It is necessary to comprehend the work we are doing on ourselves in Gnosis.
First of all, it is necessary, therefore, to become Aware of what is the Esoteric-Gnostic, Initiatic Knowledge, and what is comprehension.
Obviously, only from the rightly unified BEING AND KNOWLEDGE, arises the flame of Creative Comprehension.
If we were to take, say, an ordinary person, an ignorant person to make something better out of the, where would we start? In the first view, we would find that this person knows nothing; secondly, we would discover that the Being of that person has no intimate development; then we need to see the double aspect of each one; if you want to do a good job.
We would have to begin with the Being; Well, this person would be full of anger, full of hatred, resentment, envy, etc., etc., how would we make that person better? It would take a lot of patience, wouldn’t it? The desire to be better should be awakened in him; only then could Gnostic Knowledge, Wisdom, Gnosis be imparted to him.
Thus Being and Knowing are different. Someone can have a lot of sapience: He can know, for example, how to make cars; he may know medicine, jurisprudence, or he could have really studied in various schools of a pseudo-esoteric, pseudo-occult type, and possess great erudition, it is not known; but it could happen that this person had very low morale.
I have known individuals affiliated with such and such organizations of a pseudo-esoteric, pseudo-occult type, with an ethic or a morality let’s say, too low, very low…
Thus, Being and Knowing are distinct, completely different; and this is something that we must try to fully understand…
Unquestionably, the most important thing for us Gnostics is the Being. What would be the use of possessing great erudition if we have not developed the Inner Being, and we possess, we would say, horrifying defects? That would be of no use, right?
Someone who has studied many pseudo-esoteric works, and yet is capable of stealing, is capable of fornicating, of adultery…, but obviously he can know a lot of Yoga, he can have read a lot of Theosophy, what is the use of that? The most important thing is the Being…
Now, Being and Knowing are very relative; there are different DEGREES OF KNOWLEDGE. There are people who can know more, for example in terms of medicine than others; there are technicians who know more about automobiles than others; there are astronomers who are more erudite than others; that is very relative.
And as for the Being, it is also very relative: Some have more developed Being than others; there is no doubt that the Being, for example, of a saint, is more developed than that of a perverse.
There are different LEVELS OF BEING, therefore, that is also relative.
However, Being and Knowing, as I said, are different. Of someone who has knowledge, for example in cosmography, we would say that what he knows is true or false; of someone who has a great knowledge of geography, we could say that his knowledge is correct or wrong.
But in matters of Being, there is no room for true and false, wrong or exact, but good or bad: “So-and-so is a good man”, “So-and-so is a bad man”. And if he is very learned and very wise, but he is a bad subject, it is said of him that “he is a bad person;” but if he is a good subject, it is said of him that “he is a good person.”
So, that’s different; the terms to designate Being, then, or to designate knowledge, are different…
In Gnosis, therefore, a very special balance is needed; it is necessary, in order to enter into these studies and these works in which we are, to have reached the level that is called: “THAT OF THE GOOD MASTER OF THE HOUSE”.
It is interesting, in the Gospels, this “Good Master of the House”; it is something that invites us to reflect…
We know that the Good Master of the House, then, could become something better if he aspires or if he yearns; but if he has no SPIRITUAL LONGING, he obviously becomes, we would say, a Pharisee who has to devolve in time; so that from the Good Master of the House AN INITIATE OR A PHARISEE can come out.
In any case, in order to enter into these Esoteric-Gnostic studies, one needs to have reached the level of the Good Master of the House.
A lunatic type, for example, capricious, lunatic, difficult, is not exactly an element that can be useful for these studies in which we are; a subject who does not fulfill his household duties, who is a bad father, bad wife or bad husband; who treats his spouse badly, whether he/she is a man or a woman, or who leaves his home for this or that reason, is unquestionably not a Good Master of the House.
Of course, in what I am saying there are certain very fair exceptions; but I speak in the simple general style, because it would be useless to be a Good Master of the House if the woman, well, is unfaithful to him, as it is commonly said, isn’t it?: “If she is cheating on him”, right? Someone out there came up with a very nice joke that said, well: *”Marriage is not the Horn of Plenty, but it is the abundance of horns”…
In all this, although it may seem like a joke, there is a lot of truth; It would be useless, then, for the man to be very faithful and the woman to cheat on him, or vice versa as well. In any case, one needs to be a Good Master of the House: a decent, balanced person, before one can enter the Path of Gnosis…
I knew a subject XX (no matter who) who was fully dedicated to this kind of Esoteric Studies; he practiced Meditation daily; he was an unbearable vegetarian; from time to time a little piece of meat was eaten, as a strange thing; he wanted to “reach the Father” and he expressed it; when he met the Great Arcanum, because we have spread that teaching, he was very interested in Tantrism, and although at first he practiced, he worked with his priestess-wife in the Ninth Sphere; Later, he worked with every woman who crossed his path…
Since I am not mentioning any first or last names, obviously I am not gossiping about anyone; I am mentioning “the sign,” but not “the Saint.”
