KNOW THYSELF
Observe, Meditate, Contemplate, Synthesize, Repeat
There is nothing more true or real than your own experience
Strive For Gnosis, Live With Love, Expand Your Perception, Strengthen Your Will
Know Thyself
“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” Socrates
“Man know thyself; then thou shalt know the Universe and God.” Pythagoras
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” Lao Tzu
I am that, I am. Which I is that?
To know thyself or in modern English yourself, you need to know the you (thy) and the self. I separate these into two separate things, most only know the you/I and not the self. The you or I is the ego, persona, personality and reactions you currently are having/being, there are many “You’s or I’s” that make up yourself. These are created by your past experiences that have cumulated into what you are presently encountering. Gurdjieff elaborates on the many “I’s” in a person, but it is a pretty simple observation. You have the professional/work I, the family I, the friends I, the meeting strangers I, the sexual I, and so on and so forth. These different I’s can and do change under a number of different circumstances, for instance if you are hungry, tired, angry, hangry, sober, under the influence, sick, happy, sad etc.
People will even say “I was not acting like myself”, after some sort of harsh reaction they take. You must observe yourself in all of these different states of being. Know what triggers you, whether it is positive or negative, and make a conscious decision to try to be one step ahead of your reaction. This is very hard and much practice is needed and will be discussed in more detail in the next section on observation. It is easy to read about it, it is another thing entirely to control and master it. Once you are hungry and tired and want to get home and someone cuts you off in rush hour traffic, your reaction will typically always be faster than your conscious thoughts about the reaction. When someone wrongs you, you may look back and say why did I react that way? It is because there are many I’s, some I’s you have little awareness or control of. Having different I’s is not a bad thing however being unaware of them can be. A goal should be, at least for me, is to merge the I with the self, creating unity and oneness, creating a true knowledge of ThySelf.
“His I changes as quickly as his thoughts, feelings and moods, and he makes a profound mistake in considering himself always one and the same person; in reality he is always a different person, not the one he was a moment ago.”- Gurdjieff
The self, the true/wider/higher/eternal self
There are many names for this but it is the part that remains constant(?) through the entirety of life and beyond. It can be hidden for most of our lives. Sometimes, usually rarely, we will get just small glimpses of it for a short time. It is beyond our time/space and our full comprehension as words are not able to fully to describe the glory of it. It is kind of like trying to explain the color red to a blind person who has never been able to see. The basic premise describes an omnipotent, eternal, conscious, and intelligent being, who is one’s real self. Some of the many names for this aspect are Atma, Holy Spirit, Eternal/Immortal self, Essence, God-Within etc. Some other descriptions from the interwebs are as follows:
“Non-physical, true self. The enlightened, “actual” persona of the individual as opposed to what the person seems to be or thinks they are.”
“The higher self is the god within, the source of all right motive, the fountain of intuition, and the voice of divine harmony seeking to control the individual’s life and to transform or transmute all the voices of personal desire.” Rakefet
“Atma the inseparable ray of the Universe and one self. It is the God above, more than within, us”-Blavasky
“This is the secret of spiritual life: to think that I am the Atman and not the body, and that the whole of this universe with all its relations, with all its good and all its evil, is but as a series of paintings...scenes on a canvas...of which I am the witness.” –Swami Vivekananda
“Three are the natures of Mind, carrier it of the Will of the Great One. Arbitrator of Cause and Effect in thy life. Thus is formed the threefold being, directed from above by the power of four. Above and beyond man’s threefold nature lies the realm of the Spiritual Self. Four is it in qualities, shining in each of the planes of existence, but thirteen in one, the mystical number.”
