Lesson 1: What is Gnosis

PENSUM

  • It’s origin
  • Etymology of the word GNOSIS
  • Gnosis as the face of Universal Knowledge
  • GNOSIS as DIVINE WISDOM
  • The Doctrine of the Eye and the Doctrine of the Heart
  • Art, Science, Philosophy and Religion as a method of learning Gnosis

WHAT SHOULD BE TAUGHT:

  1. GNOSIS as Universal and Eternal Philosophy.
  2. The Mystical Life and the need to reach Self-Knowledge - The Purification of life.
  3. The necessity of eliminating the lie within us (the EGO, the self, the I of us) since these are the things that prevent us from climbing the ladder of total knowledge.
  4. The purpose of the course.

Introductions

  • Say a few words about who we are and what we do:
    • We are called Samael-Lakhsmi Gnostic Cultural Association.
    • We study various topics of psychology, anthropology, esotericism, metaphysics, etc.

External Life and the Inner Path

Mechanical Life

(See “Death on the Cross”, chapter “The World and Its Systems”) (See “The 10 Rules for a Happy Household”, Foreword)

  • In external life we fulfill all the obligations we have towards Nature and towards society. i.e. we study, work, have fun, have children, support the family, etc.
  • However, even though it is necessary to fulfill these obligations, this mechanical life is not enough to lead us to fulfillment.

The Labyrinth

  • Everyone has their own theory of what the meaning of life is and how they can find happiness and fulfillment.

This is the labyrinth of theories in which we live.

  • i.e. some believe that the meaning of life lies in creating a family.
  • i.e. others consider it to be in search of pleasures and experiences.
  • i.e. others consider it to be found in believing in a religion.
  • i.e. others see it as fighting for some political or social ideal.
  • i.e. others consider it to be in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.
  • i.e. others believe that life has no meaning or that everyone gives it the meaning they want.

But, no matter what one believes, sooner or later this life ends, and we leave:

  • without having discovered the reason why we came here.
  • without having found anything real, beyond this mechanical life.
  • without having done anything for our inner Being.

The Esoteric Initiatic Path

(See “The Return of the Messiah,” chapter “The Worker of the Great Work”) (See “The Divine Daimon”, chapter “The Return”) (See “Death on the Cross”, chapter “Life and its Kingdoms”) (See “Death on the Cross”, chapter “Silent Quest”) (See “Death on the Cross”, chapter “Man’s Quest”) (See “Death on the Cross”, chapter “The Defiant Eagles”) (See “The Gospel of Judas”, chapter XVI) (See “Light in the Darkness,” “The Discovery and Liberation of Man”) (See “New Year’s Message 1993”, “Introduction”)

  • If everyone in life would like to achieve happiness, freedom, wisdom, fulfillment, etc., why are there so few who do?
  • Because to get there, there is a road we must travel: the esoteric initiatic path.
  • This is the path walked by all the great wise Masters in human history.
  • Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Krishna, Hermes Trismegistus, etc.

The destination

  • First of all, we need to know where we want to get to: our destination.
  • We have not taken on a physical body just to survive and fulfill our external obligations.
  • Man has within him some higher possibilities, so that he can become something more than a machine that serves the needs of society and lower Nature.
  • But these do not unfold by themselves: they can only develop through conscious efforts and inner work.
  • For man there can be no automatic “evolution”, because if he does nothing to develop himself, he slowly loses his functions.
  • Our destination on the inner path is to reach Truth, God, the self-realization of our Being.
  • This destination has various names:
  • It is a state in which we have conquered inner freedom, love, peace, wisdom, etc.
  • To reach this destination we must have continuity of purpose, that is to say not to forget our goal in the various events of life.

The Origin of Gnosis

What is Gnosis

(See “The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac”, chapter “Gnostic Anthropology”)

  • Gnosis is a Universal Knowledge, a Transcendent Wisdom that has always existed and will always exist.
  • It is a kind of knowledge superior to the knowledge we can acquire through the physical senses.

