Obviously, today is a very unique day. I am sure we have all looked at the news or perhaps looked up in the sky to see the solar eclipse.
A lot of people speculate about these types of phenomena. There is a lot of conjecture, a lot of theories and beliefs, a lot of suppositions about what these types of experiences could signify for humanity. We know that the cycles of nature are a rhythm and flow. We mark our calendars based on the rotation of the planet around the Sun, the influences of the Moon, and we have many calculations that we make to orient life on this planet. These are also markers for seasons and for times. Today was very special because there was a conjunction of many planets similar to that experienced with the advent of Aquarius in which the major planets of our solar system were in alignment. These types of phenomena signify to us a marker for time, the ending and the beginning of things. This is very pertinent to our discussion today in relation to the Secret Path of Initiation. As indicated by the fascination with this event earlier, we witnessed it in Chicago around 2 p.m. in the afternoon. We can see that such astronomical alignments can really point to us the need for something very profound in ourselves. This path of initiation is about beginnings and endings. It is about renewal. As we see from the conjunction of Mars and Venus, Jupiter-Saturn, Uranus-Neptune, the Moon and the Sun, we are pointing towards the need for very trying times, or that we are in trying times. But rather than delve into perhaps some of the metaphysical components of this event or perhaps some of the spiritual speculations of it, what we see embodied by the constellations today, is the fact that we need to initiate something new in us and that these types of phenomena point towards the need towards new beginnings. Our Focus
Today we will talk about what spiritual initiation is, the beginning of a new way of life, of a new time, a new experience. This is in relation to what is called the Minor Mysteries.
We will explain what spiritual initiation is, the very beginnings of this type of work in which we internalize a very particular way of exploring ourselves, our inner cosmos, not merely the external universe. We will define and explain and analyze what the requisites are for understanding how to align ourselves psychologically, spiritually with a higher purpose. We will relate, correlate and convey some initiatic principles within the Kabbalistic tradition as well as spiritual psychology, who and what we are. What are we fundamentally? We can look to the heavens for portents and omens and yet fail to look at ourselves. While fascinating to look at the solar eclipse today, what is spiritually significant about us is that our own inner Sun, the light of divinity, is obscured. We are shadowed by our own mind, our defects, our mistakes. We will also elaborate on what are the virtues necessary for clearing the mind and entering the spiritual path of initiation, entering the doorway within ourselves, entering our own psyche, and knowing for ourselves what genuine mysticism is, what is truly divine within us, because the word mysticism comes from the Greek myein, which means “to close the eyes” of the senses and to explore within meditation who we are. Lastly, we will identify some common obstacles within our spiritual work and entering what are known as the Minor Mysteries. We will explain what this is, and also, the correspondent antidotes to particular struggles and challenges that we face within ourselves. 
The Tree of Life and Hell Realms (Klipoth)
In this topic of entering the Minor Mysteries, we explore what is known as the Tree of Life as well as Klipoth. The Tree of Life is a map, a diagram of the totality of divinity and our human psyche. These are superior states of consciousness which any initiate into spiritual mysteries seeks to enter and explore, to realize, and to manifest.
However, there are requirements to enter these higher dimensions and states of consciousness. One must earn the right to enter that level of being. This is precisely the rub. We have on the right here קליפות Klipoth, in Hebrew meaning “shells.” This is known as the Inferno within religions. The Tree of Life is obviously the heavenly states and anyone who enters spirituality wants to access heaven, God, reality, spirituality, mysticism, the truth. The reality is that if we wish to explore these higher mysteries of heaven, we have to learn to descend into our own mind. No ascent is possible without a descent, and precisely the path that leads us towards higher works of spiritual accomplishment requires that we face ourselves. On the right, this image of Klipoth or the hell realms mentioned in Dante's Inferno, with its corresponding spheres of suffering, indicates lower and lower, more complicated denser states of matter, energy, and perception. This refers to qualities of our mind like anger, pride, hatred, fear, lust, anger, envy, jealousy. Everything that is wrong about our particular psychology is constituted by Klipoth. קליפות Klipoth means “shells.” Our anger is a shell that traps the light of love. Our lust is a shell that captures the light of chastity, of sexual purity, of real virtue. Our envy is the shell that traps altruism. If we wish to know these real divine, higher states of the Tree of Life, it is necessary to confront our anger, our envy, our lust. We have to learn to descend into ourselves. This is a metaphor for confronting the terrible reality of our mind. While I opened talking about the conjunction of worlds and the solar eclipse today, really we find reflected here in a metaphor the Sun and the Moon. The light of divinity is precisely the Sun, the giver of life, the Tree of Life, and in us the Moon is precisely Klipoth. It is the shell, the cave, the cages that trap our understanding. Precisely the whole work of the Minor Mysteries, of entering the spiritual path, is to prove in ourselves how we can extract light, to have that initial discomfort and uncertainty of looking within our mind and being willing to confront our own inner demons, those qualities in us that trap our potential and which make us suffer. More importantly, they make others suffer more. This path is about changing our level of being, Minor Mysteries, meaning small works, nine in total, in which we have to prove ourselves. We may long for light, divinity, and spirituality, and yet deep within us that light is trapped. It is caged. It is hidden. It is inactive. So, this tree of death, Klipoth, the inversion of the Tree of Life, as you may see on this glyph on the left, has nine spheres. These are the nine hells of Dante's Inferno. What is interesting is that these nine spheres correspond to nine planets: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. We have to be very clear that this correlation of planets does not literally refer to the external constellations of our universe in the material sense. These are corresponding qualities of psychological truths and constituents of our mind, of our makeup. These nine spheres of hell are intensely more materialistic, dense, complicated, confused, and distant from divinity, because the deeper you go, the more complicated the mind gets. So, the whole purpose of entering initiation is to firstly go down into hell, look at ourselves, go down into the depths of these nine lower levels, and try to extract light, confront our mind, face our own inadequacies, and work on them. Those lower nine levels of hell correspond to nine initiations of Minor Mysteries, because as we are conquering ourselves, we learn to overcome our mind at different levels of density, complexity, and challenge. If we conquer any sphere within ourselves of certain qualities that we need to see, work upon, and liberate, what happens is that we extract light and enter into an initiation of Minor Mysteries―nine total―nine for the candidate to prove themselves if they wish to enter a much higher spiritual work. So, we are not even talking about entering what are known as the Major Mysteries, which have to do with these ten spheres or primarily the first five spheres of this Tree of Life, from מלכות Malkuth to יסוד Yesod to הוד Hod, נצח Netzach and תפארת Tiphereth. Here we are talking about the initial threshold by which we wish to comprehend ourselves and to change. 
