The Path for the Ultimate Quest. Spiritual practices and teachings of the greatest masters

By Hermelinda

Who you really are? What is the truth about life?

Why does a human being, at some point in his life, realize that science, religion and academic philosophies cannot give him the answers he seeks? Scientific knowledge reveals its inability to provide real answers to the great mysteries of birth and death.

Why should you start a spiritual journey?

Different spiritual traditions have given us the keys and the methods to find these answers: the hermetic-alchemical tradition, the tradition of Shamanism and the Indian yogic tradition (Raja Yoga, Kriya yoga and Advaita Vedanta), and the Tibetan Buddhism tradition.
All the exercises proposed, although belonging to different traditions and schools, are linked to the same modalities and objectives, in a unique and coherent path.
Spiritual Tradition is One, although it has taken on different forms over the ages and in different geographical places.
The researcher, who has become a disciple, will find the most hidden secrets not only of humanity but of the entire universe in the depths of his being.
Behind the scenes of ordinary existence, there is the ineffable unknown, and during his journey of knowledge, the disciple will receive sudden and unexpected revelations of this mystery, about a force that governs all that exists, and which constitutes all beings, as luminous source of regenerating energy. As he proceeds along this path, he will understand how to get in touch with this force, drawing on it and using it in his consciousness.
The spiritual path is like the science, in which the fundamental data is experience, as well as experimentation as a test bench.
You will choose the path and practices most suitable for you, building your own personal way.
Going forward with this research, you will gradually discover that your true being has a supersensitive nature and origin, and that in your depths lives something precious that can give you real harmony, security, inner firmness against the many obstacles of existence.
You will then find out, that all the external masters are there to show you that the true master is within you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hermelinda
• Release date: Nov 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9798224916696

Book preview

Occult Preparation

The disciple who approaches the esoteric path must first adopt a lifestyle characterized by balance, health and harmony. Diet must be balanced and proportionate to the type of your ordinary occupation. I believe that certain diets prescribed by some types of ascetic paths can cause serious imbalances rather than lead to a spiritual illumination (perhaps in this case you can reach another type of illumination, the one that is about to faint...). A balanced vegetarian diet without red meat, but with a moderate intake of eggs and dairy products, and the occasional intake of fish, would be ideal. In particular, the diet should prefer vegetables and fruit in abundance, whole grains and legumes. It is advisable to prefer food that is as little as possible processed, raw (eat raw, dry and hard) or cooked just a little, to preserve their vital properties. Indeed, food will not only nourish the physical vehicle, giving it a contribution in terms of calories, carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, but also more subtle vehicles. Food contains a variable quantity of prana, the same invisible vital energy that permeates the air we breathe.

It will be better to avoid flesh, which conveys forces that act on the human astral vehicle creating imbalances and interference. Many esoteric schools also recommend avoiding alcohol.

The disciple should sleep for a number of hours corresponding to his subjective need; typically, seven to eight hours would be the ideal amount of sleep. However, there will be some parts of the journey during which the subject will feel the need to sleep more; the subtle vehicle-bodies will need more time to recharge their energy. There will also be moments in which the night break will pass in a different way from the ordinary unconsciousness made of sleep without dreams or with confused dreams. During the night sleep there will be moments of lucidity gradually more and more frequent, on the direction of a real continuity of consciousness. This will require more energy, and therefore several additional hours of sleep.

A regular and balanced physical activity is useful and often indispensable for physical body harmony with the pranic body, as it prevents or helps to resolve any physical-psychic blockages. The ideal activities for this purpose are first of all hatha yoga, and I will talk about it later, but also tai chi chuan and chi kung. Dance can also be useful, as it promotes body expression; there are in particular some forms more aimed at coordinating the aspect of movement with the spiritual expression, for example bio-dance.

At the end of the spiritual exercises, it may be useful to have a short session of physical activity, to promote the circulation of energy and to drain any stagnation or blockages.

