Samael Aun Weor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Samael Aun Weor |
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| Religion | Occultism, Theosophy |
| Known for | Gnostic Movement |
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| Nationality | Colombian, Mexican |
| Born | Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez March 6, 1917 Bogota, Colombia |
| Died | December 24, 1977 (aged 60) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Spouse | Arnolda Garro de Gómez, V. M. Litelantes |
| Parents | Manuel Gómez Quijano and Francisca Rodríguez |
Samael Aun Weor (Hebrew: סמאל און ואור; March 6, 1917 – December 24, 1977), born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez, was a teacher and author of over sixty books of esoteric spirituality. He formed a new religious movement under the banner of "Universal Gnosticism", or simply gnosis, and taught the practical and esoteric principles to awaken and fundamentally change the psychological condition.
He first made a name in the early gnostic movement in his native country of Colombia, before moving to Mexico in 1956, where his movement gained increased popularity, and his works became popular among practitioners of occultism and Western esotericism, and were translated into other languages. His doctrine is studied widely to this day.
In 1948, Gómez referred to himself as the name of his being, Aun Weor, which means "the verb or messenger of God." In 1954, after undergoing a ceremony he described as the birth of "Inner Christ," he adopted the name of Samael Aun Weor, which he used until his death in 1977. Samael Aun Weor referred to his teachings as "The Doctrine of Synthesis", which not only emphasizes the existence of the perennial philosophy, but that its highest teleological function is the accomplishment of "Christification" and "Final Liberation".
Contents
Biography
Early life
Victor Manuel Gómez Rodriguez was born in Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Republic of Colombia, son of Manuel Gómez Quijano and Francisca Rodríguez de Gómez. He was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church, but later rejected the Church of Rome. His childhood and family life are not well known, except that he had a brother, and his father remarried after a divorce.
He was sent to a Roman Catholic Jesuit school but soon dropped out, disappointed by religion; he was twelve years old at the time. Instead he said he invested most of his time in the study of metaphysical and esoteric treatises. At the age of 17, he was asked to lecture at the local Theosophical Chapter, and a year later was admitted into the occult society Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua (F.R.A.).
Early adult life, marriages, and children
Few details of his life are known between the mid-1930s and 1950. He became a spiritual vagabond of sorts, traveling with neither home nor income. At one point he said he had lived with a tribe of indigenous people in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia, learning the healing secrets which would later form the foundation of his medical treatise, Occult Medicine and Practical Magic. It was also during these years that he described his first experience of the Illuminating Void meeting his "Inner Being" or Atman whose name is "Aun Weor", meaning in Hebrew "Strength and Light".
He was briefly married to Sara Dueños and they had a son named "Imperator". However, in 1946, he met and married the Lady-Adept "Litelantes" (born Arnolda Garro Mora) with whom he lived for 31 years and had four children: Osiris, Isis, Iris, and Hypatia. Samael Aun Weor explains that as soon as he met her, this "Lady-Adept" Genie began to instruct him in the Science of Jinnestan or Jinn State also known as Djinn State or Djinnestan, which involved placing the physical body in the fourth dimension. In Aztec religion this practice is known as Nahuatlism, and according to Aun Weor it is related with hyperspace.
Career as an occult teacher and leader
By 1948 he had started teaching a small group of students. In 1950, under the name "Aun Weor", he managed to publish The Perfect Matrimony, or The Door to Enter into Initiation with the help of his close disciples. The book, later entitled The Perfect Matrimony.
From March 14 to 19 of 1952 Aun Weor spent five days in jail for "committing the crime of healing the sick". The account of his incarceration is recounted in a personal diary he later published as Secret Notes of a Guru.
After March 19, 1952, Aun Weor and some disciples built and lived near the Summum Supremum Sanctuarium, an "underground temple" in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. On October 27, 1954, Aun Weor received what is referred to as the "Initiation of Tiphereth", which, according to his doctrine, is the beginning of the incarnation of the Logos or "Glorian" within the soul. He states that in his case the name of his Glorian has always been called "Samael" through the ages. From then on, he would sign his name Samael Aun Weor.