The Probationary Path
This is known as the Probationary Path.
It is a path of tests. We have to prove ourselves psychologically to divinity, not someone outside of us, but within our own heart. Our conscience is the voice of divinity. It is the echo, the voice of the silence, which resounds within our heart in moments of great trial and crises. We feel in our heart that a certain action or behavior is wrong, a certain thought, a certain desire, a certain quality of mind, a certain behavior that will make us suffer or others suffer. Probation is precisely in criminological studies or in case of the law, a period in which a candidate who committed, or better said a person or citizen who committed a crime, needs to prove themselves. They are on probation and have to fulfill certain guidelines if they wish to enter back in society to be acculturated and to be successful in life, to overcome a record. All of us spiritually speaking have committed many crimes. This is not to be judgmental, cruel, or negative. It is merely a statement of fact. I am pretty sure all of us can think of moments in our life where we felt a real deep pang of remorse, of conscience, which hits us hard, which bites at our innermost depths. We all long for light, for change, for a better way of being, for more compassion, for more patience, for more love, and yet if we wish to realize these qualities of being in ourselves, we have to earn it. Therefore, divinity says: “Okay, you wish to enter initiation? You want to become a master of yourself? Then we will give you a small trial to accomplish.” These are the Minor Mysteries. This is the probationary path. It is the beginning in which we receive some pretty hard ordeals that indicate to us our weaknesses, so that by facing our own paradoxes, contradictions, errors, we realize what we need to change. Unfortunately, many people run away. They see the reality of their anger and pride, and they seek escape. They avoid. They run away. But the probationary path is precisely for those people who are willing to look at who they are and not to turn aside, to look in the mirror and reflect, “Who are we? What do we want?” If we know what we want, are we willing to do what it takes to achieve our goal? Are we willing to look at ourselves to the point that we bleed emotionally from the remorse and pain that it brings? ― because sometimes it is very ugly to look at our own culpability and how we produce wrong. Probationary or the probationary path really is the beginning of initiation. It is when we assess methodically the most outstanding defects that emerge within the screen of our awareness as we begin to observe ourselves. Therefore, by observing our own, you can say, habits, errors, mechanical ways of being, our reactions to diverse circumstances of life, we can learn to change. As Samael Aun Weor stated in Christ's Will: Probationism is the science that studies the mental essences that imprison the mind.
Our mind is trapped. It is conditioned by many elements, and the beginning of entering the spiritual path is precisely by looking to see our own blind spots and to have the courage to move forward.
Inner Self-Reflection
This involves inner self-reflection. Inner self-reflection has to do with that inner active looking at ourselves precisely in the places that we do not want to look. By looking at ourselves through observing ourselves, by being mindful of our mental, emotional, and physical states, our impulses and desires, we gather data.
We learn to see not with the intellect. Observing does not refer to labeling with our mind that “this is anger” or “this is pride.” This can be a good first step, but really the type of psychological state I am referring to is an active perception that is serene, sustained, and does not involve thinking. It is an active observation. It is looking beyond the need for thought. Now as we are observing ourselves, it may involve that or the process might involve that we use our intellect and our thought process, perhaps at our jobs and careers and that is fine. But through this inner self-reflection, we are no longer seeking to rely on the intellect alone. We learn to use our intellect, our emotions, our body, consciously. We are present. We are aware. We become serene, reflective, meditative, concentrated, alert. We look at ourselves like we've never seen ourselves before. We have to look without presupposing what we will see. That is not self-observation. Self-observation is not merely assuming we are a certain way but being willing to look at the facts. This is sometimes referred to as intuition. Intuition is the ability to understand without having to think. This is a very subtle state of being. It is not easily experienced, understood, or developed. It is something that takes a long time, and this is precisely why the probationary path exists, so that we can learn what this is. Intuition is the ability to see and to comprehend. It is not an intellectual process. We can use the intellect when we need it, but it is not intuition. It is something else. Now, as we were explaining, when we enter this spiritual path and begin to practice it, we enter a very hard period of time. What happens is that as we go on probation, spiritually speaking, we receive ordeals. We receive challenges in life that are very difficult, sometimes to the point of collapse, maybe with our career, our marital life, our job, our family. We face real hardships, circumstances that would test anybody of great caliber. These situations unfold uniquely in our lives in relation to our particular needs, our circumstances, our situation, our karma. Karma really means “cause and effect,” and every action has a consequence. In this path, as we open the doors of initiation, we have to receive the former consequences of our previous deeds, and many of them may be very ugly. What happens is that we receive those situations that bring out precisely the weakest elements of our mind, the greatest defects that we possess, so that we can see them. These are ordeals. They are managed, dictated, and given to us by divinity. We receive these hardships because they are necessary. They are medicine for the soul. If we do not receive hardships, we will not change. If we are not tested, we will not prove ourselves. If we are not tried in the crucible, the hammer and the forge, it is impossible to purify what must be purified. If we wish to become a buddha, an awakened one, a master, we have to enter the fire. We have to be tempered like a great weapon forged by Hephaestus, made into the armaments of Zeus, the Vajra lightning bolt of the divine mother Tara, the great initiates and gods. We can only do this if we face the temptations and the struggles, and we look where we do not want to look. We gather real evidence of ourselves, and we reflect on our own understandings of things, of who we are and how we perceive, so that we can intuit what needs to be intuited. We can transform our experiences, these impressions, into real deep understanding and even serenity and peace. It is possible to face these ordeals. It is very fundamental and necessary that we face these challenges with a sense of rectitude, responsibility and real compassion. Probationism is the science of esoteric ordeals. 