“Man, know thyself and you will know the universe and its Gods.” It is precisely by knowing who we are, and knowing our full capacity, that we can truly speak face to face with the divine, with God, with Brahma, Allah, Christ... whatever name we give to that truth. We must develop this introspection within ourselves if we want to seek to understand who we are as a soul, as a body and as a spirit, as a terrestrial vehicle, as an energetic quality, and as a divine being.” ChicagoGnosis
To truly Know Thyself, you must remember you are a layered being as mentioned in the consciousness chapter. Take time to study the different of methods of mapping of consciousness/mind such as: Freud’s: id, ego, superego/conscious, preconscious, and unconscious, Jung’s: ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious, Gurdjieff’s 4 states, Enneagrams, Thich Nhat Hanh’s Four layers of consciousness, 3+ Tan Tiens, The eight Consciousnesses of Buddhism, Eight Circuits of Consciousness, Octave theory, Tantric/Yoga system, Seven Planes of Consciousness, Seven Chakras, Kabbalah , and many more that should be studied.
If we are supposed to get to Know Thyself in our lives, then we must also know what we are not. Paraphrasing/Quoting from illuminatis pathageorus:
‘How can you know the self without the other? You must know what you are and what you aren’t. How can you exist if you don’t know what it means to exist? How can you know what it is to exist, unless you know what it means to not exist? How can non- existence, exist? How could you experience self without non-self?
Everything that is, is what it is, and isn’t what it isn’t .A thing is defined as much as by what it isn’t, as by what it is. To know yourself is to know what you are and know what you are not. Without knowing what you are not you cannot know what you are. What if you are the all? Then you must know what nothing is in order to reference it.
To Know Thyself, you must also know what you are not. The only way this is possible is for there to be things to compare and contrast yourself too. “
Is this the reason for the seeming duality and separateness? If we are god knowing and experiencing itself then has it created non-self? Is this possible? The seeming paradox of experience, existence, separation, duality and oneness.
“Day requires night and night requires day, so meaning requires absurdity and absurdity requires meaning.” CG Jung
If the true self is eternal then it is more of a journey of remembering the self or self-remembering. Self-remembering is one of Gurdiejj’s main philosophical teachings. Once we get to know or remember Thyself you must also strive to be thyself.
“Know thyself’ was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, ‘Be thyself’ shall be written.” –Oscar Wilde
“In order really to observe oneself one must first of all remember oneself.”- Gurdiejj
“Try to remember yourselves when you observe yourselves and later on tell me the results. Only those results will have any value that are accompanied by self remembering. Otherwise you yourselves do not exist in your observations. In which case what are all your observations worth?” - Gurdiejj
Observe
“I represented it to myself in the following way: When I observe something, my attention is directed towards what I observe — a line with one arrowhead:
I ⟶ the observed phenomenon.
When at the same time, I try to remember myself, my attention is directed both towards the object observed and towards myself. A second arrowhead appears on the line:
I ⟷ the observed phenomenon.
Having defined this I saw that the problem consisted in directing attention on oneself without weakening or obliterating the attention directed on something else. Moreover this “something else” could as well be within me as outside me.” -Ouspensky
“We have to remember that what we observe is not nature herself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” Werner Heisenberg
“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.” ―Jiddu Krishnamurti.
We see things but do we observe them? The dictionary definition of Observe is: ‘notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant.’ With vibratory information all around and within us, it is important to know what is significant and what is not. This is solely up to the individual to decide what is worthy of their attention and what isn't. When you practice observation you can begin to have/notice synchronicities: “All magical paradigms partake of some form of action at a distance, be it distance in space or time or both... In magic this is called synchronicity. A mental event, perception, or an act of will occurs at the same time (synchronously) as an event in the material world... Of course, this can always be excused as coincidence, but most magicians would be quite content with being able to arrange coincidences”~Wiki
These will be subjective with what they are and what their meaning is. There is much written on synchronicities and this should be further studied and noticed for anyone wanting to begin to better understand/practice observation.
