Gnostic Wisdom

Anger arouses the person and then foreplay begins. That is, the two people start to feel annoyed or frustrated and then they begin to stir each other up. There are abrupt challenges, ironic and sarcastic comments, instances of mockery and insult accompanied with demeaning accusations etc. etc.  After the act of foreplay, the initial annoyance or frustration has heightened, and then the angry exchanges begin. There is no way to stop that exchange of angry ill-will until something breaks... Common sense breaks, the absurd is present, two people yelling and not listening to each over something trivial. Perhaps something physically breaks, perhaps someone's feelings break, perhaps someone's sense of decency breaks or perhaps someone gets hurt or some words that are said break lines of respect...  This is a lot like the climax of the normal sexual act that results in the loss of energy. In the case of anger, there is always a loss of energy, and there is most often a loss of image,...

Anger appears and stays, when we for some reason assume or decide that there is negative intent in the other person or situation. Most of the time there is no ill intent. we assume mechanically and so quickly that there is. Sometimes yes there ill-intent but we can always choose what we assume. We can always assume a good attitude before ill-intent.    The way to go forward is to undo the quick assumption of ill-intent and to create positive assumptions that no one is operating out of ill-intent. They are operating out of what's best for them... Which is positive intent right? They are not operating out of a place to deliberately hurt us. When we do this, we will see some causes of why we assume ill-intent. It often comes from a lacking of some ability.  For example, we may lack trust in our ability to think and communicate with others to overcome apparent ill-intent. So we then resort to anger to go against ill-intent and solve the qualm with anger and a falling out....

A very good way to gauge our progress without getting disappointed and giving up, is to look at our progress using the following three yardsticks: 1.) Intensity 2.) Duration 3.) Frequency We can use these yardsticks to see how our work of dissolving an ego and awakening is going. If there is a forward change in any of these three yardsticks, then we are progressing. As simple as that.  Yes, we can always accelerate and expand that progress by doing more of what we have already done, and we can always do new and other things as well. End (5665).

To overcome anger in the moment it is arising we have to do something different. Something different inside and outside.  That something different is not to answer with force like the other person is if they are, or it is to look for why we, or the other person are angry. The issue causing anger is not the anger. It is something different that we can work with and remedy. End (5664).

Home invitations are really good. They give the invitees the opportunity to dissolve and let go of concepts they have those they are visiting. Concepts changed and let go of is a really good experience. It brings light and a degree of superior emotion. Certainly not a waste to time... To create new concepts and negative ones at that, is not a useful thing to do for our consciousness. There are people who invite to their home and there are people who don't.  The 'plus' of those that don't, is that good concepts (which are maybe false) stay, while the 'minus' is that people don't really get to know them and they give themselves a chance to give from within their at home daily reality.  The 'plus' of those that do, is that people get the chance to let go of wrong concepts, and the 'minus' is that  perhaps people can get disappointed. This though seldom happens. The 'minus' side here is slight compared to those who don't invite people...

After a while of working on any ego the need for a discipline specific to that ego emerges. Some discipline examples are: envy - no comparing, lust - cut impressions and no fantasy, anger - few or no words and move on, fear - live the moment and no projections etc.  It is a discipline that arises out of our efforts of comprehension and yearning to dissolve that ego. It is something that we create and it makes us to remember what others have said about dissolving that same ego. Without that discipline we know that we can not progress. When we start to work with this discipline we are in the way of dissolving that ego. Holding to that discipline weakens the ego and brings forward the light and strengthens the will to choose the light. End (5662).

It seems like the expectation people have to do with spiritual development is that it progresses in a smooth straight line.  The reality it seems is much more like a very zig-zagged up and down spiral that in time slopes upwards producing development.       The teachings don't really explain this... It is only really our own example and the examples of others doing the work that we suspect, and later learn, that this is way things go. It seems that what is important in the path is the overall picture. We all have so much to pay and transform making progress very complicated.  Because of the time and the complexity many processes must be run together and in parallel. Making things very non-linear, overlapping and difficult to track. Concepts about the masters and the way spiritual progress go confuse, disappoint and delay us. The examples of the struggles of the Masters serves to show us the nature of the path and what is important. We should take our own ex...

Not sure if uncertainty has that function to make us to look inwardly for what is always there and always will be. It sure does do that though. After looking for certainty in all the different places outside of ourselves and not finding it we have only one other place to look - inside. There inside of ourselves we can take refuge in that certainty within ourselves. The certainty that our inner Being is there and will always be there and is helping from instant to instant.  End (5661).

