Well, let’s begin our discussion tonight. First and foremost, my esteemed brothers, it is essential to know how to live; this is something we must understand…
When we talk to someone, they tell us about the various events in their life; they talk to us, so to speak, about events, about what happened in certain periods of their history (as if life were, only, a chain of events).
People don’t realize that in addition to the circumstances of existence, there are also STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS; the ability to live is based, precisely, on how one manages to combine States of Consciousness with the circumstances of existence.
It may happen that a circumstance that could have been happy, was not, because we did not know how to combine the Conscious State with the event itself…
When we examine the world we live in, we can verify the undeniable fact that there are people who should be happy but aren’t. We’ve encountered many specific cases of individuals who have a nice house, a beautiful car, a wonderful wife, lovely children, and enough money, and yet they are not happy.
On the other hand, we have been able to see, to corroborate the case of poor individuals, who are needy, possibly humble pick and shovel workers, who neither enjoy a beautiful mansion, nor have more money than is needed for daily sustenance, nor use a beautiful latest model car, and yet, they are happy in their homes with their children (poor but clean, tidy), and their hardworking and sincere wives.
Thus, it is not money, in itself, that can give us happiness; everything depends on how one knows how to combine Conscious States with the events or circumstances of practical life.
If someone placed in magnificent conditions is not up to the task, if they do not know how to intelligently combine the States of Consciousness with the environment in which they develop and live, they will undoubtedly be unhappy.
However, another person, even if in difficult circumstances, knows how to combine the facts of their practical life with States of Consciousness, achieves well-being, prosperity, happiness, etc.
Therefore, it becomes urgent to understand the need to LEARN TO LIVE WISELY…
If we want a definitive change in life’s circumstances, it is necessary that such a change first take place within ourselves; if we do not modify anything internally, externally life will continue with its difficulties…
First and foremost, it is necessary to take control of ourselves; as long as one does not know how to govern oneself, one will not be able to govern the difficult circumstances of existence.
When we contemplate the various events of life, when we see this order of things, we can see that people are veritable machines who do not know how to live: If someone insults them, they react furiously; if someone greets them, they smile happily; it is very easy indeed, for any perverse person, to play with Human Machines; they can be made to go from sadness to joy, and vice versa, with just a few words.
How easy it is for them, isn’t it? All it takes is for someone to insult us to make us react, all it takes is for someone to pat us on the shoulder to make us smile contentedly; we don’t know how to govern ourselves, others govern us; and that is indeed lamentable (we are incapable)…
It is necessary to comprehend what the mind is, and what feeling and SENTIMENTALISM are.
If we study the Being judiciously, we will see that the mind is not the Being.
In Theosophy, there is much talk of the “MENTAL BODY,” and various schools of thought refer to it. We do not mean to imply that all “humanoids” already possess the Mental Vehicle; there may be “Manas,” as it is said in Sanskrit, that is, Mental Substance deposited in each of us, but that is not truly possessing the vehicle of the Mind.
In any case, the mind, whether the human being already possesses such a vehicle, or is beginning to create it, or does not yet have it, is nothing more than an instrument of manifestation, but it is not the Being…
FEELING IS NOT THE BEING EITHER. In the past, I was inclined to believe that feeling, in itself, truly corresponded to the Being; later, after severe analysis, I found it necessary to rectify this concept; obviously, feeling originates from the ASTRAL BODY in human beings.
It might be objected to that I say “not everyone possesses that precious KEDSJANO Vehicle,” and on that we do agree; but there is emotion, the corresponding substance in each of us; and from it (whether one has the Sidereal Vehicle or not), comes, of course, what is called “feeling.”
In its negative aspect, sentimentality makes us, therefore, overly negative beings, but in itself, feeling is not the Being either; it may belong to the Emotional Center, but it is not the Being.
The mind has its center, the INTELLECTIVE CENTER, but it is not the Self. The Center of the Mind, the Intellectual, is in the brain, that is obvious, but it is not the Self. Feeling, which corresponds to the EMOTIONAL CENTER or the Emotional Brain, is in the region of the Solar Plexus and extends to the sympathetic nerve centers and the heart, but it is not the Being. “The Being is the Being, and the reason for the Being is the Being” .
Why should we let ourselves be led by the Machine’s Centers? Why do we allow the Intellectual or Emotional Center to control us? Why should we be slaves to this machinery? We must learn to control all the Machine’s Centers; we must become masters, lords…
There are five centers in the human machine, that much is obvious: the intellectual, which is the first; the emotional, which is the second; the motor, which is the third; the instinctive, which is the fourth; and the sexual, the fifth. But the centers of the machine do not constitute the being; they can be put at the service of the being, but they are not the being; thus, neither the mind nor feeling is the being.
