Defense for Spiritual Warfare, a Free Online Course

Defense for Spiritual Warfare, Part 2

This is a transcription of the audio lecture Defense for Spiritual Warfare 02 Part 2 originally given live on Gnostic Radio, which you can download for free.

We are in a time of war, and I am not talking about war physically, such as a war with soldiers on the battlefields with guns, tanks and bombs, although those types of wars are definitely a symptom of the war I am referring to. The more significant war that we are engaged in is psychological and spiritual. I am not so much referring to that psychological and spiritual war that is being waged in our media, in our communities, in our cities, in our families, but the root of all the wars, which is the war that is happening in our minds. The real war is that which is happening inside of us as individuals, psychologically and spiritually.

The Gnostic teachings explain throughout all ancient philosophies and religions that whatever is happening to us physically, terrestrially, in our external circumstances, is happening because of our internal state, because of our internal circumstances. In other words, our physical life is a reflection of our interior life. What we experience around us is drawn to us by what we are inside. This might sound surprising to you if you have not studied the Gnostic philosophies, whether we call them Buddhist, Christian, or Kabbalistic.

This concept, this explanation of our existence, is universal and is very powerful, but it contradicts much of what we in contemporary times believe about life. We have this belief that by changing our external circumstances, we can change our internal state; in spite of all the evidence that is stacked against us, we persist in this mistaken belief, always trying to achieve external goals, accomplishments, acquisitions, in order to find happiness inside, and we always fail, and yet we keep trying. Nevertheless, through external circumstances we always fail to find genuine, lasting happiness. Because of that, we are in a state of war, a war inside of us, waged between that longing for happiness against all of our desires.

The cause of this conflict is our desires and our mistaken notion of self, our mistaken sense of identity. We have a mistaken sense of self that has been built on memories, traumas, concepts, beliefs, attachments, all kinds of theories, our particular individual birth place, language, culture, schools, groups, education, family history, flags, countries, and religions. We mistakenly believe all of these constitute our true identity, and in order to support that notion, we are constantly seeking all kinds of external confirmations of it and support for it. We love to be accepted by groups, to be admired and loved by others, to be envied. We love to feel feared, we love to intimidate others. We love to have what others do not have, and we want what others have. We lie, cheat, steal, betray, to get what we want. All of these desires stem from a central core inner conflict, which is this misunderstanding of the nature of reality, the misunderstanding of the nature of self. So, we are in a state of war.

The external wars that are waged of this planet — whether with guns or with media, whether with religious concepts or economic battles — all of these wars stem from the internal conflict that each of us has within. In synthesis, we can say that the conflict within us is between our real Being and the false self. Our real Being — which we call our Innermost — is at war with our ego, our false “I.”

We have made a great mistake. By choosing to chase our desires, we have chosen the side of the ego, and we persist in that choice as we persist in choosing to feed our desires, support our delusions, fortify our psychological cage, give energy to our resentments and lusts, and listen to the inner voices that justify our selfish interests.

Therefore, we ignore the voice of our Innermost. That fact is proven by our suffering, by our loneliness, by our inability to change the fundamental problems in our lives, by the unavoidable circumstances that afflict us from day to day.

You see, we are attracted to religion, spirituality, the occult, mysticism, spiritual powers, meditation, kundalini, magic, astral travel, kabbalah, etc., because we want power. We want the power to change our circumstances. We want the power to acquire happiness.

Whatever our ideas of happiness happen to be, this is why we are attracted to these things, but unfortunately, we are attracted to spirituality by desire.

Even though our Innermost — our Being, our inner God — is pushing us to change spiritually, to come back to our true nature, the ego (desire) interferes, and takes over, takes advantage, and takes us away from the real path while convincing us that we are on the right one. Meanwhile, our internal conflicts and selfish pursuits only grow stronger, which results in external conflicts and problems.

So this battle is very serious. The collateral damage is happening everywhere in our world right now. Observe the way that we are destroying our planet, and the way that we are destroying each other. Observe the way in which all of our countries are in a continual state of conflict, and the way the people in power are taking advantage of the people who are not. All of that stems from this inner conflict that each of us has from within.

It is the ego who makes a mess of everything, because the ego is a mess. Our ego is a mess of conflicting desires, a huge aggregate of conflicting wills, different desires that fight amongst each other to take control of us, of our “human-like machine.”

In the midst of it all is our Being, our Innermost, who is attempting to guide us, to aid us, to help us, but we do not listen to that voice. We do not like what that voice has to say, since it contradicts our desires. That inner voice advises us to cease and desist from harmful action, to not criticize that other person, to not gossip, to not complain, but instead to be patient, to be kind. Our ego says, “Oh no! I deserve to act, to criticize, to use my tongue to get what I desire.” We listen to the desires, and so we are in continual inner conflict, and those conflicts spill out into our lives, and they affect our loved ones, co-workers, jobs, communities, etc. By simple mathematical analysis, we can see that is why the world is in the state that it is in, because all the individual components of society are in a state of internal conflict, unwilling to listen to the wise voice within them that knows the right path, that knows the way to live in harmony with nature and the divine laws, and to bring happiness to oneself and to others.

For several thousand years now, we have had a lot of advice given to us about how to avoid a worsening of this inner conflict, and this advice has come in many forms — religions, philosophies, sciences, arts — and we occasionally like them (when they are convenient to us and do not conflict too much with our desires) but in the end our desires always win, and those traditions become corrupted, degenerate, and die. Nowadays, the religions, philosophies, sciences, and arts are all decayed, corrupted, degenerated, but their remainders still attempt to help us, even though they are so fractured and incomplete.

Unfortunately, throughout the centuries, the consequences of our wrong actions grow much like compound interest: they increase on an exponential scale. Just as you who study the karmic laws know, the consequences of an action are greater than the original action. This is a basic aspect of cause and effect, also called karma. An action spreads out; it creates an effect, and it aggregrates with other effects and other actions, and they build upon each other, much like the movement of ocean currents and winds that accumulate to create storms. That is why we see our society moving so rapidly like a cart rolling down a hill, and no one knows how to take control of it or change its direction.

This is why we see every single area of our society collapsing. We cannot name a single aspect of our life that is truly getting better; most of us will immediately think, “Technology is getting better,” but you need to think through that and analyze it more carefully. Every technology comes at a price, and always has consequences. There have been some benefits of technology, we do not deny this. But at what price, at what cost? When the fax machine came out, everybody thought, “This is going to make everything better,” and when overnight shipping came around, everybody thought it would to make everything better, and when the internet came, everybody thought it is going to make everything better, but every time, the new developments only make things more complicated, and puts more of a burden on us to work more, to work harder, to work longer, for less benefit. Is this not true? and no one can deny that, and yet we are still mystified, hypnotized by technology. Everyone loves having portable devices, but those devices have a terrible impact on the environment (due to how they are made, and the saturation of electromagnetic waves that interfere with many aspects of nature), not to mention that each device can easily be used to track everything you do. Each “convenience” has actually served to enslave us further, and make us further dependent on forces outside of our control.

The rate of change and the spread and intensity of our worldwide problems are growing, they are not lessening. At this moment, there is more slavery than ever. Access to clean water has never been worse. Access to food is increasingly difficult and expensive. Politics are not getting better. Our economics are not getting better. Our social systems are not improving. Our families are not getting stronger. Our societies are not getting stronger. Our agriculture is not getting better. Our water supplies are not getting better. Our air is not getting better. Our religions is not getting better. Our prisons are not shrinking, nor is corruption, injustice, or the taste for war. No defense spending is decreasing. Nowhere do we find a rise in peace or happiness. Where is something getting better? Where do we find an improvement on this planet? We cannot find it. None of us like to admit this, we do not like to see it, and when we talk about these things, what does it bring up in your heart? Does it bring up fear, anxiety, worry? Why? The one who has faith in God, the one who knows God, the one who is connected to God, does not fear. So, before your eyes you have the evidence: are we connected with God or not? Are we guided by our Innermost or not? Are we reflections of God here in this world or not?