Relaxation is the introduction of any meditation technique. Indeed, any technique of this kind implies a strong capacity for relaxation, in order to be carried out to the end. Relaxation is an essential condition without which it will not be possible to reach gradually deeper states of consciousness. When we learn relaxation techniques, we learn to manage powers that establish certain forces in us. Relaxation is a force which acts on the physical level in order to cause effects on subtler spheres.

It is necessary to assume a correct and above all comfortable position from the beginning, to avoid that mind can be influenced by some numbness or some unwanted muscle tension. It is not so much important which posture is adopted, but rather the state of total abandonment that must not be altered by physical problems or external inconvenience.

Relaxation cannot be obtained with violence, but in a calm and gradual way, through a conscious command of thought.

Dressed in comfortable clothes, lie on your back and close your eyes. Let your breath flow freely, and calmly observe its rhythm without influencing the duration of your inhalations and exhalations. Begin to focus your attention on one part of your body, such as a finger, and imagine it inert, abandoned, and then move on to the other fingers, then to your hand, to your forearm, and so on, until you have done it for the entire body.

You can mentally repeat a formula like this: I remove all tension from the muscles of my arm. My muscles are relaxed, they sleep. I do not feel my arm, it is completely relaxed, it is an inert mass and finally: All my muscles are relaxed. I am calm and relaxed. My breath is calm and peaceful. I'm absolutely calm, I'm in harmony.

Initially it will take you time to be able to relax all the individual parts of your body and to reach a complete state of physical-psychic relaxation. However, through constant practice, you could obtain relaxation in less time and even just by giving a simple instant command.

An essential text for me for having a firm orientation to the principle of the way, is: Introduction to Magic by the Ur Group, in three volumes, which included the collection of publications of the magazine Ur appeared around 1925. In the Ur Group there were esotericists from various orientations: Anthroposophists, Hermetists, Freemasons, Pythagoreans, and so on. In 1994 an essay by Professor Renato Del Ponte was published, Julius Evola and the magical Ur Group, which shed light on the identity of the writers who published very important monographs for readers who were looking for practical instructions for opening up a way. Ur writers had signed themselves with literary pseudonyms, testifying that for a practitioner, his biographical identity, his self, does not matter.

Knowing the identities behind those literary pseudonyms was useful to me in order to understand the type of esoteric and spiritual formation of Ur authors, and to better orient myself in their teachings and effective instructions.

The first monograph reported in the collection of Introduction to Magic by Ur Group ¹, was written by Leo, that is Giovanni Colazza, disciple of Rudolf Steiner, and teacher of Massimo Scaligero. On the latter's teachings it is worth dwelling more on later. Now I would like to draw the reader's attention to the content of that article, which begins in this way:

"The first movement of man who seeks the way must be to break the habitual image he has of himself. Only then he can begin to say I, when the inner imagination of feeling without limits of space, age and power corresponds to the magic word"

Colazza draws attention to the fact that ordinary man tends to limit himself, feeling so enclosed by his physical body, as in a prison, and rooted in the Earth where he lives, so reassured by formulating scientific laws that make the universe static. The modern man places himself timidly on the periphery of the universe, completely ignoring what power is contained in his thought and in the depths of his being. Daily life creates a limit around man in the form of a paralyzing shell which can persist in his subconscious, becoming an obstacle to achieving inner fulfillment.

It is therefore necessary that, before starting the spiritual exercises, the disciple changes his vision of himself and of the universe. It will be possible to achieve this goal through the following meditation practice, to do for a long time:

Sit in a comfortable position, perhaps in front of a beautiful landscape. Think:

"I am the center of the universe. The smallest change in my consciousness has a strong influence on the myriad worlds that dot the universe. My body limits are an illusion: I extend beyond the earth, to the infinite cosmic spaces. The universe is populated with mysterious forces that act, permeating the earth, water, air, fire. All these forces move with me, through my thoughts, feelings, actions. I am surrounded by mystery and I have a clear presentiment of what I do not yet know. I feel in its strength the unknown that acts in me and around me.

I perceive in me greatness and power".

