How to Live Wisely by Awakening Consciousness Out of Hypnosis

Well, we'll start with our lecture tonight. First of all, my dear brothers and sisters, it is necessary to know how to live. This is something we need to understand...

Consciousness and Circumstances: States and Events

When we talk with someone, he tells us the various events of his life; it speaks to us, we could say, of events, of what happened at certain times in its history as if life were only a chain of events.

People do not realize that in addition to the circumstances of existence, there are also states of consciousness; the capacity to live is based, precisely, on the way in which one manages to combine the states of cognizance with the circumstances of existence.

It may be the case that a circumstance that could have been happy was not because we did not know how to combine the conscious state with the event itself...

When we examine the world in which we live, we can verify the conclusive, clear, and definitive fact that there are people who should be happy and they are not. We have known many concrete cases of subjects who have a good house, a beautiful car, a magnificent spouse, beautiful children, and enough money, and yet they are not happy. On the other hand, we have been able to see, corroborate the case of poor individuals, who are needy, possibly humble pick-and-shovel laborers, who neither enjoy a beautiful mansion, nor have more money than is needed for daily sustenance, nor use beautiful late-model car, and yet they are happy in their homes with their children (poor but clean, tidy), and their industrious and sincere spouse.

Thus, it is not money, in itself, that can give us happiness; everything depends on the way in which one knows how to combine the cognizant states with the events or circumstances of practical life.

If someone placed in magnificent conditions is not up to the circumstances, if he does not know how to combine, intelligently, the cognizant states with the environment in which he develops and lives, he will unquestionably be unfortunate. Yet another, even though he is in difficult circumstances, knows how to combine the facts of his practical life with his states of consciousness, he achieves well-being, prosperity, happiness, etc.

Thus, it is urgent to understand the need to learn how to live wisely...

If we want a definitive change in the circumstances of life, it is necessary for that change to take place first within ourselves. If internally we do not change anything, externally life will continue with its difficulties...

Above all, it is necessary to make ourselves masters of ourselves. As long as one does not know how to govern oneself, one will not be able to govern the difficult circumstances of existence either.

When we contemplate the various events of life, when we see this order of things, we can see that people are true machines that do not know how to live. If someone insults them, they react furiously. If someone greets them, they smile happily. It is really very easy for any perverse person to play with human machines; they can be made to go from sadness to happiness, and vice versa, just by saying a few words.

It is enough for someone to insult us for us to react. It is enough for someone to pat us on the shoulder for us to smile happily. We do not know how to govern ourselves, others govern us, and that is indeed unfortunate. We are incapable. How easy it is for them to play with us, right? ...

The Five Centers

It is necessary to understand what the mind is, and what sentiment and sentimentality are.

If we study the Being judiciously, we will see that the mind is not the Being.

In theosophy there is much talk about the "mental body", the various schools of thought cite it. By this we do not mean to say that all "humanoids" already possess the mental vehicle; they will have the “manas”, as it is said in Sanskrit, that is, mental substance deposited in each one of them, but that is not really possessing the vehicle of the mind.

In any case, the mind, whether the human being already possesses such a vehicle, or is beginning to create it, or does not yet have it, is nothing more than an instrument of manifestation, but it is not the Being...

Emotion is not the Being either. In the past I was inclined to believe that emotion, in itself, really corresponded to the Being; later, after severe analysis, I have seen the need to rectify such concept; obviously, emotions, feelings, in human beings come from the astral body.

It could be objected that “not everyone owns that beautiful Kedsjan vehicle,” and on that we do agree; but emotion does exist, the corresponding substance in each one of us; and from it (whether one has the sidereal vehicle or not), it becomes, of course, what is called "feelings".

In its negative aspect, sentimentality converts us, then, into beings that are too negative, but in itself, feeling is not the Being either; it may belong to the emotional center, but it is not the Being.

The mind has its center, the intellectual center, but it is not the Being. The center of the mind, the intellect, is in the brain, that is obvious, but it is not the Being.

Feelings, which corresponds to the emotional center or the emotional brain, are in the region of the solar plexus and encompasses the sympathetic nerve centers and the heart, but they are not the Being. “The Being is the Being, and the reason for the Being to be, is to be the Being itself”...

Why should we allow ourselves to be carried away by the centers of the machine? Why do we allow the intellectual center or the emotional center to control us? Why should we be slaves to this machinery? We must learn to control all the centers of the machine, we must become masters, lords of it...