Aun Weor stated that this union of Samael (the Logos) with Aun Weor (the human soul) is the Maitreya Buddha Kalki Avatar of the New Age of Aquarius. Upon being asked exactly what such a title meant, he replied:
A messenger or avatar, in the most complete sense of the word, is a courier, a man who delivers a message, a servant or maid of the Great Work. So, the word avatar must not fall into misinterpretations, it must be specified with complete clarity. I am, therefore, a servant or crew member, or messenger who delivers a message. Some time ago I said that I am a cosmic mailman, since I am giving the content of a cosmic letter. Therefore, my beloved brethren, the word avatar must never lead us to arrogance, since it only means nothing other than an emissary, a servant, a crew member who gives a message, an epistle, and that is all. In regard to Buddha Maitreya, we must analyze these two words a little in order not to fall into misinterpretations. The Innermost-Buddha in itself is the real Being, the Innermost of each one of us. Thus, when the Innermost or the real Being of somebody has attained its proper intimate Self-realization, then he is declared a Buddha. However, the term Maitreya is individual and collective; thus, from the individual point of view, it represents a teacher whose name is Maitreya, but from the collective point of view Buddha Maitreya must be understood—in the most complete sense of the word—as any initiate who has managed to Christify himself, and that is all.
Although he would declare himself as the true Kalki Avatar many times throughout his works, he regularly rejected idolization:
I, Samael, am not in need of henchmen or followers, but only imitators of my doctrine: Gnosis. I do not follow anyone, nor do I want anyone to follow me. What I want is for each one of you to follow his own Self. I am only a lighthouse in the sea of existence, and I do not need clientele in order to subsist. Since I am against the slavery of souls, I do not want to enslave any soul, nor do I agree with executioners of ideals. Masters exist in abundance, and I am only one of many; thus, those who want to find the Masters will find them inside, within the profundities of their own inner consciousness.
Living in Mexico City
In 1956, he left Colombia and went to Costa Rica and El Salvador. Later in 1956, he settled permanently in Mexico City, where he would begin his public life.
Before 1960, he had arguably published 20 more books with topics ranging from endocrinology and criminology to kundalini yoga. He founded numerous Gnostic Institutions and created Gnostic centers in Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Venezuela. A "triangle" relationship was established between the Universal Gnostic Movement founded by Samael Aun Weor, the South American Liberation Action (ALAS) in Argentina headed by Francisco A. Propato, Ph.D. (graduate of La Sorbonne and Spanish translator of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam), and the Sivananda Aryabarta Ashram directed by Swami Sivananda in India.
In spite of its success, the development of the Gnostic Movement was not without dramatic setbacks, according to its followers. By the time of publishing the revised edition of The Perfect Matrimony (1961), the movement had fallen apart. Aun Weor wrote that "those who did not leave the Gnostic Movement can be counted on the fingers of one hand." However, by the time of his death, Samael Aun Weor had completely re-established the broad international reaches the movement previously held.
Into the 1960s, he continued to write many books on topics, such as hermetic astrology, flying saucers, and the Kabbalah. However, he also wrote sociopolitical works such as the Platform of POSCLA (Partido Socialista Cristiano Latinoamericano, or Latin-American Christian Socialist Party) and The Social Christ. Topics such as the "false" doctrines of Wall Street materialism, atheism, and particularly Marxism-Leninism are discussed. POSCLA's motto was given as, "All for one and one for all," and its method, the conscious practice of ahimsa.
Final written work
In the last decade of his life, he penned works such as Parsifal Unveiled, which details the esoteric symbolism of the Wagner opera, and Gnostic Anthropology in which he heavily criticized the theories of Darwin, Haeckel, "and their followers". The books The Great Rebellion, Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology, and The Revolution of the Dialectic provide a ground work for the vast knowledge of esoteric psychology purported to be found rooted in every genuine religion. During this time, he was preparing the highest vehicle of his doctrine, The Pistis Sophia Unveiled, in which he meditated, verse-by-verse, upon the Gnostic text Pistis Sophia.
