The path of the Gnostic teachings as taught by Samael Aun Weor, is based in self-knowledge – it is the essential aspect of awakening consciousness and liberation. This self-knowledge entails deep understanding of one’s own self, not only the physical processes, but also the psychological component of the person – the subconscious mind. Through knowing the latter, we also get to know our consciousness, and further on our Higher Self – the Being.
This need for self-knowledge was emphasized again and again in various spiritual traditions of the world. In the recently discovered ancient Gnostic texts known as the Nag Hamadi Library, self-knowledge is spoken of highly as a crucial ingredient for the knowledge of reality and for awakening.
Within each person is a legion of egoical I’s –the drives, thoughts, emotions, and many other psychological elements that control our decisions, actions and our lives. This legion of many I’s are things such as greed, anger, pride, lust, vanity, fear, depression, jealousy, and many other defects that we carry inside and which comprise the subconscious mind.
Inside each of that element is particle of consciousness, which is asleep and conditioned by the defect in which it finds itself. When the defect is eliminated, this particle of consciousness returns to the main consciousness that we have free, which in the beginning of the work is around 3%. The rest of it (97%) is trapped inside the multitude of the egos, and as they are eliminated, proportionally to that the consciousness increases in size.
By having knowledge of the program of nature that controls us within, we can begin to eliminate these egos and thus liberate and expand our consciousness. Inside the freed consciousness is the knowledge of the ego in which it was trapped, together with virtues and various other qualities.
The consciousness is a small part of our divine origin, which is our inner Being. The more of the consciousness we have, the more we know about ourselves and our Being, and the more enabled we are to explore higher realities. In this way the self-knowledge of our subconscious mind and of our consciousness leads us towards other great mysteries of Creation and beyond.