Each spiritual group claims to be the chosen people. Each religion claims to be the chosen people, claims to be blessed by God, chosen to be the initiators of the golden age. There are Buddhists who think that of themselves, and there are Christians who think that of themselves. There are Jews who think that, and Gnostics who think that, but where is the evidence? Are these groups truly holy? Are their individuals truly reflections of God? Do they reflect the virtues of God, the virtues of the Divine? Do they truly, spontaneously, intuitively act like angels? Buddhas? Prophets? Are they free of anger, pride, lust? Are they truly improving society or bringing more conflict? These are the questions we have to ask ourselves, to get to the root, the heart of this conflict, this battle.

David and Goliath

You see, the real war that we are fighting is a war against ourselves. We become distracted by external circumstances, and think we are David fighting Goliath, and we think Goliath is society. We think Goliath is the established religions, or that Goliath is the “illuminati,” or a great conspiracy. We think Goliath is the government. We think Goliath is the Pope or some religious leader. We think Goliath is anything outside of ourselves, but we never realize that Goliath is in ourselves: our own mind.

David is also in ourselves. David is just a boy, a child — innocent, weak and without any protection. He has no armor, no training, no experience. All that David has is faith, a sling, a stone, and a staff.

David of course is a symbol; he represents an aspect of our consciousness in a given state of development in the process of initiation for development of the soul. David is a state or level of development that we can reach, but to reach that level, we first have to be Saul, who is king before David. That is not the purpose of todays lecture to talk about those stages of initiation. What we are here to talk about is is how did David conquer the giant warrior Goliath. How do we learn from David and what can we do to imitate this example, to learn from it.

Goliath is a giant who seems all powerful, who seems to have absolute dominance of the battlefield. This is our case when we look into our mind. Goliath is our mind. Goliath is our sense of self. It is who we think we are. Goliath is very strong and very confident. Whatever our own sense of self is — whether that sense of self is that we feel ourselves to be a good person, smart, giving, clever, to have insight about this and that, to have certain skills, to have certain problems maybe. All of those characteristics of our inner sense of who we are, that is Goliath, but it has your name.

When we discover real spirituality, when we really become sick and tired of suffering, when we really taste the bitterness of life and we are done with pursuing futile desires, we want a change. Then, we can discover how to grow our inner David. Then, we can discover the potential to becomes David.

In synthesis, David represents our consciousness, what we call Essence, what in Bhuddism is called Buddhata, Buddhadatu [Buddha Nature], or Tathagatagarbsa. This is the embryo of the soul. In us, we only have three percent of it free from the clutches of Goliath — 3 percent more or less.

So when we look at the story of David and Goliath, and we see Goliath with a horde of an army, Goliath is like our chief feature [core defect], the army represents all the egos within us, and David is that 3% of free consciousness. But in us, David is asleep. We are not David yet. We do not have his qualities yet: we do not have his faith, his staff, or his sling and stone. Moreover, we have not yet conquered Goliath. Our David has not woken up yet. Our David is just a babe.

To reach the stage of confronting and overcoming Goliath is a huge triumph. It does not come easily. Do not think that just by discovering the teachings or reading a few books or becoming a fan of a teacher, book, or a movement that you will all of a sudden will become “David” and overcome the ego. It does not work like that. This type of change is deeply painful and very difficult to accomplish. It requires that you confront the deepest, most painful, most shameful parts of your mind. It is not pleasant, and it is not fun, and it is not something to boast about or be proud of. It is something that is our duty to do.

When you have a duty to perform, it simply must be done. That is not something to go around talking about, telling everybody “I did this and that, look at how great I am.” When you take out the trash, do you go boasting to your friends, “I took out the trash today,” and you want to be admired for that? Of course not. The ego is trash. Our sense of self is a lie, it is a beast, it is a minotaur, which is the same story as David and Goliath.

To confront that mass of defects in ourselves, to fight that, we have to first start by awakening the essence, by learning about consciousness in ourselves, and working with it: not in the future, right now. Be cognizant, pay attention, be here and now, be awake, be in charge of your psychological temple in yourself, and watch that Goliath as he mocks you, as he laughs at you — because he will — and he will use every circumstance that he can to make you go back to sleep.

This is the battle. Your inner Goliath / Minotaur / Satan will work through your spouse, friends, family, fellow students, co-workers to make you feel foolish, weak, ashamed, a weakling, and like you can never beat him. It is up to you to decide if you believe him or not. The evidence will be shown in your day to day life.

This is what Gnosis is about. Gnosis is about awakening that essence, training it, so that one day you can become David, so that one day you will have the courage to step onto the battlefield of your own mind, confront your own Goliath, and kill him.

But do not think that you are going to be charging out to the battlefield like some great hero that everyone will applaud and cheer for, looking very heroic, beautiful, and great. You will not. You will look like a fool. You will look like David, a weakling without any protection, without any training, and everyone will mock you. Everyone in your mind, everyone in your environment. This is a universal truth, a cosmic truth. It is eternal. It is part of the path. Observe the lives of the masters.

Training to Change

So gnosis is about training us for that. In that sense, we can easily summarize Gnosis — this ancient tradition — as being like military training, but not merely for the physical body to work in the external environment, to conquer others, to conquer other schools, to build a big movement or a big army: NO. It is not that. Rather, it is a training of your consciousness to conquer your mind. It is very rigorous, and very few can take it.

In ancient times, this training was given very slowly with very gradual steps over the course of lifetimes, not in one life. It was exceedingly rare for anyone to take all the trainings in one life. In most cases, people would take multiple existences to receive the full training. This is why we see in all our traditional mystical schools and religious traditions what we can call a graded path or stages to the path. In Tibetan Buddhism they call it Lam Rim. In Asia it was taught by Buddha Shakyamuni and Padmasambhava; it was organized by Tsongkhapa, presented in an organized fashion, but that same teaching exist in every religion with different terms, yet the same concepts. The graded paths in sanskrit are called yanas.

The beginning stages are always the same in every religion: they introduce ethics, which explain what to do, and what not to do. This is work with psychology, to work to change our actions in our mind, so that by being good in the mind, by acting correctly in your mind, then your external circumstances will become a reflection of that, gradually, over a long period of time.

As the students prove themselves and actualize the teachings, living the teachings, they may be given higher and higher degrees of training, until eventually they were introduced to more rigorous tools. The highest levels of those tools are called tantra. In the west it was called alchemy. It is a system of transmutation.

To transmute is to change from one thing to another. Trans means across, mutation is relate to form or change. So in synthesis transmute or transmutation refers to changing one thing into another thing; that is alchemy. Alchemy is about transmutation, such as changing lead into gold, but not a physical level. The lead is the ego. The lead of Alchemy is in our psyche. That heavy lead that holds us down in hell has to be radically changed, and that was why the beginning steps were always psychological. First one begins by working in psychology on oneself, to begin to understand that concept, to begin doing it. The main thing was to awaken the essence, to awaken consciousness, first and foremost.