“Millions of people never analyze themselves. Mentally they are mechanical products of the factory of their environment, preoccupied with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, working and sleeping, and going here and there to be entertained. They don’t know what or why they are seeking, nor why they never realize complete happiness and lasting satisfaction. By evading self-analysis, people go on being robots, conditioned by their environment. True self-analysis is the greatest art of progress.” ― Paramahansa Yogananda
Self-Respect-->Self-Awareness-->Self-Discipline-->Self-Observation-->Self-Discovery-->Self-Understanding-->Self-Knowledge-->Self-Love-->Self-Transformation-->Self-Remembering-->Self-Mastery (change the order to your liking)
What do you observe? There are many different forms of observation starting with the external things such as nature, your surroundings, your situational awareness, others, how others react, and much more. Though these seem external you are truly observing from within, therefore all observation is truly internal observation as discussed in the consciousness and vibration sections. Internally you can practice self-observation which is observing things such as: your emotions, feelings (physical and mental), reactions, thoughts, habits, likes, dislikes, things that make you happy or sad and anything and everything else. When practicing observation you should begin with self-study and self-analysis which can lead to self-remembering and self-knowledge. To self-study you should ask why do things make you feel a certain way? Are these thoughts and feelings your own or have you been programmed to react a certain way? Can you control these feelings? And any other questions you can think to ask yourself. Something that helps immensely with this as the mind can tend to over-think things is the practice of meditation.
“We need to have a discipline of observing ourselves, moment by moment. Because if we don’t, then when we sit to meditate, the mind is in chaos.”
Meditation
“Meditation is a means of acquiring information about ourselves, why we suffer, and what we can do to transform our suffering into wisdom and happiness. It is also a technique for accessing personal knowledge of the divine and receiving insight on how to live with greater rectitude and love.
Meditation is a means of awakening and expanding consciousness beyond conditions and limitations of the physical senses. Since consciousness is the ability to perceive, meditation is a deepening of that perception, a means of perceiving facts on a psychological and spiritual level. Meditation is the natural state of the unconditioned, liberated consciousness. Therefore, the practice of meditation is a method of stripping away conditioning, illusions, and misperceptions. It is a means of gathering information about who we are. It is not “spacing out,” nor is it solely focused on having ecstatic mystical “experiences.”- ChicagoGnosis.org
“Without understanding how to meditate, how to experience the reality of our Being, we in turn cannot experience the reality of our Being.”
“Contrary to popular belief, meditation actually requires tremendous energy.”-Amol
There are many forms of meditation, most involve trying to silence the mind/thoughts and focus on your breath or the nothingness of no-thought. Others involve focus, concentration, visualizations, mantras and more. Here is one explanation of meditation, followed by steps from the Psychonaut Field Manual:
The next step is opening the third eye and achieving Gnosis which will be discussed in detail in the Strive for Gnosis section of this chapter.
“If you want Samadhi you must know well the process of Dhyana, meditation. If you want Dhyana, meditation, you must know accurately the method of Dharana, concentration. If you want Dharana, concentration, you must know perfectly the method of Pratyahara, silence of mind. If you want Pratyahara, you must know Pranayama, sexual transmutation. If you want Pranayama, you must know asana well, posture. Before going to the practice of asana, you should have yama and niyama.” —Swami Sivananda, Kundalini Yoga
The first thing you need to do is start meditating. This was the hardest for me. It took me months just to have the discipline to do it every day. Gradually increase your time and do not get frustrated with yourself. I can now do 30 minutes to an hour with ease. Also know, not all meditation is completely in silence, such as Mantra or Transcendental Meditation, nor is it stillness of the mind such as visualization/concentration techniques. I really enjoy breathing exercises to go along with my meditation and for me it makes it easier to build up to the silencing of my mind. The meditations I do every day in the order I do them are the following : Wim Hof breathing technique, Pranayama (So Darshan Chakra Kriya), Transcendental Meditation (Mantra), four-fold breath, concentration on the breath, and finally silencing of the mind and all thoughts. Occasionally I do Kundalini yoga exercises as well other some of the meditation listed below.