Free Your Mind
The requisite is that we free our mind.
So, while I am reading some excerpts from Samael Aun Weor’s Christ's Will, a lot of what he is saying here in relation to probationism has to do with the Minor Mysteries. Obviously, the book Christ's Will is advanced. It can relate to the fifth initiation of Major Mysteries. It can relate to a lot of the principles that are repeated in higher octaves and stages of the path. But here, these principles really apply for us, to beginners. If we want to enter the Minor Mysteries, we must free our mind. Unfortunately, the tendency of our modern mentality is to really identify with a particular political party, a religious movement, an ideology, a theory, our country, our country’s flag, our nation, our world. We are also often conditioned by many elements, which are very negative, like our fears and our appetites, our desires. The reason why the human mind externalizes so much is because we tend to be very unconscious of our own inner psychological processes. We are not very reflective about why we do the things we do. Now, on a more fundamental level, if we wish to really explore our deepest sentiments, the types of thoughts, habits, and psychological attachments we carry within, and to really understand their depths, on a more basic level, it is fundamental to really explore our own attachments to the senses, our own attachments to the external world, because often enough, the internal is the reflection of the external. The inner and the outer relate. Now, what is interesting is that by exploring both worlds, we gain deeper comprehension. There are reasons why we may be addicted to a certain form of television, a certain form of thought, a certain belief system, a particular political ideology. We have to study all these intricacies and understand why we think as we do, because our own appetites, perhaps our fears, our desires, are what propel us. The beginning of the Minor Mysteries involves freeing the mind, examining our appetites, and understanding our fear. The human mind must be liberated from all types of schools, religions, sects, political parties, concepts about country and flag, etc.
This is only the beginning.
The beginning of initiation is having a calm, serene, balanced mind, one that knows how to understand without being divided, without being contrary, antagonistic, oppositional. It is a mind that is calm and serene, that is free to understand and receive new insights without deliberating through an intellectual process of thought. This quote by Samael Aun Weor about the mind being divided by the depressing process of options is really quite peculiar, but also very insightful. A mind that is divided by options does not know. It can debate and theorize, select what is most convenient, but it cannot understand the realities of God. If we wish to understand the realities of divinity, we have to understand this tendency in ourselves. We have to understand that the process of thinking, of going between A, B, and C, debating, analyzing, theorizing, is in fact very depressing. It is depressing because one may have a lot of knowledge in the intellect but have no experience of the realities of religion, of spirituality, of astral projection, of Jinn science, of many things. It is the question of “What if? What if this? What if that? What if the solar eclipse today means this? What does it mean? What does that mean?” ― and then churning in the intellect, going back and forth, experiencing great conflict. A mind clouded by the divisive thought process of predominant reasoning of antitheses, of antithetical thought, is one in which one has a lot of confusion but no understanding. Really what equilibrates the mind is insight, knowing, direct experience. This is what we seek to activate as we approach the study of ourselves and it is this guiding principle of conscience which helps us to liberate our mind. The desire for accumulation, of acquiring more knowledge, affiliations, or group recognition, from violence and egotism, this is what must be abandoned if we want to understand more from a state of humility. 
The Need of Comprehension
So, comprehension is precisely the quality of understanding that we want to cultivate in this initiatic work.
Comprehension is very distinct from thought. Comprehension is the ability to understand. It is a state of mind in which one can perceive and grasp the essential meaning of a thing. Thought can present a concept, a theory, a belief that can be contradicted by another. In this path we seek to replace the predominance of reasoning with the spiritual depths and profundity of insight, of comprehension. So, what is the source of division in the mind? It is really desire. It is appetite. It is egotism. Our desires that say “I want, I think, I crave, I need,” our anger, our pride, our lust, which thinks and feels and acts and craves and wants more. Comprehension is that beautiful state in which we, in the silence of the mind, the light of intuitive understanding emerges as we calm the intellect and enter a state of meditation. It is this state of serene observation and intuition that illuminates and guides the actions of the great prophets, like a candle which radiates a beautiful virtuous flame, a character and brilliance that is really solar and spiritual, divine, ecstatic, profoundly compassionate. Comprehension in its most deep sense radiates from divinity. It is what brings together communities. It is what overcomes conflict. It is knowing what to do without having to think. For as Samael Aun Weor says, this process can help guide us out of all types of problems. Comprehension is what helps us act in the right way, in the right moment, before the right people, at the right time. It does not come about by thinking. It comes about in the heart. The intellect must become quiet, and in those moments of ordeals, we have to learn to see what our desires and reactions want, because in the heat of passion, of perhaps criticism or someone's insult to us in this physical world, we have to learn to look at that complexity of ever-changing emotional states and reactions and not to act on them, to see them, to look. It does not mean we do not act. In fact, real comprehension knows how to respond virtuously in the moment, to see what our reactions are and to say: “Okay, I understand what my mind wants, but it is not the right way. Let me act from my heart.” This comprehension can only come about when we learn to exchange the process of reasoning for intuition, for comprehension. We must exchange the process of reasoning for the beauty of comprehension. 