If someone was not able to do it, they were not given anymore teachings because it would be harmful to them. People nowadays think, “Why were all the teachings secret, why were the teachings not given to everybody?” Because we are asleep, because we are animals psychologically speaking, and because we are self destructive. No parent will give their child a weapon when that child is immature. Likewise a responsible teacher will not give a student something that will hurt them.

The science of transmutation in the higher forms related with tantra are based upon the transmutation that occurs in the lower forms in psychology. This was always the pre-requisite: to first learn how to transmute the mind, to change it to something better, to make it more in harmony with nature and the law of karma. These teachings were hidden in every tradition and every mystical school: how to perform this transmutation, how to change from one state to another state.

Throughout history, we passed through many stages of this type of information being given out little by little, but we have reached the end.

The Last Chance

As I mentioned, the exponential scale of change is reaching a level of unsustainability. This is very evident everywhere we look in our society now. The energy that is in motion is tearing us apart. Our psychological energy — which is karma — is shaking us to pieces. No one can deny that. In our society we see it everywhere; very few families are even able to stay together, because the psychological environment of families is becoming too intense from generation to generation. Families are splitting, dividing, whether from disorder, disagreement, or simply by economic factors. It is rare now to find a family that is still connected and close. It is very easy to find fractured families. The same is true of every other social structure.

Moreover, the energy is so powerful, it is shaking the planet. Scientist do not like to admit it, but the record shows that the earthquakes are increasing, volcanic activity is increasing. Problems in nature are increasing, problems that are beyond our control. The evidence is there. We do not like to see the cause or admit the cause, but we are the cause, and because of that the protectors of the knowledge, those who have achieved the knowledge, who have actualized it, who have awakened, have now opened the doors to us. They said there is no more time. Soon this planet will shake itself apart. This civilization this culture will consume itself. We have been on the brink of it for decades, but the intensity is rising.

Never before in our history has it been possible for one person to push a button and end life on the whole world, yet it is like that now.

We like to think that we are safe, and that all those buttons are locked away, but we cannot even keep a regular person from doing all the different acts of terrorism that are happening all over the place. What if one of those guards inside a nuclear weapon facility became a terrorist? What if one of those guards went crazy? What if some president or general went crazy? There are no guarantees. It is terrifying to consider, but it is fact that we are very vulnerable and nothing is certain. This fact is a reflection of our psychology. We built this situation. God did not build this, we did. We made this society and this world the way it is, and we cannot seem to fix it.

So, the masters of the conscious circle of humanity — known as the the white lodge, the gnostic church, whatever name you want to put to the hierarchy of real human beings — said, “Okay, here it is, this is the teaching, this is the whole thing. If you want it, use it. If you want to change the situation, if you want to change yourself, now is your chance, use it while you can.”

So for the last few decades, this knowledge has been percolating through humanity, and the one that is responsible for that is the one who bears responsibility for this age of development.

The Fifth Helper

You see, this humanity on this planet right now is the fifth race. We think that we are the only one, but really we are the fifth. The four before us also went through their cycles: those civilizations were born, developed, sustained for a long time, then decayed and died, transmuting into something else. Every cosmic entity passes through those stages: we see them in each day, in each orbit, in each insect, plant, animal, human, planet, solar system — and even in races, civilizations, cities, towns, etc.

Races of the Terrestrial Epoch

Polar Hyperborean Lemurian Atlantean Aryan (present era)

We are the fifth race of this epoch, and in spite of our beliefs, we are not the greatest race to exist on this planet. In reality, we are the worst.

This fifth race bears the name Aryan. Now, some degenerated people corrupted the interpretation of that name. Specifically, some mistaken occultists in the previous century interpreted that name Aryan to mean “blonde white people.” You see, they knew that the origins of the modern races were found in the Hyperboreans, which means “beyond the North Wind,” and they assumed this indicated the tribes of northern Europe, which are known for blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, etc. But this was a mistaken interpretation. Aryan does not mean blonde white people.

The word Aryan Ἀρία has an ancient root related to the Greek god Ἄρης Ares, which is the name of a celestial force, a force that exists beyond any particular culture or religion.

Ares / Mars / Samael

In other words, Ares is Greek word, but the force Ares is not Greek. That same force is also known in the Hebrew tradition as Samael. Every tradition has their own name for it.

The Archangel Samael is the fifth of the seven archangels mentioned in the Bible.

The Archangel Samael is the fifth angel in the line of successive angels who have been guiding humanity, so this current race is the under the guidance is the responsibility of the Angel Samael. That is why in all of our mythologies and traditions there is a lot of talk about the serpent, because Samael is related to the serpent. Ares is reated to the serpent. The Bible starts with a story about a serpent. All the great traditions have a serpent in the middle; that serpent is Samael.

Here we see a picture of Ares, who in the Greek tradition is always depicted as a great warrior, the god of war, the god of battles, and his symbol is a serpent. We see that serpent on his shield. This particular image depicts him conquering a giant named Mimas; you see the giant looks exactly like Ares, a mirror image, because in this particular race, this particular age, the force of Samael, Ares, is related to that force we call Lucifer [Latin: “bearer of light”] who because of cause and effect has a dual manifestation: the positive aspect above (the serpent that healed the Israelites), and the fallen aspect below (Satan, the tempting serpent). There is a serpent above, who is pure and divine, and then there is a serpent below, who is fallen into disgrace. There is the serpent of bronze that healed the Israelites under the guidance of Moses, and there are the fiery serpents that bit the Israelites when they sinned.

There are two serpents, or rather, that energy polarizes: it can rise upon the staff, or it can descend. It can go up or it can go down; it depends on how the energy is used.

Samael / Ares / Lucifer is an energy, a cosmic force, related with battles and warfare; that energy descends from above into us but is polarized according to the condition of our consciousness. This is why the Greeks loved and hated Ares. They loved him, and they hated him. This is why the Hebrews hate Samael, but in some of the scriptures they love Samael. This is why in the Bible we find the serpent is both condemned and praised; Jesus said “be as wise as a serpent.” Moses healed the Israelites with a serpent. He also defeated the Pharaoh with a serpent.

In all religions find this great duality, because it is in nature and in ourselves. That duality is the reflection of the function of that energy in ourselves. That serpent — which is within us — can either liberate us or enslave us. That serpent tempts Eve, causing humanity to fall from Eden and into suffering, yet that serpent also raises on the staff, heals the people of God. So the choice is ours; it depends on how we use this force, this energy.

Ares is the great warrior who can train us, who can teach us how to conquer the ego.

Ares is the fifth of the seven; Ares is Samael.

The Seven Rays

The seven angels or the seven planets are represented in all of our great traditions. It is important for us to know this science of the seven planets. They influence us in many ways.

1. The Moon

2. Mercury

3. Venus

4. The Sun

5. Mars / Ares

6. Jupiter

7. Saturn

When our Inner Being (our Monad) first emerged from the Absolute, that ray of light that came from our Ain Soph passed through a prism, a spiritual prism related to the seven planets. These seven planets gave as gifts to this ray of light their colors, qualities. All of us have this inside as an inheritance in our consciousness, and we experience them because we are alive and we all have them.

This qualities are virtues or attributes that are modified according to our conditioning.

1. The Moon

The first of the esoteric planets is the Moon (the Angel Gabriel); it puts into our consciousness a quality or an energy, a psychological attribute related with the moons of nature. The moon begins, the moon initiates, the moon creates. So the quality that the moon gives to us is altruism, generosity, to give to others, unselfish giving. This is a quality of love, and it is the base nature of the consciousness: altruism.