Other forms of meditation: liveanddare.com/types-of-meditation/ AnmolMehtaCom
Yoga, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra eight-limbed path, Bhakti Yoga, Sufi Mantra meditation (zikr, jikr or dhikr),Heartbeat meditation, Sufi breathing meditation (including Five Elements Breathing), Bond of Love meditation, Active Imagination ,Gazing meditation, Sufi walking meditation, Sufi whirling, Gurdjieff movements, Guided Imagery, Relaxation & Body Scans , Affirmations , Binaural Beats , Brainwave meditation, contemplative prayer, contemplative reading, silence, Small Circulation, Embryonic Breathing, Eight Pieces of Brocade, Muscle Tendon Changing, Qigong meditation, Daoist Meditation, Internal Alchemy, Inner Vision, Visualization, Concentration, “I Am” Meditation, Pranayama , Third Eye Meditation, Chakra Meditation, Gazing Meditation (Trataka), Kundalini Meditation, Kriya Yoga , Sound Meditation (Nada Yoga), Tantra, Compassion meditation, Mindfulness Meditation, Vipassanā-meditation, Zen meditation, Ramana Maharishi, Dzogchen, Rainbow body, Mahamudra, Taoist Meditation, Contemplation of God (muraqabah) Metta meditation, trance, self-induction, Self-hypnosis, and more
“Calm let thy mind be. At rest be thy body: Conscious only of freedom from flesh. Center thy being on the goal of thy longing. Think over and over that thou wouldst be free. Think of this word La-Um-I-L-Gan over and over in thy mind let it sound. Drift with the sound to the place of thy longing.
Free from the bondage of flesh by thy will.”- Thoth
Mantras: You can always make your own; it can be real words or just sounds/tones. Whatever works best for you; here are some other examples to experiment with: THE SPIRIT FLOWS FROM THE SOURCE,HA LA POU LA PLANE, TEA LEAVES, HOLLOW BAMBOO, OM MANI PADME HUM, AUM, ALPHA/OMEGA, THE JEWEL IS IN THE LOTUS MANTRA, EEMO LEETOE LYTOE ZONYA, WHITE CLOUDS, BLUE SKY, ABRACADABRA, La-Um-I-L-Gan, Edom-El-Ahim-Sabbert-Zur Adom, Merkut-El- Shab-El, Hale-Sur-Ben, El-Zabrut, Zin-Efrim-Quar-El, Namu-Amida-Butsu,
*It should be noted that processed sugar/foods, pharmaceuticals, and other non entheogen drugs can make meditation much more difficult.
Contemplation
I define contemplation as a fixed, profound, totally focused and centered thought typically about existence, experience, your reactions, consciousness, spirituality, true-self, gods, archetypes, all-mind, source, or other higher conscious/philosophical thinking. Though similar to mediation and some would say could be a form of meditation, which I agree with, I also see it as: “While contemplation is a train of thought about something, meditation is training the mind to rest in a particular focus that leads to a connection to the source of consciousness itself. “ I like to think if meditation helps us to Know Thyself then contemplation helps us to Love Thyself. Mediation and contemplation should be balanced out, try not to over-think things, but also try not to avoid thoughts.
Focused thoughts are extremely powerful which will be discussed in more detail in the magick chapter.
“What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action.”- Meister Eckhart
“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” Aristotle
“The contemplation of beauty causes the soul to grow wings.” - Plato
“Contemplation is the highest expression of man’s intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, and fully aware that it is alive. It is a spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness and for being”- Merton
“Contemplation is an alternative consciousness that refuses to identify with or feed what are only passing shows. It is the absolute opposite of addiction, consumerism or any egoic consciousness.” Richard Rohr
Synthesize
Synthesis is a pretty simple concept, being defined as “combining a number of different parts or ideas to come up with a new idea or theory. An example of synthesis is when you read several books and use all of the information to come up with a thesis on the subject.” This is what this paper is, a personal synthesis of my life experiences and multiple philosophical sources. My experiences include but are not limited to my dreams, entheogen journeys, good/bad times, reactions, interaction with others, everything else and of course my meditation and contemplations.
In order to synthesize you must keep balance, have little attachment to any one set of beliefs but also have keen discernment. Your life can be viewed as a huge synthesis that YOU DEFINE if you want it to be or you can accept others definitions and close off into one set of rigid beliefs that you allow to define you.