Death
By 1972, Samael Aun Weor wrote that his death and resurrection would be occurring before 1978. In the chapter entitled The Resurrection, in his work The Three Mountains (1972), he stated that the eight years of ordeals within the Trial of Job would occur between his 53rd and 61st birthdays. Furthermore, in the same work, it is stated that this ordeal occurs prior to resurrection, and the one going through it is "deprived of everything, even of his own sons, and is afflicted by an impure sickness." By August 1977 he had developed stomach cancer. During this time he continued to speak to both his students and the general public, giving radio and television interviews while touring Mexico. Eventually he was forced to stop, due to debilitating stomach pain. As his condition steadily worsened, he would mention to those at his bedside, "Don't cling to my battered body, instead cling to my doctrinal body." Aun Weor died on December 24, 1977.
Years before his death, he declared he would adopt the use of a duly prepared ancient Egyptian "mummy" as a vehicle for further work, a vehicle better prepared than his own "physical body". Many of his followers expected him to return publicly shortly after his death. According to his own statements he planned to remain incognito for a certain time so that “the leaven will ferment.”
Doctrine of Synthesis
The Doctrine of Synthesis is a term Aun Weor used to describe the teachings he delivered through his books and lectures, because it is an amalgam of an extensive variety of teachings.
Although many of the metaphysical concepts expounded by such authors as Blavatsky, Steiner, and Gurdjieff provide a conceptual foundation in Aun Weor's teachings, he considered these works and movements conceptual preparation for the real unveiling of occultism or gnosis that he taught.
Aun Weor emphasizes that his doctrine is experiential, and must be put into practice for it to be of any value to the student. Throughout his works there are hundreds of techniques and exercises that are of help in the development of psychic powers, for example leaving the dense physical body at will (astral projection), in order to be taught in the schools of the "Higher Worlds." The techniques are always combined with meditation, and the perfection of such powers may take more than one lifetime.
It is stated that if a student is successful in awakening consciousness, he or she will eventually experience a continuous state of vigilance not only during the day but also while the physical body is sleeping, and most importantly after death. This is significant because Aun Weor states that those who have a sleeping consciousness are not aware of their postmortem condition, just as they are not aware when they are physically sleeping. The awakening of consciousness allows a student to continue to work regardless of their physical state.
Religion
Religions are viewed as idiosyncratic expressions of immutable and eternal values. Religions are said to be born and die in time, yet their spiritual values always remain eternal. When a religious form has fulfilled its mission, it begins to degenerate and dies, then a new messenger appears and delivers a doctrine appropriate for that culture. Different cultures require different doctrines for their development and this results in a vast difference of religious doctrines. Nevertheless, if one understands their core values, all religions naturally support each other. It is stated that any authentic religion possess what are called "The Three Factors of the Revolution of the Consciousness" which are practical aspects of daily life:
- Death: The psychological work of eliminating the ego.
- Birth: Giving birth to the superior potential of the soul.
- Sacrifice: To work to aid suffering humanity "without desiring the fruits of action, without desiring reward; pure, sincere, disinterested sacrifice, giving one's life in order for others to live, and without asking for anything in return."
Among these 3 factors, Aun Weor highlights that the first one is the most important. A teaching that is missing any one of these components is considered incomplete or degenerate.
Psychology
The basis of Aun Weor's practical work is of a psychological nature. He states in many of his books that the purpose of his doctrine is to affect a psychological change. The terms Gnostic, Esoteric or Revolutionary Psychology are used to describe the psychological methods taught, and are said to be synonymous with the psychological teachings of religion.
A fundamental axiom presented is that an ordinary human being is not really human at all, but rather an intellectual animal (a rational animal) with consciousness asleep. According to Samael Aun Weor, a true human being is someone who has no psychological imperfection, an image of God, as in Jesus' saying, "Become perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." He believed himself to be an example of such a 'human being'. Aun Weor writes of the awakening of consciousness as being very similar to the traditional Buddhist understanding, and throughout his works he describes many analogous processes as they are spoken of in different religions.
