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Self-Observation

Once we tackle the exercise of self-remembrance and grounding ourselves in the here and now, the next step is to observe within. By so doing, we see what is happening in our five psychological centers where the egos (subconscious defects) manifest. These defects govern our lives in so many ways, but when we start observing them from the point of view of an observer, we are then able to detach from them and not go along with what they want us to do.

These defects control us through the five psychological centers. These are: intellect, emotion, sex, motor and instinct. In each of these centers these egos manifest in a different way. In the intellectual center as thoughts; in the emotional center as emotions, in the motor center as unconscious movement, in the instinctual center as instincts, and in the sexual center as desires and sexual sensations. What connects them all together is that they manifest below our radar, and without us consenting to them.

Because we have such a small level of consciousness, most of what arises in us in any moment of the day is the subconscious states. When we are in the state of self-remembrance and when we self-observe the above mentioned centers, we can then see which of them is taking hold of our psychological centers, and subsequently can deal with them by applying the technique of elimination.

In order to practice the self-observation exercise well, we first need to remember ourselves and thereby become conscious of the present moment, and then begin to observe the sensations in the five psychological centers. As we do this more and more, the sense of self-remembrance and self-observation will become like one single sense. In other words, when we become conscious of ourselves it will be natural to look both ways at the same time – both within and without, because the nature of our consciousness is singular; it unifies different aspects of the inner work that it performs into one single whole.

The exercise of self-observation is the second step to the revolution of consciousness. Without it, no further development is possible.