledge, we can meditate on a mathematical formula, such as Kepler: the square of the period of revolution of a planet, varies directly as the distance of the sun hue. This is astronomy. Or, Newton’s universal theory of gravity: the force between two objects varies directly with each of the masses and inversely with the square of the distance between them. We can sit down, concentrate on a formulae and meditate on it to understand its law. When we have emptied our mind of thoughts, the Being can give us insight into the nature of that law, and how it applies to us. Likewise, we can meditate on the Pythagorean theorem, such as the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. Or we can meditate on 2 + 2 = 4; we know what this means, but to kabbalistically understand what it means, how the Father-Mother within two individuals unites to create the Tetragrammaton, the holy four-lettered name of God. Meaning, man and woman united, the number 1 with the number 2 are the 2 polarities, the Father-Mother inside a man and woman united, create the Holy Tetragrammaton. To meditate on this, to understand what this means is going to give us a profound insight into reality. My emphasis in this lecture is to show the need to meditate and to understand what these stages of initiation entail, so that we can strengthen our practice and understand our experiences. Questions and Answers
Audience: You mentioned the Ajna chakra, the pituitary gland. Well, in some of the standard, so to speak, Tarot decks, the second card is called the High Priestess, and they do mention the pituitary and hypothalamus. There is an energy of course, and some of the schools say Carl Jung guarded such knowledge, or the inspiration for the cards, since even in the physical there's a connection. Some of those images are definitely inspirational. But there's a veil. There's a veil behind the High Priestess. You're probably familiar with it. It's the Arthur Waite deck, and Paul Foster Case says they're somewhat similar, and there She sits in front, with a curtain behind Her. But out from Her comes the purest water to cleanse the subconscious mind. You mentioned that over and over, which means purification. The whole symbol can be inspirational, depending on what stage you're at when meditating on the symbol. One should try, as you say, inspiration should come or may come behind that. It's moving, that energy itself, symbolized by the Goddess, what could be the Divine Mother Kundalini.
Instructor: The Tarot, as taught in the internal planes especially, those images are, as Manly P. Hall taught, a sufficient teaching unto itself. He said that those who learn how to meditate on the genuine Tarot, as given in the astral plane, will be eloquent in every science, art and mysticism in the universe. Those 22 cards, the 22 laws of the Tarot, of the Torah (the law), the major arcana, as well as the minor arcana, teach us about the different laws. These pertain to the world of intuition. It also helps to develop our imagination; we sit to visualize a card, and we have a deck that is going to be published soon (Editor’s Note: The Eternal Tarot is now available through Glorian Publishing), which I personally have used in the internal planes. The images that we are presenting are given from Tarot and Kabbalah and the book Alchemy and Kabbalah in the Tarot, by Samael Aun Weor, in which he unveiled the Tarot. I know there are other decks, which bear resemblance to what we teach; I invite you to expand your study of the Tarot, through this deck especially. Yes, we say that the High Priestess has many similarities to other decks, but in terms of the practical techniques to develop intuition, imagination and inspiration; they are either given incipiently or not given at all. In the Tarot today, we commonly find that it has not been part of that unveiling. When we know kabbalah, especially when we know how to go out of our body and to investigate the Tarot used in the internal planes, we can see and know what is real and what is not. We emphasize that this lecture was based off the book Tarot and Kabbalah, and to study that text diligently; it can help us to unveil the meanings of the Tarot cards. These images can help us to develop imagination and inspiration and intuition. Audience: The book Tarot and Kabbalah that you’re talking about now by the Master, the pictures that are in there, those are the ones that are going to be exactly the same, or similar to, the deck that is coming out? Instructor: Yes. We have a new edition that we just published of Tarot and Kabbalah, containing the new images. Audience: What about the Egipcios Kier Tarot deck? Instructor: Yes; those images are good, they’re similar. We just made a couple of corrections to certain things, there are some discrepancies between the teachings given by Paracelsus, some of the images that were used in his writing, that were applied to the Tarot deck, the previous decks, in a mistaken way. So, we fixed those, and other elements of the cards, through a lot of research. We will have those cards available. When you have those cards and learn to meditate on them, the different laws and study the book, in terms of what the laws teach, those numbers, and when you go out of your body and become skilled at astral travel, when you invoke Samael Aun Weor or any master, they will teach you through those numbers. And, the laws that I have been learning in the astral plane have always come from that deck that we have been using. When I was in Egypt in the Astral plane, an Egyptian woman, a master, gave me a card reading and exactly the images I see in the books that we use. But, there are some differences. There are things that they showed in the internal planes that are more intimate and personal to myself, and that is how those laws work; they apply to your practical life. The Tarot pertains to how to live, spiritually. That is why we study the deck, in depth. Audience: In the Buddhist tradition, how does imagination, inspiration, intuition work? Instructor: In Buddhism, the Buddha-nature is called Buddhadatu, which comes from the Sanskrit root Bud, which means cognizance. So, intrinsic awareness or cognizance is imagination, to perceive. If you ever read The Tibetan Book of the Dead, it is a very extensive introduction to that teaching given by Padmasambhava, which explains the introduction to awareness. As for inspiration, intuition, the experience of the Buddha-body of reality, which is Kether, relates to intuition you could say. There are many applications in Buddhism. But, the world of becoming pertains to the Being, Kether, in the highest aspect. As for inspiration, I have to study more, to see that tradition more in depth, but Buddhism, talks a lot about profound prayer, and the study of scripture; that is integral to their teaching and their