Repeat
You (consciousness experiencing itself) is a continuous, never ending story. Never think there is nothing else you need to learn. Continue to educate yourselves in all different fields, skills, disciplines and philosophies. Refine what you think you already know. Re-read things you think you have a great understanding of. Always have a new book to read and a new perspective to see things from. Continue to meditate and contemplate every day. The moment you stop learning and growing is when you begin to shrink and decay. Use it or lose it.
Strive for Gnosis
Gnosis is simply to know (gno), specifically to know something through direct experience with it. Usually it “signifies a knowledge or insight into humanity’s real nature as divine, leading to the deliverance of the divine spark within humanity from the constraints of earthly existence. “ It is one thing to read about something or have faith (pistis) in it, it is another thing to have your own direct experiences with it. Belief has a degree of uncertainty while gnosis is directly knowing. This however can become diluted and dangerous if ones ego makes them think they know. “Genuine mysticism is having experience, to perceive spiritually in a very factual, concrete manner. It is nothing vague or ambiguous. I have had dreams where I have been at work, doing this or that... those are just mere dreams. But, a vision is where you are fully aware and in that state of mind, in that plane, dimension, and you know how to navigate consciously. To be a genuine mystic, a genuine occultist, one must learn how to travel in those states."
A relevant metaphor I can think of is, the difference between reading about entheogen psychedelic experiences, talking to people that have had psychedelic experiences, and then finally doing entheogens for yourself. You may gain understanding from reading and talking to people, but it is does not hold the same profoundness as doing them for yourself and having the direct experience. Some other definitions of Gnosis:
“This personal, self-knowledge has been called gnosis in Greek. Gnosis is beyond belief, theory, scholasticism, argumentation, debate, concepts, etc. It is in fact the direct apprehension of truths through our very capacity to perceive… Gnosticism, coming from the Greek work gnosis, signifies conscious knowledge, experiential wisdom; truth that we verify from our actions, from our works. It has nothing to do with theory, scholasticism, or something to debate for or against. It instead pertains to the very intimate and profound matter of uniting the soul with divinity; regardless of the name, the definitions, the language that we use. However, this type of experiential knowledge is universal, and has been manifested in different teachings, different faiths, and different religions.
So, gnosis is defined as that very profound relationship that we acquire, when we know how to awaken our consciousness to develop our full divine potential. It is to access, from an experiential basis, the truths contained within religion, within the different symbols of the scriptures, the different writings as relayed by the great masters of humanity.” - ChicagoGnosis
How Gnosis can be interpreted as being imbedded in certain religions:
You can gain gnosis about personal truths or collective truths. Gnosis comes in many forms through many paths and there are different methods to achieve this state.
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” - Nietzsche
“Since the universe is actually composed of information, then it can be said that information will save us. This is the saving gnosis which the Gnostics sought. There is no other road to salvation. However, this information -- or more precisely the ability to read and understand this information, the universe as information -- can only be made available to us by the Holy Spirit.” -Valis
A Chaos Magick interpretation:
“Most chaos magic techniques involve something called the gnostic state, or gnosis. This is described as an altered state of consciousness in which a person’s mind is focused on only one point, thought, or goal and all other thoughts are thrust out. The gnostic state is used to bypass the “filter” of the conscious mind – something thought to be necessary for working most forms of magic.
Since it takes years of training to master this sort of Zen-like meditative ability, chaos magicians employ a variety of other ways to attain a “brief ‘no-mind’ state” in which to work magic. Three main types of gnosis are described:
Inhibitory gnosis is a form of deep meditation into a trance state of mind. This type of gnosis uses slow and regular breathing techniques, absent thought processes, progressive muscle relaxation, self-induction and self-hypnosis techniques. Means employed may also include fasting, sleeplessness, sensory deprivation and hypnotic or trance-inducing drugs.
Ecstatic gnosis describes a mindlessness reached through intense arousal. It is aimed to be reached through sexual excitation, intense emotions, flagellation, dance, drumming, chanting, sensory overload, hyperventilation and the use of disinhibitory or hallucinogenic drugs.
Indifferent vacuity was described by Phil Hine and Jan Fries as a third method. Here the intended spell is cast parenthetically, so it does not raise much thought to suppress – “doodling sigils while listening to a talk which is boring, but you have to take notes on”, for example.”
