Chicago Gnosis Podcast

Gnostic Meditation 05 Spiritual Insight

"For the wise, to imagine is to see." ―Samael Aun Weor

"The key to success in worship lies in meditative reflection (fikrat)…whoever persists in such reflection in the heart will behold the invisible realm in the spirit.  Whoever contemplates God through keeping watch over the thoughts which pass through his heart will be exalted by God in all of his outward deeds." ―Dhu'l-Nun al-Misri

Upon attaining serenity of mind, the practitioner of meditation must develop and rely on developing the penetrating power of insight, known in some circles by the term clairvoyance (clear vision) and vipassana (special insight). The Gnostic tradition denominates this faculty as imagination, the ability to visualize and imagine conscious imagery in order to directly perceive the object of meditation and arrive at spiritual understanding. This lecture explores the Sufi writings of Al-Qushayri and the five types of clairvoyance (or imagination) within Gnostic psychology.

Gnostic Meditation 04 Calm Abiding: The Stages of Serenity

When you lack the elements of serenity,
Even if you meditate assiduously,
You will not achieve concentration
Even in thousands of years.
—Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment

Tibetan Buddhism has outlined nine fundamental stages for arriving at a calm, balanced, and serene mind, known in Sanskrit as Shamatha or Calm Abiding, a state of concentration marked by its perfect equanimity and effortlessness to maintain.  This lecture explains the path of these nine stages of concentration, from a wild and chaotic mind to one that is perfectly under one's control, in accordance with the writings of Tsong Khapa, the Dalai Lama, and other scriptural writings.

Gnostic Meditation 03 Pranayama and Sexual Transmutation

The true nature of the mind is equanimity, a profound state of silence that is actualized through our use of energy: psychological, emotional, and sexual. Prana is the basis of physical and spiritual life, synthesized and highly condensed within the sexual creative energy. It is the power that grants the sincere meditation practitioner the capacity to silence the mind and to develop strong concentration, so as to lay the foundation for genuine meditation. This lecture discusses Swami Sivananda's classic text Kundalini Yoga, the nature of energy in relation to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life and the mystical writings of the Sufis, how to work with pranayama and control of the breath, the sexual basis of prana or energy, and its necessity for entering the initial stages of true serenity and meditation.

Gnostic Meditation 02 Ethics, Karma, and Interdependence

"Let’s ask God to help us to self-control: for one who lacks it, lacks His Grace. The undisciplined person doesn’t wrong himself alone–but sets fire to the whole world. Discipline enabled Heaven to be filled with light; discipline enabled the angels to be immaculate and holy." ―Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi

A continuation of the study of ethical discipline, this lecture elaborates on the interdependent nature of all things: how mind, sentiment, and action, in all levels of nature, produce either happiness or sorrow.  Our actions, both invisible and visible, have consequences, and it is by learning how to be ethical that we in turn place the appropriate causes in motion that will affect our spirituality, and therefore cause it to flourish. A profound study of Buddhism, Sufism, and Hinduism, this lecture explores the writings of Swami Sivananda, Samael Aun Weor, the Bhagavad-Gita, and The Risalah: Principles of Sufism by Al-Qushayri.

Gnostic Meditation 01 Esoteric Discipline of Mind

Genuine meditation begins with the foundation of discipline and ethical principles: kindness, patience, mercy, compassion, and the restraint of the mind's tendencies towards negative behaviors.  Through cultivating rich spiritual values, we in turn develop peace, harmony and equanimity. By reflecting upon the causes of our suffering, we can change it.  This in turn produces the ability to investigate and gather internal information for ourselves through silence and contemplation.  This lecture outlines the eightfold path of Yoga as taught by Patanjali as well as psychological teachings from the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita, and The Odyssey of Homer.

The Sufi Path of Self-Knowledge 08 Spiritual Perception

"Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition are the three obligatory paths for the initiation. We reach these ineffable heights by means of concentration, meditation and samadhi. Whosoever has reached these ineffable heights of intuition has converted himself into a master of samadhi." ―Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose

Despite their elusive character, mystical experiences possess three distinct, eternal principles: Imagination (perception of non-physical imagery), Inspiration (joyful recognition of divine symbolism), and Intuition (comprehension of their hidden meaning). Through cultivating an ethical lifestyle, meditators can awaken to their true nature and access profound spiritual knowledge. Discover how through the teachings of the Sufis, the Buddha, and Samael Aun Weor.

