You came here to listen, and I am here to speak to you. However, it is necessary that between you and me exists a communion of souls; we need to have the intention to investigate in ourselves, to search, to inquire, to know, to listen with the clear objective of attaining orientation in the path of the Inner Self-realization of the Being.

To know how to listen is something very difficult. To know how to speak is much easier. It happens that when one is listening, it is necessary to be open to the new, with an spontaneous mind, with a mind empty of concepts, prejudgments, etc. However, the Ego, the "I," the myself, does not know how to listen, and instead it translates, interprets everything based in its own prejudgments and what it has stored in the Formative Center. What is the Formative Center? The memory. Why is it called Formative Center? Because within it is processed the intellectual formation of concepts. Having understood this, it becomes urgent to learn to listen with a new mind and not repeat what is already stored in the memory.

After this introduction, we are going to agree upon concepts, ideas, etc. First of all, it is indispensable to know if the intellect by itself can lead to the experience of the real. There exist bright intellects, we cannot deny that, but they have never experienced that which is the truth.

The Three Types of Mind

Let us think a bit about the Sensual Mind that we utilize daily; I would say that the Sensual Mind elaborates its concepts with the data brought by the five senses, and with these concepts it forms its reasoning. Observing things from this perspective, it is obvious that the Subjective or Sensual Reasoning has as a foundation the external, sensory perceptions, and because its function is based exclusively on the data brought by the five senses, undoubtedly that mind will not have access to what is outside of the vicious circle of the external sensorial perceptions, that is obvious. That mind is unable to know about the real, about the Mysteries of Life and Death, about the Truth, about God, etc. because where could it get that information, if the only source of nourishment it has is the data brought by the senses? Obviously, it can not know what comes from the heights.

In this moment, it comes to my memory something very interesting. In the time of the Egyptian splendor there was a congress in Babylon. People came from Assyria, Egypt, Phoenicia, etc.; it is clear that the theme was interesting: they wanted to know based in mere analytical discussions if the human being does or does not have a soul. Obviously, at that time, the five senses were already degenerated; only in this way we can explain why those people selected that theme as the reason for their congress. In other times, that congress would have been ridiculous. The Lemurians never would have had the idea of celebrating that kind of congress. For the people of the continent Mu, it was enough to get out of their body in order to know if they had or did not have Soul, and this was done very easily, because their physical senses were not so degenerated. So, the idea of a theme like that only could have come from an involutive and degenerated humanity.

It happened that there were many discussions for and against. Finally, a great, wise Assyrian ascended to the tribunal of eloquence (that man had been educated in Egypt, he had entered in the Mysteries) and in a very loud voice he said, "Reasoning cannot know anything about the Truth, about the Real, about the immortal Soul. Reason can be useful to defend a spiritualist or materialist theory; reason could elaborate a spiritualist thesis with a formidable logic, and also can create by opposition a materialist thesis with a similar logic. So, the subjective and sensual reason nourished with the data brought by the five senses can create spiritualists or materialists theses; therefore, reason is not something on which we can rely. There exists a different sense; this is the one of the Instinctive Perception of the Cosmic Truth; is a faculty of the Being. But subjective reasoning cannot truly give us information about the Real; the sensual reasoning cannot know about the Mysteries of Life and Death."

In that way spoke the man, and he explained to the proud, "With your reasoning, you cannot know anything about the Truth, about the Soul or the Spirit; the rational mind cannot know about that."

Well, that man spoke with great eloquence, and afterward he distanced himself from any scholasticism; he preferred to leave the subjective rationalism and to develop in himself the aforementioned faculty that is known under the name of Instinctive Perception of the Cosmic Truths, a faculty that humanity once had, but it became atrophied as the psychological "I," the myself, the oneself, unfolded.

It is said that this great, wise Assyrian, educated in Egypt, detached himself from every school and went to cultivate the land and to trust exclusively in the prodigious faculty of the Being known by the name of Instinctive Perception of the Cosmic Truths.

However, let us go a bit further. There is a mind that differs from the Sensual Mind. I am talking emphatically about the Intermediate [or Mystical] Mind; in the Intermediate Mind, we find religious beliefs. Obviously, the data brought by religions have their place in the Intermediate Mind.

Finally, there exists the Inner Mind. The Inner Mind by itself and in itself works exclusively with the data brought by the Superlative Consciousness of the Being; the Inner Mind could never work without the information that is brought by the Inner Consciousness of the Being.

These are the Three Minds.

In the Gospels, the Sensual Mind with its theories and other elements is known as the "leaven of the Sadducees." Jesus the Christ advises us, saying, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Sadducees," that is to say, of the materialist and atheist doctrines like the Marxist Dialectic. Doctrines such as that correspond exactly with the "leaven of the Sadducees." However, the Lord of Perfection also advises us about the "leaven of the Pharisees." The leaven of the Pharisees is related with the Intermediate Mind.