Gnosis in history

(See “The Perfect Matrimony”, the chapters cited in the bibliography)

  • Gnosis does not belong to any particular group or religion.
    • Gnosis possessed by all those who, through enormous efforts, managed to reach the heights of Wisdom.
    • This is the Conscious Cycle of Solar Humanity.
  • The origin of Knowledge is lost in the terrible night of the ages.
  • Gnosis was transferred to our Aryan Race from Atlantis.
  • The Atlanteans received Knowledge from Lemuria.
  • Gnosis was brought to Lemuria by V.M. Sanat Kumara, who came to Earth from Venus in the 3rd sub-race of Lemuria and founded the first Mystery School.
    • Gnosis is found in all great cultures:
    • The Lamas of Tibet had Gnosis.
    • The Brahmin priests of India had Gnosis.
    • The great sages of China had Gnosis
    • The magicians of Babylon had Gnosis.
    • The Hierophants of Egypt had Gnosis.
    • The Celtic druids had Gnosis.
    • The philosophers and the mystics of the Mysteries of Greece had Gnosis.
    • The Mayans, Aztecs, Incas and Toltecs had Gnosis.
  • Gnosis was taught in the Mystery Schools and inner groups of all the great civilizations.
  • Gnosis was always taught to a small number of people.
  • This is not because Masters and Initiates do not want to give Gnosis to the masses.
  • It happens because there are always very few people who are interested in Knowledge and who are willing to make the efforts required to obtain it.
  • In today’s era it is expressed in the form of the Gnostic Teaching brought to humanity by V.M. Samael.
  • Then, V.M. Lakhsmi and V.M Michael interpreted and explained the Teaching further.

Esoteric Groups

  • In all ages and cultures there have been Mystery Schools and esoteric groups in which:
    1. We are taught the methods to walk the inner path and work on ourselves.
    2. We have the right conditions to do this work.
    3. We benefit from the energy and support of the team.
    4. We benefit from the power of group practices.
    5. We benefit from the psychological laboratory of interaction with team members.
    6. We have the immediate inner guidance and help we need from those who are more advanced.

The 4 Pillars of Gnosis

Gnosis is studied through 4 Pillars:

Science — Art — Philosophy — Religion

  • Each of the 4 Pillars is a way to approach Gnosis.

Science

(See “The Revolution of Dialectic”, chapter “Materialist Science”)

  • Seeks to reach the Truth.
  • Approaches Gnosis through objective study.
  • A scientist is one who studies all things objectively.
  • The Scientist experiments in order to confirm and reach his own understanding.

Art

(See “The Revolution of Dialectic”, chapter “Art”)

  • Seeks to reach the beautiful.
  • Approaches Gnosis through inspiration.
  • Inspiration is to apprehend Truth through a higher emotion.
  • An artist is one who captures and expresses Truth through spiritual inspiration.

Philosophy

(See “Basic Education”, chapter “Revolutionary Psychology”)

  • Seeks to reach wisdom
  • Approaches Gnosis through reasoning.
    • A philosopher is one who sees life as a school, and all situations as opportunities to learn.
    • The Philosopher has a suitable disposition to face all the difficulties of life.
    • In this way he is not identified with either the pleasant or the unpleasant events.

Religion

(See “The Yellow Book”, chapter “The Cosmic Mother”) (See “The Mysteries of Life and Death”, chapter “The Innermost”)

  • Seeks to reach God.
  • Approaches Gnosis through mysticism.
    • Mysticism is the desire to get in touch with God. i.e. through prayer, meditation, worship, etc.
    • A religious or Mystic is one who experiences God.
  • God is a universal Power that is within everything.
    • God has no form, but it can take any form it wants to present itself to the believer.

The Consciousness

(See “The Awakening of Consciousness”, chapter “Consciousness”)

The Teaching of the Eye and the Teaching of the Heart

(See “Zodiac Lessons”, chapter “Dedication”)

  • The Doctrine of the Eye:

    • It originates from the mind.
    • The mind constructs its concepts based on the information it receives from the 5 physical senses.
    • The mind cannot know anything beyond the limits of the 5 senses.
      • i.e. about the Soul, about God, about what exists after death and before birth, about the meaning of life, etc.
    • The Teaching of the Eye ends up impoverishing us morally and spiritually, because the intellectual is only a function of the animal part of man.

  • The Teaching of the Heart:

    • Comes from Consciousness.
    • Consciousness perceives Truth immediately, without thought.
    • With Consciousness we can know all that is transcendental (God, the higher worlds, reincarnation, the meaning of life, etc.)
    • The Teaching of the Heart elevates us morally and spiritually, turning us into true Humans.

The 3 Factors of the Revolution of Consciousness

  • To walk the inner path in an integrated way we need to practice the 3 Factors of the Revolution of Consciousness.
  • Any authentic esoteric school that knows the true path teaches these 3 factors and practical ways to apply them.

