Internal self-observation is a practical means to achieve a radical transformation.
To know and to observe are different.
Many confuse the observation of oneself with knowing. For example, even though we know that we are seated in a living room, this, however, does not signify that we are observing the chair.
We know that at a given moment we are in a negative state, perhaps with a problem, worried about this or that matter, or in a state of distress or uncertainty, etc. This, however, does not mean that we are observing the negative state.
Do you feel antipathy towards someone? Do you dislike a certain person? Why? You may say that you know that person… Please observe that person; to know is not the same as to observe! Do not confuse knowing with observing…
The observation of oneself, which is one hundred percent active, is a way to change oneself. However, knowing, which is passive, is not a way to change oneself.
Indeed, knowing is not an act of attention. Yet, the attention directed into oneself, towards what is happening in our interior, is something positive, active…
For instance, we may feel antipathy towards a person, just because we feel like it, and many times for no particular reason. If we observe ourselves in such a moment we will notice the multitude of thoughts that accumulate in our mind.
We will also notice the group of voices that speak and scream in a disorderly manner and that say many things within our mind, as well as the unpleasant emotions that surge in our interior and the unpleasant taste that all this leaves in our psyche, etc.
Obviously, in such a state we also realize that internally we are badly mistreating the person for whom we feel antipathy towards.
But, unquestionably, in order to see all of this, we need attention intentionally directed towards the interior of our own selves. This is not a passive attention.
Indeed, dynamic attention proceeds from the side of the observer, while thoughts and emotions belong to the side, which is observed.
All of this causes us to comprehend that knowing is something completely passive and mechanical, in evident contrast with the observation of the self which is a conscious act.
Nevertheless, we are not affirming that mechanical self- observation does not exist; it does, but such a kind of observation has nothing to do with the psychological self- observation to which we are referring.
To think and to observe are also very different. Any person can give himself the luxury of thinking about himself all he wants; yet, this does not signify that he is truly observing himself.
We need to see the different “I’s” in action, to discover them in our psyche, to comprehend that a percentage of our own consciousness exists within each one of them, to repent of having created them, etc.
Then we shall exclaim: “But what is this “I” doing?” “‘What is it saying?” “What does it want?” “Why does it torment me with its lust, with its anger?” etc.
Then we will see within ourselves the entire train of thoughts, emotions, desires, passions, private comedies, personal dramas, elaborated lies, discourses, excuses, morbidities, beds of pleasure, scenes of lasciviousness, etc.
Many times before falling asleep, at the precise instant of transition between vigil and sleep, we feel within our own mind different voices that talk to each other. Those are the different “I’s” that must in such moments break all connection with the different centers of our organic machine, so as to then submerge themselves in the molecular world within the Fifth Dimension.
Samael Aun Weor
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