Lesson 6: The Human Machine

PENSUM

• The 5 cylinders of the human machine.
• Machine balance.
• The values of each roll.

WHAT SHOULD BE TAUGHT:

1 - Why do we say we are machines?

2 - What is a machine?

3 - Study of the 5 centers.

PRACTICE: CONTINUITY OF THE PRACTICE OF THE OBSERVER AND THE OBSERVED. OF SELF-REMEMBERING. EMPHASIS THAT THEY SHOULD PRACTICE THE PRACTICES THAT THEY ARE TEACHING. EXPLAIN THE REASONS WHY THEY SHOULD PRACTICE THEM. TALK TO THEM ABOUT VOCALIZATION.

The Human Machine

(See “The Solar Bodies,” chapter “The Human Machine”) (See “Basic Training”, chapter “Anthropomorphic Machines”)

• Man is a moving machine driven by two factors:

  • External influences
  • The multiple ‘I’

• External influences cause infinite changes in the subjective psyche of man.

  • The succession of ‘I’ depends on external influences.
  • In this way some ‘I’ appear and other ‘I’ disappear.
  • For instance: heat, good or bad weather cause the appearance of certain ‘I’s’ that take control of the human machine. The rains, the difficulties, the fleeting happiness create a new disturbing ‘me’.
  • Some stronger ‘I’ dominate the weaker ‘I’, but their power is not theirs, it is just a matter of circumstances.

• The anthropomorphic machine has no freedom.

  • All movements, actions, words, ideas, feelings and desires of the machine are caused by the ‘I’ which in turn depend on external influences.
  • It is foolish to think that one is doing things, when in fact one cannot do anything, since one is a puppet moved by unknown forces.

• Anyone who wants to stop being a mechanical humanoid must begin by admitting and understanding their mechanical nature.

  • The intellectual animal is a very special machine: because if it understands that it is a machine and if it is properly guided and the conditions allow it, it can stop being a machine and become a human being.

The Psychological Centers

(See “The Perfect Marriage,” chapter “Working with the Demon”) (See “Kabbalah Inner Lessons”, chapter “Arcana 15”)

• All the activity of the human machine is divided into five strictly defined functional sets, each regulated by its own separate mind or “centers.”

  • Intellectual
  • Emotional
  • Motor
  • Instinctive
  • Sexual

• These centers are psychological and not in the physical body.

• Each of the centers regulates a specific set of functions.

  • Intellectual: thoughts, reasoning, logic, comparison, etc.
  • Emotional: feelings, moods, emotions, etc.
  • Motor: movements, speech, imitation, habits, etc.
  • Instinctive: instincts, 5 senses, organic functions, reflexes, etc.
  • Sexual: reproduction, regeneration.

The bases of the Centers

• Each center, although permeating the entire body, has its center of gravity at a specific point.

The Poles of the Centers

• Each center has two parts: one positive and one negative.

The Speed of the Centers

• Each center operates at a specific speed.
  • The motor and instinctive center is 30,000 times faster than the intellectual.
  • The emotional center is 30,000 times faster than the motor and instinctive.
  • The sexual center is the fastest of all.
• This difference in speed explains many phenomena.
  • If we try to type something with the intellectual center instead of the motor, we will do it very slowly and ungracefully: we will have to stop at each letter and think: “Where is the cap?” “Where’s the party?” “How do you spell that word?” etc.

The Memory of the Centers

• Each center has its own memory.
  • The intellectual center remembers our phone number.
  • The motor center remembers how to ride a bike.
  • We visit our old school and the emotional center remembers how we felt when we went there as children.
  • We ate something that annoyed us and the instinctive center remembers it every time we smell it again.

The Intelligence of the Centers

• Each center has its own intelligence.
  • The intellectual center has a mental intelligence with which it can compare, calculate, etc.
  • The emotional center has an emotional intelligence with which one can understand something such as what pleases someone, or how to look at someone to annoy them, etc.
  • The motor center has a motor intelligence with which one thinks about what movements to make when someone does something such as driving, playing tennis, dancing, repairing something, etc.
  • The instinctive center has an intelligence with which, for example, as soon as we put food in our mouth it calculates exactly what kind of digestive fluids and enzymes it needs to produce to digest it.
  • The sexual center has an intelligence with which when one sees a person of the opposite sex one calculates whether the various aspects of the person are compatible with the corresponding aspects of the other person and communicates the result of this calculation as a feeling of attraction, indifference or repulsion.