We will speak very generally here, since the deeper analysis of the Three Factors comes in lesson 13.

The First Factor: Psychological Death

  • Every person has some things inside him that prevent him from being free, happy, etc.
    • i.e. complexes, traumas, fears, insecurities, plans, vanities, jealousies, anger, etc.
  • These things are created in us by:
    • The way we grew up.
    • The mistakes we made.
  • We would all like to get rid of these burdens, but that is impossible if we do not know how to work with them.
    • We need specific methods and techniques to eliminate them.
    • That is why we need an esoteric school that will teach us all this.
    • In the First Chamber course we will learn specific techniques to do this task:
      • We will learn how to recognize them.
      • We will learn how to expel them from our psyche.
      • We will learn how to eliminate them.
      • We will learn how to live without them.

The Second Factor: Second Birth

  • We need to create the vehicles to embody the Spirit.
    • As we are now, we cannot bear the high tension of Soul and Spirit.
    • This is done by converting our energies to crystallize a Solar structure that can withstand this high voltage.

The Third Factor: Sacrifice

  • This is helping others in any way we can.
    • We may sacrifice time, energy, money, etc.
    • We do it consciously, because we feel it.
  • How sacrifice helps us:
    • It gives us impetus to continue our inner work.
    • It gives us the values we need to allow us to proceed on the Initiative path. “He who does not give has no right to receive.”
  • He who is concerned only with his personal perfection, forgetting others, falls into egoism.

Suggested Practice: Relaxation

  • At the end of the lesson, we can give the individuals a very short guided practice.
  • Put on some nice music, light a candle, dim the lights.
  • Many of the people may not have practiced meditation before, so we have to explain to them all the steps: sit comfortably with feet firmly on the floor, the back can rest on the chair, but it must be as straight as possible, eyes closed, etc.
  • We take a few deep breaths, relax our body and mind and concentrate for a while on the heart.
  • Since the subjects are completely new, the practice will take no more than 10 minutes.

Then we could say:

  • That a course of 22 classes will follow.
  • We will try to balance the theoretical part with the practical, giving various practices, so that we can practice what we learn.
  • Although we are a non-profit association and there is no cost for the courses, we strongly request the voluntary contribution of the participants to cover the costs of the courses.

Second Chamber Information

Just for our own understanding, not to share it with the First Chamber.

Science

(See “The Revolution of Dialectic”, chapter “Materialist Science”)

The two kinds of Science:

  • Materialistic science:

    • It is based on the data of the 5 physical senses and the mind.
    • It consists of many and various subjective theories that are gradually overcome and changed.
    • It can never reach the truth, because the truth is beyond the world of forms, it is eternal and belongs to the Spirit.

  • The Pure Science of Spirit:

    • It is based on the data we get from Consciousness.
    • It is objective and eternal.
    • It studies not only the physical, but also the spiritual part of things.
    • It is taught to us by the part of our Being called Matthew.

  • All the sciences of the Universe are synthesized in Kabbalah and Alchemy.

Kabbalah
  • It is the science of Numbers.
    • Everything in the world is based on mathematics and geometry.
    • Numbers are living entities.
    • In the world of the Spirit everything is numbers and mathematics.
    • Kabbalah is the basis for understanding the language of the Inner Worlds
      • Because in dreams and inner experiences the Spirit’s messages appear in the form of symbols and numbers.
  • Studies man and the Universe.
    • Man is a miniature of the Universe: a microcosm of the macrocosm.
      • All the forces and all the laws that exist in the Universe also exist (potentially) within man.
    • By studying man, we understand the Universe and by studying the Universe we understand man.
      • “Man, know thyself and you will know the Universe and the Gods.”
    • It studies man in all its levels (body, soul and spirit) and the Universe in all its dimensions (physical, astral, mental, etc.).
  • The whole of Divine Wisdom is contained in the Tarot.
  • The Tarot was given to humanity by the Archangel Metraton, who is the Lord of Serpent Wisdom, the prophet Enoch.
  • The original Tarot is the Egyptian Tarot.
  • Then they evolved into the Tarot of the Bohemians, until now we meet them as the well-known deck with which people play cards.
Alchemy
  • This is the science of transformations.
    • In nature everything is constantly transforming.
    • In this way we too can transform within ourselves from the lower into the higher.
  • An alchemist is one who turns lead into gold
  • The Alchemist works inside his laboratory.
    • The laboratory is the physical body.
    • This produces within itself all the substances and energies with which the Alchemist works.

