59. Knowing through intellect

The audio recording is available at https://youtu.be/2xJN_t8r3vk.

Knowing through the intellect (gnosis), means, the understanding and mastery of knowledge, consciousness, and self-awareness, which enables the comprehension of the complexity of faith. Knowing by soul intellect is the primordial form of faith. Thus, the mystery of faith is simultaneously the mystery of gnosis, and the mystery of gnosis is also the mystery of love. For what we know, we love, and what we love, we desire to know. Therefore, the act of knowing and its necessity are contained within love. Awareness, the knowledge we have of ourselves, just like the world and its changing states, exists within us. Thus, self-awareness entails the responsibility for oneself, for the other created human being, and for sacredness. 

As Jean Yves Leloup notes in his book Introduction to the True Philosophers (Kairosz, 2006), "this form of love is unknown to those who have not liberated themselves from the power and illusion of the 'I'." Love represents the image and likeness of the One when a person finds his spirituality and selfless love. In love, order is restored, where there is no cause and effect, no "he" and "I," but only unity, because we are both the source and the recipients of love. Intellect love, then, is conscious or gnostic love. Our Initiation Master through His human becoming showed us how to deify ourselves (in Christian terms, theosis), that is, how to discover our universal self within us, how to unite cause and effect, goal and means, the relative and the absolute, space and time. The fragmented Gospel teachings speak of this unity and universality. 

According to Clement of Alexandria, the true Christian is gnostic. Those who have rejected gnosis have denied the created spirit, the knowledge necessary to recognize the universal self, that is, intellect. Gnosis and intellect can reach by those who are awake and start the returning to the One and Only. Gnostics can be said to be those who see the world and themselves as one, who think in synthesis and circularity (not linearity), for example, the musician who composes rhythm and harmony, the mathematician who searches not only for the quantity of numbers but also for their quality, the geometer who looks for time in space. The gnostic is the guardian of the tradition of the One, and therefore should not be confused with the perspective of those who represent gnosticism. By the second century, it was already known that intellect leads to faith, faith leads to gnosis, and gnosis leads to unconditional love. In our modern interpretation, cognition (intellect, gnosis) requires knowledge, which comes from consciousness, or rather, from self-awareness, which is faith. Faith leads to intellect, to the universal self. Therefore, faith is also consciousness, while lack of faith is ignorance. None of this relates to rationality, reason, or reasonableness. 

Knowledge through intellect differs significantly between Western and Eastern teachings (religions). For example, in contrast to the moral teachings of Western religions, which tend to strengthen the individual self, Eastern teachings always emphasize the universal self in the human being, teaching that:

    a) We should read all books that discuss religion, thought, spirit, and soul. We should not be concerned with the outward appearances, rules, customs, or rituals of one or another religion. We should get to know everything and examine everything. We should listen to the words of thinkers, priests, sages, philosophers, ascetics, and mystics, and weigh them. We should sift through the thoughts, and live fully what remains.

    b) We should be content with our humble living conditions. We should be humble and not push ourselves forward. We should keep our distance from the great and famous people, from ministers, statesmen, and stars, because those who are ministers, statesmen, or stars today may no longer be so tomorrow. Keeping a distance from external circumstances allows the thoughts to reach the highest point and transcend all the light and glory of the earth.

    c) We should be without desires for earthly things and not strive to hold on to anything. Wealth, poverty, praise, contempt—all pass away. We should avoid sorrow, lamentation, and guilt. We must know that we are the source of both joy and sorrow.

    d) We should observe the conflicts of humanity, the diversity of opinions, and the battles of passions calmly and without emotion. We should think that this diversity is the manifestation of the individual self. We should see the world as someone standing on a mountaintop and admire the deep valley below. We must reach the state where we realize emptiness or fullness within ourselves. 

Everyone can reflect on what kind of self-awareness and consciousness they possess in the knowledge through soul intellect, in order to say: I am neither Eastern nor Western, neither Southern nor Northern; I have no religion, I am not made of dust, and I will not return to dust. I am not at home in this world, but my home is in space, where I will be one with the One and Only.