Continuing our study of Gnostic Kabalah and the ray of creation, lets look at the same principles and laws that we have already studied within the human being. For us, as microcosm, it is very important to recognize our Center of Gravity. Normally where is our Center of Gravity?

 

The Moon and our Center of Gravity

“We have a very mechanical life, we have habits which we repeat incessantly; and our habits are the same as always, they never change: we woke up at such as such an hour, we eat certain foods, go to sleep at a certain hour; the path we take to work is the same; we say the same things as always, that is to say, WE ARE totally MECHANICAL, we do not have Consciousness of ourselves.

Who are we? Where do we come from, where are we going? What is the purpose of our existence? Why do we exist, why are we existing? The poor “mechanical animal” knows nothing about these important questions and this is painful.

Obviously, all of THIS IS MECHANICITY IS 100% LUNAR… You see the force that the Moon has: She produces the high and low tides, the Waxing Moon makes the sap of plants to rise to the top of the tree, and during the Waning Moon, the sap tends towards the roots. The Moon (whether it’s New, Waxing, Full, or Waning) influences us in a definitive way.

If you cut the wood during the Waxing Moon, you have one outcome and during the Waning moon, you have another result. The Ancients planted during the Waning Moon, and knew that the wood would be better, better fruits, etc. During the Waxing Moon everything tends to grow up, to ascend…

So, my dear brothers, Lunar Mechanicity is completely demonstrate-able; the Moon is like a weight that moves the whole Mechanism of Nature. We carry this Moon in our interior, this Mechanical PSYCHOLOGICAL MOON, and obviously this has a decided influence on our psyche… It’s time to comprehend all these things…”

-Paraphrase from ‘The Seven Human Categories’ Lecture #114
[“Las Siete Categorías Humanas”] in El Quinto Evagelio

 

Creating our Psychological Universe

“There is no doubt that the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and the Galaxy in which we live, are also within us (from the psychological point of view).

Unquestionably, the Sun is higher than the Moon in the scale of worlds, and the Galaxy in which we live, is undoubtedly higher than the Sun, than the Moon, than the Earth.

But, again: Just as there is a visible and tangible Physical Universe, a radiant Material Universe, that the whole world can see, then, just the same, that there is a PSYCHOLOGICAL UNIVERSE within us; which means that within us we must create (in a similar form) our Psychological Universe.”

-Paraphrase from ‘The Seven Human Categories’ Lecture #114
[“Las Siete Categorías Humanas”] in El Quinto Evagelio

Eliphas Levi says that:

“…man must become a CREATOR by following the example of God…

…To create oneself, such is the sublime vocation of man…”

-From the Second Section of The Reconciliation of Science and Religion by Eliphas Levi

Lets remember how God created the universe (so we can understand how we need to create ourselves).

 

The 3rd Force and Creating our Psychological Moon

“If we wish to liberate ourselves from the mechanical influence of the Moon we must start by creating within us a PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPE OF MOON. If we create within our interior a Psychological Moon, then we liberate ourselves from the mechanical influence of the Moon, that fatal mechanical influence that we carry in our interior.

We have a MECHANICAL CENTER and this is the basis of the mechanical energies of the Moon within ourselves. There is a need to create a CONSCIOUS PSYCHOLOGICAL MOON; we must create a CONSCIOUS CENTER OF GRAVITY, instead of a Mechanical Center of Gravity.

If we intentionally create a Psychological type of Moon, a Conscious Psychological Moon, obviously we create, in fact, a Permanent Center of Gravity.”

Note that in Gnosis we often use the Moon to describe something mechanical, but in this case we are using it to talk about a Center of Gravity, to describe something which influences us, something that pushes and pulls us, like the physical Moon does to the tides and the sap, etc.

The Conscious Psychological Moon is something beneficial because it implies that now our lives are centered around the Psychological Work on ourselves, around self-observation, self-remembering, discovering egos, etc., and around taking life as an opportunity to learn about ourselves: to know ourselves more and more…

“This Conscious Psychological Moon will displace the Mechanical Moon which we carry in our interior and, for that reason, we will stop being mechanical entities, a puppet that others move.

Elaborating on this subject, we can say that: In order to create a Conscious Center of Gravity, a THIRD FORCE is necessary; and this Third Force is none other than the GNOSTIC CHRISTIC-ESOTERIC WORK.