Master Samael says that the soul is fabricated from a movement from the centre towards the boundary returning to the centre.  For example, we start the work from inside, feeling we need to change. Then we find a school in the outside world and apply the teaching. As we apply the teaching it becomes ours - that is a tool of our consciousness.    We do that with meditation, self-inquiry, self-remembering etc.  When we make any teaching conscious we make soul bit by bit. End (5659).

When we trust we can let go of things. It is hard to let go of things when we lack trust. They go hand in hand, trust and letting go. The are four classical ways we can let go of things: 1.) Letting go of physical possessions not needed anymore 2.) Letting go of negativity by cultivating contentment and happiness in the present 3.) Letting go of expectations by giving without expecting returns  4.) Letting go of concepts, memory and data (information) Letting go of control is also interesting. The below guide shows what is easy to let go of because we can not control it. End (5658).

The worst concepts for someone working on themselves are the spiritual related concepts. The spiritual related concepts create a lot of obstacles for us. The absence of spiritual related concepts will make our work quicker, of higher quality and save us from inumbnerable disappointments. The spiritual related concepts are mostly about people both people doing and not doing the esoteric work. It is also those people that break our concepts.  Concepts limit of our abilities and happiness. Because of concepts we can only be happy in a small avenue where our concepts agree. Concepts make the mind rigid - that is black and white. The mind sees white what agrees with its concepts and black with what disagrees. When face with black and white, the only response available to a mind conditioned by concepts is to protest to change what is in favour of the concept or escape to find somewhere else that agrees with the concepts. We rarely accept that we have concepts. We in fact don't know that ...

Thinking that people are stupid is where much of our negativity towards others stems from. When we don't think others are stupid, things change a lot. There is generally little kindness when we think people are stupid. When we are in a negative state we always at one point say: "that person is stupid", "that was a stupid thing to say" and "this or that is stupid". In general, people that offence being called stupid. Especially when the intellectual centre is the centre of gravity and is a big part of our identity. What's the remedy? No one is stupid.  End (5657).

Upon reflection, lists really seem to be a real thing.  In human life there are: waiting lists, parts list, check lists, shopping list, 'to do' list, 'bucket' list, stock list, delivery list, guest list, passenger list, standby list, punch list, hit list, wish list and so on and so on... In the esoteric field there are: list of tests, list of the stages of the parts, list of the parts of the Being, list of laws, list of rays, list of urgencies, list of priorities, list of debts, list of egos etc. They seem to be something more than an invention of the human mind. Lists seem to be the human being's mental expression of the cosmic principle of order. If a system of some kind has several parts and an order to the way those parts come together and function, a human being will create a list when he or she studies that system. The function of any list is to give the complete story and detail the order of things. Using a list we can complete and order anything.  It is a to...

Even though anger looks strong and courageous, it is really a coward. Anger is the psychology of using force to escape our lack of inner strengths to solve difficult situations. The psychology of using anger has within it the false image of being strong and courageous. Upon a deeper look there is inner cowardice. When there is a difficult situation we need force to go inside and accept the situation within us. We need force to look inside ourselves to accept our fault if one is being pointed out. We need force to be patient or hold back our instinctive impulses. We need force to engage our consciousness to find a solution. All of this requires force. It is correct that our consciousness sends us force in such situations because we need it. We just need the right psychology to handle that force being sent. When we use force against someone we are a coward because we escape going through the uncomfortable feelings of holding back our impulses, the uncomfortable feelings of being patient ...

To focus on our inner Father-Mother (Being) is transformative. It removes many desires, worries, concerns and hurrying, exposing them for mostly what they are: unnecessary. If we can make our inner Father-Mother our reference and focal point for our day and each day after that, we will be experience a different life. It is a big shift from all of a sudden 'going after some desire' such as money, to then shift to our inner Father-Mother and see ourselves and our life from a new perspective. This new perspective that takes our inner Father-Mother into account causes us to lift up and return home and a very different list of priorities appears. This new list of priorities sets us above the worries and concerns of life and leads us into our spiritual work. To be able to focus our attention inwardly on our Father-Mother transforms us and awakens us to other realities more important and determinant than the mere 'goings on' of our physical reality. Conclusion, there is only o...

Hidden Values There is much more to these two egos than money and food. We know that in every ego there are ineffable values of the Divine Being within it. We know further to that, that each value is a way in itself to the our Inner Being. For example: the way of love, the way of wisdom, the way of the warrior (force), the way of the truth (truth seeker) etc. etc. Each way is a wide infinite avenue to the sun (divinity). Each person has a way and that is why it is so important that everyone studies these values or ways so that they can go quicker to their interior Divinity. Inside Greed & Gluttony What is inside greed and gluttony? Great values hide inside each of these two defects? The two sides of greed are: on the plus side, it is having an excess beyond what is practically usable (e.g. 200 pairs of shoes), on the negative side, it is not having to the extent of not being practical (e.g. no car, one shirt, one pair of pants, no phone, no fridge etc.). The middle which is close t...