Why do human beings suffer? Because they allow thought and feeling to interfere in the various circumstances of life: If we are insulted, we react immediately by insulting back; if our self-esteem is hurt, we suffer, and even become enraged…
When we consider the whole picture of life, we can clearly see that we have been, so to speak, logs in the ocean, precisely because we have allowed the mind and feelings to always “interfere” in the various circumstances of our existence.
We haven’t given our essence, our being, the opportunity to express itself through us; we’ve always wanted to solve things on our own: We react to any harsh word, any problem, any difficulty; we feel hurt when someone hurts us, or pleased when anyone praises us; we’ve been victims of everyone, everyone has played with us; we’ve been, so to speak, logs among the raging waves of the great ocean, we haven’t been masters of ourselves…
Why do we worry? I ask myself, and I ask you.“Because of problems,” you’ll tell me. WORRY, my dear brothers and sisters, is a habit in very bad taste. It serves NO Purpose, it solves nothing; one must learn to live from moment to moment, from instant to instant.
Why should one worry?
Therefore, above all, do not allow the mind and feelings to interfere in the various circumstances of life; the human personality must become calm and passive; this implies, in fact, tremendous activity of consciousness; this means learning to live consciously; this means laying the foundations for awakening…
Everyone would like to see, hear, touch, and feel the great realities of the Higher Worlds; but naturally, how could those who are asleep become experiencers of these great realities? How could those whose consciousness is in dreams become investigators of life in the Suprasensible Regions of Nature and the Cosmos?
If we were to awaken our consciousness, we could verify the concrete fact that the world is not as we are seeing it.
I have often said, and I repeat it again today, that all those wonders that appear in the book of “One Thousand and One Nights,” all those prodigious magical phenomena of ancient Arcadia, all those miracles of the Primordial Earth (from those times when “the rivers of pure water of life flowed with milk and honey” ), have not ended; they continue to occur from instant to instant, from moment to moment, here and now…
It might be objected that: “If that is so, why don’t we see them? Why don’t we witness the extraordinary? Why aren’t we given the opportunity to experience these wonders?” The answer is this: No one has forbidden us the capacity for experimentation, no one prevents us from seeing and hearing what happens around us; if such phenomena are not perceptible to our external senses at this moment, it is due to a single reason (and a very serious one at that): WE ARE IN A STATE OF HYPNOSIS, ASLEEP; and the subject in a hypnotic trance becomes INCAPABLE OF PERCEIVING such phenomena…
Kundabuffer Organ
Much has been said about the abominable Kundabuffer Organ (a fatal organ that humanity possessed in ancient times)… It has not been entirely lost; we know that a bony remnant still exists at the base of the spine; no one is unaware of this. This remnant belongs to the abominable Kundabuffer Organ and possesses, among other things, a formidable hypnotic power; this general, collective hypnotic current is fascinating.
If we see someone, for example, dressed extravagantly in the streets, we don’t feel astonishment; we simply say: “What an eccentric fellow!” Another person walking with us will say: “That’s the fashion!” Someone else will exclaim: “There’s a hippie!”; and an old man passing by on the opposite sidewalk will simply think: “Look at these New Wave people!”; but, all of them, they are in a state of hypnosis and that’s all…
Subject any individual X-X to a deep hypnotic sleep; then tell him that he is in the middle of the ocean, that he must undress because he is going to drown, and you will see him undress. Tell him that he is a great singer, and you will see him singing, even though, in actual fact, he is doing nothing but shouting. Tell him to lie down on the floor, and he will lie down; tell him to stand on his head, and he will do so, because he is in a State of Hypnosis…
I recently took a short trip there, to Puerto Vallarta; there’s a boat for visitors there (like in Acapulco); I had no problem buying a ticket to take us to a nearby beach; the journey was pleasant, delightful; sailing on the Pacific is quite enjoyable…
There was a certain gentleman there who acted as a hypnotist. When the band’s instruments began to play, he told the people to dance, and they danced; to hold hands, and everyone held hands; to kiss the couples (and they kissed); the only thing that man, that impromptu hypnotist, didn’t do was tell them to stand on their heads, but everything he ordered was done.
It was both laughable and admiring to see all the wonders the hypnotist performed: how he played with the passengers, how he made them laugh, how he made them jump, how he made them spin around, etc., etc., etc.