Through this Third Force we make or create the Conscious Center of Gravity.

Those who are creating or have created their Conscious Center of Gravity are becoming or entering the circle of Conscious Humanity.

“Thus, there exists two types of Humanity. One will be called “MECHANICAL HUMANITY” and the other, “CONSCIOUS HUMANITY”. In order to pass from the Mechanical Center of Gravity to the Conscious Center of Gravity, one must appeal to this Third Force, that is, the Gnostic Work upon ourselves, here and now…”

-Paraphrase from ‘The Seven Human Categories’ Lecture #114
[“Las Siete Categorías Humanas”] in El Quinto Evagelio

 

The 3 Triangles and the Tree of Life

In Gnosis we use the term “Man” to describe someone who has completed or finished the work upon themselves, someone who has manifested their full potential, an Authentic or ‘Solar’ Man, a member of the Conscious Circle of Humanity.

A person who has not done this is an “Intellectual Animal” or “Machine Man”, because they are still controlled by external influences or impressions and symbolized by the mechanical influence of the Moon, they are a member of the Mechanical Circle of Humanity

This second type of person is said to have a ‘Lunar’ nature, which is related with the attraction that they have for mechanical or inferior thinking, feeling and acting. Do not confuse this with the Psychological Moon. The Psychological Moon is a step on the path to creating our Interior Universe, our Psychological Universe, which is necessary for us to become an Authentic Man.

If we want to become an Authentic or ‘Solar’ Human Being, then we need to understand what we have within which is useful and beneficial as well as that which is unbeneficial and that we need to eliminate.

So lets use the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life to understand this:

“Sephirothic Location in the Physical Body:

KETHER: The Crown, upper part of the head
CHOCHMAH: Right side of the brain
BINAH: Left side of the brain

CHESED: In the right arm
GEBURAH: In the left arm
TIPHERETH: In the heart.

NETZACH: In the right leg.
HOD: In the left leg.
JESOD: In the sexual organs.

MALKUTH: In the feet.”

– from Ch.10 of Tarot & Kabbalah

“If we observe every Authentic Man, we will discover in them Three Triangles.

The first is the “LOGOIC TRIANGLE”;
the second you could call the “ETHICAL TRIANGLE”;
and the third is called the “MAGIC TRIANGLE”.”

-paraphrase of THE GNOSTIC MYSTERY OF LUCIFER
[EL MISTERIO GNÓSTICO DE LUCIFER]
from pages 985-996 of EL QUINTO EVANGELIO
(given in The Gnostic and Esoteric Mysteries of Freemasonry,
Lucifer and the Great Work
)

“The First Triangle is Logoic; Kether, Chokmah and Binah.

The Second Triangle is Ethical; Chesed, Geburah and Tiphereth.

The Third Triangle is Magical; Netzach, Hod and Jesod.

Malkuth, the Physical World, is a fallen Sephiroth.”

– Paraphrase from Ch.54 of Tarot & Kabbalah

 

The 3 Primary Forces and their Centers of Gravity

The Three Primary Forces are:

1. The 1st Logos is the Holy Affirming (The Father – Kether)
2. The 2nd Logos is the Holy Denying (The Son – Chokmah)
3. The 3rd Logos the Holy Reconciling (The Holy Spirit – Binah)

And the 3 Primary Forces have the following Centers of Gravity:

1. Kether, the 1st Logos, is in Kether itself
2. Chokmah, the 2nd Logos, is in Tiphereth
3. Binah, the 3rd Logos, is in Jesod

As a result, we also call the 1st Triangle the Triangle of the Father, the 2nd is the Triangle of the Son, and the 3rd is the Triangle of the Holy Spirit.

[see Ch.54 of Tarot & Kabbalah]

Kether and the 1st Triangle is related to the Head and the Brain.

Tiphereth and the 2nd Triangle is related to the Heart, the Chest and the upper body.

Jesod and the 3rd Triangle is related to the Sexual Organs, the Legs and the lower body.

Therefore, in terms of the 3 Brains, we can say that:
• the 1st Triangle is related to the Intellectual Brain,
• the 2nd Triangle is related to the Emotional Brain,
• and the 3rd is related to the Motor-Instinctive-Sexual Brain.