There are five centers in the machine, that is obvious: the intellectual, which is the first; the emotional, which is the second; the motor, which is the third; the instinctual, which is the fourth, and the sexual the fifth. But the centers of the machine do not constitute the Being; they can put themselves at the service of the Being, but they are not the Being; thus, neither the mind nor emotion is the Being.

Why do human beings suffer? Why do they allow thought and feeling to intervene in the various circumstances of life? If they insult us, we immediately react by insulting. If they hurt our self-esteem we suffer, and we even get angry...

When we contemplate the whole panorama of life, we can clearly show that we have been, we could say, logs in the ocean, precisely because we have allowed the mind and feelings to interfere in the various circumstances of our existence.

We have not given the Essence, the Being, an opportunity to express itself through us. We have always wanted to solve things on our own. We react to any harsh little word, to any problem, to any difficulty. We feel hurt when someone hurts us, or happy when someone praises us. We have been victims of the whole world. The whole world has played with us. We have been, let's say, logs among the raging waves of the great ocean, we have not been masters of ourselves...

Why do we worry ourselves? I ask myself and I ask you. “It is because of problems”, you will tell me. To be worried, my dear brothers and sisters, is a very bad habit. It is of no use, it solves nothing. One has to learn to live from instant to instant, from moment to moment.

Why should one be worried?

So, first of all, don't allow your mind and feelings to interfere in the various circumstances of life. The human personality must become calm, passive. This implies, in fact, a tremendous activity of the consciousness. This means learning how to live with cognizance. This means to lay the foundations for awakening...

Everyone would like to see, hear, touch and feel the great realities of the superior worlds, but naturally, how could those who are asleep become experimenters of the great realities? How could those who have their consciousness asleep be researchers of life in the suprasensible regions of nature and of the cosmos?

If we awaken our consciousness, we could verify the concrete fact that the world is not as we are seeing it.

Many times I have said it, and today I repeat it again, that all those wonders that appear in the book of "The Thousand and One Nights", all those prodigious magical phenomena of ancient Arcadia, all those miracles of the primeval Earth (of those times in which "the rivers of pure water of life flowed with milk and honey"), have not ended, they continue to happen from instant to instant, from moment to moment, here and now...

Hypnosis and Our State of Consciousness

It could be objected that: “If that is so, why don't we see them? Why don't we witness the unusual? Why are we not given the chance to experience those wonders?” The answer is the following: nobody has forbidden us the ability to experiment, nobody prevents us from seeing and hearing what is happening around us; if such phenomena are not perceptible at this time to our external senses, it is due to a single reason - and by the way very serious: we are in a state of hypnosis, asleep. Thus, any subject in hypnotic trance becomes incapable of perceiving such phenomena...

Much has been said about the abominable Kundabuffer organ (a fatal organ that humanity had in ancient times)... It has not been completely lost. We well know that there is still a bone residue at the lower base of the dorsal spine (the cauda equina); no one ignores it. Such residue belongs to the abominable Kundabuffer organ, and possesses, among other things, a formidable hypnotic power; that general, collective hypnotic current is fascinating.

If we see someone, for example, extravagantly dressed in the streets, we are not surprised; we simply say: “what an eccentric fellow!” Another, who goes with us, will say, “tThis is the new fashion!” The one over there will exclaim: "Behold, a hippie!" and an old man who passes by the sidewalk in front, will limit himself to thinking: "how strange are the people of the new wave!" but these ones and the others are in a state of hypnosis and that's all...

Put any subject X into a deep hypnotic sleep; tell him then that he is in the middle of the ocean, that he has to undress himself otherwise he is going to drown, thus, you will see him getting undressed. Then, tell him that he is a great singer, and you will see him singing, although, in reality, he does not sing but scream. Tell him to lie down on the floor, and he will lie down, to stand on his head and he will stand up on his head, because he is in a state of hypnosis...

I recently made a little trip over to Puerto Vallarta. There is like in Acapulco a boat for the visitors. I had no problem buying the ticket that took us to a nearby beach. The journey was pleasant, delectable. Sailing in the Pacific is pleasant...

There was a certain gentleman there who was a hypnotist. When the instruments of the group resounded, he told the people to dance, and they danced; to hold hands, and they all held hands; to the bride and groom who kissed (they kissed); the only thing that such man, that improvised hypnotist, lacked was to tell them to stand on their heads, since everything he ordered was done.