Of course, I, a subject who is used to being in a STATE OF ALERT-PERCEPTION, ALERT-NOVELTY, limited myself, exclusively, to seeing those fools in a State of Hypnosis.
Observe yourselves the advertising: “Buy this remedy, infallible against coughs!”. Each announcement gives orders to the hypnotized masses to go to this or that place, to buy this or that soap, this or that perfume; to visit this or that doctor’s office, etc., etc., etc., and the people move under the orders of the hypnotists, who, in turn, are also hypnotized by other people and other crowds; like the crowds themselves, everyone is in a state of hypnosis, of hypnotic trance.
But it’s hard to know that one is in a state of hypnosis; IF PEOPLE WANTED TO, THEY COULD WAKE UP from that lamentable state, but unfortunately nobody wants to.
It is therefore very difficult, I repeat, to discover the State of Hypnosis in which one finds oneself; one only becomes aware that hypnotism exists when the Hypnotic Force flows faster, when it is concentrated in a certain place, when a hypnotism session is done; outside of that, outside of such a moment, one does not realize that one is in a State of Hypnosis.
If one could awaken from this dream in which one finds oneself, one would then see the marvelous phenomena that have occurred around one since the beginning of the world…
I know of phenomena so simple that anyone can see them; they are physical, material, right in front of everyone, and yet, people, seeing them, don’t see them! You might say to me: “If that’s the case, why don’t you mention even one?” Reasons? One: Because if I were to mention any of these phenomena to you (which are perceptible to the naked eye), you would see them immediately, but you would die, because it turns out that all these phenomena, currently, which correspond to Forces and Prodigies, ARE JEALOUSLY GUARDED BY CERTAIN very powerful ELEMENTALS, who, upon feeling discovered, WOULD CAUSE THE DEATH OF THE CURIOUS, and since I don’t feel like creating my own pantheon; I feel compelled to remain silent…
Therefore, brothers, IT IS NECESSARY TO AWAKEN if one wants to perceive the great realities of life; but it is only possible to awaken by knowing how to live.
How could someone who is a plaything of others awaken? If I were to insult you this very moment, I’m sure you wouldn’t tolerate it, you would protest violently, and the best among you would immediately withdraw…
See how easy it is to change you! I only have to say one harsh word, and you blush and become furious; now, if I want to flatter you, I only have to say sweet words, and you are happy; that is to say, you are victims of circumstances, you are not masters of yourselves, and that is regrettable, isn’t it?
Therefore, brothers, whoever wants to be master of himself must begin by NOT ALLOWING THE MIND AND FEELINGS TO INTERFERE in the affairs of practical life.
Of course, this requires, I repeat, as I already said, a tremendous PASSIVITY OF THE PERSONALITY AND A TERRIFYING ACTIVITY OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS.
That is precisely what we need: Activity of Consciousness. When Consciousness becomes active, it emerges from its lethargy, and then, obviously, awakening follows…
First and foremost, we must begin by NOT DOING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE DOES. When I go to restaurants with my group, I can see that everyone goes to the bathroom to wash their hands during the meal. People might call me “dirty” or “filthy,” but I don’t go to wash my hands.
When I’m asked why, I answer: “Simply because I don’t like doing what everyone else does, that is, I don’t like being a machine.”… So if everyone else stands on their head, do I have to stand on my head also? If everyone else walks on all fours, do I have to walk on all fours too? Why? No, brothers! We need to become individuals, and that’s only possible by letting go of our egos and not allowing our minds and feelings to interfere with the various circumstances of our existence.
When we begin this work, when we learn to become tremendously passive, to give the great activities of Consciousness a chance, we see that everything changes.
I want to cite just one concrete fact: I was in a house, it doesn’t matter which one; One of the “well-to-do” boys from that house, wandering about, through those streets of the world, transformed into nothing less than a *Don Juan Tenorio, did his thing over there with a young girl…
Conclusion: Her family gets involved; of course, they all show up at her house, looking for the “mama’s boy,” the “rich kid.” Mischievous? Yes, but in love… A party animal and a gambler? I don’t know; I only know he’s a real Don Juan…
The lady’s father naturally comes with the intention of shooting the young gentleman; no one dares to come out; only I, who am there, make my presence known; since I have been given the opportunity to mediate, I take advantage of it…
The furious head of the family summons the young man to the house; I stop the young man and bring in the offended head of the family. With great gentleness and affection, I invite the offended man and the Don Juan to sit down, and of course, they both take their seats…
Along with the boss comes a woman; I realize she’s the lady’s mother. There are terrible words exchanged; it’s almost as if he’s about to pull out a gun and fire. However, I politely tell the man, “Everything can be fixed; through understanding, everything can be resolved; killing solves no problem.”