In order to awaken the consciousness correctly, Aun Weor stated it was necessary to annihilate the ego. He taught that one's ego is really not one but many, or a multitude of independent, contradictory desires. Likewise, each person's ego is said to actually contain many "I's," many "egos," many "aggregates." Each desire is an "I" and each "I" has its own specific causes and conditions that lead to its personification at a particular time. This is the mechanism behind what is commonly called "changing one's mind" (metanoia) because when one "I" changes to another a literal exchange of personified psychological aggregates has taken place. This "doctrine of the many", the Plural 'I' or Pluralized Ego, is the same as that taught by G.I. Gurdjieff and his disciple P. D. Ouspensky and is one of the reasons Aun Weor was sometimes accused of plagiarism. To this he responded that Gurdjieff was not the author of this doctrine and that its origin is found in Egypt and Tibet.
Consciousness
Consciousness is described as a state of being, very closely related to God. The consciousness within the normal person is said to be 97% asleep. Consciousness asleep is consciousness that is subconscious, unconscious, or infraconscious, which are various levels of psychological sleep. Psychological sleep is a way to describe the lack of self-awareness, meaning that the common and ordinary person is not aware of 97% of what constitutes the ordinary state of being. A consciousness asleep is caused by what Aun Weor calls identification, fascination, or the incorrect transformation of impressions, which all imply a type of consciousness that is not aware of its own processes. It is said that to awaken consciousness one must understand that his or her consciousness is asleep. This implies that one must begin to understand every impulse, action, thought and movement one makes, a feat that is said to be accomplished through the mental discipline of meditation and self-observation. Furthermore, it is stated that the awakening of consciousness is the only way to acquiring gnosis and achieve a true and radical change by removing the spurious psychological aggregates that cause unnecessary suffering.
Psychological aggregates
The purpose of the psychological work is to dissolve all the psychological aggregates one has accumulated. The term "psychological or mystical death" is often used to describe the process one must undergo in order to reach liberation."Psychological aggregates" are commonly known simply as aggregates in Buddhism, yet it is taught that other religions used a more veiled or less sophisticated method to describe them, such as: the Legion that Jesus is described as removing from a man in Mark 5 and Luke 8 in one of the alleged Miracles of Jesus; overcoming the tortures of the 49 Self-willed demons of Yaldabaoth written in the Pistis Sophia; the killing of the "unbelievers" in Islam; Moses escaping the tyranny of the Egyptians; Arjuna fighting against his own blood (the ego); the demons of Seth that attack Osiris; Jesus throwing the merchants out of the temple; the archetypal death and resurrection of the "Solar Hero" exemplified in the stories of Jesus and Osiris; the descent to Dante's Inferno (representing our unconscious) or Paradise Lost's Pandemonium in order to accomplish a great task, such as those performed by Hercules or Orpheus; the archetypal Dragon (ego) that must be slayed by the Knight, etc. Aun Weor states that this specific paradigm is called "The Doctrine of the Many" and has been taught in esoteric schools and religions since the beginning of time. The anatomy of the pluralized self being the divine spark imprisoned within hundreds of psychological aggregates.
In order to achieve psychological transformation, extensive methods of meditation and self-observation are taught and prescribed for daily exercise. The goal of psychological work is the awakening of consciousness and ultimately the state of Paramarthasatya.
Soteriology
Soteriology (study of salvation) is presented in the light of every notable religion yet usually with special differences not held by orthodox interpretations. There are many degrees of salvation generally accomplished by paying one's karma, removing the psychological imperfections and finally creating the solar bodies. The idea held by many religions that belief in God alone achieves salvation is categorically rejected.
Many different levels of salvation are explained, each depending upon the willpower of the individual accomplishing it. For those who do not remove their psychological imperfection (ego) – which is the cause of karma and the suffering of humanity – after approximately 108 rebirths they will have their ego removed forcefully through mechanical devolution within the infradimensions (Hell). Here it is said that "Mother Nature" mechanically pays out one's accumulated karma through a great deal of suffering over thousands of years until one is returned to the state of an innocent elemental, or Essence. This is said to be a state of being that is total happiness, yet not cognizant happiness and therefore not complete happiness. Hell is not taught as a place of eternal damnation, just a place to pay one's karma, and in fact it is seen as a part of God's grace because if the ego is not removed forcefully, these souls would continue to suffer indefinitely. It is held that after Hell, the elemental is reinserted into the mechanics of evolution in order to once again attempt to gain conscious happiness: They are first inserted at the basic level of existence (minerals), and through millions of years, transmigrate through increasingly complex organisms until the state of intellectual animal is reached again.