It was humorous and admirable at the same time to see all the wonders that the hypnotist did; how he played with the passengers, how he made them laugh, how he made them jump, how he made them spin, etc...

Of course, I am a subject who is used to being in a state of alert perception, alert novelty; I limited myself, exclusively, to seeing those fools in a state of hypnosis.

Observe for yourselves the T.V. advertising: “Buy such and such remedy, infallible against cough!”... Each advertisement gives orders to the hypnotized people to go to such and such a place, to buy such and such soap, such and such perfume; so people visit this or that doctor's office, etc., and the people move under the orders of the hypnotists, who, in turn, are also hypnotized by other people and by other crowds; like the crowds themselves, everyone is in a state of hypnosis, a hypnotic trance...

But it is hard to know that one is in a state of hypnosis. If people set their minds to it, they could wake up from that pitiful state, but unfortunately no one sets them.

It is therefore very difficult, I repeat, to discover the state of hypnosis in which one finds oneself; one comes to realize that hypnotism exists, when the hypnotic force flows faster, when it is concentrated in a certain place, when a hypnotism session is done; outside of that, outside of such a moment, one does not realize that one is in a state of hypnosis.

If one could wake up from that dream in which one finds oneself, then one would see the wonderful phenomena that have happened around since the beginning of the world...

I know phenomena so simple that anyone can see them. They are physical, material, they are visible to the whole world, and yet people, seeing them, do not see them! You could tell me..., or ask yourselves, and with good reason (or you could demand me, to speak more clearly). "If that's the case, why doesn't you even mention one to us?" The reasons? One: because if I mentioned to you any of those phenomena (which are perceptible to the naked eye), you would see them immediately and you would die, because it turns out that all those phenomena that currently correspond to forces and wonders are jealously guarded by certain very strong elementals, which when discovered, would cause the death of the curious, and since I do not want to create a graveyard on my own, I find myself in the need to remain silent...

So, brothers and sisters, it is necessary to wake up, if you want to perceive the great realities of life; but it is only possible to wake up by knowing how to live.

How could someone wake up when he is a toy of others? If I were to insult you at this moment, I am sure that you would not tolerate me, you would protest violently, and the best of you would immediately withdraw...

See how easy it is to make you change! It is enough for me to say a harsh little word to you, and you will be already blushing and furious.  Now, if I want to flatter you, all I have to do is tell you sweet words, and you will be already happy; that is, you are victims of circumstances, you are not masters of yourselves, and that is unfortunate, right?

So, brothers and sisters, those of you who want to be masters of themselves must begin by not allowing the mind and feelings to intervene in your affairs of practical life.

Active Consciousness, Passive Personality

Of course, this requires, I repeat, as I have already said, a tremendous passivity of the personality and a terrific activity of the consciousness.

That is precisely what we need: activity of the consciousness. When the consciousness becomes active it comes out of its lethargy, and then it is obvious that the awakening comes...

First of all, we must start by not doing what others do. When I get to restaurants, and I go with all my people, at lunchtime I can see the fact that everyone goes to the bathroom to wash their hands. They can call me "pig," "dirty," but I don't go to wash my hands. When I am asked about the reason, about why, I answer "Simply because I don't like doing what others do, that is, I don't like being a machine"... So, if the others stand on their heads, do I have to stand on my head too? If the others walk on their four extremities, do I have to walk on all my four too? Why? No, brothers and sisters! We need to become individuals, and that is only possible by de-egoizing ourselves, and not allowing the mind and feelings to interfere in the different circumstances of existence.

When we start this work, when we learn to become tremendously passive, to give opportunity to the great activities of our consciousness, we see that everything changes.