The answer is definition. We expect that opening a business will be tough, it will require hard work and will be challenging with many difficulties to face and overcome. Yet we give up so easily in the work and path when difficulties appear. Thinking that they shouldn't appear... We are more defined for life pursuits and that is why we keep at it even when it gets difficult. We are simply very defined to reach goals in life. When we are defined for the work and path we don't mind difficulties. We work to overcome them and move on towards our yearnings. We expect strictness from life, we don't expect free lunches from life, yet from the work and path we do. We expect all kinds of leniency and forgiveness while in life we don't ever count on it. Why? We are not defined to work on the path. But to work in life we are defined.  Basically when we are defined all these contradictions disappear and strength in the work and path appears. We become just as strong as those who in...

Every ego has is based on a value. This value remains hidden. To find that value is not trivial. Though we can find it or get close insight into what it is. To find it we can establish the two opposite of the ego's manifestation. We must see the passive and internal side of manifestation. Then see the active and external side of manifestation. Once we know both sides, the plus and minus, we can then see the middle which is the combination of the two opposites. The middle combination produces a view or insight into the hidden value. There will be a word or a name that best describes your glimpse of that value. Take anger, the two opposites are outward aggression (body and mouth active) and inward aggression (mind active with body and mouth still). The combination is to act and speak at the correct level to solve the situation. This could be called assertiveness, tamed force, intelligent force and so on. Take pride, the two opposites are boasting (superiority) and false humility (inf...

It's really worth teaching ourselves to how concentrate. Try not to delay that.  As we are learning to concentrate, we face what is 'unconcentrated' in us, and what does not want to concentrate. A big unconcentrated element within us, is the constant 'attending to desires'. Lust is an ego within us that is about 'attending to desire'. Lust in its nature jumps towards the new and the different in the external.   For lust to concentrate in on one person, means its death. Because it is in lust's very nature to look superficially at a person then move on towards new and different sensations.  To concentrate in a person, allows us to see into the depths of the person to find their essence. In sacrificing lust, we find the essence in a person, which then allows us to see the essence in others.  The many different desires of pleasant experience in matter come from the defect of lust in general, even if it is not sexual in nature.  End (5652).

When a person is vindictive they are really saying look how much you hurt me. The more vindictive, the more they were hurt. They are trying to inflict what was inflicted upon them. However, vindictiveness appears aggressive and not at all like they are saying: "look how much I am hurt". Because of that we react with like aggression and things quickly get worse.  In this case like nearly every other case, aggression is not the way to deal with vindictiveness. Addressing what has been hurt is the closer to the right way or is the right tool. Aggression is the wrong tool. We have to have lots of self-control to read the strange yet very overlooked message of vindictiveness.  End (5651).

We know already that: anger does not come alone and one of anger's roles is to protect. One ego anger impeccably comes along with is mechanical self-love. This is because it needs lots of protecting. Mechanical self-love has a very sentimental view of ourselves. Often seeing ourselves and defenceless and sweet and something easily wronged and unfairly hurt. Therefore anger must comes to protect it. If an ego sees hourselves as robust anger will often not appear by its side to protect it. End (5650).

In myth and legend, if we look at the dragons of the East and the West we see a clear difference.  The difference being, that the dragons of the west appear malevolent while those of the East appear benevolent - the opposite.  The dragons of the west were not understood by human beings and often feared. They have suffered much at the hands of human beings, and are bitter and resentful, bearing grudges against man and are very destructive, wreaking havoc on towns and villages. They tend to use their powers for more physical human purposes, yet they are wise and magical. The dragons of the east are wise and kind, and like to be sought for help and advice. They often stand as guardians and custodians of the lakes, rivers, valleys and mountains. They stand as the essence of magic and are in many cases the door ways to mystical knowledge and dimensions. What both dragons have in common is wisdom and magic. The use of these two attributes differ in the west and the east, according t...

The things we say and do when we are angry have been learnt and rehearsed before.  Often the words and actions of our anger come from our parents or siblings or even friends.  If any person looks into the history of their anger, especially including all the anger that we have seen in others, it will offer many opportunities for a lot of surprising discoveries. End (5649).