What I do want to continue saying to you is that that good man, of a fanaticism if you like, strange, (he was a vegetarian) knew, he was not unaware that he had to dissolve the different inhuman elements that constitute the Ego, but he mistreated his wife and children; they suffered the unspeakable…
That good man was a millionaire, immensely rich, but unfortunately, a certain misery abounded in the house; the unhappy woman did not even have money available, not even enough to clothe herself, but he had “desires to reach the Father”…
He practiced, of course, the Sahaja Maithuna with every woman he came across, but he was very handsome and “wanted to reach the Father;” he defended love, as the basis of everything that is, has been and will be, but he whipped his children, horribly…
On one occasion I bought two little birds; a bird seller who was passing by offered them to me and I bought them; I didn’t buy them with the intention of keeping them locked up all their lives in their cells, no: I bought them with the intention of teaching them to fly, because they had already lost that ability, and after they already knew, set them free.
For a few days I let them out of the cage, inside the apartment where I lived, and they flew delightfully there; I felt very happy watching those little birds; I was just waiting for them to get practice so I could open the windows for them and let them go, because their flying was still very clumsy.
One of those many days, that good man, taking pity on those birds, came to me saying:
– “I come to ask you for compassion for those creatures that you have locked in that cage, prisoners without having committed any crime; to ask you to release them in freedom”…
My Answer:
– “I bought them for that, to release them in freedom; I bought them from a bird seller… Now I ask you: Why don’t you do the same, if so many people pass through there who sell birds?” …
The man was silent; I never really saw that he would have advocated for those birds. He was immensely rich, and there was never a lack of bird sellers in the city; It was easy to buy a cage and release the birds, but he only looked at “my mistake”…
Well, at last, on any given day, it doesn’t matter which one, the little birds were ready; I opened the window for them to leave; they departed naturally; they never returned; I had already trained them in flight and they were able to leave happy.
What a relief! It seems that my friend was very relieved to have released these birds, but I never saw him do the same; so many bird sellers that are in the streets of the Federal District, so many who passed by that house, I never saw him buy some of those birds, but he “aspired to reach the Father” worked on many esoteric exercises, etc., etc.
Well, any day of those many, his wife’s father, that is, his father-in-law, died; Of course, he left his wife, then, a modest fortune. He immediately demanded that his wife give him everything she had received as an inheritance, that she give it to him; She pleaded, then, that he was her husband, and he was the one who should have that capital in his possession: some beautiful lands, a very beautiful ranch, etc., etc.
Naturally, the poor woman reacted somewhat; she thought to herself, “If this man is an ogre, what hope can I have in him? And if he takes what my father left me, then what will I do the day he throws me out of the house?” And she definitively resolved to offer him only a modest sum, perhaps fifty or one hundred thousand pesos, nothing more, just enough to keep him happy; of course, in those days, fifty or one hundred thousand pesos was a terrible amount…
Do you remember that a few years ago there was a saying that said: “There is no general who can resist a cannon shot of fifty thousand pesos?” It was true, wasn’t it? Well, the man was furious against the unhappy woman, and of course, he demanded that she sign the divorce.
Since she didn’t want to divorce, then he told her: “Well, if you don’t get divorced, if you don’t accept the divorce, well, we’re going to have to go to… (well, those courts where they fight litigation, I don’t remember their name right now)… … He divorced. Her children, unquestionably, had to go through many sufferings, and in the end, the unhappy woman went to her land…
What do you think? But he had a very mystical, ineffable attitude; he only spoke to me of the Divine things, of the Path he wanted to rove, of the Love he felt for his Father who is in Secret. Unfortunately, his little daughter on the one hand, his little children on the other, his poor wife who ran away because she did not give him the fortune… But he was a “Saint;” he wanted to continue along that Most Pure Path that leads to Intimate Self-Realization; he practiced Meditation three or four hours a day; Sexual Magic, yes, with whom he could, but he was still a “Saint”…
Well, if I have said this, I have not mentioned names or surnames; that is why I am not murmuring; if I cited names and surnames I would be making a mistake; but no, I am not citing names or surnames.
