Attention and Self-observation

“If one wants to get rid of this or that undesirable psychological element, first of all, one has to learn to observe with the purpose of obtaining a change; because, certainly, if one does not learn to self-observe, any possibility of change becomes impossible” – Samael Aun Weor

OBSERVATION: DIRECTED ATTENTION

In his book Kundalini: The Sacred Fire of All Religions, Samael Aun Weor stated that first of all, we must begin by comprehending the need to know how to observe. We are, for example, sitting here, all of us, in these chairs; we know that we are sitting, but we have not observed these chairs.

In the first case, we have the knowledge that we are sitting on them, but observing them is already something else. In the first case, there is one, let’s say…, there is knowledge, but not observation. Observation requires a special concentration: Observe what they are made of, and then go into meditation, discover their atoms, their molecules… This already requires, let’s say, directed attention…

Knowing that one is sitting in a chair is undirected attention, passive attention; but looking at the chair would already be directed attention.

Likewise, we can think a lot about ourselves, but this does not mean that we are observing our thoughts; observing is different, it is different…

We live in a world of inferior emotions. Anything produces inferior emotions in us, and we know that we have them; but it is one thing to know that one is in a negative mood, and another thing to observe the negative mood one is in, which is something completely different…

Let’s see, for example, on a certain occasion, a gentleman told a psychologist, he said, “Well, I feel antipathy for a certain person, and he quoted his name and surnames.

The psychologist replied, “Observe that person.”

The interrogator answered again, he said, “But, how am I going to observe that person, when I know that person?”

The psychologist concluded that he did not want to observe, that he knew, but did not observe; knowing is one thing and observing is quite another thing: one can know that one has a negative thought, but that does not mean that one is observing it; one knows that one is in a negative mood, but one has not observed that negative mood…

In practical life, we see that within us there are many things that should cause us shame: ridiculous comedies, inner questions, protests, morbid thoughts, etc.; but knowing that you have them is not having observed them.

Someone can say: “yes, right now I have a morbid thought”; but it is one thing to know that you have it and another thing is to observe it, which is totally different.

So, if one wants to get rid of this or that undesirable psychological element, first of all, one has to learn to observe with the purpose of obtaining a change; because, certainly, if one does not learn to self-observe, any possibility of change becomes impossible…

When one learns to self-observe, the sense of self-observation develops in oneself. Normally this sense is atrophied in the human race, it is degenerated, but as we use it, it unfolds and develops.

As a first point of view, we come to evidence through self-observation that even the most insignificant thoughts, or the most ridiculous comedies that happen internally and that are never externalized, do not belong to our essence, they are created by others: by our “I’s.”

What is grave is to identify oneself with those comedies, with those ridiculous things, with those protests, with those angers, etc., etc. If one identifies with any inferior extreme of these, the “I” that produces them becomes stronger, and thus, any possibility of elimination becomes more and more difficult. So, observation is vital when it comes to bringing about a radical change in ourselves…

The different “I’s” that live inside our psyche are very cunning, very sagacious; many times they appeal to the “roll” of memories that we carry in the intellectual center…

Let us suppose that in the past one was fornicating with any other person of the opposite sex, and that one is insisting, or not, in eliminating lust; then the ego of lust will appeal, it will seize the center of memories of the intellectual center; that “I” will grab there, let’s say, the “roll” of memories, of scenes of lubricity and he will pass them off as the person’s fantasy, and he will become more invigorated, he will become stronger and stronger.

Because of all these things, you must see the need for self-observation. Therefore, a radical and truly definitive change would not be possible if we did not learn to observe ourselves…

Knowing is not observing; thinking is not observing either. Many believe that thinking of oneself is observing but it is not. One can be thinking of oneself, and yet one is not observing oneself; Thinking of oneself is as different from observing as thirst is from water, or as water from thirst!

THE OBSERVER AND THE OBSERVED

Weor stated obviously, one must not identify with any of the “I’s.” To observe oneself, one has to divide oneself into two, in two, in two halves: a part that observes and another part that is observed.

When the observing part sees the ridiculousness and nonsense of the observed part, there is possibility of a change…of discovering (suppose the “I” of anger)…that this “I” is not us , that he is he; we could exclaim: “that “I” has anger; I have no anger, but that “I” has it! Therefore it must die, I am going to work on it to disintegrate it”…

But if you identify with anger and say, “I am angry, I am furious!” Anger becomes stronger, more and more vigorous, and then how are you going to dissolve anger, in what way? You couldn’t, right?

