The task this week is to deliberately place yourself in a situation that you know will be uncomfortable (but NOT dangerous) for you in some way. You can then use that deliberately created internal friction as a trigger for self-awareness. (In lieu of that, you can continue with any previous task.
The point that is being emphasized is that initiation is at this stage concerned with the development of a strong and healthy emotional center, rather than the accumulations of doctrines. For examples, you can refer to this description of initiations as the conquering of the four elements … not that I am suggesting these particular exercises at this time.
The reading was from Section (5) of Chapter VI of Book One of Gnosis by Boris Mouravieff. Here we are introduced to two new centers: the higher intellectual center and the higher emotional center. As transcendent, they work perfectly and, unlike the lower centers, are unaffected by the turmoil of everyday life. However, we remain oblivious to their influences for the most part. By regulating and balancing the lower centers, a permanent tie with the higher centers can be established.
Hence, that is the ultimate goal of the various exercises. The exterior man is stuck in the lower centers and believes that reason is the only tool and hence falls into the errors of positivism, materialism, scientism, etc. He fails to see that a change in the level of being is also required. As we have seen, this is a major theme also in Valentin Tomberg, Hermann Keyserling, and Julius Evola.
The higher emotional center issues from the spark of the Son and the higher intellectual center from the spark of the Holy Spirit. The complements Valentin Tomberg’s Meditations on the Tarot. As the soul life becomes balanced and quiet, then it becomes possible for the Holy Spirit to appear and the second birth of initiation.
Mouravieff introduces a new level of pure consciousness above the consciousness of the real I. This is the level of the universal I. Readers can relate this to other Traditions.
Gabriel Derjavine was a Russian poet renowned for his pithy sayings.
I ordered a collection of Mouravieff’s essays in French. If I find anything of interest, I will make it available.
For more information, please see Achieving Gnosis in Practice.