So I repeat: I am telling the story, showing “the signs,” but not “the Saint”…
The harsh reality of the facts is that this man was not the Good Master of the House; when you are not the Good Master of the House, it is clear, you are not prepared to get into the Razor’s Edge Path.
I met him there one of those many days; he asked me about Esotericism, about Gnosis, about Occultism, about all these things… I said, “Well, man, I forgot; I don’t even remember these things anymore; the lectures I gave, that was over there, in other times; I don’t even remember anymore; now I am dedicated to politics”…
Conclusion, well, I simply cut it as they say crudely, right? I became convinced that he was not a Good Master of the House and therefore he would never be good for these Esoteric Studies…
If I have made this account, it is in order for you to understand that the basis of these studies begins with having reached the level of the Good Master of the House: good husband, good father, good brother, good friend; the man who looks after his home, the woman who looks after hers; in short, and if the woman is not married, well, she will be the good daughter, the good sister, the woman of the house…
And if he is a man and is not married, he will at least be the good man who looks after his family, or his relatives, and if he does not have them, then he will fulfill the duties that exist towards all humanity in general.
But in general, if one has not reached the level of the Good Master of the House, he is not good for these studies; one has to be a decent person, who is not a lunatic, a balanced person, etc.
Now, obviously there is also something very interesting: It is what is called the “MAGNETIC CENTER” some people have that Magnetic Center; other people do not have it.
Usually, when one is attracted to these studies, it is because they have the Magnetic Center established in their psyche; otherwise, you will not feel any attraction…
I remember how the attraction for these studies was born in me. Of course, I changed my body, I tell you, sincerely, at will; I got into this body at will; I left the past body at will, and I took this at will; but I felt, in my present existence, that “pang,” as they say, for the Esoteric-Gnostic Studies; when I was still a child, about eight years old, I went to the country, and in contact with Great Nature, contemplating a sunrise, I felt a terrible hunch, and my heart came to ache; the longing for Divine things; and I saw myself whole; in those moments… … when reading a sacred book they feel the longing to know something more and for an instant, it seems that they see themselves; they have that CENTER OF CONSCIOUSNESS…
If you have ever felt that “pang” you will know what I am telling you. So it is very important to have a Center of Gravity, a Magnetic Center formed, because because of that, one comes to this kind of studies.
Yes, my dear brothers, what we want is, above all, to reach the UNITY OF FREE LIFE IN ITS MOVEMENT. Unfortunately, within each one of us, within each person there are many people; we do not enjoy a true SACRED INDIVIDUALITY; but in certain moments of supreme pain, we feel that deep down we have a Sacred Individuality…
Unfortunately I tell you: We are many, that is to say, each one of us is a lot of people, it is legion…
Well, what we want is to achieve the Unity of Life, to integrate, to become Sacred Individuals, and that is possible by working on ourselves, eliminating our own psychological errors; if we succeed, we become Sacred Individuals…
The difference between one person and another lies in their distinct Levels of Being. The closer one is to the Sacred Individuality, the more exalted one naturally is; the farther one is from one’s own Sacred Individuality, the lower one’s Level of Being.
The knowledge that we are imparting to the brothers and sisters here in this Hall, in this Temple, I am sure will not be assimilated by all in an absolutely equal way; each one will assimilate it according to the Level of Being in which he is. Some will understand it more, others less; it is impossible for everyone to comprehend or assimilate it in the same way.
Therefore, my dear brothers, since time is pressing upon us, and since he is the worst executioner we have, we will conclude by saying that only by uniting Being and Knowing can we arrive at TRUE COMPREHENSION, and that only with True Comprehension can we work on ourselves to move to a Level of Being, or to other higher Levels of Being.
We need to become whole, unitotal, and that is only possible by climbing up different steps that form the Levels of Being.
As you listen to this talk, do not forget the need to be, above all, balanced people, not lunatics, nor “Bad Housewives or Bad Masters of the House”.
The Path begins at home, and if the conditions we have in the house are disastrous, then so much the better for us; it means that the gymnasium is superior. When one lives in function of the Esoteric Work and for the Esoteric Work, obviously the harder the Gymnasium, the better…
So much for my dear brothers, because as I have already told you, time is pressing for us. We are going to do our Rite…
Samael Aun Weor
Note: The translation “To put the horns on someone” means “to cheat on someone”