Fear and Security
Likewise, fear is a great obstacle in the work. It is something that has to be dealt with in the very beginning.
Fear, uncertainty, ambition, anxiety afflicts most of us. Fear is an emotion that can really cripple our spiritual work. In fact, it is one thing that it is necessary to confront very immediately in the beginning. There are many types of fears: fears of loss, fears of defamation, fears of ostracization, fears for finances, fears in a marriage, fears with security, with income, with a job. These are all real problems. We face these types of situations because they are a part of life. But the important thing to remember is that they are not an end in themselves. In fact, we can face economic uncertainty, political uncertainty, marital uncertainty, familial conflict, and fear with a great sense of peace. It is important to look at those reactions that emerge within the psyche whenever these types of situations arrive. However, the problem is that we often identify with fear. It is because of fear that we learn to react and to become conditioned by our own reactions. It is fear that can cripple our initiative. It is fear that brings about all types of uncertainties or complexes in the psyche, a whole system of reactions, a whole group of afflictive, contradictory emotions and states. The reality is that fear can be extinguished, but it does not come about by repressing it or by diving right into it. Fear is overcome by looking at it and understanding it for what it is. Fear is a desire that was born because we became disconnected from divinity. We lost that connection with our inner Being, the truth, the reality, and so, because we lost that thread, we became weak. We developed fear. Losing that connection, that inborn, innate, even instinctive state in which we were knowing and walking with divinity like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we developed all sorts of complexes, all sorts of contradictions, and we become infected with fear. Fear is a lack of confidence. It is an uncertainty or terror because we are not sure what will happen to us. However, the opposite of fear is remembrance of God. It is confidence in divinity. It is the experience of divinity. In the most basic level, that remembrance happens when we follow our heart, when we follow our conscience. Our conscience is the voice of virtue. We feel that intuitive hunch, maybe even a thought can emerge from it, an intuition, an understanding: “Do not do this. Do this instead.” That is the voice of divinity. But we often suffocate that with our intellectual justifications and passions. However, if we are willing to face in the silence and serenity the nakedness of our heart before divinity and our psyche before the harsh circumstances of our life, we can learn to hear that voice more and more. We can explore it more and more. Therefore, that innate connection with divinity grows. We become more confident. By following our heart, our circumstances will follow naturally. Perform good deeds based on superior states of being, and then the results will be positive. That becomes the weapon we carry in life, the weapon against failure, of pain, of contradiction, of suffering. We rectify our own errors and we stop repeating mistakes. We take responsibility and have the serenity and peace to be able to face even a tyrant, someone who is angry, a violent mob, and with the weapon of compassion and of equanimity, respond. That will change situations. That will really radically alter the trajectory of our life. But if we are filled with fear, we become victims because we react. But intuition and confidence in divinity, remembrance of God, is really a superior state of consciousness. It is one that knows how to master the moment. Here is what Samael Aun Weor said about what fear can do: Fear exerts over the mind the desire for security.
These states imprison us. However, intuition and understanding is what liberates.
Mental Imprisonment
In the following verses by Samael Aun Weor from Christ's Will, he explains how in a certain level of initiatic work, there are masters who must test their disciples. Obviously, that is something very high for us as beginners because we are learning to enter the path. But a master of Major Mysteries, of these higher degrees of spiritual development, learn to test their disciples.
This occurs in the physical world, but also within dreams. In this way, we face what we need to face. It is through facing these ordeals in which divinity can assess how well we are doing. Really, we learn of our progress when we understand how we have changed over time. We may face circumstances that would in the past infuriate us, but instead we have great peace and even love for the people who would provoke us. This shows that we are really changing. We no longer see people in the same light in a negative way. Samael Aun Weor also explains that we are not only imprisoned because of our mind but because of the mental states of humanity. He defines schools and religions, concepts, prejudices, and desires as a prison. It is easy to get locked within a cage, within a theory, believing because “I think this” or “I adhere to a certain group” that somehow “I am superior and that I am advanced.” Obviously, the real test is when the rubber hits the road, when we face the challenges of life to see if we are really free of anger, pride, lust, or conditions of mind that would make us act mistakenly. If we do not, then obviously we are making improvements. We are beginning to enter the Minor Mysteries. We are learning to acquire knowledge of ourselves and to change. Here is what Samael Aun Weor had to say about this. Probationism is the science that allows the hierophants of Major Mysteries to know the degree of evolution reached by each disciple.
We have to be very clear that even the Gnostic tradition of Samael Aun Weor can become a prison if we make it just a concept.