The Sufi Path of Self-Knowledge 07 Knowledge and Truth

"In general, it is to the measure of one’s alienation from one’s own ego that one attains direct knowledge of one’s Lord… I heard Abu Ali al-Daqqaq say, 'One of the tokens of the gnosis of God is the achievement of deep awe and reverence for God.  If someone’s realization increases, his awe increases.'  And I heard him say, 'Gnosis requires stillness of heart, just as learning requires outward quiet.  If someone’s gnosis increases, his tranquility increases.'" ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism

The highest spiritual realizations cited throughout the world's major religions are accessible to advanced practitioners well established within the most profound esoteric disciplines. Those who were prepared to work with the most expedient method for spiritual awakening were delivered the key from mouth to ear: the science of sexual knowledge, known in Arabic as marifah, alchemy or Allah-kimia: "to fuse with God," otherwise referred to as gnosis in Greek and Da'ath in Kabbalah. 

Building off the prior stages of ethical conduct and conscious love taught in this course, this lecture elaborates on the secret path and methods for knowing the most elevated, divine realities, especially as demonstrated by the exemplary life of Prophet Muhammad. Learn also the Arabic Kabbalah and Tree of Life, the three stages of religious practice and knowledge, the Sufi writings on witnessing the divine, the science of certainty within the Holy Qur'an, and the esoteric significance of Al-Miraj: the Ascension or Night Journey of the Prophet.

The Sufi Path of Self-Knowledge 06 Divine Love

From the heart of the lovers, blood 
flows like a vast river. Our body is
the windmill, and love, the water.
Without water the mill cannot turn.
―Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, Hidden Music

Ali ibn Ubayd said, “Yahya ibn Muadh wrote to Abu Yazid, ‘I am intoxicated with how much I have drunk from the cup of love.’  Abu Yazid wrote back to him, ‘Someone else has drunk the oceans of the heavens and the earth and his thirst is not yet quenched.  His tongue is hanging out and he is asking, 'Is there any more?’" ―Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism, Al-Qushayri

The blossoming of spirituality and the development of the consciousness is founded upon divine eroticism and the creative sexual energy: the most potent force available in the universe. This lecture elaborates upon the spiritual, symbolic, and erotic language of the Sufis, or how the soul achieves unification with the divine through the union of husband and wife.  Learn also about the secret meaning of the Wedding of Cana, Jesus' instructions to Nicodemus regarding the second / spiritual birth, and the teachings of Bacchus / Dionysus through Mozart's Opera: The Abduction from the Seraglio.

The Sufi Path of Self-Knowledge 05 Spiritual Discipline

"Iradah, the will to find God, is the beginning of the path of spiritual travelers, the first title given to those who are determined to reach God Most High. This attribute is only called iradah because will is the preface to every undertaking. When the servant does not will, he does not carry out."  ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism

"Know that the foundation and rationale of struggle or striving (mujahadah) is to wean the ego from what is familiar to it and to induce it to oppose its desires (passions) at all times." ―Al-Qushayri, Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism

In order to arrive at genuine spiritual attainment and knowledge of divinity, the sincere practitioner of any religion must engage in and maintain an esoteric discipline (riyadah). This is accomplished through the development and application of conscious, unconditioned will. Through submission and obedience to divine ordinances and by striving against the lower passions, conditioned elements, and egotistical drives of the mind, one thereby, based on the law of cause and effect, learns authentic spiritual and psychological conduct, the basis of true spiritual life.

The Sufi Path of Self-Knowledge 04 Consciousness

“Al-Wasiti was asked about the practice of remembrance and said, ‘It is leaving the enclosed court of unconsciousness for the vast space of contemplation through the power of fearing Him and the intensity of loving Him.'” ―Al-Risalah: Principles of Sufism

Learn about the nature of soul or consciousness: the capacity to perceive thought, feeling, will, impulse, sensation, spirit, and beyond. This lecture discusses the three types of soul mentioned in the Qur'an, as well as the practice of self-observation and remembrance of the divine, the objective and subjective states of perception in accordance with Sufi and Gnostic psychology, the four fundamental states of consciousness taught by Plato's famous Allegory of the Cave in The Republic, the Greek myth of Perseus and Medusa, the Hebraic Kabbalah / Tree of Life and its varying modalities of energy, and more.