The man was therefore surprised; he hadn’t expected that someone so serene and calm would be in that mansion…
There are conversations, a friendly exchange between the boss and the Don Juan; everything is settled and the offended party leaves taking his pistol with the five shots, he didn’t fire any of the many he wanted to fire…
And everything worked out; why? Because I brought a higher state of consciousness to that event by acting as mediator. But if I had advised those people to resort to violence; if I myself, pretending to be a very good friend, had responded with harsh words, the circumstances would have been different, Don Juan would have ended up in the cemetery, and these two families would have been filled with mourning and sorrow…
So the circumstances of life depend on our States of Consciousness; BY CHANGING ONE’S STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS, CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE, that’s obvious.
We cannot change the circumstances of life if we do not first change our states of consciousness…
I invite you, therefore, to a deeper reflection. As we allow Consciousness to become active, as we control the mind and feelings so they don’t interfere where they shouldn’t, the result will be wonderful, because as Consciousness becomes active, the process of awakening intensifies.
And not only do all the circumstances surrounding us change, but we also begin to notice that during the hours when the physical body sleeps, we work (live, so to speak) outside the physical body in a more conscious way.
And so, as the Personality becomes passive, as the mind and feelings are restrained from interfering where they shouldn’t, the awakening will grow ever greater; and thus, we will end up becoming great researchers of life in the Higher Worlds…
Whoever wants to awaken, must do so here and now; WHOEVER AWAKENS HERE AND NOW, AWAKENS IN EVERY CORNER OF THE UNIVERSE.
Well, my dear brothers, that concludes this discussion. We will, however, give those who wish to ask questions the opportunity to do so with complete freedom.
Q & A
– Student. Venerable Master, you just said that not everyone has an Astral Body. My question is (and I believe your answer will clarify this) why a person who dreams (and I think everyone dreams) is asleep in bed, yet dreams they are somewhere else. Was that a projection of the Astral Body, a projection of Consciousness, or a projection of thought?
– Master. We will gladly answer our brother R. Indeed, the Astral Body, or Kedsjan Body, is a luxury not all human beings can afford. No one is born with an Astral Body, except those who created it in previous lives.
When one has had the privilege of creating such a body, one can work and live with this vehicle in the Higher Worlds naturally; as naturally as we live in a physical body. But since not everyone has yet created this marvelous instrument of existence, it is clear that when it acts outside the physical body, whether because it has escaped through death or during sleep, THE EGO ACTS.
This means that the Essence, the soul material, so to speak, the guiding factor of all the psychological processes we carry within us, is bottled up within the Ego, within the Self, the “I,” the “me,” the “myself” and when the time for normal, ordinary sleep arrives, the Ego, the psychological “I” (within which the Essence is trapped), leaves the physical body, so that the Vital vehicle can repair the dense body; because if the Vital vehicle does not repair the dense body, the dense body dies.
And in order for the Vital Vehicle to repair the physical body, it is necessary for the Ego (within which the Essence is enmeshed) to leave the physical body. Then the Ego travels to different places in the world, and of course, since it carries the sleeping Consciousness, it dreams, and the dreams are transmitted through the Silver Cord, and then they reach the physical brain. But it is the Ego that, so to speak, leaves the dense form; that is all. Are there any other questions, brothers? You may ask your question.
– Student. We had talked about the false Astral Body or Body of Desires. Can we identify the Body of Desires (seat of the Emotions) with the Ego?
– Master. Certainly, THE BODY OF DESIRES IS NOTHING MORE THAN THE EGO ITSELF; it is not a body in itself… …it is a series of forms or aggregates that penetrate and interpenetrate each other without becoming confused. If someone calls that I, that Ego, the “Body of Desires,” that is their prerogative; nor can it be called a Body in itself, but if they wish to call it that, let them; however, it would not be correct, since THE EGO HAS NO INDIVIDUALITY WHATSOEVER, IT IS NOT AN ORGANISM; IT IS ONLY A SUM OF AGGREGATES.
If this is done conventionally, we say, “So-and-so went out in their astral body.” What do we know if that person doesn’t yet have an astral body? They went out in their ego (within which resides the essence, the consciousness); they were awake for a while and were able to live outside the physical body, to move, to travel to different places. The thing is, the ego acts as the astral body. But it’s far from having the perfection of the astral body. The ego is the ego, and that’s all.