A prison of the mind has to do with a rigid way of thinking, of believing. It can be in accordance with the flavor of any tradition, any school of thought, any concept, any prejudice. If we leave this information in the intellect and we do not live it, then it is not initiation. It could become a cage that we must think a certain way and wear a certain regalia to fit in, no matter the religion, the culture, the time, the place. We have to be willing to transcend all that. Certainly, it is beautiful to associate with groups of any religion, of any teaching, any genuine mystical faith, but it is fundamental that we do not become trapped, thinking that by believing or thinking or adhering to a certain code within one's mind and heart that there will be great change. 
How Initiates Use the Mind
Real change occurs as we face the ordeals and as we meditate.
We comprehend our errors and work to eliminate them. That is how we know. The mind in the initiatic path must be utilized. I was speaking a lot about intuition and understanding, but the thing to remember is that the mind must become a beautiful instrument. Thought may exist. We should not think or believe that by entering this path we will stop thinking. Unfortunately, this is similar to the extreme notion some people have when they study Samael Aun Weor, that we have to learn to have a serene mind, one that is not divided by intellectual thought processes. This is going to another extreme. We do not want to repress our mind because it will become chaotic, divided, confused. Thought can exist, but in reality, like you see in this image, thought should not be the primary factor. There are higher faculties of mind: insight, intuition, knowing, without having to think. But it is also possible to use the intellect consciously, to use our mind when we need to. For example, as I am giving these lectures, I use my intellect to relate concepts and understandings so that they are sensible. However, thought is not merely the end-all be-all. We must let our mind become calm, to not be churning or chaotic, divided. This is a qualitative state we can only recognize as we learn to serenely observe ourselves and to meditate for many years. So, Samael Aun Weor mentions that thought does not have to disappear, but it has to flow with a different sense. The mind must become more intuitive. Thought must become more fluid. It should not be rigid, afflictive, encaging. As he says in Christ's Will: The human mind must learn how to serenely flow in an integral manner, without the painful process of reasoning that divides the mind with its battle of antitheses. ―Samael Aun Weor, Christ’s Will: “Probationism”
Understanding must flow. It must be like a tranquil lake that can reflect starry, heavenly images. Reasoning must be suspended. We use the intellect when we need it. Meditation will teach us how.
Innocence and Divine Remembrance
This mind must become like a child. It does not mean we become naive or gullible. Samael Aun Weor [quoting Jesus] in the Gospels stated that we must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is a state of being in which we really reflect the most altruistic principles for the benefit of our community.
By entering the Minor Mysteries, we learn to cultivate a mind that is supple. It is flexible, and it is able to be used by the heart. This is the key factor. The previous quote talked about having an integral mind. So, an integral mind, or a mind that is integrated with the psyche, is one that is not divorced and doing its own thing, getting lost in rationalizations or theories. It is a mind that knows how to be serene and to be utilized when necessary. It is an instrument of the Innermost. It must become the instrument of the heart. This metaphor of becoming a child to enter the kingdom of heaven, to enter the Minor Mysteries, has to do with the fact that we have to become a very different type of being. Now, it does not mean that we regress as in age. It means that we develop innocence. Innocence does not mean to not know sin. It means to know how to do the right thing with wisdom, even with the knowledge of what really impurity is. So, obviously, in the most conventional sense, innocence has to do with, again, those times and areas of our life in which we were like a child. We did not know good and evil. We were not acculturated to the world. But we have to regain a type of lost state in which we looked at the values of good and evil for what they are, and to explore them with inquisitiveness, with alertness, with eagerness, with joy. The mind must be willing to explore things, not out of a state of agitation, but out of a state of yearning. The mind must become an instrument. This happens only when we learn to look in the moment, to live in the present always. In this way, we learn to follow the impulses of our inner God. If you have ever looked at a child, you can see their spontaneity, their clarity, their joy. Those are the types of qualities we need to cultivate, but obviously, with a more informed experience, with sapience, with wisdom, one that knows really the right way of acting after having committed errors. The mind must become like a child for it to be able to serve as an instrument for the Innermost (for our inner divinity).
Obviously, this might sound like a very drastic statement.
We have to liberate ourselves from all types of preconceptions and desires. This is very challenging for us because, technically speaking, we are 97% desire. We are filled with desires, many ambitions, many cravings, many attachments, many fears. We have to learn to observe all that and to recognize that there is another state of being which is beyond our particular tastes, prejudices, beliefs, attitudes. We have to see it, to explore it. By learning how to move under the impulses of our Innermost, our conscience, this can only come about through trial and error. 
Our Daily Bread
We also, in this path of Minor Mysteries, must learn to be content with our daily bread. These are known as the rights of Canchorrita mentioned by Samael Aun Weor. The rights of Canchorrita have to do with the fact that if we enter the initiatic path, we will receive what we need, not what we want.
This can be very challenging. We have many desires and attitudes about what we should receive, what we deserve, because we feel like we are a certain way, we deserve certain things. This attitude has to be totally renounced. Contentment is a virtue, especially within Buddhism. One of the requisites of meditation is to learn how to be content with what we have. This is precisely the rights of Canchorrita. While we face ordeals and challenges, great uncertainty, ordeals, sufferings, conflicts, we will also receive what we need to get through it. This is the rights of Canchorrita. We will receive bread, clothing, and shelter. These three things are always really guaranteed, not as a matter of belief, but of experience, of real faith, because as we see the benefits of our own actions in our community or communities, we see the results that we bring to humanity. Whatever it may be, whatever our skills and talents might lie, if we can provide that to humanity in a way that is beneficial, we also benefit. Maybe we serve materially and even spiritually. It does not have to mean we are going to teach this doctrine to the public. It can mean serving in a homeless shelter, having a certain career or job, a type of work. By doing these things, we will be provided for. This is in relation to the Christian Gospel that really, you look at the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, they do not toil and fear what will come of them the next day. They receive from God [Luke 12:22-31]. How much more for us who are working in the Minor Mysteries, who wish to change and really benefit humanity and are really willing to sacrifice our own weaknesses to do what is right, to do the challenging thing? Obviously, this basically guarantees or explains that we will have a life of dignity if we are following our heart, and that we must be satisfied with what we are given by divinity, because we always receive what we need, not what we want. We must be content with the rights of Canchorrita. 