Art

(See “The Revolution of Dialectic”, chapter “Art”)

Subjective Art
  • In subjective art everything is subjective:
    • The perception of the “artist”.
    • The forms in which it expresses it.
    • What viewers receive.
  • How the “artist” perceives the stimuli is subjective.
    • i.e. a sunset may cause joy to one “artist” but sadness to another.
  • The forms in which he tries to express himself are subjective.
    • Two “artists” may be trying to express the exact same thing in completely different forms, or completely different things in the same forms.
  • Viewers take in, not what the “artist” wanted to convey to them, but what the forms in which he expressed himself will make them feel associative.
  • Therefore, in subjective art everything is random.
    • That is why it cannot have any spiritual and inner value.
Objective Art
  • It expresses an objective truth
  • The artist knows and understands what he wants to convey.
  • A work of objective art conveys inner teachings.
    • i.e. concerning the initiatic path, cosmic processes, the evolution of the Races, the mysteries of life and death, etc.
    • The Sphinx of Egypt represents the Elemental Mediator of Nature, with its 5 elements.
    • Many Sufi dances express processes related to our Solar System.
    • The Aztec calendar shows the course of the Tribes of our planet.
    • Mozart’s Magic Flute reminds us of an Egyptian Initiation.
  • We must make our own life a work of art.
    • This is the Great Work
Examples of objective Art
  • Music:
    • The compositions of the great classics, such as: Beethoven, Liszt, Wagner, Mozart, Brahms, Vivaldi, Mahler, etc.
  • Paint:
    • The paintings of the great classical painters, such as: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raffaello, Bouguereau, etc.
  • Architecture:
    • Parthenon, Notre Dame, Taj Mahal, Pyramids of Egypt, etc.

Philosophy

(See “Basic Education”, chapter “Revolutionary Psychology”)

  • A philosopher is he who loves Wisdom. (Friend + Sophia)
    • The Philosopher has a suitable disposition to face all the difficulties of life.
    • The Philosopher sees life as a school, and all situations as opportunities to learn.
  • In this way he is not identified with either the pleasant or the unpleasant events.
  • Psychology was always hidden behind Philosophy.
    • Philosophy teaches us how to relate wisely to the outside (the horizontal axis).
    • Psychology teaches us how to relate wisely to the inner (every-axis).
  • We Gnostics love the Philosophy of the Moment:
    • Philosophy of the Moment is to live from moment to moment.
    • This moment, now, is the point where the two axes intersect.
    • When we are placed in the Now we can manage with Consciousness everything that happens outside and everything that happens inside.

Religion (Mysticism)

Religion = Religare (Latin) = Re - ligare = Reunion (with God)

  • Mysticism is the willingness to get in touch with the spiritual principles of creation: with God.
  • i.e. through prayer, meditation, worship, etc.
The Mystical Experience

(See “The Solar Bodies”, chapter “The Mental Body”)

  • In all religions and cultures there are reports of people who had a transcendental experience in which they met God, the Truth.
  • All the mystics, saints, prophets, sages, spiritual teachers, etc. who had this experience experienced the same reality and described it in similar words.
  • By studying these descriptions comparatively, we can prove that Reality is one and that all religions are based on the same spiritual principles.
  • The spiritual Message of every religion is always the same.
  • When humanity is in need, a Messenger comes who brings this Message in a renewed form.
  • Such Messengers, or Avatars, were: Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Krishna, Muhammad, Quetzalcoatl, Zoroaster, Hermes Trismegistus, V.M. Samael, etc.
What is God

(See “The Yellow Book”, chapter “The Cosmic Mother”) (See “The Mysteries of Life and Death”, chapter “The Innermost”)

  • God is a universal Power that is within everything.
  • God has no form.
    • We cannot accept a God in human form.
  • But it can take any form He wants to present itself to the faithful.
  • i.e. a Christian may see Him in the form of Jesus or the Virgin Mary, a Buddhist in the form of a Buddha, a Hindu in the form of Krishna or Shiva, etc.
  • Every human being has a piece of God within them.
  • This is his True Self, his Inner Father, his Divine Spirit.
  • Every man has his own Father.
  • “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” - Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 3:16
  • The base of our Being within our body is in the heart.