So, you shouldn’t identify with that anger, or with his tantrum, or with his tragedy, because if one becomes identify with his creation, well, one ends up living in that creation as well; and that is absurd.

As one works on oneself, one goes deeper and deeper into the issues of self-observation, one goes deeper and deeper; In this, even the most insignificant thought must be observed; any desire, however temporary at it might be, any reaction, must be a reason for observation, because any desire, any reaction, any negative thought, comes from this or that I.

And if we want to create light, liberate the soul, are we going to allow those “I’s” to continue to exist? That would be absurd!

But, if what we want is light, if we are truly in love with light, we have to disintegrate the “I’s”, there is no other choice but to turn them into dust. And we could not turn to dust what we have not observed; then we need to know how to observe. 

INTERNAL CHATTER VS SILENCE OF THE MIND

In any case Weor stated, we also have to take care of internal chatter, because there are many negative, absurd inner dialogues; inner conversations that never are exteriorized; and naturally, we need to correct that inner chatter, to learn to keep silent: “to know how to speak when one should speak; and to know how to keep silent when one should keep silent.” This is the law, not only for the physical world or the exterior world, but also for the interior world.

These negative inner chats, later, come to externalize physically; That is why it is so important to eliminate inner negative chat, because it harms (you have to learn how to keep inner silence)…

Normally it is understood by “mental silence”, when one empties the mind of all kinds of thoughts, when one achieves stillness and silence of the mind through meditation, etc.

But there is another kind of silence: let us suppose that a case of critical judgment is presented before us, in relation to a fellow man, and nevertheless, mentally we remain silent, we do not judge, we do not condemn; we shut up both externally and internally; in this case, then, there is inner silence.

The facts of practical life, after all, must be kept in close correspondence with a perfect inner conduct. When the facts of practical life agree with a perfect inner conduct, it is a sign that we are already creating, in ourselves, the famous mental body.

If we put the different parts of a radio of those of a tape recorder, for example, on a table, but we don’t know anything about electronics, then we won’t be able to capture the different “soundless” vibrations that swarm in the cosmos either; but if by comprehension we put the different parts together, we will have the radio, we will have the device that can pick up sounds that we would not otherwise pick up.

Likewise, the different parts of these studies, of this work, complement each other, to come to form a wonderful body, the famous body of the mind. This body will allow us to better capture everything that exists within ourselves and will develop in us (more), the sense of intimate self-observation; and that is quite important.

Thus, the object of observation is to make a change within ourselves, to promote a true, effective change. 

THE STEPS TO ELIMINATE DEFECTS

Once we have become, shall we say, skillful in self-observation states Weor, then the process of elimination becomes possible. So, there are, properly speaking, three steps in this matter:

first, observation
second, critical judgment
and third, which is properly the elimination of this or that psychological “I”.

When observing an “I”, we must see how it behaves in the intellectual center, in what way, and know all its “games” with the mind; second, in what way is it expressed through feeling, in the heart; and the third, to discover his mode of action in the lower centers (motor, instinctive and sexual).

Obviously, in the sexual center, an “I” has one form of expression, in the heart it has another form, in the brain another. In the brain, an “I” manifests itself through the intellectual matters, namely, reasons, justifications, evasions, loopholes, etc., in the heart as a suffering, as affection, as a love apparently many times (when it is a question of lust), etc., etc.; and in the motor-instinctual-sexual centers, it has another form of expression (as action, as instinct, as lascivious impulse, etc., etc.).

For example, let’s cite a specific case: lust. An “I” of lust, before a person of the opposite sex, in the mind may manifest itself with constant thoughts; It could manifest itself in the heart as an affection, as an apparently pure love, clean of all stains, to such an extent that one could perfectly justify oneself and say: “but well, I do not feel lust for this person, what I am feeling is love”.

But if one is observant, if one is very careful with one’s own machine and observes the sexual center, one comes to discover that in the sexual center there is a certain activity before that person; then one comes to evidence that there is no such affection, or love, let’s say, there is no such love for that person, but lust is what there is. Behold how fine the crime is: lust can perfectly disguise itself, in the heart, with love, compose verses, etc., but it is disguised lust…

If one is careful and observes those three centers of the human machine, one can see that it is an “I”; and already discovering that it is an “I”, having known its “behavior” in the three centers (that is, in the intellectual, in the heart and sex), then one proceeds to the third phase.

What is the third phase? It is the execution! It is the final phase of the work: execution! Then one has to appeal to prayer at work. What is meant by “prayer at work”? Prayer at work must be done on the basis of intimate self-remembering.

-SOURCES-

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Header Image – Athena and Her Serpent taken from the Glorian.org