Abuse of the Centers

• There are two keys to not abusing our centers:
  1. When a center begins to become exhausted or depleted.
     • i.e. if the intellectual center begins to tire from too much studying, we can go for a short walk (motor) or listen to some healing music (emotional).
     • If the motor starts to get drained from a lot of physical work or playing sport, we can read a good book (mental) or socialize with our friends or family (emotional).
  2. Avoiding activities that are negative by their nature and destroy our centers

The Higher Centers

• Man has two higher centers:
  • Higher Emotional Center
  • Higher Intellectual Center
• These centers cannot be used by ‘I’, but only by Being.
• The higher centers are already fully developed and functioning, yet we do not listen to the messages they send us because:
  • Our Consciousness sleeps.
  • Our 5 lower centers are in disarray.
• In order for the higher centers to have full expression we need to have the Solar Bodies activated.
  • The higher emotional center is fully expressed through the Solar Astral Body.
  • The higher intellectual center is fully expressed through the Solar Mental Body.
• Each of these centers has its own “language”:
  • The language of the Higher Emotional center are parables, myths, allegories, etc.
  • The language of the Higher Intellectual center are symbols.

Practice: Self-observation

• To remind people of the practice of self-observation, how it is done and where it helps us.
• Explain that we can now go deeper into self-observation and understand that when we observe ourselves, we observe the activities of the 5 centers. When we self-observe we must know at all times which center we are observing. For example if we notice a negative thought, it is an activity of the mental center. For example if we notice a feeling of irritation, this is an activity of the emotional center. For example if we notice a change in body posture or facial expression, this is an activity of the motor center. For example if we observe a sexual arousal, it is an activity of the sexual center.
• We cannot study the “I” except through its expression in the 5 centers. Each “I” can be expressed through all 5 centers.

Practice: Retrospective Exercise

(See “Esoteric Treatise of Theurgy”, chapter “Fifth Invocation”)

• Every night, before we go to sleep, we can do the retrospective exercise.
• Without losing self-consciousness, we see through the screen of our mind all the events of the day we lived, but in a retrospective way, that is, from the present moment backwards, from the moment we started the practice backwards in the day.
• It is important not to identify with the events, but to see them in a state of self-awareness.
• This exercise allows us to become conscious of everything we did, said, saw, etc. during the day. When the events and situations of the day happen to us we do not experience them consciously, but rather we then see them in a symbolic form in sleep. This is a help given to us by our Being, but it makes us lose in dreams the hours of natural sleep. By becoming conscious of all this before we sleep, through retrospection, then during physical sleep we are free and move with full consciousness in our Astral Body.
• It is a very important exercise to gain self-awareness. This also helps us discover the “I” we have, the conditions in which it manifests, etc. It helps us see clearly how we behave, where we make mistakes, etc.

Recommended Practice: Retrospection

• At the end of the lesson we will do a short guided practice:
  • We first take a few deep breaths, relax, clear the mind, etc.
  • We ask our Being to help us see retrospectively the scenes of the day without identifying.
  • We review the day, noting the events in which the ego expressed itself or attempted to express itself through the 5 centers.
  • The practice will last about 10-15 minutes.
• Finally, let’s encourage people to do the retrospective exercise every night and tell us their results and experiences in the next lesson.

Second Chamber Information

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

The Dreams of the Centers

(See “The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac”, chapter “On Dreams”) (See “Lectures of a Great Mystery 2”, lecture “The Science of Meditation”)

• Every dream belongs to one of the psychological centers.

  • Dreams based on the 5 lower centers reflect the situations of everyday life.
  • Dreams based on our higher centers convey messages from our Being. These dreams have the flavor of Self-Remembering.
  • Every dream, no matter how absurd or incoherent, is important because it shows us the state of the center from which it originates.

• Dreams based on the Emotional Center

  • They reflect states of passion, madness, etc.

• Dreams based on the Motor Center

  • They are repetitions of things we do in our daily lives.

• Dreams based on the Instinctive Center

  • They are so incoherent and submerged that it becomes impossible to understand them.

• Dreams based on the Sexual Center

  • They are love dreams, dreams of lust, adultery, masturbation, etc.

• Dreams based on the Higher Emotional Center

  • Their main feature is the Dramatic Layout they have.
  • The various parts of our Being or the White Brotherhood manifest through this center trying to educate us, awaken us, or heal us during sleep.
  • They present us with organized, clear and precise scenes in order to understand our situation, our faults and defects, etc.

Abuse of Sexual Energy

(See “The Science of Music”, chapter “Abuse of Sex”)

• The sexual center is the center of gravity of all human activities.
  • Driven by sex, people go to church, meet in cafes, dance, etc.
  • Sex has the power to enslave us or set us free.
• Sexual abuse exists when:
  • (1) The sexual center steals energy from the other centers.
    • The energy of the other centers is too slow for the sexual, causing impotence.
  • (2) The other centers steal energy from the sexual center.
    • Sexual energy is too fast for the other centers, so it “burns” them.
• When a center steals energy from the sexual, we understand it by a special “flavor” of passion and intensity in its activity.

• When we establish within ourselves a Permanent Center of Gravity, the sexual center works with its own energy and sexual abuse ceases to exist.

The 5 Centers in relation to the 5 Elements

• There is a correspondence between the 5 centers and the 5 elements: