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Chapter 24: The Psychological SongThe moment has arrived to reflect very seriously on what is called inner consideration. There is not the least doubt about the disastrous side of intimate self-consideration. Besides hypnotizing the consciousness, it causes us to lose a great deal of energy. If one did not make the mistake of identifying so much with oneself, inner self-consideration would be more than Impossible. |
When one identifies with oneself, one loves oneself very much, feels pity for oneself, self considers, thinks that one has always behaved very well with everybody, with the wife, the children, etc., and feels that nobody has appreciated it. In short, one is a saint and all the others are evil, are rogues.
One of the most common forms of intimate self consideration is our preoccupation with what others may think about us. Perhaps, they suppose that we are not honorable, sincere, truthful, brave, etc.
The most curious thing about this is that we lamentably ignore the enormous loss of energy which such preoccupations cause us.
Many hostile attitudes towards certain people who have done us no harm are due precisely to such preoccupations born of intimate self-consideration.
In these circumstances, loving oneself so much, considering oneself in this way, it is clear that the “I” or better said, “I’s”, instead of being eliminated, are thus greatly strengthened.
Identified with oneself, one feels pity for one’s own situation, and even keeps accounts.
Thus, one thinks that this or that person, one’s acquaintance, or good friend, one’s neighbor, or one’s boss, etc., etc., etc., has not repaid one as they ought, in spite of one’s repeated generosity. Trapped in all this, one becomes un bearable and tedious for everybody.
It is practically impossible to talk to such a person, because any conversation is certain to finish up in his accounting book, and be added to his much lauded sufferings.
It is written that in the Gnostic esoteric work that spiritual growth is only possible through the forgiveness of others.
If someone lives from instant to instant, from moment to moment, suffering for what he is owed, for what others have done to him, for the bitterness others have caused him, always with the same song, nothing will be able to grow within him.
The Lord’s Prayer says: “…and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6: 12)
The feeling that one is owed, or the pain we feel for the wrongs others have done to us stops all internal progress of the soul.
Jesus, the Great Kabir said: “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last
penny.” (Matthew 5:25-26)
If we are owed, we owe. If we demand that we be paid to the last denarius, we first have to pay to the last farthing.
This is the Law of Talion: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”—an absurd, vicious circle.
The apologies, total compliance, and humility that we demand of others for the wrongs they have done to us, are also demanded of us, though we may consider ourselves to be as gentle as a lamb.
To place oneself under unnecessary laws is absurd; it is better to place oneself under new influences.
The Law of Mercy is a more elevated influence than the law of the violent man: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
It is urgent, pressing, unpostponable, to place ourselves intelligently under the marvelous influences of the gnostic esoteric work, to forget that people owe us, to eliminate from our psyche any kind of self-consideration.
We must never allow within ourselves feelings of revenge, resentment, negative emotions or anxieties due to wrongs inflicted on us, violence, envy, or the incessant
remembrance of debts, etc.
Gnosis is intended for those sincere aspirants who really want to work and to change.
If we observe people, we can see directly that each person has his own song.
Each one sings his own psychological song. I want emphatically to refer to this matter of psychological accounts, to the feeling that we are owed, to our complaining, and to our self-consideration, etc.
Sometimes people sing their song, just for the sake of it, without being given any starting note, without pause for breath, and on other occasions, after a few glasses of wine.
We say that our boring song must be eliminated; it incapacitates us internally, robs us of a lot of energy.
In matters of revolutionary psychology, someone who sings too well—we are not referring to a beautiful voice, nor to physical singing—cannot go beyond himself. He remains in the past.
A person impeded by sad songs cannot change his Level of Being, cannot go beyond what he is.
To pass to a superior level of being, it is necessary to cease being what we are. We need to not be that which we are.
If we continue being what we are, we will never be able to pass to a superior level of being.
In the field of practical life, unusual things happen. Very often, one person starts a friendship with another just because it is easy to sing their song to that person.
Unfortunately, such relationships end when the singer is asked to be quiet, to change the record, or to talk about something else, etc.
Then the resentful singer leaves in search of a new friend, someone who would be willing to listen to him indefinitely.
The singer demands comprehension, someone who comprehends him—as if it were so easy to comprehend another person.
In order to comprehend another person, it is essential to comprehend oneself. Unfortunately, the good singer believes that he comprehends himself.
Many are the disappointed singers who sing the song of not being understood and dream of a marvelous world where they are the central figures.
Not all singers, however, are public singers; there are also those who are reserved. They do not sing their song directly, but secretly, they sing it.
They are people who have worked hard, who have suffered a great deal, who feel cheated. They think that life owes them all that they were never capable of achieving.
Commonly, they feel an inner sadness, a sense of monotony and frightening boredom, an inner exhaustion or frustration around which thoughts accumulate.
Unquestionably, the secret songs bar our entry into the path of the intimate self-realization of the Being.
Unfortunately, such inner secret songs go by unnoticed within us unless we intentionally observe them.
Obviously, all self-observation allows light to penetrate within us, into our inner depths.
No interior change could occur in our psyche without the light of self-observation being carried within.
It is indispensable to observe ourselves when alone, just as when we are associating with people.
When one is alone, very different “I’s”, very distinct thoughts, negative emotions, appear.