But, when our consciousness becomes modified by desire — in other words, when the serpent is polarized negatively in us — that altruism becomes avarice, greed, selfishness. This is why in our mindstream now we continually experience “I want.” It is very rarely do for us to experience “I want to give.” This is very rare. It may happen occasionally, but our conditioning has become so severe that most of the time we experience “I want for me.” This is avarice, selfishness, the opposite of altruism.

When we observe our mindstream on a day to day basis, this is what we can see. Do not believe me, look at yourself. Start observing yourself, do not fake it. Be sincere with yourself, do not lie to yourself, be honest. Watch your mind, and not only in class when you are on your best behavior. Watch your mind at work. Watch your mind at home. Watch your mind when you interact with other people, and look for this quality that originally was given to us by the Moon, but has become changed, modified, by our minds.

2. Mercury

The second influence, Mercury (the Angel Raphael), gives us a quality that we call diligence. This quality of diligence is not merely physical activity, it is activity of consciousness; that is, it is to have the consciousness awake and active, doing what it was born to do.

We have what we call consciousness. We all think right now that we are conscious, but we are not. The truth is that we are asleep as a consciousness. That asleep state is laziness of the consciousness. Rather than being here and now, aware of being here and now, and aware of ourselves physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, instead we are dispersed. Part of us is vaguely aware of where we are, but most of our attention is in the mind (thoughts) and heart (emotions), daydreaming, fantasizing, thinking, remembering, wondering, wishing… We are dreaming. We are not awake, aware. We are dreaming.

Being capable of diverse physical actions, such as doing many things at once, is not a sign of being awake. Physically, you may be very active. You can be amaze everyone that you can ride a bike and chew gum and write an email at the same time, and I bet everyone can do that; or we drive our car, write text messages, and listen to the radio, but as you know, this is how people have dealt accidents, because they are not really paying attention to the road. SO even though it appears that the person is “diligent” active physically, in reality they are very asleep, since they are not paying attention. Instead, they are distracted, dispersed.

Our consciousness is asleep. The proof of that is evident throughout our lives. We lack a moment to moment living connection with God. The consciousness is an extension of God. The awakened consciousness does not believe in the divine; rather, it is aware of it. One does not believe in the sun; one can perceive it. Just so, the awakened consciousness perceives. We, who are asleep, can only believe or disbelieve, since we do not perceive. For that, we have to awaken. We need to make the consciousness diligent: awake.

A diligent consciousness knows. It has knowledge, real knowledge; that is gnosis. A diligent awakened consciousness does not fear. It does not get stressed. It does not get tense.

The most beautiful quality of an awakened consciousness is peace in the heart and mind. It is peace that is not for oneself. It is the peace that expresses itself towards others, that radiates serenity and love. That is diligence, consciously.

That diligence works for others, gives, acts for others in many ways, but it is not self-obsessed. Laziness is self-obsessed, even if it is polarized as hyperactivity; whether you are lying on the couch all the time, or you are working 26 hrs every 24 hr day, both are forms of laziness, if our consciousness remains asleep.

Diligence is present when the consciousness is awake, and being awake, it naturally expresses itself through its natural skills to benefit others, thus demonstrating the first quality — given by the Moon — which is altruism.

3. Venus

The influence of Venus (the Angel Uriel) gives our consciousness the quality of chastity.

Chastity is sexual purity, not sexual abstention. Every creature in the universe is a sexual being, in their own level. Sexual energy is part of nature. Sex is normal, it is natural, it is needed, but lust is not. We in our current state do not see the difference between sex and lust. We do not understand the difference. Nevertheless, there is a huge difference, just as there is between altruism and selfishness.

Really, in all of these cases, what we think is altruism is really selfishness, and what we think is diligence is usually laziness, and what we think is chastity is usually lust. That is because the primeval, pure qualities provided by the divine cannot exist with the ego. They are like oil and water: they cannot mix.

Real chastity is sexual energy that belongs to God. Do you see the beauty in a flower? Have you actually contemplated that beauty? Have you sat and observed it and digested that beauty? You must do it. Sit and observe it, not in your imagination, but actually sit and gaze at a living flower. Spring is a perfect time to do that. Take a few minutes and go and observe a flower; the beauty you see in it is chastity. The delicacy of it. The beauty of it. The magnificence of it. The incomprehensible nature of that flower is chastity. That is the quality of Venus.

But let me tell you: we as human organisms can blossom a flower of chastity within us that is a billion times more beautiful than any flower on this planet. But we do not find anyone like that nowadays, because we are all trapped in lust.

4. The Sun

The influence of the Sun (Michael) gives us the quality of faith as humility. True humility and true faith are the greatest strength, the greatest armor, the greatest power. That is why the Sun is in the middle of the seven planets; there are three on either side of the Sun. The Sun is the point of balance, the axis of the wheel, the organizer of the system.

The Sun gives life. What gives you your spiritual life? Faith in God — not God outside, but your Innermost. Faith is not belief, but trust. Sadly, we use the word faith nowadays to mean mere belief, but it does not mean that.

Faith relates to conviction of the truth. How do we find that? Through experience. Truth can only by found through experience. The taste of honey can only be known through the tongue. Similarly, the truth of divinity can only be known through the consciousness. One who has experienced divinity has faith: conviction of the truth acquired through experience. Spiritually speaking, in regards to the the virtue of faith, such conviction is natural to the consciousness. But when the consciousness becomes entranced by desire and fantasies, it falls asleep, thus seeing only its dreams, not reality. This is the root of the loss of faith, conviction, and from that emerge many causes of suffering, namely skepticism (doubt), and pride (belief in oneself, since one can no longer see experience divinity).

When we hear about Gnosis, God, transmutation, chastity, tantra, what do we have? Skepticism, pride, self-love. We do not believe in that stuff, since we do not have any evidence. We do not believe in God because we do not have any evidence. We only trust our physical senses, we trust physical sensations. We know nothing about consciousness and what it can perceive — dimensions beyond the physical — thus we have no basis for real faith. By awakening here and now, we develop additional senses, and gradually rediscover what real faith is.

5. Mars

Mars is the planet of the god of war. Traditionally, we always think about Mars as Ares, the god of war who loves bloodshed and battle, but that is because of how those forces polarized negatively in degenerated mankind. When that force polarizes positively in mankind, Mars is the force of love. War is an expression of anger, hatred. What is the opposite of war? Love. War is not an expression of love, it is a condemnation of it. So Mars/Ares gives us cognizant, selfless love, true love. Real love is Martian, it is Aryan.

6. Jupiter

The influence of Jupiter (Angel Zacharial) bestows upon every soul the capacity to be happy for other people. This is also very rare for us to experience, because usually when we hear someone acquires something good,, we say, “Congratulations, I am so happy for you,” but in our hearts we feel, “I wish I had that.” That is not happiness for others. That is envy.

The opposite of happiness for others is envy. Real happiness for others has no self in it. It is a form of love that wants to give. That is why we so rarely see a manifestation of that in the world. If you observe our society, look at our advertising and commercialism, and everything that functions in our society, we can see that all of it is rooted in envy. All of it plays on, “I want what they have.” A vast majority of this planet feels that way towards America. That is why people hate America or they love America. People have wanted to go to America for decades, centuries, driven by, “I want what they have.” But the Americans want what the celebrities and wall street executives seem to have, or they want what the so-called spiritual people have (like in India or Tibet)…

No one is happy with what they have. Who among us is content, truly content, truly with inner happiness for what we have? Who among us feel truly happy for those who have what we do not? How often do we really feel they truly deserve that, and think, “I am so glad that they got that, I am so happy for them.” We do not show happiness for them, because we have envy.