In reality each brain occupies the whole body, and penetrates the whole organism. At the same time, each center has what is called its ‘center of gravity’.

The center of gravity of the intellectual center is in the brain; the center of gravity of the emotional center is in the solar plexus and the heart; the centers of gravity of the moving and instinctive centers are in the spinal cord.”

-paraphrase from Lecture 4, Section 1 of
The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution

These are the three main areas where we need to work: our Thoughts, Feelings and Actions.

When we understand the necessity to rectify these 3 parts of ourselves, then we will be on our way to “reaching the Father”.

 

Rectification, Ethics and the Heart

In general usage, the term ‘rectification’ means “the act of offering an improvement to replace a mistake; setting right” and in chemistry it means “the process of refinement or purification of a substance by distillation”.

The 3 triangles (which relate to the 3 brains) have specific names for a reason:

1. The Logoic or Divine Triangle is so-called because of its relation to the Logos, the Verb and the 3 Primary Forces of Creation

2. The Ethical or Moral Triangle is so-called because…

Ethics, and Right Conduct, take precedence here, here we must get to know the rigor of the Law, by learning what “good” and “evil” are, this triangle is the World of Pure Spirit

– Paraphrase from Ch.54 of Tarot & Kabbalah

3. The Magical Triangle is so-called because of its relation to the laws of universe and how to use them to our advantage. The way we think, feel and act has a decided effect on the world around us, and it is precisely here that we must work.

Since we have already talked about the Logos and the First Triangle in the first part of this class, now let’s take a look at the Second Triangle. The fact that the Ethical Triangle is related to Pure Spirit is very important to notice.

Authentic spirituality is directly connected to our Ethical behavior, and this is one of the things that many people ignore, but if we want to rectify ourselves, we must take into account our Ethics.

Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu recently said “Morality and leadership are indivisible.” [see full article] and clearly this is something that our present society does not understand, but we can go even further by saying “Ethics and Spirituality are indivisible.”

To understand the full implications of this let’s remember the concept of the Verb. Those who keep their word, are careful with what they say, what they commit to, etc., and consider that to be important: they understand that they have a responsibility to keep their commitments.

What must be understood here is that Ethics goes a step further. Not only must one make an effort to keep one’s word, but on top of that these words must be Just and Upright. In other words, we must do what we say and this must be what is correct or right. Because on the other side is the wicked person who does do what they say, but what they say is harmful or dangerous to others (example: Gangster Movie that is considered “good” by people who are anti-violence).

If we want to progress spiritually, we must rectify ourselves Ethically. In Gnosis, we distinguish between Morality and Ethics by saying that what people call Morality is often related to the culture and the time period. Ethics, on the other hand, are related to the Conscience.

 

Conscience, Contradictions and Buffers

“Conscience is a general and a permanent phenomenon. Conscience is the same for all people and conscience is possible only in the absence of ‘buffers’.

‘Buffer’ is a term which requires special explanation. Buffers on railway cars are [like a sort of a bumper]. They are the devices which lessen the shock when carriages or trucks strike one another. If there were no buffers the shock of one carriage against another would be very unpleasant and dangerous. Buffers soften the results of these shocks and render them unnoticeable and imperceptible.

Exactly the same appliances are to be found within ourselves. They are created, not by nature but involuntarily by ourselves. The cause of their appearance is the existence in us of many contradictions; contradictions of opinions, feelings, sympathies, words, and actions.

If a person throughout the whole of their life were to feel all the contradictions that are within them then they could not live and act as calmly as we live and act now. They would have constant friction, constant unrest.

We fail to see how contradictory and hostile the different “I’s” of our personality are to one another.

If a person were to feel all these contradictions then they would feel what they really are. They would feel that they are crazy. It is not pleasant for us to feel that we are crazy. Moreover, a thought such as this deprives us of self-confidence, weakens our energy, deprives us of ‘self-respect’, etc.

Somehow or other a person must overcome this thought or banish it. We must either destroy the contradictions or cease to see and to feel them. Without working on ourselves, we cannot destroy contradictions. But if ‘buffers’ are created in us, we can cease to feel the contradictions and we will not feel the impact from the clash of contradictory views, contradictory emotions, contradictory words.