One is not always in good company when alone. It is completely normal, very natural to be in very bad company when completely alone. The most negative and dangerous “I’s”, appear when one is alone.
If we want to transform ourselves radically, we need to sacrifice our own sufferings. We often express our sufferings in articulated or unarticulated songs.
One of the most common forms of intimate self consideration is our preoccupation with what others may think about us. Perhaps, they suppose that we are not honorable, sincere, truthful, brave, etc.
The most curious thing about this is that we lamentably ignore the enormous loss of energy which such preoccupations cause us.
Many hostile attitudes towards certain people who have done us no harm are due precisely to such preoccupations born of intimate self-consideration.
In these circumstances, loving oneself so much, considering oneself in this way, it is clear that the “I” or better said, “I’s”, instead of being eliminated, are thus greatly strengthened.
Identified with oneself, one feels pity for one’s own situation, and even keeps accounts.
Thus, one thinks that this or that person, one’s acquaintance, or good friend, one’s neighbor, or one’s boss, etc., etc., etc., has not repaid one as they ought, in spite of one’s repeated generosity. Trapped in all this, one becomes un bearable and tedious for everybody.
It is practically impossible to talk to such a person, because any conversation is certain to finish up in his accounting book, and be added to his much lauded sufferings.
It is written that in the Gnostic esoteric work that spiritual growth is only possible through the forgiveness of others.
If someone lives from instant to instant, from moment to moment, suffering for what he is owed, for what others have done to him, for the bitterness others have caused him, always with the same song, nothing will be able to grow within him.
The Lord’s Prayer says: “…and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6: 12)
The feeling that one is owed, or the pain we feel for the wrongs others have done to us stops all internal progress of the soul.
Jesus, the Great Kabir said: “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last
penny.” (Matthew 5:25-26)
If we are owed, we owe. If we demand that we be paid to the last denarius, we first have to pay to the last farthing.
This is the Law of Talion: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”—an absurd, vicious circle.
The apologies, total compliance, and humility that we demand of others for the wrongs they have done to us, are also demanded of us, though we may consider ourselves to be as gentle as a lamb.
To place oneself under unnecessary laws is absurd; it is better to place oneself under new influences.
The Law of Mercy is a more elevated influence than the law of the violent man: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
It is urgent, pressing, unpostponable, to place ourselves intelligently under the marvelous influences of the gnostic esoteric work, to forget that people owe us, to eliminate from our psyche any kind of self-consideration.
We must never allow within ourselves feelings of revenge, resentment, negative emotions or anxieties due to wrongs inflicted on us, violence, envy, or the incessant
remembrance of debts, etc.
Gnosis is intended for those sincere aspirants who really want to work and to change.
If we observe people, we can see directly that each person has his own song.
Each one sings his own psychological song. I want emphatically to refer to this matter of psychological accounts, to the feeling that we are owed, to our complaining, and to our self-consideration, etc.
Sometimes people sing their song, just for the sake of it, without being given any starting note, without pause for breath, and on other occasions, after a few glasses of wine.
We say that our boring song must be eliminated; it incapacitates us internally, robs us of a lot of energy.
In matters of revolutionary psychology, someone who sings too well—we are not referring to a beautiful voice, nor to physical singing—cannot go beyond himself. He remains in the past.
A person impeded by sad songs cannot change his Level of Being, cannot go beyond what he is.
To pass to a superior level of being, it is necessary to cease being what we are. We need to not be that which we are.
If we continue being what we are, we will never be able to pass to a superior level of being.
In the field of practical life, unusual things happen. Very often, one person starts a friendship with another just because it is easy to sing their song to that person.
Unfortunately, such relationships end when the singer is asked to be quiet, to change the record, or to talk about something else, etc.
Then the resentful singer leaves in search of a new friend, someone who would be willing to listen to him indefinitely.
The singer demands comprehension, someone who comprehends him—as if it were so easy to comprehend another person.
In order to comprehend another person, it is essential to comprehend oneself. Unfortunately, the good singer believes that he comprehends himself.
Many are the disappointed singers who sing the song of not being understood and dream of a marvelous world where they are the central figures.
Not all singers, however, are public singers; there are also those who are reserved. They do not sing their song directly, but secretly, they sing it.
They are people who have worked hard, who have suffered a great deal, who feel cheated. They think that life owes them all that they were never capable of achieving.
Commonly, they feel an inner sadness, a sense of monotony and frightening boredom, an inner exhaustion or frustration around which thoughts accumulate.
Unquestionably, the secret songs bar our entry into the path of the intimate self-realization of the Being.
Unfortunately, such inner secret songs go by unnoticed within us unless we intentionally observe them.
Obviously, all self-observation allows light to penetrate within us, into our inner depths.
No interior change could occur in our psyche without the light of self-observation being carried within.
It is indispensable to observe ourselves when alone, just as when we are associating with people.
When one is alone, very different “I’s”, very distinct thoughts, negative emotions, appear.
One is not always in good company when alone. It is completely normal, very natural to be in very bad company when completely alone. The most negative and dangerous “I’s”, appear when one is alone.
If we want to transform ourselves radically, we need to sacrifice our own sufferings. We often express our sufferings in articulated or unarticulated songs.