I want to mention to you nothing more than a concrete fact: I was in a house, it doesn't matter which one. One of the "mama’s children" of that house, walking around, through those streets of the world, turned into nothing less than a “Don Giovanni” and did his thing, over there, with a young girl... Conclusion: her relatives intervene; well, of course, her relatives show up at that house, they look for the “mama's boy,” “a good naughty boy?” Of course, but in love... a partygoer and drinker? who knows? I only know that he was a true “Don Giovanni” ... The young girl's father comes, naturally, with the intention of "shooting" the little gentleman; nobody dares to go out; only I, who am there, make an appearance; as I have been given the opportunity to mediate, I take advantage of it... The furious head of the family calls the young man to come out of the house; I stop the young man and bring in the offended head of the family. With great sweetness and love, I invite the offended party and “Don Giovanni” to sit down, and of course, they both take a seat... Along with the boss comes a lady; I understand that she is the mother. There are terrible words, the only thing missing is to take out the pistol and shoot it; however, I tell the man with good manners: “everything can be fixed; through understanding everything can be solved; killing does not solve any problem…” That man felt, therefore, surprised; he did not think that in that mansion there would be someone so serene and so calm... There were conversations, friendly exchanges between the boss and “Don Giovanni”; everything is fixed and the offended party leaves, taking his pistol with the five bullets, he did not fire any of the many that he wanted to fire... And everything was fixed; why? Because I put a state of superior consciousness to that event, by serving as a mediator; but if I had advised those people, to proceed with violence; if I myself, "presenting myself" as a very good friend, had responded with harsh words, the circumstances would have been different and “Don Giovanni” would have ended up in the graveyard, and these two families would have been filled with mourning and pain...

So, the circumstances of life depend on our states of consciousness; changing one's states of consciousness, circumstances change, that's obvious.

We cannot change the circumstances of life if we do not first change our states of consciousness...

I therefore invite you to deeper reflection. As we allow the consciousness to become active, as we control the mind and feeling, so that they don't stick their noses where they shouldn't, the result will be wonderful, because as the consciousness becomes active, the process of awakening is accentuated.

And not only do all the circumstances that surround us change, but also, we begin to notice that during the hours in which the physical body sleeps, we work (live, we would say), outside the physical body in a more cognizant manner.

And so, as the personality becomes passive, as the mind and feeling are restrained so that they don't go where they shouldn't, the awakening of our consciousness will become greater and greater; and thus, we will end up becoming great researchers of life in the superior worlds...

Who wants to wake up must do it here and now. Who wakes up here and now wakes up in all corners of the universe.

Questions and Answers

Well, my dear brothers and sisters, so far with this talk. We will give an opportunity for those who want to ask, to ask with the most complete freedom.

Student: Venerable master, you have just said that not everyone has the astral body. My question is going to consist of knowing (of course with your answer I think it will be well clarified), why the person who dreams (and I think that everyone dreams), is in his bed, asleep, and yet he dreams that he is in another place instead, what happened there, a projection of the astral body or a projection of the consciousness, or a projection of thought?

Samael Aun Weor: With great pleasure we are going to give an answer to our brother. Certainly, the astral body or kedsjan body is a luxury that not all human beings can afford. Nobody is born with an astral body, except those who in previous lives created it.

When one has had the luxury of creating that body, one can work and live with such a vehicle in the superior worlds in a natural way; as natural, as we live in a physical body. But since everyone has not yet created that wonderful instrument of existence, it is clear, that what acts outside the physical body is the ego, either because it has escaped through death, or during the hours of sleep.

It means that the essence, the psychic material, let's say, the directing factor of all the psychological processes that we carry within, is bottled up within the ego, within the “I,” the myself, the ego, and when the hour of normal, common and current sleep happens, then, the ego, the psychological “I” (within which the essence is bottled up), leaves the physical body, so that the vital vehicle can repair the physical body; because if the vital vehicle does not repair the physical body, the physical body dies.

And for the vital vehicle to be able to repair the physical body, it is necessary for the ego (in which the essence is enclosed) to leave the physical body. Then the ego travels through the different places of the world, and of course, since it has its consciousness asleep, it dreams, and the dreams are transmitted through the silver cord, and then they reach the physical brain. But it is the ego who, let us say, comes out of the dense form; that's it.

Are there any other questions, brothers, and sisters? You can ask your question.

Student: We had talked about the false astral body or body of desires. Can we identify the body of desires (seat of emotions) with the ego?

Samael Aun Weor: Certainly, the body of desires is nothing more than the ego itself; it is not a body in itself... ...it is a series of forms or aggregates that interpenetrate each other without becoming confused. That such “I,” such ego, is called by someone “body of desires”, well, call it whatever; but it cannot be called a body in itself, but if they want to call it that way, well, let it be called that way; however, it would not be correct, since the ego does not have any individuality, it is not an organism; it is just a sum of aggregates.