‘Buffers’ are created slowly and gradually. Very many ‘buffers’ are created artificially through ‘education’. Others are created under the hypnotic influence of our surrounding life. We are surrounded by people who live, speak, think, and feel by means of ‘buffers’. Imitating these people in their opinions, actions, and words, we involuntarily create similar ‘buffers’ in ourselves.

‘Buffers’ make our mechanical life easier. It is very hard to live without ‘buffers’. But they keep us from the possibility of inner development because ‘buffers’ are made to lessen shocks and it is only shocks that can lead us out of the state in which we live, that is, awaken us.

‘Buffers’ lull a person to sleep, they give them the agreeable and peaceful sensation that all will be well, that no contradictions exist and that we can sleep in peace. ‘Buffers’ are appliances by means of -which a person can always be in the right. ‘Buffers’ help us to not feel our conscience.

In ordinary life the concept ‘conscience’ is taken too simply (as if we had a conscience). Actually the concept ‘conscience’ in the sphere of the emotions is equivalent to the concept ‘consciousness’ in the sphere of the intellect.”

Meaning just like we think we are conscious of what we do, we often feel we have conscience.

“And since we have no Consciousness we have no conscience.

Consciousness is a state in which a person knows all at once everything that they know in general and in which they can see how little they do know and how many contradictions there are in what they know.

Conscience is a state in which a person feels all at once everything that they in general feel, or can feel.

And as everyone has within themselves thousands of contradictory feelings which vary from a deeply hidden realization of our own nothingness and fears of all kinds to the most stupid kind of self-conceit, self-confidence, self-satisfaction, and self-praise, then to feel all this together would not only be painful but literally unbearable.

If a person whose entire inner world is composed of contradictions were suddenly to feel all these contradictions simultaneously within themselves, if they were to feel all at once that they love everything they hate and hate everything they love; that they lie when they tell the truth and that they tell the truth when they lie; and if they could feel the shame and horror of it all, then this would be the state which is called ‘conscience’.

Without a lot of Psychological Work, we cannot live in that state; we must either destroy the contradictions or destroy conscience.

And we cannot destroy conscience, but if we cannot destroy it we can put it to sleep, that is, we can separate by impenetrable barriers one feeling of self from another: never seeing them together, never feeling their incompatibility, never experiencing the absurdity of one existing alongside another. But this state of conscience is very rare.”

-paraphrase from Ch 8.5 of In Search of the Miraculous

 

Inner Development and Destroying Buffers

“From early childhood ‘buffers’ begin to grow and strengthen in us, taking from us the possibility of seeing our inner contradictions and therefore, for us, there is no danger whatsoever of a sudden awakening.

Awakening is possible only for those who seek it and want it, for those who are ready to struggle with themselves and work on themselves for a very long time and very persistently in order to attain it.

For this it is necessary to destroy ‘buffers’, that is, to go out to meet all those inner sufferings which are connected with the sensations of contradictions.

Moreover the destruction of ‘buffers’ in itself requires very long work and we must agree to this work realizing that the result of our work will be every possible discomfort and suffering from the awakening of our conscience.”

-Paraphrase from Ch.8 of In Search of the Miraculous

“Those who know how to suffer with patience in their trials and work on themselves will inherit the kingdom.”

– From Ch. 50 of The Pistis Sophia Unveiled

“But conscience is the fire which alone can fuse all the powders in the glass retort* and create the unity which we lack in that state in which we begin to study ourselves.”

-paraphrase from Ch 8.5 of In Search of the Miraculous

[*A ‘glass retort’ is a vessel used for distillation of substances that are placed inside and subjected to heat.]

 

Morality vs. Conscience

So now lets understand how Buffers are related to Morality & Ethics…

“The concept ‘conscience’ has nothing in common with the concept ‘morality’. There is no general morality. What is moral in one country is immoral in another. What is moral in one class of society is immoral in another and vice versa.

Morality is always and everywhere an artificial phenomenon. Morality consists of various ‘taboos’, that is, restrictions, and various demands, sometimes sensible in their basis and sometimes having lost all meaning or never even having had any meaning, and having been created on a false basis, from the soil of superstition and false fears.