Most of the time, we are driven by envy. Reflect on your choices and decisions in life, and see how many were driven by envy.

7. Saturn

Saturn, the seventh planet (Angel Orifiel), gives us temperance. Temperance is self-control, self-moderation. This is the ability to be restrained, to be efficient, to not waste, to not eat too much, to use what is needed and take nothing more. We rarely see that. What we tend to see in ourselves is gluttony, which has different forms. We like to buy everything we can get our hands on, and fill our closets with stuff we do not need. We eat too much. We shop too much. We buy too much, and we spend too much. We waste a lot, and we hoard a lot. That is gluttony.

As the seventh a final planet, Saturn is the ending of what began with the Moon. As a virtue, the quality of Saturn takes what the six previous influences give and uses it all wisely; temperance is that: to use wisely, in accordance with the other virtues. Sadly, instead, we use what we are given not for the consciousness or for others, but only for selfishness.

Action in Matter and Energy

When time comes for manifestation into existence, in the highest regions of matter and energy, these seven planets put into our consciousness their qualities, and they form a kind of a psychological equilibrium in the very highest level of our Being, in our spirit. Then our spirit descends into matter and manifests a soul, which is the essence, that embryo of soul that enters into matter and takes up residence in the lunar bodies (mind, heart, physicality) and begins to act and acquire the consequences of action. Therefore, those seven virtues become conditioned by the consequences of our actions.

Where we should have acted with the quality of temperance, instead we were motivated by desire and acted with gluttony, thus the quality of Saturn, conditioned into gluttony, becomes a defect, an aggregate of desire-filled thought, emotion, and impulse. Our consciousness remains trapped with it.

When we should have acted with love, we acted instead with resentment and anger; that quality from Mars becomes conditioned and polarized into anger. Our consciousness remains trapped with it. That is why we have wars.

That quality of happiness for others becomes conditioned into envy, into the desire to have what others have. That is why we have strife, starvation, theft, stealing, lying, adultery, deception, treason, etc.

The quality of laziness is the conditioning of that quality of diligence. Consciousness is trapped in the desires of laziness.

So all the different qualities that we can observe in ourselves on a daily basis are reflections of what should be superior qualities. This is the key. This is the clue. If you want to change, transmute your mind.

When you catch yourself with that desire of lust that wants to be fed, that wants to take in the sensation of looking at another person and thinking about that person and imagining the lust or pursuing that lust, then instead remember God (faith) and transform that energy. Remember what it is to be chaste, pure, faithful to the Divine Mother.

When we feel anger take hold of us, if we act on it, we strengthen it, and become more accustomed to it. That will only produce more suffering. Anger can only create pain. But if instead we transmute that experience, and transform it into love, we can liberate the consciousness trapped in that anger. This is a cause of great happiness, not only for ourselves, but everyone else. Instead of acting out of anger, we will act in a loving way.

Naturally, to accomplish this, one needs to know how.

It is not easy to do, but we can learn it by being trained by that great instructor of this age, who is Mars / Ares / Samael. But you see, Mars has a partner.

Planetary Transformations

When you look into the ancient mythology, you find that Ares is always chasing Aphrodite / Venus.

We have all heard that pop psychology about men are from Mars and women from Venus, and there is truth in that. Mars has a masculine quality, and Venus a feminine quality. But what is more true is that each of us has both the Martian aspect and the Venusian aspect in our mind. When we work with them together, we can find the way to solve our problems.

Mars brings us the ability to wage war. Mars is our fighter, the warrior who gives to us the marshal spirit, the ability to become a great warrior, a fighter; spiritually, we need that. But that ability has to be tempered by Venus in order for those forces to work in harmony in balance around the Sun. Observe the positions of the seven planets in relation with each other: Mars and Venus are on either side of the Sun. Mars and Venus are forces that balance each other.

In these seven planets is a great alchemical mystery that is very beautiful and very long hidden. There is a relationship between the planets, and how they function in our psyche. When we know about that, they give us a key to transform our lives.

Saturn, the last planet, is the planet of death, endings, closure. “Old man time,” they say. Whereas the Moon, the first, is the one that brings conception and is born anew. So, we see at the beginning, the moon is the beginning of life; in the end, Saturn is the end of life. Yet, these two form a cycle. If the Moon begins and Saturn ends, then the Moon must begin again. Life is like that: death and life are connected, they are one whole. Observe nature and you will see it is true: death is the way of life. Everything that lives depends upon the deaths of other things. There are no exceptions to that. Thus, spiritually, it is also true: spiritual life depends upon death as well.

Through the process of transmutation, all that is old in us, all that is dying and decaying in us — our ego — has to die, and through that transmutation we bring the Moon: new birth, new life.

“…that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die…” - 1 Corinthians 15:36

This is not a theory. This is something that happens in your psyche through the process of alchemy.

The alchemical planet Jupiter represents our Innermost Being — our inner Buddha, the king, the warrior, King Arthur — in our consciousness who, through alchemy, transmutation, becomes transformed into Mercury.

Mercury is the great secret of alchemy. Mercury is that substance which allows alchemy to be possible. It is that which empowers transmutation. Here we do not mean the physical element scientists call Mercury. Instead, the alchemical Mercury is the life force in our sexual organs. Mercury is the force in our sexual organs that is modified by our will, and it arises towards purity or falls into degeneration in accordance with our actions sexually speaking. Our use of our sexual energy has dramatic consequences.

Mars the warrior, when negatively conditioned, loves bloodshed and creates war, conflict, and problems, such as we all have both inside and outside. Yet through the magical process of alchemy, Mars becomes transformed into the planet of love, into Venus.

All of these alchemical transformations are balanced and harmonized around the center, the Sun, the planet that balances, that creates harmony in the law.

The Martial Arts

Obviously, Mars / Ares is the root of the martial arts (the word “martial” comes from Mars). However, these days, the martial arts are merely degenerated varieties of violence. The true martial art is about awakening consciousness.

This ancient image is of Ares riding in his chariot drawn by four horses (one of them is not shown in this picture, but traditionally there are four horses). Ares (Mars) is with his wife Aphrodite (Venus) by his side. That little creature riding on the horse is Eros (Cupid), sex. Here we have represented in the Greek mysteries the gnostic key. It is a key that has to be implemented not only in our relationships but inside of our psyche.

In this image we see the gods waging war against the giants. The gods represent those cosmic forces that are sent from above into our psyche that will fight on our behalf against the giants, which represent our ego, our karma. But we have to do our part. We have to have faith in God. We have to know how to receive that training.

When Ares is tempered by Venus, Ares (Mars) teaches us how to fight. In other words, when that martial spirit is balanced by the force of love, then we can take the training of Ares-Venus and learn how to be spiritual warriors. That training is in many levels. That is why we have been talking about spiritual defense, and what the tools of defense are: mantras and prayers. But the main tool is our psychological attitude.

Our martial arts are not physical. That is, we are not interested in punching or kicking, because we know that the most dangerous enemy we have is not outside of us. The most dangerous enemy we have is our very mind.

The secondly, there are those who will use our faulty mind against us, but manipulating our pride, lust, fear, etc. But those secondary enemies pose no threat if we have no vulnerabilities inside. So, our martial art — as instructed by the god Mars / Ares — is the method for the consciousness to free itself from the mind. Therefore, our martial art is a training of the consciousness. This is, after all, the only thing in us that is eternal. The body dies. The consciousness does not.