For those who do work on themselves, depending on the degree of perfection, happiness and wisdom they wish to attain, two distinct paths emerge: the Straight Path of the Razor's Edge and the Spiral Path. The Spiral Path involves reaching a state of relative enlightenment by choosing the enjoyment of the Higher Worlds (Heaven or Nirvana), and occasionally returning to a physical body in order to pay out a little more karma and help humanity in the process. Aun Weor refers to these as the Pratyeka Buddhas and Sravakas, and that the vast majority who reach this state choose the Spiral Path because it is very easy and enjoyable. The dangerous Straight Path of the Razor's Edge is the Path of the Bodhisattva who renounces the happiness of the Higher Worlds (Nirvana) in order to help humanity. In the doctrine of Aun Weor, the Bodhisattva has a very specific definition, as it is not merely someone who has taken the Bodhisattva vows. It is the physical (Malkuth), vital (Yesod), astral (Hod), mental (Netzach) and causal (Tiphereth) vehicles – in other words the human soul – of a self-realized spirit, (Geburah-Chesed) who has chosen the Straight Path of the Razor's Edge in order to incarnate the Christ (Kether-Binah-Chokmah). In other words, the Bodhisattva is the "Son" of a self-realized God who is trying to return to the Absolute or 13th Aeon of the Pistis Sophia.
Christology
Christ is viewed as the savior but not as traditionally understood by contemporary Christianity. Instead, Christ is an impersonal force or intelligence that emanates from the Absolute as the Trinity and is also referred to as the Cosmic Christ. Christ is said to have existed before Jesus, and is represented in different traditions with names such as Thoth, Ormuz, Ahura Mazda, Osiris, Zeus, Jupiter, Quetzalcoatl, Okidanokh, Kulkulcan, Chrestos, Baldur, and Avalokitesvara. It is held that Christ enters into and exalts any individual who is properly prepared, which denotes the complete annihilation of the ego, the exhaustion of all karma and the birth of the solar vehicles, the latter is necessary to handle the super high voltage of Christ. Aun Weor writes that only those who choose the previously mentioned Straight Path of the Razor's Edge can incarnate the Christ because the Spiral Path is not a path of total sacrifice. Likewise, any true Bodhisattva has incarnated the Christ or is in process of doing so. It is said that in history Christ incarnated in Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna, Moses, Padmasambhava, John the Baptist, Milarepa, Mahavatar Babaji, Joan of Arc, Fu Xi, Ramakrishna as well as many others now forgotten by time (or made up in works of fiction) e. g. Zanoni
It is important to notice that some of these individuals represent Christ as an impersonal force, e. g. Jesus, meaning that although he was an individual Christ, he taught the doctrine of the Cosmic Christ, intentionally molding his physical life after the psychological processes that one undergoes to incarnate the Christ. As with Buddha, Jesus is seen as a Bodhisattva who came to help humanity. Jesus is viewed as the Savior of the World because he is a Paramarthasatya (an inhabitant of the Absolute) that physically incarnated specifically for the sake of poor suffering humanity. According to Aun Weor, Jesus purposefully played out physically the internal or psychological struggle one must undergo in the path of Self-Realization; thus, the Gospels are a mixture of reality and kabbalistic, initiatic symbolism. According to Aun Weor, there is the historic Christ as depicted in Christian Churches; then, there is the Christ of Transubstantiation to be known exclusively through the Gnostic Church; and finally, there is the Apocalyptic Christ who is to come with the New Jerusalem, after the Great Cataclysm that will consume the world.