Morality consists of ‘buffers’. And since ‘buffers’ are of various kinds, and as the conditions of life in different countries and in different ages or among different classes of society vary considerably, so the morality created by them is also very dissimilar and contradictory.

A morality common to all does not exist. It is even impossible to say that there exists any general idea of morality, for instance, in America. It is sometimes said that there is a general morality for Christians, a ‘Christian morality’.

But first of all the idea of ‘Christian morality’ itself admits of very many different interpretations and many different crimes have been justified by ‘Christian morality’. And in the second place modern Christianity has very little in common with ‘Christian morality’, no matter how we understand this morality.”

-paraphrase from Ch 8.5 of In Search of the Miraculous

 

Gnosis and Morality

“Many people say that they do not understand the moral side of the Gnostic Teachings and others say that it has no morality at all. This is because people are very fond of talking about morality. But morality is merely self-suggestion.

What is necessary is conscience. Gnosis does not teach some false morality made of buffers. What it teaches is how to find conscience.

People are not pleased when they hear this. They say that we have no love. Simply because we do not encourage weakness and hypocrisy but, on the contrary, take off all masks.”

-paraphrase from Ch 8.5 of In Search of the Miraculous

 

Morality, Buffers and Good & Evil

“Morality and conscience are quite different things. One conscience can never contradict another conscience. One morality can always very easily contradict and completely deny another.

A human being with ‘buffers’ may be very moral. And ‘buffers’ can be very different, that is, two very moral people may consider each other very immoral. As a rule, we can say that the more ‘moral’ a person is, the more ‘immoral’ they think other moral people are.

The idea of morality is connected with the idea of good and evil conduct. But the idea of good and evil is always different for different people. The concept of good and evil is always subjective in Human Being №1, Human Being №2, and Human Being №3, and is connected only with a given moment or a given situation.

A subjective person can have no real concept of good and evil. For a subjective person, evil is everything that is opposed to their desires or interests, or to their concept of good.

One may say that evil does not exist at all for subjective people, what exists are only different conceptions of good. Nobody ever does anything deliberately in the interests of evil, for the sake of evil. Everybody acts in the interests of good, as they understand it. But everybody understands it in a different way.

Consequently people drown, fight, and kill one another in the interests of good. The reason is again just the same: the human being’s ignorance and the deep sleep in which we live. This is so obvious that it even seems strange that people have never thought of it before.

However, the fact remains that they fail to understand this and everyone considers their good as the only good and all the rest as evil. It is naïve and useless to hope that people will ever understand this and that they will evolve a general and identical idea of good.”

-paraphrase from Ch 8.5 of In Search of the Miraculous

 

Good and Evil in the Work

A permanent idea of good and evil can be formed in a person only in connection with a permanent aim and a permanent understanding.

If a human being understands that they are asleep and if they wish to awaken, then everything that helps them to awaken will be good and everything that hinders them from awakening, everything that prolongs their sleep, will be evil.

But this is so only for those who want to awaken, that is, for those who understand that they are asleep.

Those who do not understand that they are asleep and those who can have no wish to awaken, cannot have an authentic understanding of good and evil.

And as the overwhelming majority of people do not realize and will never realize that they are asleep, neither objective good nor objective evil can actually exist for them.”

-paraphrase from Ch 8.5 of In Search of the Miraculous

This is because to awaken for a sleeping person, who does not want to wake up, is evil and to stay asleep is good. But these terms have been so misused and abused, that using them easily causes confusion.

 

Good, Evil and Comprehension

“Good and evil do not really exist in the way most people conceive of it, since something is good when it is convenient and evil when it is not convenient. Thus, “good and evil” are a matter of egotistical conveniences and the capriciousness of the mind.”

A long time ago a man used the terms “good” and “evil” to describe the forces of nature.

“He named the forces of an evolving type “good”, and the forces of a devolving type he baptized with the term “evil”. He did not give any name to the neutral forces. The evolving and devolving forces are processed inside the human being and inside nature; the neutral force is their point of support and equilibrium.”

Later, these terms were applied to behavior and ‘morality’.

The terms good and evil are always misused in order to justify or condemn our own errors. The one who justifies or condemns does not comprehend. Thus, it is intelligent to comprehend the development of evolving forces, but it is not intelligent to justify them with the term “good”. It is intelligent to comprehend the processes of devolving forces, but it is stupid to condemn them with the term “evil”.