Who are the Pharisees? They are those that go to their temples, schools, religions and sects, etc. so everybody can see them. They listen to the Word, but do not perform it in themselves. They are like the man that watches himself in a mirror and then leaves. They just attend to their rituals so everyone can see them, but they never work on themselves, and that is really serious. They are happy with mere beliefs and do not feel interest for the inner transformation, so they lose their time miserably and fail!

Let us get away from the "leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees," and consider how to open our Inner Mind. How can we open it? By knowing how to think psychologically; in that way is the Inner Mind opened.

The Inner Mind works with the data brought by the Superlative Consciousness of the Being; thanks to this, one experiences the truth of the different phenomena of nature. With the Inner Mind opened, we can speak about the Law of Karma not based on what is said by others, but by our direct experience. With the Inner Mind opened, we are prepared to speak about Reincarnation or about the Law of the Eternal Return of everything or about the Law of Souls' Transmigration, etc., but not based on what we have read or what we have heard from some authors, but in what we have experienced in reality, and directly; that is obvious!

The Psychology of Money

Why has money become so important in our lives? Is it perhaps because we depend exclusively on it for our psychological happiness? All the human beings need bread, protection and shelter, and this is already known. This is so natural and simple for the birds of the sky… Why has it become so important to us and taken on frightful significance?

Money has taken an exaggerated and disproportionate value because we depend psychologically on it for our own wellbeing. Money nourishes our personal vanity, confers social prestige and gives us the means to reach power. Money is being used by the mind with totally different purposes than covering our immediate physical necessities.

Money is being utilized for psychological purposes; that is why money has taken an exaggerated and disproportioned importance.

We need money in order to have bread, protection and shelter; that is obvious. But when money becomes a psychological necessity, when we use it with other purposes, when we depend on it in order to attain fame, prestige, social position, etc, then money assumes in the mind an exaggerated and disproportioned importance, and from this originates the fight and the conflict in order to possess it.

It is logical that we need money in order to satisfy our physical necessities, in order to have bread and shelter, but if we depend exclusively on money for our happiness and personal satisfaction, then we are the most unfortunate beings on the Earth.

When we comprehend profoundly that the only objective of money is to bring us bread, protection and shelter, then we put towards it a spontaneous limitation, and the result is that money does not assume within us the over-exaggerated importance that it has when it becomes a psychological necessity.

We need to comprehend profoundly the true nature of sensation and satisfaction. The mind that wants to comprehend the truth has to be free from those obstacles.

If in truth we want to liberate thought from the obstacles of sensation and satisfaction, we have to start with those sensations that are more familiar, and to establish in them an adequate foundation for comprehension. Sensations have their right place and when we understand them profoundly in all the levels of the mind, they do not have the stupid deformation that have now.

Many people believe that if everything proceeded according to the political party to which they belong and fight for, then we would have a happy world, full of abundance, peace and perfection. That is a false concept, because in reality such happiness cannot exist if we have not individually comprehended the true meaning of things. The human being is too poor internally, and due to this he needs money and material things for his personal satisfaction.

When someone is poor internally, she looks for money and material things in order complete herself and to find satisfaction. For this reason, money and material things have taken a disproportioned value and the human being is ready to steal, exploit and lie at every moment. That is the cause of the fight between the capital and the work, between the boss and laborers, between exploiters and exploited.

All the political changes are useless if we have not comprehended our internal poverty. The political system can change again and again, the social systems can be altered again and again, but if we have not comprehended profoundly the inner nature of our internal poverty, the individual will always create new means and ways to attain personal satisfaction at the expense of others' peace.

The philosopher Immanuel Kant in his books "Critique of Practical Reason" and "Critique of Pure Reason" indicates that there is no doubt that the Subjective and Rational Reason could never acquire something that does not belong to the world of the five senses. The intellect by itself is rational and subjective, and always demands demonstrations when listening about reincarnation or Karma, but the truths that can only be perceived by the Inner Mind cannot be demonstrated to people of the sensual mind. To demand facts in the external and sensorial world about such truths is like demanding that a bacteriologist study microbes with a telescope or demanding that an astronomer study astronomy with a microscope.

They demand. Yes. However, the facts cannot be given to the Subjective Reasoning, because this reasoning does not have any relation with what does not belong to the world of the five senses. Themes like Reincarnation, Karma, life after death, etc., are exclusively for the Inner Mind, never for the Sensual Mind. It is possible to demonstrate to the Inner Mind, but first of all, the candidate has to have opened his Inner Mind, otherwise how could we demonstrate anything to that person? Impossible, is it not?

We need money in order to cover our immediate physical necessities, but unfortunately the necessity is transformed into greed. The psychological "I," perceiving its own emptiness and misery, gives to money and material things an exaggerated and absurd value that is different than the value they really have.

The "I" wants to become externally rich because internally it is poor and miserable.

The "I" wants to dazzle the others with material things and money.

In this moment, our relationship with money is based on greed.

We always justify our greed with necessity.

Greed is the secret cause of hatred and the world's brutalities, and many times the aforementioned assumes the form of legal actions.