Willpower and Discipline
Lastly, this path requires willpower and discipline. The path of willpower has to do with really when we see ourselves, our own reactions to particular circumstances of life, that we learn to respond with intuition and understanding, not merely with our anger, pride, or negativity.
We can say that the more challenging the circumstances and the ordeals that we face, the better for our spiritual work. Willpower is precisely the motto of the Gnostics: θέλημα Thelema. Really, “Do what thou wilt, but know that thou shalt have to answer to divinity for all thy deeds.” We develop willpower when we act upon our intuition, our conscience. It is in this way that by learning to observe in ourselves what needs to change or what reactions are going to create problems for ourselves, and to respond with comprehension, and also meditating on our own faults, we learn to develop more will. That inner spiritual warrior grows. It grows from a child into a human being. One simple practice that Samael Aun Weor gave is that when our mind gives us certain useless ways of being, reacting to life, conflicts, desires for vengeance, or whatever may really pull us into a worse state of being or situation, we have to learn to look at the mind and say: “No!” This does not refer to repressing the intellect. It has to do with consciously reprimanding or looking at the mind and understanding that: “No, I will not do this. I will not do what you want, because you will only bring me into suffering.” Here is what Samael Aun Weor had to say: There is the need to drive the mind by means of willpower.
So, in synthesis, this practice is merely understanding the place of the intellect and knowing when to use it and when not to, a mind that is integrated with the heart, a mind that is not really an animal that enslaves us to whatever whim or wind carries our sails.
Instead, what this path involves, of entering the Minor Mysteries, is how to change psychologically and even to confront our mind, to confront ourselves. This practice is not about repressing the intellect, of not wanting to look, but merely understanding its place, understanding where the mind fits within its orbit. Questions and Answers
Question: Canchorrita. How do I rectify within myself asking for the assistance to live a certain way or within a certain area without the presence of desire? I hesitate to pursue certain things as it seems as if I am asking for comforts, housing, wishing to live in a certain area, needing to make a certain amount of money.
Instructor: We rectify that by seeking to progress no matter where we are at. Obviously, there are always certain ordeals or stages in our path that we face in certain moments. We face certain challenges in particular instances of our spiritual career, our path. The way to improve our circumstances is to change with what we have. It can be very difficult because we may have certain ambitions or desires or wantings for a certain way of life―maybe a particular spouse, a partner, a house, a home, a way of living, a certain career. The way that you figure out what you can change is precisely by looking at your mind, by meditating on your own psyche. The process is this: you practice retrospection meditation. You sit and reflect on what defects you observed in your particular circumstances, how you acted and behave throughout the day. You imagine and visualize whatever defects you saw in certain ordeals. You meditate on each one. You ask for comprehension and you pray to your Divine Mother to eliminate them. As we are eliminating our own defects in relation to a particular karma, a karmic circumstance, when we approach the same people with which we have conflicts or particular circumstances that are challenging, what happens is that we really no longer react the way we did. If we can prove that we are no longer the same recalcitrant, stubborn, ignorant person we were and we can face the same hardships and circumstances with a sense of rectitude and love, then divinity says: “Okay, you have paid this. We will give you opportunities.” Then things change. You do not have to change them on your own externally. It is all an internal process. Obviously, there are certain decisions you may have to make, but really opportunities will come to you. I know people like to talk in this modern era of the New Age concept of the law of attraction. Unfortunately, many people approach that principle in the wrong way: “Let me get what I desire. Let me do a map or some kind of bulletin board where I am going to visualize all the things I desire and that I am going to strive towards with a lot of attachment and craving.” This in itself is negative. This is not the process that we are talking about, because even if we feed our attachments, really, they will not go away. They will want more. Really, contentment and humility is the key. If we annihilate these desires that really are keeping us stuck in a certain level of being or circumstance, our circumstances will change fundamentally. In fact, you may actually get the things that you really were not even expecting, that you did not even desire, but realize: “Wow! That was something I could never imagine having, and that really makes me happy!” ― not from a sense of striving towards it, but striving against ourselves. Samael Aun Weor mentioned Emmanuel Kant's axiom that the “external is a reflection of the internal.” If you change internally, then externally your circumstances will change. Now, you can still seek for things that are beneficial, but really, if you put your spiritual work first and put your desires aside and work to change psychologically, then really, perhaps those comforts will come to you unexpectedly, but not because you sought them, but because you really wish to benefit those around you. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ―Matthew 6:33
That is really the principle of change that we seek.