– Student. …However, you say that some informed people (though not of Gnostic Wisdom, specifically of the Arcanum AZF, which cannot manufacture Solar Vehicles), but who do cultivate some Discipline of a Mystical or Esoteric nature, can they, through prayer and good thoughts, within the Ego, have contact with Divine entities? Is it possible for someone to be awake even while trapped in the Ego?
– Master. Well, certainly, it IS POSSIBLE for someone to be awake for an instant even if trapped within the Ego. If Consciousness manages to awaken, it is obviously because the Ego has diminished in size; and when the awakening is radical, total, absolute, the Ego no longer exists, it has disappeared.
So, as the Ego is reduced to ashes, Consciousness is awakened.
THAT AWAKENING IS NEVER IMMEDIATE; IT ASCENDS GRADUALLY.
Normally, anyone can have 1% Awakened Consciousness, or none at all; another might have 2%, and another 3%. If humanity had 10% Awakened Consciousness, there would no longer be wars. Having 100% is very difficult; only the Kumaras could have that 100%, the Great Prajapatis, the Great Elohim.
Masters as excellent, as great as Helena Petronila Blavatsky (who studied at the feet of the Venerable Grand Master KH. in Shangrila), however, cannot be said to have one hundred percent of awakened consciousness; they may have 50% but not one hundred percent.
Ouspensky and Gurdjieff, only these two achieved a certain percentage of awakened Consciousness; but to say that they reached one hundred percent is difficult. If Gurdjieff had 60 or 70 percent, that was quite a lot, but one hundred percent is only attained by Masters like KH, like Morya, like Jesus of Nazareth, like Hilarion (who was called “Paul of Tarsus”), an Immortal Master who retains a perfect physical body… …but the Masters who have not yet reached that level, who have not yet been able to enter, let’s say, the most select part of Divine Humanity, who have not yet achieved Resurrection, do not yet enjoy that absolute percentage of 100%.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, we must reflect deeply. Someone could begin by improving their percentage of Consciousness, reaching 5 or 10%. In any case, as the Ego dissolves, the percentage of Consciousness will increase; and as the percentage of Consciousness increases, the capacity to investigate the Higher Worlds becomes ever more intense.
They can also achieve, THROUGH DEEP INNER MEDITATION, that the Essence, the Psychic Material, IS UNBOTTLED, even if only MOMENTARILY, from within the Ego, in order to experience That which is Real, That which is not of time.
I have said that… …when the Essence or Buddhata acts in the absence of the I, the ego, the me, it merges completely, even if only momentarily, with the Human Soul in the Causal World, and then acts, we might say, in a way that is somewhat like a Buddha-like form. It can feel within itself, experience within itself, an “element” that radically transforms. This is why Zen Meditation, for example, and Chan are so formidable: because they allow the Essence to unblock itself.
If someone has ever experienced the Illuminating Void within themselves, they are different from other people; whoever has ever felt that “element” that transforms, undoubtedly, that individual has gone through a great experience for their own benefit, which strengthens them in their innermost depths, which gives them courage for Self-Realization; which incites them to tremendous activity against the self, the ego.
Because it is one thing to have once experienced the Illuminating Void in the absence of the psychological Self, and another thing to have realized the Illuminating Void.
Some speak of the Tao. But it is one thing, let’s say, to have visited the Tao in the absence of the Ego, and another thing to realize the Tao within oneself, here and now.
We need, brothers, we need to realize the Tao. We need, so to speak, to realize within ourselves, or to Self-Realize within ourselves, the Illuminating Emptiness. And this is only possible, my dear brothers, by working intensely, by knowing how to live practical life; by not allowing the mind and feelings to interfere in the various circumstances of life, always giving Consciousness the opportunity to act, and not us.
When we proceed in this way, we will indeed place ourselves on the path that will effectively lead us to awakening.
We need to be different from the crowds around us… …not do what everyone else does; we need to become true individuals.
Today, we are nothing but machines: You press a button on a machine and it moves a wheel, you press another button and it stops moving; you move a lever and it goes forward, you move another and it goes backward. This is how we are: We are acted upon and we act, we are spoken to and we speak, we are wounded and we wound. Anyone can play with us however they please. We are victims of everyone. It is the harsh reality of the facts. Thus far, my dear brothers…
Samael Aun Weor
*Don Juan Tenorio is the most legendary and iconic “womanizer” in Spanish literature. While the name is often used today as a general term for a seducer, he is primarily a fictional character who first appeared in the 17th century.