An interpretation of THE STAGES OF GNOSIS:
“Although the Path of Gnosis is intellectual at the beginning, it will eventually become intuitive as the left and right hemispheres of the brain balance each other and unite. The left brain ideation will then be met by right brain intuition. Esoterically, this occurs when the Ajna Chakra or Third Eye becomes fully awakened and its two “petals” enlivened. These two petals of the Ajna Chakra lotus are the brain’s two hemispheres.
The process of uniting the hemispheres and achieving gnosis will progress through three stages:
1. In the first stage of gnosis the aspiring Dragon acquires most of the information he or she contemplates from past experiences and academic sources. The books, scriptures, words of the enlightened masters, etc., that they study are principally understood through the intellectual Left Brain.
2. In the second stage of gnosis, the Dragon-in-Training begins to activate the intuition of the Right Brain. Then, his or her Left Brain contemplation will begin to be confirmed by occasional AHAs (synchronicities) and the aspirant will feel that he or she is truly receiving understanding and guidance from a source beyond their intellect. The AHAs will at first be faint, but in time they will become louder until they are finally felt throughout the entire body.
3. In the third stage of gnosis, the evolving Dragon relies less and less on the outer world for knowledge until most or all his or her wisdom and guidance comes solely from within. At this stage the Left and Right Brains are working in complete synchronization; and Left Brain ideation is continuously met by Right Brain intuition. The two petals of the Anjan Chakra (i.e., the brain hemispheres) have been fully activated. Now, the AHAs coming from the inner Spirit precedes nearly every action of the Dragon Master. There is no separation between lower ego self & Higher Self. They have become ONE.”- Mark Amaru Pinkham
Gnosis is something I usually just get flashes of. For me, Gnosis is a state of mind that takes a continuous effort of willpower, intention, and self-discipline; which is why I say strive for Gnosis, for most, it does not come naturally.
Live with Love
What is love? Probably one of the most subjective and thrown out words we have. Also considered the most powerful and motivating emotions in all human history. There are many types and meanings such as tough love, parental love, motherly love, platonic love, brotherly love, unconditional love, higher love, vibrational love, sexual love, emotional love, spiritual love, Love of life, love of animals, love of self, Love of others, love of all, love of sleep, love of lamp, love of love, and anything else you can think of.
Personally I define love as deep, empathetic ecstatic affection with no motive of personal gain. Love does not expect anything in return and gives for betterment of others. Many people confuse desire, lust and ego wants/needs as love. It is up to you to decipher the difference and make your own definition of love.
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love... Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him”-Bible
To live with love is to show ALL living things this empathetic affection. A perspective of love honors/respects the life force in everything; it sees all as one and recognizes the self in others and the others in self. It follows the Golden Rule, which is expanded in the Golden Rule subchapter. Really take the time to contemplate on being empathetic to others. Think about everything that could have been experienced by the other person till they lead up to the moment of observation. You never know the hardships someone has gone through or going through. Of course this must be balanced and do not let love be an excuse for yourself or others to be exploited. Do not fall into the New Age paradigm of ignoring the shadow, you must observe everything as it is and make your own decisions to shape your perspective.
“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” –Shakespeare
Love yourself, love others, love life.
Living with love is really just a form of perception so to live with love it can help to expand your perception, and helping expand your perception can let you live with love.
Expand Your Perception
“If you have a golf-ball-sized consciousness, when you read a book, you’ll have a golf-ball-sized understanding; when you look out a window, a golf-ball-sized awareness, when you wake up in the morning, a golf-ball-sized wakefulness; and as you go about your day, a golf-ball-sized inner happiness. But if you can expand that consciousness, make it grow, then when you read about that book, you’ll have more understanding; when you look out, more awareness; when you wake up, more wakefulness; as you go about your day, more inner happiness.” –David Lynch
“The discernment is the direct perception of the truth about the process of conceptual selection. When the process of selection divides the mind in the battle of the antitheses, then the internal images are hidden like stars behind the stormy clouds of reasoning. You must learn to think with the heart and feel with the head.” —Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose
“We look with our eyes but do not see.”