Different types of energies that evolve, devolve, and that are in an incessant transformation exist within every human being. Therefore, to justify a specific type of energy and to condemn another is to not comprehend. Thus, what is vital is to comprehend.

Among humanity, the experience of the truth has been very rare due to the concrete fact that their minds are bottled up within the opposites, “good and evil”.

The revolutionary psychology of all Gnostic movements is based on the study of the different types of energies that operate within the human organism and within nature. The Gnostic movement has a revolutionary ethics that has nothing to do with the morality of reactionary people bottled up in the good and evil of their subjective reasoning.

Evolving (or evolution), devolving (or involution), and neutral forces exist within the psycho-physiological laboratory of the human organism; these forces must be studied and profoundly comprehended.

The term “good” hinders the comprehension of the evolving energies (due to justification), as does the term “evil” for the devolving forces (due to condemnation). To justify or condemn does not signify comprehension. Those who want to put an end to their defects must neither justify nor condemn them. It is essential to comprehend our errors.

To comprehend anger in all the levels of the mind is fundamental, so that serenity and sweetness are born within us.

To comprehend the infinite shades of covetousness is indispensable, so that philanthropy and altruism are born within us.

To comprehend lust in all of the levels of the mind is vital in order for true Chastity to be born within us.

To comprehend envy in all the areas of the mind is enough in order for the sense of cooperation and the joy for other’s well-being & progress to be born within us.

The comprehension of pride in all of its shades and degrees is the basis for the exotic flower of humility to be born within us in a natural and simple manner.

To comprehend that element of inertia called laziness —not only in its grotesque forms but also in its more subtle forms— is indispensable so that the sense of activity can be born within us.

To comprehend the diverse forms of gluttony and greediness is equivalent to the termination of all of the vices from the instinctual center, namely, banquets, drinking sprees, hunting, carnivorousness, fear of death, desires to perpetuate the “I”, fear of being annihilated, etc.

Nevertheless, teachers of schools, colleges, and universities advise their students to improve themselves, as if the “I” could become better; they advise them to acquire specific virtues, as if the “I” could attain virtues, etc. It is essential to comprehend that the “I” can never improve, the “I” can never be better; consequently, the one who covets virtues strengthens their “I”.”

-Paraphrase from Ch.22 of Fundamental Education

We need to understand what ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are so that we can establish our Ethics upon the foundation Comprehension, not condemnation and/or justification.

 

Good and Bad in Pure Esotericism

“Let us remember that in pure esotericism good is all that is in its place; and bad is all that is out of its place.

For instance: water is good in its place, but if the water is out of place, if it floods the house, then it would cause damage; it would be bad and harmful.

Likewise, fire in the kitchen, when in its place, besides being useful, is good. Yet, the fire out of its place, burning the furniture of the living room, would be bad and harmful.

Thus, any virtue, no matter how holy it might be, is good in its place; yet, it is bad and harmful out of its place. We can harm others with our virtues. Therefore, it is indispensable to place virtues in their corresponding place.

What would you say about a priest who preaches the Word of the Lord inside a brothel?

What would you say about a meek and tolerant male who blesses a gang of assailants attempting to rape his wife and daughters?

What would you say about that type of tolerance taken to such an extreme?

What would you say about the charitable attitude of a man who, instead of taking food home, shares his money among beggars who have a vice?

What would be your opinion of a helpful man who, in a given moment, lends a dagger to a murderer?

Remember, dear reader, that crime also hides within the rhythm of poetry. There is much virtue in the perverse one and as much evil in the virtuous one. Even though it may appear incredible, crime also hides in the very perfume of prayer.

Crime disguises itself as a saint. It uses the best virtues; it presents itself as a martyr and even officiates in the sacred temples…”

-paraphrase from Ch. 29 (‘Decapitation’) of Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology

So let us reflect on our Ethics, and what roll our emotional center plays in our condemnation and justification of our actions.

Let us reflect on the need to COMPREHEND the Causes, both those of the activities within ourselves (in our internal universe) and those of the activities outside (in the external universe).

 

 

– = Read the NEXT PART = –