If that is done in a conventional manner, we say: “so-and-so came out in the astral body.” But what do we know if that guy doesn't have the astral body yet? What came out was in the ego (within which is the essence, the consciousness); he was awake for a while and was able to live outside the physical body, he was able to move, travel to different places. What happens is that the ego acts as the astral body. But it is far from having the perfection of the astral body. The ego is the ego and that is all.

Student: However, you say that some informed people (although not of the Gnostic wisdom, specifically of the arcanum AZF, who cannot manufacture solar vehicles), but who do cultivate some discipline of a mystical or esoteric nature, can they through prayer, of good thoughts, in the ego, having contact with divine entities? Is it possible for someone to be awake even though they are bottled up in the ego?

Samael Aun Weor: Well, certainly, it is possible for someone to be awake for an instant even if they are bottled up within the ego. If the consciousness manages to awaken, it is obviously because the ego has lost volume; and when the awakening is radical, total, absolute, the ego no longer exists, it has disappeared.

So, as the ego is being reduced to ashes, the consciousness is awakened.

That awakening is never immediate, it ascends gradually.

Normally, anyone can have 1% waking consciousness, or have none at all; another may have a 2 and another a 3%. If humanity had 10% awake consciousness, there would be no more wars. Having a hundred percent is something very difficult, only the Kumaras could have that hundred percent; the great Prajapatis, the great Elohim.

Masters as exalted, as great as Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (who studied at the feet of the venerable great master K-H. in Shangri-La), however, it cannot be said that she has a hundred percent of awaken consciousness; she might have 50% but not one hundred percent.

Ouspensky and Gurdjieff, only they achieved a certain percentage of awaken consciousness; but to say that they reached one hundred percent is difficult. If Gurdjieff was 60 or 70, it was enough, but one hundred percent only have masters like KH., like Morya, like Jesus of Nazareth, like Hilarion (who was called "Paul of Tarsus"), an immortal master who retains a perfect physical body... ...but the masters who have not reached this point yet, who have not yet been able to enter, let us say, the most select part of divine humanity, who have not reached the resurrection, still do not enjoy of that absolute percentage of 100%.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, we must reflect deeply. Someone could start by improving their awareness percentage, to have 5 or 10%. In any case, as the ego dissolves, the percentage of consciousness will increase; and as the percentage of consciousness increases, the capacity to investigate in the superior worlds becomes more and more intense.

They can also achieve through deep inner meditation that the essence, the psychic material, is unbottled even momentarily from within the ego, in order to experience that which is real, that which is not of time.

I have said that... ...when the essence or the buddhata acts in the absence of the I, the myself, the self, it merges entirely, even momentarily, with the human soul in the causal world, and then it acts, let's say, something like in buddhic form. She can feel in herself, experience in herself, an "element" that radically transforms. That is why Zen meditation, for example, and Chan are so formidable: because they allow the essence to become briefly unbottled.  

If someone has ever experienced the illuminating void in oneself, that one is different from other people; whoever has ever felt that “element” that undoubtedly transforms that individual for one's benefit has gone through a great experience, that reinforces one in the  most intimate depths, that gives one encouragement for self-realization; which incites one to a tremendous activity against the myself, the ego.

Because one thing is to have once experienced the illuminating void in the absence of the psychological ego, and another thing is to have realized the illuminating void within.

Some speak of the Tao. But one thing is, let us say, to have visited the Tao in the absence of the ego, and another thing is to realize the Tao in oneself, here and now.

We need, brothers and sisters, we need to realize the Tao. We need, we could say, to realize in ourselves, or self-realize in ourselves the illuminating void. And that is only possible, my dear brothers and sisters, by working intensely, knowing how to live in practical life; not allowing the mind and feelings to intervene in the various circumstances of life, always giving the consciousness the opportunity to be the one to act and not our ego.

When we proceed in this way, we will in fact place ourselves on the path that will lead us effectively to the awakening.

We need to be different from the crowds around us... ...not do what everyone else does; we need to become true individuals.

Today we are nothing but machines: touch a button on a machine and it turns a wheel, touch another button and it stops moving; one lever is moved and it goes forward, another is moved and it goes back. This is how we are: they push us and we do it, they tell us and we say it, they hurt us and we hurt back. Everyone can play with us as they please. We are victims of the whole world. It is the harsh reality of the facts. So we end here, my dear brothers and sisters...

Inverential Peace.