"Sorcerers say that we are inside a bubble. It is a bubble into which we are placed at the moment of our birth. At first the bubble is open, but then it begins to close until it has sealed us in. That bubble is our perception. We live inside that bubble all of our lives. And what we witness on it's round walls is our own reflection. The thing reflected is our own view of the world. That view is first a description, which is given to us at the moment of our birth until all our attention is caught by it and the description becomes a view..."-Don Juan
The best way in my experience to expand your perception is observe and experience, then contemplate and meditate on it. Take in that experience from your perspective. Now take that experience from the others perspective. Keep in mind everything that has accumulated in the others life for them to be sharing an experience/interacting with you. Be an open minded skeptic and expose yourself to all different forms/perspectives of information. To ensure you DO NOT expand your perception much, have strong attachment to your beliefs. If you hear information you don’t agree with, immediately ignore it or attack it, which is just a defense mechanism of your ego. Remember truth is all based on your perspective, nothing is true, everything is possible.
Another way is through entheogens. This could be Psilocybin, LSD, DMT, Ketamine, Peyote, Ayahuasca, Hash, Amanita Muscaria, Salvia, 2C-I, Mescaline, and others. As mentioned in the Hallucination as a reality theory section of Chapter 5, Hallucinogens when taken properly and with intent can lead to exponential growth of perspective, mind and spirit. However they can have the inverse effect where people have bad trips and now they may live with more fear and a more narrow perspective then before. You must be properly dosed, be in a right state of mind with willful intention, preferably alone or in a small group of like-minded people, and in the proper environment. They are not something to take while partying or because others are doing them.
Expanding you perception in my opinion will help you live with love and strengthen your will.
Strengthen your will
Willpower or will is: “control exerted to do something or restrain impulses.”
“But if we work with our consciousness, through conscious efforts and voluntary sufferings, meaning we work with our Being to exert our consciousness to work, that is how we will awaken and perceive something new. Because the consciousness needs to know how to use willpower, Tiphereth, the mind, emotions, vitality, etc. So we need that type of discipline…This term mind can be very vague in esoteric and spiritual circles. Superior manas, Tiphereth, is abstract, not concrete. It is our willpower. We know it’s there, but it is not materialized, visible. We can say that a person has tremendous will, because they have internal drive and a means of working, making a living, being disciplined in a specific type of endeavor, etc. Willpower is very real for us, but hard to pinpoint or concretize. It relates to a type of abstraction of the psyche, one relating to volition or will.”
To do anything we need to have willpower, even to live, hence the saying, they lost will to live. I believe willpower is something many people in the world are lacking. We can observe how in society as a whole there is a lack of willpower by many to better themselves, take control of their emotions/reactions, eat healthy, think for one’s self, etc. This lack of willpower has manifested via a society that is apathetic, material nihilists, unhealthy, full of trauma/violence, and addiction. Society has been engineered this way as strong will power is a threat to the parasite establishment, they want you to just have enough motivation to scrape by with job while consuming and being entertained. But I digress, as this can be read more in depth in the Masters of Manipulation Chapter 9.
Desire, Will, Intention and Self-discipline
There is a slight difference between will, intention and desire, though strong desire can lead to having strong will. The divergence being that; “desire is a feeling rooted in physical and emotional need. Intention is mental and involves using the brain's planning mechanisms to conceptualize future actions.” Will is focusing your mind, body, spirit, mental facilities, life-force, and all other layers of the ‘you and self’ toward a purpose; a combination of intention and desire that uses your entirety to work towards something. Some ways you are able to increase you willpower is the by practice of meditation, concentration, contemplation, through experiences sometimes good or bad, proper use of entheogens, education and other methods.