Question: I am trying to work on reactiveness. Anytime I react before I should have, I feel I am harming those I love most. I am working on that, on what I am now calling the “pause,” the pause before reacting. It is very difficult. Do you have any advice or practice that may help? Instructor: That is a good practice to pause before you act. Obviously, some circumstances do not allow for that. Maybe we do have to respond very quickly, and that is always a very challenging thing. If you do have a moment, it is good to take a breath if you need to, become aware of your posture, be more mindful of your body. In a very simple sense, even in conventional psychology, as well as psychological studies, they teach that it is good to learn to breathe deeply and to relax, become aware of your body, become aware of your pulse, become aware of any tension in your body, and to regroup if you can, if the circumstance allows it. Sometimes, even in the process of collecting yourself and really reflecting serenely within and following our intuition and our heart in such moments, we can gather a type of strength that irradiates to others. People can sense that. Obviously, if you work with certain people who are more sensitive to others, they can sense that: “Well, okay, you are becoming reflective and choosing the appropriate response.” Yeah, pausing can be good, but sometimes there is not that affordance. Now, one basic practice is become aware of your breath. You can breathe deeply if you need to, or even ask if you need a moment: “Hey, can you give me a second? I need to step aside for five minutes.” Particularly if you are riled up. It is good, especially if you are in a career or job that could be very difficult, and even if you have a lot of patience, still, you may feel: “Okay, I need to step aside.” Kindly tell the people: “I need five minutes. Just give me a break for a minute,” if you can get it. Take a minute just to sit, breathe. Inhale through your nostrils, exhale through your mouth. Recollect yourselves, become aware of your body, and then reflect on your mind. We have different practices that we use to reject negativity and to invoke positivity. One prayer that you can use is a mantra. It was given by, I believe, the Hindu tradition. It is a video. There is also a video of it on Glorian Publishing's website:
It is called Klim Krishnaya Govindaya Gopijana Vallabhaya Swaha.
You sing it in your mind. We will include the link in the chat. It is a very beautiful practice. You can conjure or protect your mind from negativity with this prayer. It invokes Christ, the energies of divinity, the supreme, to reject your mind, reject its contents or its negativity that really wants to get you to react. That can be useful if you can manage having a moment to take a moment to reflect. But obviously, if your job does not allow for that or your circumstances do not allow for that, you have to learn. That could often be a challenge that your inner God is giving you to mature, even if you may fail at it again and again, until you learn to do it and do it well. Question: So, is the first step to get start on the Minor Mysteries to learn to meditate and then the challenges will come that will make us graduate along the way? Instructor: Yes, meditation is essential. However, we really begin to receive the ordeals of the Minor Mysteries as we begin practicing chastity. When we learn to conserve our sexual energy, transform it, and elevate it through practices like pranayama, sexual alchemy, mantras, or runes, we are circulating the most powerful force that we carry within our body and our mind to empower our spirituality. Obviously, this force awakens a lot. It is the beginning. The force of יסוד Yesod in Hebrew is the “foundation” in kabbalah. It is the foundation of the spiritual work and the Minor Mysteries. The reason being is, if we are conserving that power which can create a child and we are elevating it and transforming it to work with the spirit, to learn to be born again through it, what happens is that those energies put certain things in motion. Certain karma awakens. Divinity says: “Okay, this person now has the energy necessary to do the work,” and they are beginning to meditate and face themselves. That is the beginning. Then the challenges come, because really chastity is perhaps the most difficult thing for a lot of people, conserving the sexual force and transforming it through spiritual practice. There are many resources to learn how to do this. But yes, those ordeals come to us and then we conquer our own defects and purify our mind. We graduate and enter the higher stages of initiation. Question: I have noticed in myself, I will have the fear of doing something and then I will do it immediately after. It happens really fast. It is almost like I am inviting or manifesting it or perhaps it is that I put myself in a weak state to allow it to happen. What to do? Instructor: So, this can correlate with the process of self-observation which is very important in our studies. There are many types of reactions that can occur in the mind, not only intellectually, but also emotionally, and also perhaps more quickly, is sexually in terms of our desires. The goal of the work is to learn to transform our reactions to control what is known as the Guardian of Threshold. You might have heard about this topic where an initiate or candidate for the spiritual path confronts a great monster in the internal worlds. We also face this Guardian of the Threshold (this beast) within ourselves moment by moment. Our mind and our heart and desires always want to react to life. But obviously there are different speeds by which these reactions occur. Some of them are more slow. Some of them are quicker. The intellect is the slowest aspect of our human machine. Our heart is much more, our emotions are much more volatile. They are quicker. Our movement and instincts are also pretty fast. But also our sexual desires are the quickest form of energy. It can be very difficult to master one aspect of ourselves over another in the sense that certain aspects of our human machine are much more difficult to control because they are quicker. This is why the work of the sexual force is obviously the most difficult for many students because the sexual center is the quickest and most volatile. So, as you are saying: “I have the fear of doing something and then I will do it immediately after. It happens really fast. It is like almost manifesting a desire, perhaps, and that one is in a weak state and can not hold it back, perhaps.” Obviously, this type of reactivity changes in terms of our psychological way of being the more we meditate and the more we learn to face the circumstances of life with rectitude and love. Maybe you have a fear of doing something and then you do not have the restraint necessary to control the mind. There is a practice that you can use to develop the willpower you need to face such circumstances and reactions in your own self. It is the Rune Dorn from The Magic of the Runes by Samael Aun Weor. It is a practice in which you adopt a yoga pose and you perform certain prayers. You stand with your heels together, your left hand at your left side, your right hand on your right hip, and you pronounce certain mantras:
Ta, Te, Ti, To, Tu. Each of the vowels are prolonged. You sing them. You pray for willpower so that you do not do the things you do not want to do. You ask for insight and understanding, willpower to control your mind. It is a very effective practice.
