“We need to become serious if we truly want to reach the integration of all the autonomous and Self-conscious parts of the Being. Many are the aspirants who believe themselves to be serious; yet, they are not. There are many who enter our studies and then play with diverse doctrines. They are not serious. There are many whom having known this doctrine; play with this doctrine. The lukewarm Gnostics who flirt with other doctrines play with Gnosis. There are many students of Gnosis who while playing with it, ridicule Gnosis. Many clowns have infiltrated the Gnostic move­ment. Those who have not declared themselves to be their own mortal enemies are not serious. Gnostics who are not serious become fascinated with novelties. This is the is­sue. These types of Gnostics, Gnostics who are not serious, Gnostics who are searching and playing, definitively fail. Only the Gnostics who work on themselves can integrally Self-realize themselves.”
~ Samael Aun Weor

It is useful in our inner work to occasionally step back and reflect on how we are doing, to see if we are still moving in a proper and optimal way towards the spiritual goals that we have set for ourselves. If this is not done, life could easily consume us, and we would go about our day believing that we are making progress, when in fact very little or no change at all is occurring within.

Our consciousness is stuck in the mechanical processes of the animalistic aspects of our psyche, and this makes it difficult to maintain the continuity of our spiritual work. The way out of it, which is the way of transformation, is to take this work very seriously; as something upon which a lot of importance is placed, in order to do what is necessary to lift the consciousness into higher phases. Like this we can gain increasingly more control over ourselves, and ultimately start re-integrating with our inner Being. The latter and its vehicles is what creates the biggest difference in our inner work, as it is with the Being within that we have divine force truly established within us, enabling us to pass obstacles and tests of esoteric Initiations.

In today’s society it is trendy to take things easy, slowly, without putting too much heart into anything. Even many spiritual circles encourage to be playful with life, to see life as a game, because, as they believe, everything will eventually fall into its own place, without us needing to be truly serious with anything. This type of view adds a lot to people’s inability to do something truly meaningful with their lives, because in order to achieve something that stands out from mediocrity, one needs to apply a necessary effort. And for those who know that their destiny is directly related to the actions that they do today, those who know what awaits them if their course of life is not diverted, they will most likely take the inner growth matter very seriously.

However, what it is to be serious? Many students of Gnosis have interpreted ‘being serious’ to mean things that in reality take them away from the Path, rather than bringing them closer to it. Many were those who became fanatical with their inner work, dogmatizing the doctrine, pushing people away from themselves, becoming prisoners of their mystical pride, pushing their viewpoint on other people. This is obviously a harmful behavior, and it has nothing to do with being serious with the work. If we notice that we are not developing qualities such as impersonal love and compassion, it means that we are not doing things correctly. Love and compassion (as well as others qualities) should emerge as we work on eliminating the egos, and if by approaching the work wrongly we were to get stuck in false seriousness, we would through the above mentioned qualities be able to see that the results of the spiritual work are the opposite of things such as arrogance, mystical pride, and the feelings of exclusiveness.

Seriousness in the work means to take up the work properly, to study the teachings with common sense, to put to practice the most important practical exercises for the awakening of consciousness, and to make it as a goal to succeed with them. Those who still haven’t verified for themselves that the teachings create a real inner change, they can be serious about dedicating enough time to it to see if it will work for them or not. And should they discover that the teachings bring quality change within, then it is necessary to apply the necessary effort in order to reach a proper transformation.

In reality, only by giving our all can we ascend high up with the work; it is only by making a lot of sacrifices that we can reach to concrete heights of the Path, and for that we need to be serious; we need to be clear with our priorities; understanding that as much as we have a duty towards society and people around us, so to we have a duty towards ourselves and our Being.

HDP, March 2021.