scriptures. Tibetan Buddhists, many of them get up at three in the morning and do recitation or reading of a scripture, to be inspired, and they practice; they do visualization exercises and they learn to study the scriptures in order to interpret experiences. So, it is in all religions. Today, I was focusing on Islam, because it is something that most people don’t know about, but in Buddhism, it is present. But, as for explicit teachings that I gave as in Sufism, I would have to look more into Buddhism. Audience: I want to ask something that relates to attempting to Astral travel: Samael Aun Weor, in Igneous Rose, mentions the cricket [see also The Still Small Voice]. He mentions that there is something in the human mind that relates to the cricket, and that the frequencies of the human mind, when you hear crickets often enough, it forms a connection with attempting to astral project. In a way, you could call the cricket a sacred creature, that it had these powers and this relation between the human mind and the relaxed state, and that something happens at that frequency between the sound of the cricket and the mind, something happens there; could you elaborate more on that? Instructor: There is a sound emitted from the cells of our brain that is the same exact frequency as the cricket. So, when you sit to meditate, while focusing on the sound of the cricket, you’re basically forcing the vibration of the sound of that insect in the brain to stimulate that frequency, that energy, so that you awaken in the astral plane. That is why the cricket was once sold in golden cages in Rome. Even that Aztecs in Mexico have a temple, Chapultepec which is related with the cricket. Audience: I saw that in the book, where a cricket was on top of what was like an Aztec pyramid. It was at the top. It wasn't pointed. You really described it there in kind of detail. I also recall, you probably mentioned it once before, how in Europe and also, in Southern Italy, they say “Don’t ever kill a cricket!” because it was tradition of good luck. "Don't ever kill a cricket!" They say it is bad luck. Instructor: And, in the story of Pinocchio, he was trying to kill Jiminy Cricket, at one point; which is his conscience. So, that same insect relates to our conscience, who is Jiminy Cricket who is that conscience that sits on our shoulder telling our mind, “don’t do this, do that.” And, in the original story, Pinocchio, he takes a hammer and tries to kill the insect; because that is what we do on a daily basis. We kill our conscience when we act with anger, or on negative emotions. Likewise, when you sit to meditate on the sound of a cricket, the same frequency that is emitted by the brain is the same of that insect. I have had the experience many times where I have been transitioning into the astral plane, and there is like a vibration like electricity in the brain, “ZZZZZZZZZ” and you leave your body that way, by focusing on that vibration. That is the energies of the astral body preparing the separation of the ego from the physical body into the internal planes. So, that sound can help you to access, while relaxed, that state. It is good to have a cricket. Audience: What if we live in a townhouse and there's people around, and we want to listen to the sound in the wee hours of the morning? Could it raise vibrations to the point... Instructor: Just don’t put it on a speaker. The sound is quiet; so long as you’re in a small space, you're not going to disturb anybody… Any other questions? Audience: Just a comment. Some of those sacred rites of rejuvenation. They can take you to task on some of those things, like the lizard pose, and the other one where you put your hands behind you, I think it's the fourth movement, where you try to make the table. I'm not used to that since I'm not twenty years old anymore either, but still, I work out. Really, you can feel it when you do those, especially that other one, the lizard, going up and down with your mid-section and coming up again. You're not a plank with your forearms, and they're not sit-ups. They're not something I don't think you can master or appreciate overnight, yet they're certainly worthwhile according to Samael Aun Weor. They're specific there, with six exercises. But also the Viparita Karani Mudra... a minute at a time until you increase it each day. Instructor: In terms of developing imagination, inspiration and intuition, the sacred rites are good for developing inspiration. And, if we are very cognizant of what we do, when we perform those rites, we can really invoke the Third Logos, inside, to give us that force that we need to awaken the chakras, our clairvoyance, our imagination, but also inspiration. Audience: Inspiration is in the heart? Instructor: Yes. Also, intuition is in the heart, as well. Intuition is knowing an experience; inspiration is sensing in our heart that the experience is coming from our divinity; then, imagination is the capacity to perceive that. We can have that even being physically awake. I have had a different times, such as being at retreats when we were very intensely doing exercises, leading the sacred rites, really feeling the Being present and helping with that. That helps to develop those three stages of knowledge too. All the exercises do that, but the best is meditation. Now, the sacred rites is a moving form of meditation, like the Runes. But, the best way we can develop insight is when we detach from external distractions. However, if we become very skilled at paying attention, maintaining vigilance, then we can meditate even while moving, or walking down the street, doing the sacred rites, etc., etc. I can give testimony of that; if we are very awake and the Being grants us that state, we can practice the sacred rites in a very powerful manner. If we do it mechanically, we do not get benefit; but, if we’re praying, we’re inspired. When we’re focused and we’re aware of the energies, we perceive them, then when we are really awake, we intuitively know the presence of our Being. Then, it is no longer us acting, but it is our Innermost, if we get our mind out of the way. Audience: He mentions over and over again in those exercises, while we’re doing these exercises, we can just do them mechanically. He mentions constantly invoking the Divine Mother, to open your heart chakra, etc. Instructor: And, like Master Moria taught, when we pray, we should really pray out loud if we can; because that strength we get from vocalizing―which is why when we meditate we do a lot of vocal prayer, to invoke our Being and to give us force―that helps to raise our vibration, even physically. Speech, the Verb, creates. We get inspired by speaking conscious words. That is what opens the doors to the internal planes; the chakras, the organs. Thank you for coming.
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