Question: What is the best course of action after you have elapsed in chastity during attempted sexual alchemy? Instructor: Meditate on what made you fall. Why did you fall? Why did you fail? Then reflect on some of the constituents of what happened. Perhaps, it was too much lust, maybe too much movement. Maybe there was too much attachment and desire there. Maybe the energies are not flowing well. Maybe there was too much excitement, too much heat, too much passion. There is a lot of factors that go into play here. Maybe you are eating too much red meat. Maybe you have too much of the Tattva Tejas, too much fire there that can be difficult to control. What we learn through sexual alchemy is that we learn to regulate the fire. That can happen through our diet. It also more importantly happens within our psychology. So, it happens as a result of reflecting on our own psychological weaknesses. Meditation really is the key. We look at the lust in our mind or your mind that really caused the fall. So be patient. Be patient with yourself. It is not easy. Meditate and also reflect on managing your energies. Question: The times of great tribulation are coming or are already here. How are beginning students supposed to progress during times of such great chaos? Do you have any advice for us when these times come? Instructor: Yes. Remember your Being. I know people get discouraged easily when they see the news or terrible things happening in the world. But we make progress by facing those hardships with serenity. Serenity is a choice. It is not good to be fear-mongering or afraid, to be filled with fear, uncertainty. As we were stating in the lecture, fear is what causes a lot of conflicts and complexes. We may feel that because things are so terrible in the world that there is no possibility for progress. The reality is that that is not true. Fear of any type is the obstacle. When we are afraid, we have to look at it. We have to observe it. We have to comprehend our fear. Confidence comes from God. Confidence comes from divinity. Even if the world is going mad and tearing itself apart, we still have God inside. So why be afraid? Things will get difficult and things can get more difficult. But divinity is really the greatest source of power. Do not forget your Divine Mother. Remember your inner Divine Father. Recognize that these things must happen. They do not happen out of a vacuum. They happen because they need to. It is very painful and it can be very challenging for us. But at the same time, we have to be willing to face it. “Remembrance of God, that is the sword of the seekers,” according to the Sufis. It is the weapon that defends us from adversity, no matter where and when, if we remember. That is the key. Question: Man, that is what the ordeals are at the beginning. They were of a sexual nature. I can really confirm that. So, what exercises should I be practicing to deal with the increased sexual energy that needs to be transformed? Instructor: Work with the runes, sacred rites for rejuvenation, or pranayama. Those are very effective for transforming sexual energy. If you have a lot of Chi, especially, you know, sometimes even if you are married, you may need to do more. You know, you may transmute it as a partner. But at the same time, you might need to do runes or other exercises because you just have a lot of Chi. So, those are some possible practices you can do. Question: Thank you for speaking on this already. However, I am still confused on recognizing how one strives forward toward goals and opportunities without feeding desire. Or how to strive for cessation of suffering without it being a desire. How can one tell the difference in desire in creating, generating a beautiful life? Instructor: Willpower is very different from attachment. Willpower is the ability to seek and to do without expecting a reward. The Bhagavad Gita mentions that we must strive in the path without attachment. Or the Mahabharata teaches that we must fight without anger. This is an inner battle. We strive by doing what is right and not expecting rewards, not seeking validation or comfort or recognition. Desire wants to be seen and recognized, to do so as to be heard or envied or feared. This striving for better circumstances can be a noble aspiration, but oftentimes in ourselves, it can be mixed with fear it, or can be mixed with attachment. The key of recognizing the difference is asking, are we really doing this to do the right thing? Especially when it is difficult? Or do we do it because it is convenient for us and we want a certain result? The key is in the desire itself, or really the sentiment. Do we seek reward? Is it easy to do? Or do we seek to do the difficult thing without expecting any type of benefits? Really the heart is what creates beautiful circumstances, a beautiful life. But oftentimes that will always be accompanied with hardship. We strive towards goals and opportunities when we seek to do what is the conscionable thing in accordance with our conscience. The right thing in moment by moment rather than doing what we desire. The only way you will know is by really observing it again and again, sifting, going through the fine details of your emotional states day by day. It is not something that is easy to discern in one moment, like a flash of lightning or an “Eureka!” moment. It can happen that way. But more importantly, these types of understandings appear with more confidence and clarity with time. But we have to be patient. It does not come overnight. These understandings, they come with trial and error. You will learn by meditating and examining your heart. In the same way that you learn the difference between water and wine, you learn to taste the difference of will under spirit and attachment. Question: Might you address the fear of getting things wrong or making wrong decisions? Instructor: Obviously, we have a lot of fears of messing things up. Everybody has this. There is also the shame of “I did something wrong,” and then beating ourselves up over it. You know, we will always be susceptible to mistakes. We can not run away from that danger. The reality is that we overcome the fear more and more, we face the fear more and more as we connect with divinity and remember God. Remember your Divine Mother. Our Divine Mother is what gives us strength. She gives us guidance and comfort. Even when things are really intense, and we have 10,000 things that we can totally mess up. Rather than ruminate on what wrong decisions we might make, we go to our heart. We let go of our churning emotions, our fears, our thoughts, and examine in our heart, “what is the right thing?” Especially if it is very hard to do, that is usually a barometer that it is the right thing, because it is very difficult. We have a lot of resistance to do it. That is how you know. The mind will fight and complain and say: “No, I am right. I did not do anything wrong here. I deserve better!” Maybe it is a resentment towards someone or not taking accountability for one's prior mistakes. You overcome that fear and uncertainty by looking in your heart and your conscience, about what it is saying to you and not running away, doing instead what it asks of you, even if it is especially difficult. You know, that is the key. That is the key.
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