Hallmarks of a Self Gnosis Practice

Spoler alert: it's all about trust and freedom.

The consciousness practice we practice in this community is very simple. As teacher and guide, I use a suite of simple instructions and suggestions to help us enter a subtile brain state ("pure consciousness"). There is no way to do the practice "wrong"...and maybe in the same way no way to do the practice "right." The practice is outside of these black/white bounds, and with time students will see this for themselves. Though I provide students information, I do not expect students to believe what I say on faith. I expect them to eventually, through practice, experience and therefore KNOW the information for themselves.

A pure consciousness practice can help one develop the capacity to view reality from multiple angles and frameworks. The point of the practice is self gnosis. "Gnosis" comes from the Greek word for "knowledge". Gnosis signifies a special kind of knowledge, often esoteric and mystical, that goes beyond ordinary intellectual understanding. It's often associated with a direct, intuitive, or experiential way of knowing. "Self-gnosis" specifically refers to this type of knowledge applied to the self, meaning a profound understanding of one's own being, purpose, and relationship to the divine or the cosmos. 

This can be contrasted with more "dogmatic" spiritual or mindfulness practices which may have right/wrong rules and a more hierarchical role for the teacher. Dogma in this context is a "set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true". In this type of framework, it is a teacher's job to judge a student's progress and state, based on the pre-agreed upon rules. There is a right and wrong. Dogmatic or "exoteric" practices often come from self-gnosis "esoteric" traditions, and the dogma is often created to make it easier to roll out a tradition to a large group of people. Dogmatic organizational structures are far more common in our modern society than ones centered around self-knowing.

When we are able to KNOW something for ourselves, we naturally become more confident and easy in the world. It is much harder for us to believe or be persuaded by information that is not for our best interest. It is easier for us to choose and create our own reality. We are also less anxious and less prone to disease.

There is a lot of responsibility that comes along with a practice of self gnosis, both for the student and the teacher. A student on a path to know truth for themselves must not be tempted by the false power of using spiritual teachings for manipulation. It is a student's responsibility to represent the information they are receiving honestly, without guile, so it can support their own healing and the healing of the community.

The teacher's role is to help students tune in to a healing reference framework and to help students understand the aim of the methods. A teacher also holds the energetic space of a practice to help students open up energy pathways and understand the teachings from a non-verbal level. Ultimately, it is not the teacher's job to tell a student what is "right" or "wrong".  If a teacher feels that a student is being swayed by limiting patterns/reference frameworks, it can be the teacher's responsibility to help a student re-tune; however, a teacher must trust a student to have the explorations they need to have, which may include testing boundaries. A teacher must always trust that a student will self-correct and eventually find their own middle path. Ultimately, both the teacher and student have a huge degree of freedom; to act as they will and do as they must, all in service of the greatest healing and the greatest good.

This path toward "knowing thyself" can be a bumpy one, filled with ugly "qi purifications" and strange twists and turns. It is a long path, and as they say "it will all be OK in the end and if it's not OK it's not the end!"