Armaments and Weapons

When you study the Gnostic tradition, you are given many tools; they are armaments, weapons. Those armaments and weapons come in many forms. The books are full of knowledge full of weapons: the mantras, the prayers, the practices, are all weapons. Through using them, you develop your own inner weapons and tools in the forge of alchemy, and in that forge you begin to create the soul, and to create vessels for that soul to inhabit, which are great armaments and weapons that we need in the battle.

The weapons and armor of Perseus were made by the gods, for him to slay the tempting Medusa: the serpent-headed temptress (the mind).

Let us make something very clear. We need the solar bodies. We need the bodies of the spirit. We need the bodies of the Logos. We need to develop all of those vessels of the entire Tree of Life, but they are useless if we have a bad attitude; in fact, they become dangerous.

You see, armor is no good if the warrior has no training. If someone gives to us the most precious suit of magical armour that exists, and we do not know how to use it, it is useless. If someone comes and gives to us a powerful sword, beautiful, glittering, but we are an immature child, we will hurt ourselves. We could kill ourselves, or worse, someone else.

That is why I mentioned that traditionally the teachings were given in stages. Now there is no more time. What you find in this tradition are very powerful tools, and you can easily destroy yourself with them. I have witnessed it. I am praying I do not do it to myself, because the fact is that I am an idiot.

It is easy to harm oneself. A weapon is dangerous. You need training to know how to use properly.

The Battlefield

The fundamental, most important training is psychological: to learn from your own inner Ares, Innermost, Being. We have to learn how to be a warrior for him.

In ancient myths, your Being (the sephirah Chesed) is represented by King Arthur. Your human soul (the sephirah Tiphereth) is represented by Lancelot, the knight. Your consciousness (the sephirah Geburah) is represented by Guinevere. You as the human soul, the knight, the warrior, have to learn to fight on the battlefield against the dragon, against the evil knights, against all those forces that are in your own mind, for the glory of your maiden and your king. That is the battle that you have to wage. It is not outside, with other people, groups, religions, governments, etc. The war is in your mind, heart, and body.

The training is to learn how to transmute the seven vices into virtues. It is a psychological warfare, and is very difficult. The training that we have to undergo is vigorous and takes a long, long process. If you think it is easy to overcome anger and make it into love, you need to face reality. If you think it is easy to overcome lust and to transform it into chastity, you need to sit down and think this through more thoroughly. It is not easy.

This is not something you can do “part time.” Do you think that you can do ten minutes of meditation a day or an hour a week, and maybe read a couple of articles, or go to a school every once in a while, or go and meditate every once in a while, and think that will get somewhere? You will not, I promise you.

To accomplish this work requires everything that you have. Whatever you try to withhold, to keep for yourself, to set aside from your spiritual life, that will prevent you from advancing. Many say to themselves “Well, I will give everything in my life to my spiritual practice, I will do it with everything, I will put everything of myself into it, except watching movies (for example). I really want to be able to watch movies.” Or you say, “Well, everything in my life I will do it spiritually, except in the bedroom (sex).” Or you think, “Everything in my life I will give to God, and I will be spiritual and mindful except when I go to work, except when I am trying to make money, then I will concentrate on that.” I am sorry, but you are lying to yourself, you are condemning yourself. These “exceptions” you give yourself are precisely how you are hypnotized, caged, trapped: by your desires.

This is why in the Mahabharata, Arjuna hesitated before the great battle: he could not bear to kill his beloved “relatives,” who simply represent all those parts of himself that he held dear. Krishan (Christ) tells him to slay them all, to show no mercy: to do his duty. Yet, no one is willing to give up their desires: they feel like “myself.” So, in regards to all of humanity, “Goliath” is winning.

Training and the Greatest Trainer

The first thing that the warrior has to do is to find her weaknesses.

A man once told me when you begin martial training, the student believes that he has certain qualities and values already; they think, “I have got a really good left punch. I am really good at shooting a rifle. I am really good at this particular technique.” The instructor said that is the greatest weakness of that student. A true warrior has to have every skill equal.

If you train in marshal arts for example and you come in thinking, “I am going to become an expect at kicking,” a good teacher will never let you kick. They will force you to learn punches and to learn evasion, to learn other tools, because they want you develop those parts of you that you have always ignored. And you will find the same in the Gnostic tradition. A good teacher will push you to develop the things that you do not want to deal with, because those are the places where you are most vulnerable.

Why do we always insist on learning how to meditate, and on learning Kabbalah? Because not only are these the two most fundamental skills needed for comprehension, but they are also where all of humanity are weakest. None of us need to strengthen the intellect, yet that is what everyone wants to do. That is the weakness of modern humanity: the intellect is already too developed. Yet, people mistakenly think it is their greatest asset. The reality is: that is our greatest weakness.

Everyone who comes to these teachings longs to find an instructor. We need teachers, without doubt. Yet, Teachers such as ourselves are only good up to a limited point. That is, we can explain the teaching to you, but that is all. We are like kindergarten teachers: we teach you the basics, just as a kindergarten teacher explains the letters of the alphabet. But to form words and sentences, to make sense of the letters, you need more advanced instruction. That does not come from teachers like us. That only comes from within you. The teacher you really need is your Innermost, not a physical teacher. Your true Guru is inside of you.

Once you know the basics of the teachings (the three factors, essentially) you have to train yourself. You have to listen to God. Only your Innermost knows you inside and out. No physical teacher knows your mind. Only your Inner God does.

Thus, for your benefit, your Innermost sends you a personal trainer. The trainer he send you is Lucifer, a reflection of Samael / Ares in your mindstream. This is explained in the Bible in the book of Job.

Lucifer is a Latin word that means "carrier of light." Centuries of bad translations (and church politics) have people mistakenly thinking Lucifer is evil. The original Bible certainly does not say that. Lucifer plays a critical role: he trains the soul to become pure. We fail in the training, so we blame him. But it is not his fault that we fail when tempted.

Lucifer is also called Mephistopheles. He is the one who comes and says to God, “I see your devotee Job loves you very much when everything in his life is good, but will he love you so much if I take everything away from him, will he still be faithful?”

God says, “Test him. Let us find out. But do not touch his body, take everything else, but leave his body alone.”

So Lucifer does that to us. Lucifer comes and says, “Oh! You think you are a big shot gnostic? What if I make your computer not work today, are you really so spiritual? Are you going to maintain your serenity when you cannot get your emails?” Or if we miss our train, or hurt our toe, or drop our food on the floor. We lose our minds over stupid things. We are easily upset, easily angered, easily offended. We love to think we are “spiritual,” but really, we are terribly weak.

Lucifer says, “Are you really going to be so serene when I keep you from that meal for an extra hour or two, and you cannot eat, and you get really mad? Or when I give you this problem with your spouse; he will accuse you of this and that? Or your friends when they accuse you of this and that and they all think you are doing something really bad? They are saying you have left the path! Will you maintain your serenity and your faith in God? What if you lose all your money, or all your possessions? Will you cry and weep? Will you forget God?”

What if Lucifer gets permission from God to touch your body, too? To give you an illness, to give you a sickness, to make you look like a fool in front of the whole world, will you still maintain your faith and serenity in God?

What if he takes your spouse away? What if he takes the life of your spouse? Can you maintain your serenity, can you maintain your faith in God? He has done it to others; there is no reason to believe we are an exception on the path. We have to pay what we owe, and we have to purge ourselves of self-love.

This is how our trainer works: he pokes, prods, teases, insults, caresses, whispers, shouts: most of all, he tempts us with our own desires. If we succumb to temptation, we fail. We cannot blame him for that: he is only showing us what is in our mind.