Anthropology
His work Cosmic Teachings of a Lama states that life on Earth did not occur through abiogenesis, but instead through pansperma. To Aun Weor, the theories of abiogenesis are similar to those of spontaneous generation, and that Pasteur had already implicitly refuted the former when the latter was empirically disproved. Furthermore, while evolution is a verified fact of nature, speciation through Darwinian evolution has never been witnessed and is "an absurd theory without basis or foundation." Instead, the sum of zoological variation is determined by the seeds of life traveling throughout space (protected by electromagnetic "whirlwinds") which determine the evolution and devolution of life on any planet. Life, according to Aun Weor, is eternal, however its expression is divided into evolutive and devolutive modes: species evolve, reach a pinnacle, and necessarily devolve and return to a germinal state.
Man, therefore, is not the outcome of the evolution from a common ancestor to the primates, but rather the exponent of an eternal anthropic principle.
They say that the human being comes from the ape. They came out with the theory of the cynocephalus with a tail, the monkey without a tail and the arboreal men, all of them children of the noeptizoids, etc. But, which of these would then be the missing link? On what day have they found a monkey that is capable of speaking, that is gifted with speech? It has not appeared until now. Therefore, these materialistic gentlemen are ludicrous. They only present us suppositions and not facts.
Therefore are not the materialists refuting the theories of Darwin himself and his henchmen? Does the human being come from the ape? Upon which basis do they sustain this theory? How do they demonstrate it? Until when are we going to wait for the supposed missing link? We want to see that specie of ape speaking like people. That ape has not appeared, therefore such an ape is only a supposition of nonsense that has no reality.
He does state however that evolution within a species is possible, yet that no species can evolve from another species. Furthermore, he states that the human or 'intellectual animal' naturally evolves in time, for example our society is an evolution from previous societies - however the evolution of species can never achieve spiritual liberation because it will always return to devolution. Spiritual liberation requires a 'revolution of consciousness'.
Eschatology
In many books Aun Weor wrote about the "Final Catastrophe" or Apocalypse which was central to the framing of his teachings. His work The Aquarian Message is a commentary on the Book of Revelation, which affirms the notion that present civilization will end and a future one will emerge. Only those souls who remove their ego in the present time will avoid the Second Death and re-transmigrations. A specific date is never given, only that this civilization is in the twilight of its existence.
The Social Christ and POSCLA
Aun Weor wrote about social problems in the books The Social Christ and The Social Transformation of Humanity. The Social Christ is primarily concerned with a comprehensive critique of Marxism or Dialectical Materialism, but deals also with the injustices of the Capitalist system;
We are filled with horror in the presence of so much infamy. The ones that cannot pay for a stall in the public markets are persecuted, but they flatter and butter up the powerful gentlemen that steal millions of pesos from the people.
In this way the capitalists fertilize the soil and prepare it in order that in it the filthy flower of Communism can germinate.
All political systems, Aun Weor states, are a reflection of our own psychology, and he explains that in order to finally finish with oppression it is necessary to change our own psychological state through the Death of Ego, combining this with non-violent resistance and the unionization of workers.
The struggle for the triumph of social justice is very long and hard, but we must never use violence, nor revolutions of blood and liquor.
In order "to start a new age and realize the Social Christ on the face of the earth," Aun Weor formed a political party called 'POSCLA', The Christian Socialist Party of Latin America, which he later disbanded as a formal organization.
Medicine and elemental magic
In his works, Occult Medicine and Practical Magic, Igneous Rose and others, Aun Weor taught about elemental magic. In the former work he expressed his opposition to the medicine of modern science, allopathy, and called for the Gnostics to learn the ways of Indigenous and Elemental Medicine.
Aun Weor taught that all the plants of nature are living Elemental Spirits, similarly to Paracelsus and many other esoteric teachers. He states that it is the Elemental Spirits who cure, not simply the 'cadavers of the plants'. Plants should be treated as living beings, harvested at the proper hours etc. He stated that the Elementals of all plants are aspects of The Divine Mother in the form of Mother Nature. In 'Occult Medicine and Practical Magic' he spoke about the healing methods of the Kogi Mamas, who diagnose sicknesses by means of clairvoyance.
See also
In Spanish: Samael Aun Weor para niños
- Fourth Way
- Mysticism
