Chicago Gnosis Podcast

All great religions and mystical traditions symbolize the divine feminine throughout innumerable myths, narratives, and symbols. Regardless of the name, culture, or language, She is the divine force of universal compassion with one express and unique purpose: the liberation of Her child (the consciousness) from suffering. Discover how to practically work with your Divine Mother to achieve genuine freedom from the ego. Resources and References: https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/the-divine-mother

Heaven is not only a higher dimension, but a psychological state of being. According to every great religion and meditative tradition, liberation is achieved only through actions and the inner rebellion of the soul. Discover the three factors for awakening consciousness, a spiritual revolution against suffering and the animal ego. Resources and References: https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/how-to-conquer-heaven  

All of nature is governed by karma: the law of cosmic causality. The same with the development of the soul. To achieve self-transformation and awaken our complete conscious potential, we must enact the causes for its realization. Learn how through the five principles of karma within the Buddhist and Gnostic traditions. Resources and References: https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/karma  

Sound, vibration, and music are sacred vehicles for the transmission of divine energy, which meditators effectively utilize to experience serenity and awaken consciousness. Through a variety of exercises, including runes, pranayama, and mantras (sacred sounds), we accumulate spiritual force to enliven different energy centers (chakras) of the vital body, thereby accelerating and catalyzing profound inner transformation. Resources and References: https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/the-spiritual-power-of-sound

Every action in life requires energy and application of will, down to the smallest molecules, atoms, and particles, to the most complex sentient organisms. Practical meditators learn to harness different modalities of energy within their body, heart, and mind, so as to empower the development of their full conscious potential. When energy is directed by intuitive action, we awaken virtue and achieve liberation from suffering. Resources and References: https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/the-energy-of-awakening

Understanding reality through clear perception is a fundamental power of the practical meditator. However, this faculty, known as imagination or clairvoyance in spiritual circles, can either be liberated, free, and pure, or conditioned by egotism, negativities, and desires. Discover the nature of spiritual vision in its multifarious forms and its essential role in the path of self-transformation. Resources and References: https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/imagination-and-fantasy

Consciousness is the capacity to perceive, yet perception can be conditioned or unconditioned, based upon its use or negligence. The psychological science of introspection seeks to liberate consciousness trapped within conditions in order to perceive reality in its direct and clear form. Learn about four distinct states of consciousness as taught by Plato in the Allegory of the Cave (from his monumental philosophical text, The Republic). Such an allegory, usually interpreted as a symbol of acquiring philosophical knowledge and intellectual understanding of the truth, represents the path of the soul's liberation from the darkness of ignorance, superstition, theories, beliefs, and suffering, towards the heights of genuine spirituality, freedom and wisdom, symbolized by the sun or Solar Platonic Logos: the absolute divinity within every sentient being. Resources and References: https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/states-of-consciousness

Human beings do not merely possess a single brain within the cranium, but within the heart and spinal column as well, since in esoteric psychology, a brain is a psycho-physiological machine that processes energies of different modifications. Just as the mind has its nervous systems and basis within the material, cranial matter, likewise the heart (the seat of emotions) and the spinal column / sexual organs (the seat of instinct, movement, and sexuality) possess their own forms of intelligence we must become familiar with. By comprehending our human organism: mind (thought), heart (emotions), and sexuality (desire and attraction), we can learn to use the machinery of these three brains for our individual self-transformation and growth. Resources and References: https://chicagognosis.org/lectures/the-three-brains

The microcosmic human being is, in his turn, a solar system in miniature, a marvelous machine with various distributed nets of energy that are in distinct degrees of tension... The human machine (as any other machine) moves under the impulses of the subtle forces of Nature. The secret agents that move the human machines are first the cosmic radiations and second the pluralized “I.”  ―Samael Aun Weor, The Narrow Way The body, heart, and mind possess tremendous forms of intelligence and power that remain in a potential and inactive state. Learn how to activate this latent intelligence within the human body, consciousness, and nervous systems through study and practical works. When we comprehend how the machine of our mind, heart, and body function, we can use it for the free development of the consciousness in obedience to intelligence and will. This lecture elaborates on the previous discussion of self-observation, explaining the structure and dynamics of our psycho-biological machine: intellect, emotions, movement, instinct, and sexuality, as well as how our sense of self relates to these five centers. Resources and References: http://chicagognosis.org/lectures/the-human-machine

"To change is the best; however, we must begin by being sincere with ourselves.  We need to make a psychological inventory of ourselves in order to know what we have in excess or what we lack.” ―Samael Aun Weor, Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology Our internal states shape our exterior life. By becoming acquainted with the numerous conditions of our internal, psychological world, we can modify them in order to awaken the free and natural state of consciousness: compassion, empathy, wisdom, serenity, cognizant love, and happiness for others. Through liberating the consciousness of its egotism, faults and obscurations, we can then penetrate, with the eye of awakened, spiritual perception, into the true knowledge of life's mysteries. However, all of this is based on directing conscious attention, not reacting mechanically to life in a passive, unconscious manner. The first, kindergarten step to awakening to our essential nature begins with observing ourselves. By directing our attention with full consciousness and will, we can discover what psychological elements within our interior universe produce suffering and conflict. Therefore, by observing the conditionality of our psyche, we can modify it. Only by learning to observe and eliminate our faults can we produce radical, fundamental, and permanent change, and thereby experience the awakening of our true spiritual and divine potential. Resources and References: http://chicagognosis.org/lectures/self-observation