So you see, no physical instructor can do that. Only your inner instructor can truly train you.

And he will do it all to you, it is only a matter of being trained.

Do not believe for an instant in the ego’s idea that now that you are on the path, everything is going to be “golden” from here on out, and you are on a path of “eternal happiness.” The path is not like that. The real path is a path of bitterness and fights, and it is painful, because to come out the other side, to emerge from this life as a conscious awakened being, all that is impure in us has to die, and that process of death is not pleasant. And, that process of death has to happen everyday. If we are not dying psychologically, we are not being born spiritually. It is that simple.

David’s Attitude

It sounds grim, but war is grim, war is not easy. And spiritual war is the hardest. It is harder than the physical war. But let me give you something that can help you.

You see, David won. Do you realize that? David was a little kid with nothing. When he stepped out onto that battlefield and faced the greatest warrior of his age, a giant, totally armored and had a lifetime of killing. David just went out there and said, “I have faith in God, and that is enough.” And he won.

That is all you need. You need the tools and techniques. You need to learn to meditate, to transmute, to observe yourself, to sacrifice for others. These three factors must be practiced daily, but more than that, to support that, to strengthen that, you need the right attitude, the right state of consciousness.

Samael Aun Weor told us very clearly that the best defense, the best weapon, is the correct psychological state. You may not realize it now, but if you really work seriously with this science, you will come to realize that you always have a choice. In every situation that you face, no matter how difficult, no matter how painful, no matter how subtle, it is up to you to feel how you feel. It is up to you to act how you act. It is up to you to think how you think.

So, when you feel the burden, that heavy psychological weight of your mind giving you trouble, your heart giving you trouble, your body giving you trouble, take hold of yourself and generate the right state. The short cut, the magical tool to do that, is to remember your Innermost, to call upon God.

The single most powerful tool for that is the Lord’s Prayer. When you face moments of temptation, great trials, when you really feel like you are going to die, or you are going to kill somebody, pray the Lord’s Prayer with all of your heart. Pray the “Our Father.” Call upon your Innermost. Let go of everything else, like David on that battlefield, alone, nearly naked, with nothing but faith in God, and you will realize how much power you actually have.

Now what this emphasizes for me is the misunderstanding in many esoteric traditions that emphasize that the students absolutely must learn certain techniques, or absolutely must develop solar bodies, or absolutely must belong to certain groups in order to succeed, and if you do not have those things that you are going to fall from the path, that you will not become a Buddha. That is actually a lie. Yes, we need those things, but you can actually succeed without them. You can achieve great heights of spiritual development without solar bodies; you cannot go all the way, but you can go a long way. You can reach great heights without such and such a school, or such and such a master. They might help you, but they cannot stop you if you do not have them. (It is absurd to believe that only those few who belong to a certain group will be saved; does God really love humanity that little? No!)

And there are many prayers and mantras; you do not need to memorize all of them. The main thing that you need is the right psychological attitude, to awaken your consciousness, to have faith in God, to work with your energies that will take you there.

You see this emphasizes the point: even if someone has the solar bodies, if they have bad attitude, they are going to go to hell. In other words, if they use those tools in the wrong way, they are doomed. Someone can have the solar bodies, someone can reach great levels of initiation, but if their pride takes hold of them, or their gluttony, their greed, their lust, their envy etc takes hold of them, they will fall, so what good are the solar bodies? Conversely, if you really master and learn Bodichitta, true compassion and love for others, true serenity, you can easily surpass those people with solar bodies and go a long way past them, and then later develop those other tools.

It is our inner attitude that makes the most difference. The point here is, do not think that you have to have a spouse to advance in this teaching. Do not think that you have to have a school or second chamber to advance in this teaching. Do not think you have to have an astral body to succeed in this teaching. They are useful, but the main thing that you need to advance in this teaching is the relationship with your Innermost and the right attitude. That is most important.

Invoking Samael

There is a useful prayer from around the seventh century BC; it is almost 3,000 yrs old. This is a prayer from the Greeks. It is to invoke Samael:

“Ares, exceeding in strength, chariot-rider, golden-helmed, doughty in heart, shield-bearer, Saviour of cities, harnessed in bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear, O defence of Olympus, father of warlike Victory, ally of Themis, stern governor of the rebellious, leader of righteous men, sceptred King of manliness, who whirl your fiery sphere among the planets in their sevenfold courses through the aether wherein your blazing steeds ever bear you above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of dauntless youth! Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the ways of blood-curdling strife. Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of death.” - The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.

So you see how beautiful it is. It illustrates everything in this lecture. I want to point out specifically that the prayer calls Mars “ally of Themis.”

Themis

Themis means “divine law,” and is a name a Greek goddess, a symbol. Themis is Ma’at of the Egyptians, who is the goddess of justice, the law of karma.

Nike

Ares is the father of Nike, “victory.”

Do you want justice? Do you want victory? Both comes from Ares.

The prayer is asking for the ability to not be warlike, but to be serene, to be a champion of love. That is really the Gnostic goal.

Be warned that working with this force is very powerful, very effective. These forces are inside of your own psyche, and they can render great changes in your life if you work with them in an effective way. But if you stay asleep and you call upon these forces of Samael and begin to work with forces of Samael, you will bring more anger and hate. This is why we can see the spread of fighting, warfare, anger, and hate in the Gnostic movements of different names, because they ask for those forces of Samael, but they do not work with them in a positive way.

Really, it is absurd to see fighting among religions. It is absurd, and there is only one person to blame, and that is ourselves. So, in order to change that, we have to change ourselves.

Anyhow, the main thing that I wanted to talk about is how we defend ourselves spiritually begins inside of our mind, and the training we need we can receive inside of our mind. Look and observe ourselves from day to day and learn how to change.

A Practical Training Exercise

So I will give you a challenge. A friend of mine told me a great idea, and I love this, and I am going to share it with you, and hope that you will use it.

For the next week, do not complain.

[audience laughs]

You laugh, right, because you may realize how difficult it is. So I will make this a little easier. Find a partner, maybe your spouse, maybe your co-worker, maybe more than one, and tell them “If you hear me complain, I have to give you a dollar; if you hear me criticize, I have to give you a dollar.”

If you do not want to do it that way, then make a “piggy bank,” and anytime that you catch yourself criticizing or complaining, whether with your mouth or your mind, donate that dollar to a good cause.

See how quickly you can overcome that habit.

You may not realize how much you complain, how much you criticize others. Complaining and criticizing are a symptom of a lack of inner peace. Did you know that? If you want inner peace, then deal with the symptom, go right to the cause. The cause is in your mind. But you cannot see the cause until you see the symptom. So this technique is a really excellent way to start to recognize the symptom in yourself of disharmony in your mind, unhappiness, dis-ease.

Everybody is laughing and smiling! “Oh! Man, I cannot do that! I will be broke in two days.”

Well, try, and apply this technique. Will you will be broke in one day? Try, and be sincere, and I am sure whatever good cause you decide to donate your money to will be very happy that you are being so honest with yourself. [Laughter]

Questions and Answers

Audience: We know that each of the planets (inaudible)… is there practical exercise that we can use (inaudible)…

Instructor: The influence of each planet is a continual influence; it affects us on many levels. Psychologically, they influence us all the time, and everything that we do everything that we see in our mindstream is related with planetary influences. When you feel resentment or hate, that is Mars polarized negatively. When you feel lust, that is Venus polarized negatively. Additionally, the days of the week are related with the planet, so there are additional influences there, and also the hours of the day. But I think that to try and watch the clock for influences can get complicated, and at this stage, it is better to work inside and try to look for the things inside of ourselves, rather than trying to impose an external practice over it, because then you may become distracted by “what it is today,” etc. It is better jut to keep looking at yourself.

