Previous Gnostic Questions

How can one quiet the mind?

Answer from the V.M. Samael Aun Weor.

As long as we remain within the prison of the intellect, we will be unable to experience true freedom. The mind, in itself, is a deeply painful prison; no one has ever found happiness through the mind. To this day, there has never been a single person who has found happiness through the mind. The mind brings misery to all creatures; it renders them unhappy. The most blissful moments we have ever experienced in our lives have always occurred in the absence of the mind—fleeting instants, perhaps, yet ones that can never be forgotten. In such moments, we have known what happiness truly is, though it lasted only a second. The mind does not know what happiness is; it is a prison! We must learn to master the mind—not the minds of others, but our own—if we wish to become independent of it. It is essential to learn to view the mind as something that must be mastered—something that, in a sense, needs to be tamed. Consider the Divine Master Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, riding upon a donkey; that donkey represents the mind, which must be brought under control. We must be the ones to ride the donkey—it must not ride us. Unfortunately, people fall victim to the mind precisely because they do not know how to ride this donkey. The mind is a rather clumsy beast that must be mastered if we truly wish to ride it.

Samael Aun Weor.

Answer from the magazine "The The wisdom of the Being.".

Quieting the mind—whether by observing a flame, the stillness of a lake, motionless clouds, or the impassive earth of the mountains—has a profound impact on our consciousness. If we perceive that presence, that message, or that vibration, it can lead us to a point where we are able to observe and uncover any movement or instability—shifting forms or ideas threatening to parade through the corridors of the mind. Ultimately, however, it is this act of observation that serves as the key to halting such processions—to stopping the influx of ideas, thoughts, and desires that seek to enslave the human being.

The Magazine "The Wisdom of the Being" 110: "Chapter: Sutras 49-53."