If we keep an keen eye over emotion centre we can help ourselves to stay more clear and aware. When emotion rises above or below the middle line we have usually become identified with something.  If we can watch over our emotion and keep it balanced all through the day, through its circumstances, we will see how much of a difference it makes to keeping ourselves present. The effort to balance the emotional centre actually keeps us very present. End (5648).

We all have to some degree that tendency to criticise and critique. The two are different. Critique has good intentions and wishes to provide feedback to improve the efficiency and quality of another person's efforts. There may be some analysis involved and it is done for the betterment of the other person. Excessive critique can hide some annoyance, attachment, pride or envy... Criticism on the other hand is often done out of some annoyance, anger or envy. If we want to get ourselves out of this tendency to criticise, this one key is very useful. It is to always  be patient and focus on the result. To do this means to take a big picture or overall view.  Criticism and excessive critique, is so often about the way something is done. If we go to the big picture view of results, we will see that the result is the same - our way or another way, produce the same result. So often, it is not really correct to upset another person for a few minutes when the result is the same as what...

Anger has a definite momentum about it. Meaning that it is difficult to stop. It almost feels like it will only stop when something has been said or done. If that something has not been said or done, it will still 'hang around' in our human machine. Lust is very similar. I know a person who said that when he gets angry, he stays angry for days. Why? Because anger and lust use the fire element and are like fires. Fire only stops when all that it is burning has been burnt. To remedy this characteristic we have to see what stops fire. One, there is no more to burn, two oxygen runs out and three, water or sand put it out.  In our psyche, easy we need to remove ourselves from the environment, stop feeding it with our thoughts and words, and do something else with our body. This allows anger to burn out quickly and displace from our human machine and consequently we experience a sobering up from the drunkenness of our anger. Lust is the same. End (5646).

The rhythm we speak with has powerful effects. This is something that we more often than not use naturally without being aware of it. We often naturally adjust the rhythm by which we speak according to the nature of the circumstances. When we are speaking with good will we speak with a even, smooth and slow rhythm. When we need to be succinct and to the point we speak with a short and fast rhythm. Sometimes we habituate ourselves to always speak with the same rhythm that is more appropriate for certain situations, and is not appropiate for every circumstance that we can face in a day. Keeping the same rhythm we often can confuse and upset others and attract unkind replies to what we say. We can say nearly anything and get a good result if we consciously choose the appropriate tone and rhythm. Attitude, Word and pose are what denounce any "I" in the human machine. End (5645).

Observing a cat the other day I suddenly got the feeling that the cat was reading the local neighbourhood news. She was smelling with her head up, the air that had swept across the neighbourhood into the bathroom window. It was like she was finding out based on the different smells in the air what was and had been going on. My conclusion here, is that animals connect their senses to the consciousness they have to know things about their locality. Kind of obvious right... Observing the cat in the garden smelling and marking fixed features it was like she was making a map in her mind of the house and it's yard. We can do the same using our hearing and sight. Memorise our whole house through several pictures and sit down in meditation or in a relaxed state and hear the different sounds around us. Then see in our mind's eye the the bird chirping on top of the pine tree at the back fence, the car rolling by on the street, the wind chimes sounding in the verandah, the palm tree frond...

Every event and circumstance that we pass through, involves a particular quality of our essence.  Our essence is a conglomerate of abilities, values, virtues, powers and faculties. When we are in particular, event a part of our essence that specialises with that kind of event will come forward within us. It does not matter if that part of the essence is free or conditioned. It will always come forward. If an event involves conflict, problems and difficulties, free or conditioned essence come forward within us to help us respond to that situation. If the essence that comes forward is free, it will be force yet if it is conditioned it will be anger. Therefore, the parts of the essence trapped in each "I" or aggregate, are the parts of the essence that deal with the qualities of the soul that correspond to that ego.  For example, the fraction of essence trapped in anger is made up of the parts of the essence specialising in force. The fraction of the essence trapped in lust are ...

Gnosis teaches there are seven cosmoses, that is seven special orders of creation. An order of creation is a scaled down version of the cosmos itself. In each cosmos is all that there is in the cosmos as a whole. What is in one cosmos is also in the other cosmoses. For example, what is inside the microcosmos - the human being, is all that is in the cosmos as a whole including the other six cosmoses.  The cosmoses share of each other and what is in one externally is inside the other internally. For example, human beings are inside the planet and within each human being there is the internal planet Earth. Inversely, the greater the number of laws governing the cosmos. the smaller the cosmos is, in physical spatial terms. The tritocosmos is inside of each human being. Amazingly in the tritocosmos is all the same laws and principles governing the other cosmoses but inverted. Each cosmos is a universe in miniature. All that is inside the human being is outside. Studying the seven cosmos...