In the astrology books by Samael Aun Weor, and also the astrology poster, that information is there and it can guide you, but its better to be focused firstly on yourself.

Audience: How much influence does our inner Goliath have to influence other people, and is the collective whole of all those inner Goliaths make up that collective unconsciousness…

Instructor: Yes, it is the same thing. Our inner Goliath makes up the vast majority of what we think of as “ourselves.” We are constantly interacting with other people. So what is it in us that is interacting with others? It is our Goliath; this is rather obvious, but what we do not realize is that a huge percentage of our consciousness that is trapped in ego is active all the time, but without our awareness. That is scary. I have heard students say that when they come to study Gnosis and they hear some of the concepts, that scares them, and they say, “I am scared to get out of my body, I am scared to meditate.” That astonishes me; I understand it, because I felt that, too, but it astonishes me because my answer to that is that it is more scary not to know!

If you are in a room and you know there is something bad in the closet, the not knowing is worse than knowing what is there. When you were a child, you knew there was a monster in the closet or under the bed, but you did not know what it was. It scared you, it terrified you, you could not sleep. I was too scared to do anything. But when I was brave enough to go and look, I saw there was nothing there; then the fear went away. That fear was self-generated. Your fear of meditation, your fear of getting out of your body, is self-generated. So is our fear of death. So, yes, our ego definitely affects everyone around us, everything around us, all the time. But it is more scary that we are not aware of that. That is a scary idea that egos are affecting other things and we do not see it, but it is more scary that we do not see it.

Audience: Do we still have time if we are new in this work to make change in our lives…

Instructor: Absolutely yes. This teachings come from our most ancient roots, and they are being given to us out of compassion because we DO have a chance.

You do not give medicine or treatment to someone who is going to die; that would be a waste. Instead, you give the precious medicine only to those who might survive. With these teachings, we are getting medicine, we are getting treatment. We are getting medicine to cure our ills because there is a chance for us, but it is not medicine that lets us lie down on the bed and wait; it does not work like that. This medicine requires our participation. It is very vigorous, demanding, very powerful work that we have to do. If we do it, we have hope. That is what drives us to keep teaching. That is what drives all the teachers who are teaching to teach. That is what drives Samael Aun Weor to type his books so much that he could not use his fingers anymore at the end of his life. He ruined his fingers from typing out of compassion for us, because he knew there was a chance for us, and this is why there are so many advocates who are fighting on our behalf, because there is a chance.

That is why your Being is working on your behalf. If you are hearing these lectures, if you have access to these teachings, it is because you have a chance, and the ones that do not have access, they are lost. It sounds harsh, but its evidential, its clear, we have a chance. There is hope, but that hope is inside.

It is said that if you take a step toward God he will take a thousand steps towards you. It is absolutely true. So, let us make those steps.

Audience: You talked about how over the course of the ages the teaching were broken up into levels that were trained to according to our own abilities and the last thing that we would learn would be the transmutation, sexual magic.

Instructor: Now there is no more time to wait, that is why we are giving the whole teaching integrated as a whole. Now students anywhere in the world can learn about the mysteries of sexual transmutation and learn those practices, but how do you know you are ready? You are, simple as that. Some say, “humanity is not prepared.” Some say, “this teachings have to withheld because humanity is not ready.” That is a very Piscean way of thinking. That way of thinking belongs to the past age. It ended. In the Piscean era, humanity was not prepared, but the Piscean era was the time within which humanity was being prepared, and that time has ended. Humanity is now ready. We are no in the Aquarian era. Now, humanity is being given the teachings, because humanity has been prepared already.

Your personality might not be ready, your personality might have problems and conflicts, but the soul of humanity, that wave, the human race, is ready, and that is why Samael Aun Weor initiated the new age, and gave the teachings publicly, and wrote his books publicly, and gave the knowledge publicly, because humanity needs it now.

People who withhold that knowledge or keep it for themselves are committing a crime, a crime against the soul, a crime against the Being. When the Being leads the soul to that teaching it is because that soul needs it, and if someone stands in the way of that, that transmission, they commit a grave crime against their soul, a terrible crime.

The teachings are here now because we need them.

We have to give them with clarity and with expertise. This is why Samael explained in his books that the teachings of the ninth sphere (transmutation) have to be taught through kabbalah, so that they can make sense to people. They have to taught scientifically, with comprehensive knowledge of all the religions, openly and clearly, which is how he taught it, and we have to follow that example in teaching the same way.

Moreover, when we hear it, we have to start learning it and understanding it and practicing it. For a single person, we practice as a single person.

There is absolutely no reason for anyone to continue their old habits of fornication. Those who do that are enslaved by their own inner satan, simple as that, and those who encourage others to do that are also enslaved by their own inner satan. There is never an excuse to say that a person is not ready for sexual magic and let them continue fornicating; how can you say that? How can anyone say that? How can anyone condemn a soul to suffering? Yet, people do it.

So when the teaching is given to us, it is because we need it, and that is the age that we in now.

These teachings have been taught publicly for more than sixty years now; six decades they have been in the public sphere, and still there are people who say we are not ready, that humanity is not ready. I am sorry, I humbly disagree. We are ready. We may not like it, we may not want it, because our desires clearly have other interests, but if the teaching is there, we need it.

That is the teaching that will revolutionize your spiritual life. If you avoid that teaching, it is your choice. Everybody can choose that; everyone has the right to choose what they want in their life. It is simple. But without transmutation, without sexual magic, they will have nothing, nothing but the same, nothing but suffering, the same old track.

Audience: How do you manage it when your spouse does not cooperate…

Instructor: No changes come overnight. Like I said before, we cannot switch from lust to chastity immediately. It does not happen like that. It is a long fight. If your partner does not agree with these teachings and does not agree with the practices, then you have accept that. It is your karma. Moreover, you have to respect their will. Respect them, and love them. They are your spouse, they are your partner. It is hard, there is no question about that, but it is also a test of faith and love. It is a test of will. It is lucifer getting you right in your heart; that is a very strong challenge. One that you have to face, there is no avoiding it. If that is your situation, deal with it. Do not just reject your spouse saying, “they are not supporting me I have to leave them.” Nowhere in the teaching does it allow that. Jesus strictly said no you cannot do that, and Paul said the same. These are great beings, we have to follow their guidance. Paul said, “you know not, you may save your spouse.” If they leave you that is another thing, if they leave it is their will, they can do that; yet you should still fight to save your relationship. So how do you get through it? Day by day, with faith, you do your best.

It may be like Samael Aun Weor told us that you may have to practice in secret, you have to act like you are not practicing in order to calm the ego of your spouse; you might have to fake. It can be done, it is not easy but it can be done. Should you do that? I do not know. That is something that you have to find yourself.

Every person who enters this work will face the steps of the path in accordance with their own karma. We cannot compare to others. Everyone is going to face their own situation, their own recurrences, their own ex spouses, their own mistakes, and have to deal with them in the way that their Being guides them to do it. None of us have the right to judge anyone else, and when we give advice, we have to give it with a great deal of caution.

So in your case, try to listen to what your Being tells you, and if someone here is facing that challenge, listen to your Being. Do not rush, be patient, wait and listen. God always gives us guidance, but sometimes he makes us wait a little awhile, but he is always there.