Many people when they think about self-discipline they think it is relating to exercise, eating healthy, giving up vices/addictions like smoking. This is all true, however to make these accomplishments it must start with the real power of self-discipline; this lies in the ability and willpower to hold a thought/intention. Many do not have the self-discipline to hold a thought long enough for it to manifest. We are easily distracted by a society that is engineered to distract. You can read every self-help book and go to every life coach speaker but if you do not have self-discipline to do the necessary work, nothing will be effective. Motivation is easy to find, and is why these self-help seminars, books and life coaches are so popular. Most people get motivation from these by getting a burst of energy for a week or a month but do not have the self-discipline to make these things routines. Self-discipline is getting to the point where your willpower is the motivating factor and you need nothing else to make you focus and exert your effort toward something. It must come within the self hence the term self-discipline. One definition is “Self-discipline means the action of consistently doing something in regular time. So, if you have great willpower, you can attain self-discipline easily.”
Self-discipline does not mean giving things up, it means having control to do them in moderation. Most people simply repress and completely avoid things, meaning they do not have the discipline to use in moderation. This may be one of the hardest things to master. You will fail. When you fail do not indulge or feel bad or sorry. Wake up the next day with greater willpower. Strengthening the will is a lifelong practice and only through relentless self determination/discipline and willpower you will be able to master yourself.
We have willpower, that can be observed and felt, but is this will free?
Freewill
Is there actually freewill ? Can it be accurately described? Would it be possible to actually know if it exists? Make your own decisions.
“Do you believe in fate, Neo? NEO: No. MORPHEUS: Why not? NEO: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.”~Matrix
To me it seems there is a set probability of choices we can make in every situation. I don’t know if you can call this freewill and to what extent it actually exists. It may vary from person to person and possibly there are ways to take more command of it. From our perspective we sure like to believe we have freewill, however my will is constrained by the laws of the physical realm. I can have strong will to fly like superman, however this willpower, at least as of now, does not have the ability to overcome the physical laws. That would mean my will is not actually free, but set with conditions, at least from our perspective as humans. The Matrix movie architect scene does a good job of portraying this.
Possibly the only thing we truly have freewill over is our perspective, emotions, actions and reactions. “I can choose either to be a victim of the world or and adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.”~P Coelho
Another theory is that our freewill is limited and not always in our control. For instance, John Lilly’s perspective is similar to the movie Adjustment Bureau, where in some situations we have freewill but other situations our thoughts/decisions are implanted by hyper-dimensional beings. Here is Lilly’s Pact with Spirit explanation:
“ Earth Coincidence Control Office (E.C.C.O.). The assignments of responsibilities from the top to the bottom of this system of control is by a set of regulations, which translated by E.C.C.O. for humans is somewhat as follows:
To all humans: If you wish to control coincidences in your own life on the planet Earth, we will cooperate and determine those coincidences for you under the following conditions: 1) You must know/assume/simulate our existence in ECCO. 2) You must be willing to accept our responsibility for control of your coincidences. 3) You must exert your best capabilities for your survival programs and your own development as an advancing/advanced member of ECCO's earthside corps of controlled coincidence workers. You are expected to use your best intelligence in this service 4) You are expected to expect the unexpected every minute, every hour of every day and of every night. 5) You must be able to maintain conscious/thinking/ reasoning no matter what events we arrange to happen to you. Some of these events will seem cataclysmic/catastrophic/overwhelming: remember stay aware, no matter what happens/apparently happens to you. 6) You are in our training program for life: there is no escape from it. We (not you) control the long-term coincidences; you (not we) control the shorter-term coincidences by your own efforts. 7) Your major mission on earth is to discover/create that which we do to control the long-term coincidence patterns: you are being trained on Earth to do this job. 8) When your mission on planet Earth is completed, you will no longer be required to remain/return there. 9) Remember the motto passed to us (from GCC via SSCU): "Cosmic Love is absolutely Ruthless and Highly Indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not."
In order to know if we have freewill, we must practice and attempt to know/ remember ourselves. Without this knowledge, how can we know what we are willing and we are not, and if we have freewill at all. With the multiple layers of our being, it can be hard to figure out which part is controlling the strings. In order to give ourselves a chance of understanding, we should learn to silence the mind via mediation, contemplate on our decisions, observe everything including our thoughts, synthesize it all, and repeat.