Chicago Gnosis Podcast

Sufi Principles of Meditation 02 Essential Principles

The state of meditation is experienced when spiritual principles and divine laws are fulfilled. Similarly, meditation can only be understood through the harmonious balance of daily study and practice. See how through a profound exploration of the Qur'an and the three forms of certainty, the steps for acquiring genuine, experiential wisdom, and the means to recognize such states within one's life.

Sufi Principles of Meditation 01 Practical Foundations

The science of meditation​​ is based upon observable facts: what we can verify through repeatable experimentation and practice. Discover the foundations for how to study, approach, and experience the state of meditation. This lecture explains the three levels of meditative instruction within Sufi schools, the path of ethics, as well as the psychological qualities of genuine realization and spiritual conduct from the prophetic tradition.

Beginning Self-Transformation 14 Transform Your Life

Everything in life is in a state of transformation. Just as the human body provides life through digestion and breathing, the consciousness needs to transform different impressions, experiences, and psychological reactions to develop intelligence. The Essence derives spiritual nourishment through comprehending the causes of affliction, which is only achieved through revolutionizing our perception in the present moment.

Beginning Self-Transformation 13 The Divine Mother

All great religions and mystical traditions symbolize the divine feminine throughout innumerable myths, narratives, and symbols. Regardless of the name, culture, or language, She is the divine force of universal compassion with one express and unique purpose: the liberation of Her child (the consciousness) from suffering. Discover how to practically work with your Divine Mother to achieve genuine freedom from the ego.

Beginning Self-Transformation 12 How to Conquer Heaven

Heaven is not only a higher dimension, but a psychological state of being. According to every great religion and meditative tradition, liberation is achieved only through actions and the inner rebellion of the soul. Discover the three factors for awakening consciousness, a spiritual revolution against suffering and the animal ego.

Beginning Self-Transformation 11 Karma

All of nature is governed by karma: the law of cosmic causality. The same with the development of the soul. To achieve self-transformation and awaken our complete conscious potential, we must enact the causes for its realization. Learn how through the five principles of karma within the Buddhist and Gnostic traditions.

Beginning Self-Transformation 10 The Spiritual Power of Sound

Sound, vibration, and music are sacred vehicles for the transmission of divine energy, which meditators effectively utilize to experience serenity and awaken consciousness. Through a variety of exercises, including runes, pranayama, and mantras (sacred sounds), we accumulate spiritual force to enliven different energy centers (chakras) of the vital body, thereby accelerating and catalyzing profound inner transformation.

Beginning Self-Transformation 09 The Energy of Awakening

Every action in life requires energy and application of will, down to the smallest molecules, atoms, and particles, to the most complex sentient organisms. Practical meditators learn to harness different modalities of energy within their body, heart, and mind, so as to empower the development of their full conscious potential. When energy is directed by intuitive action, we awaken virtue and achieve liberation from suffering.

Beginning Self-Transformation 08 Imagination and Fantasy

Understanding reality through clear perception is a fundamental power of the practical meditator. However, this faculty, known as imagination or clairvoyance in spiritual circles, can either be liberated, free, and pure, or conditioned by egotism, negativities, and desires. Discover the nature of spiritual vision in its multifarious forms and its essential role in the path of self-transformation.

Beginning Self-Transformation 07 States of Consciousness

Consciousness is the capacity to perceive, yet perception can be conditioned or unconditioned, based upon its use or negligence. The psychological science of introspection seeks to liberate consciousness trapped within conditions in order to perceive reality in its direct and clear form.

Learn about four distinct states of consciousness as taught by Plato in the Allegory of the Cave (from his monumental philosophical text, The Republic). Such an allegory, usually interpreted as a symbol of acquiring philosophical knowledge and intellectual understanding of the truth, represents the path of the soul's liberation from the darkness of ignorance, superstition, theories, beliefs, and suffering, towards the heights of genuine spirituality, freedom and wisdom, symbolized by the sun or Solar Platonic Logos: the absolute divinity within every sentient being.