Greed is the cause of war and the miseries of the world.

If we want to finish with the greed of the world, we have to comprehend profoundly that the world is within ourselves. We are the world, and the greed of other people is within us. In reality, everyone lives within our own Consciousness. The greed of the world is within the individual, and only by eradicating the greed that we carry within is it possible to end the greed of the world. Only by understanding the complex process of greed in all the levels of the mind, we will be able to experience the great Reality.

Now, after having seen this clearly, it is convenient to go deeper in the topic of the faculties.

The intellect by itself is one of the crudest faculties in the levels of the Being. If we want to do everything with our intellect, we will never capture the cosmic truths. Undoubtedly, beyond the intellect there exists another faculty of cognition, and I am pointing emphatically at the Imagination. This faculty has been greatly underrated, and some even call it "the crazy of the house." This is an unjust title, because if this faculty did not exist, the tape recorder, the car, the train, etc., would not exist either. The wise man that wants to create an invention first has to imagine it and then project that image onto paper; the architect that wants to build a house has to imagine it first and later project it into a plan. Therefore, the imagination is what allows the creation of an invention; it is not something despicable.

Are there two kinds of imagination? We cannot deny that. We could call the first one "Mechanical Imagination," and this kind of imagination is fantasy itself, which is formed by the scraps of the memory and it is even prejudicial. However, in truth there exists another type of imagination: it is the Intentional Imagination, that is to say, Conscious Imagination.

Nature itself possesses imagination, and that is obvious. If there were no imagination, all the creatures of nature would be blind. However, because this powerful faculty exists, then perception exists, and the image is formed in the Perceptive Center of the Being or Center for the Perception of the Sensations. The creative imagination of nature has originated the many existing forms.

In the time of the Hyperboreans and Lemurians, the intellect was not used, but rather the imagination; at that time, the human being was innocent, and the marvelous spectacle of the cosmos was reflected within his imagination as in a crystalline lake. That was another kind of humanity. Today, it is painful to see that people have even lost their imagination; that is to say, this faculty has degenerated frightfully.

It is possible to develop the imagination, and this can take us far beyond the Sensual Mind. This can lead us to Psychological Thought. Only Psychological Thought can open the doors of the Inner Mind. If one develops the imagination, one can learn to think psychologically.

Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition are the three mandatory paths of Initiation, but if we remain bottled up within the sensory functions of the intellect, it is impossible to ascend the staircase of the Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition. I do not want to say that the intellect is useless; I am far from that affirmation. What I am doing is clarifying concepts.

Every faculty within its orbit is useful; a planet within its orbit is useful, but out of its orbit, it is useless and catastrophic. The same happens with the faculties of the human being, they have their orbit.

It is absurd to take Sensual Reasoning out of its orbit, because then one falls into materialistic skepticism. Why are many students of pseudo-esotericism and pseudo-occultism always fighting against doubts? Why are so many students going from school to school and finally reaching the old age without having attained anything?

Through experience I have observed that those who remain bottled up in the intellect fail. Those that want to verify the truth with the intellect fail, because they make the same mistake as wanting to study astronomy with a microscope or wanting to study bacteriology with a telescope.

If we want each faculty to be in its orbit, it is obvious that we have to reject the doctrines that are called the "leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees," and to learn to think psychologically; however, this is not be possible if we remain bottled up in the intellect.

So, it is worthwhile to start ascending on the marvelous stairway of the Imagination, and then ascend to the second step, Inspiration, and finally we will reach Intuition.

We need money, that is true, but it is necessary to profoundly understand the correct relationship with it. Neither the ascetic nor the stingy have comprehended the proper relationship with money. Neither by renouncing nor coveting money can we reach a just relation with it. We need comprehension in order to intelligently realize what our material needs are, without depending disproportionately on money.

When we correctly understand how to relate to money, then we remove from ourselves the pain that the so-called generosity produces, and the frightful suffering that competition generates.

We have to learn to differentiate between immediate physical necessities and psychological dependence. Psychological dependence generates exploitation and slavery.

It is urgent understand the inner nature of the “myself” if in truth we want to become spiritually rich. He that is spiritually rich is unable to exploit others, is unable to lie. He that is spiritually rich is free from the obstacles relating to sensations and personal satisfaction. He that is spiritually rich has found happiness.

The Consciousness knows directly the reality of each natural phenomenon, and through the Inner Mind can manifest it. This means that only by opening the Inner Mind is authentic faith born in the human being. Observing this aspect from another angle, we will say that materialistic skepticism is the peculiar characteristic of ignorance. There is no doubt that the illustrious ignorant ones are skeptics, one hundred percent.

Unfortunately, there exists the tendency to confuse belief with faith. Even if it seems to be paradoxical, we will emphasize the following, "He that has true faith does not need to believe." Authentic faith is living wisdom, exact cognition, direct experience.

For many centuries, faith has been confused with belief, and now it takes a lot of work to help people comprehend that faith is true wisdom and never vain beliefs.

Inverencial peace!

Samael Aun Weor