The feeling of greatness and power consists of a real feeling that will be translated into a force embodied, internalized both physically and in the depths of consciousness.

"There are no space limits: I am the center of the universe and everything belongs to me. I continue in cosmic spaces until infinity. Therefore, my thoughts and acts have influence and move the whole universe.

I have no limits of space and power. There is a reality out there that I do not know yet. But this unknown acts in me courageously, I grab it and feel it in all its strength. I have no power limits".

Shankara, a great oriental philosopher who introduced the Advaita Vedanta school of thought, in his Crown of Wisdom ² draws attention to how important it is to free oneself from the obsession with the assumption I am the body, which restricts one's consciousness to the physical brain. The researcher must rather approach a new conception of human consciousness as if it were the infinite space, which extends into the universe without limit, containing stars and planets. Our mind can and must be extended beyond its ordinary limits, and this can be accomplished by beginning to imagine in meditation a great infinite space that extends into the universe and beyond the universe itself. He will then imagine that his consciousness will expand into the universe beyond all limits, in all directions, beyond his physical body, gradually reaching the confines of the solar system. Imagination will understand all this as if it were contained in us, as if our consciousness enveloped everything. Consciousness will plunge into Infinity.

I am one with the Infinite space. The infinite space is contained in me.

It is not enough to think, but it is necessary to understand, be convinced, repeatedly immerse yourself in thought as Colazza says. This thought must be constantly revived in the soul; the soul must always fill itself with thought again. Any other thoughts, feelings, or memories must be eliminated.

Concentrating on a thought or concept in which one has deeply penetrated strengthens forces in the soul which are usually dispersed in ordinary life, and which will become real organs of perception for the spiritual worlds. During meditation it is not enough to understand or remember a certain concept, but it must be presented to consciousness in a constant and rhythmic way. Knowledge must be absorbed by the entire body and psychic being, not only as a thought, but also as a willful feeling and impulse, in a constant and repetitive way. This state must be imagined as descending to the whole of oneself, both as a thought and as a state of feeling in the heart. In this way the concept will insert itself in the deep layers of the subconscious, until it turns into a new condition, into a living force.

When meditating on a concept, or a symbol, there are different stages through which this process of embodiment takes place. As a first step, the mind creates the theme and holds it steady. The thought is translated into an image, on which the concentration will be directed. In this phase embodiment is linked to thought, to the cerebral sphere.

At this point, an emotional state linked to the content must be created: the embodiment of feeling. Now it is important to love the meditative object; the image must be welcomed with extreme inner calm, warmed and nourished with sweetness (gentle fire of a lamp that illuminates the image), as if a soul for the image was formed through one's own heat. All this without effort, without any tension. The moment will come when the previous image has to be abandoned, but its resonance, its vibration will remain. The latter will be increased and embodied, that is felt in the body, as in a state of deep heat, a set of sensations that involve the deep layers of being.

And finally, the embodiment in the will, which will be perceived in the last phase of the embodiment, through affirmation and firmness, experienced in the arms and legs. In this way the content of consciousness will be transported from the brain to the supersensible spiritual consciousness, from the heart to the deepest seat of the will, internalizing itself until it becomes intense strength. "This to the point of touching, enveloping the imagination and generating in the image a feeling and motion of the soul, which will make it mine. (...) this until the creature (beloved image) is complete and alive, then another force appears that is not mine but is added to mine and takes it towards the right direction, accelerating the rhythms up to a state of light and realization" (Leo-Colazza, op. cit.)

In this way a special aptitude of great importance for different kinds of spiritual techniques will be developed. Concepts will be possessed in a way that is not limited to simply understanding or remembering. Rhythmization will be practiced, presenting to one's own consciousness, which understands willingly, the same concept periodically and rhythmically, and not only as a thought but also as a feeling.

INNER SILENCE

In the first volume of Introduction to Magic, Luce (Giulio Parise) describes a Ritual of Opus Magicum, which I consider very important. I will take some pieces of this ritual, to be used as an integrative practice to the other meditative exercises. The first part of the ritual, indeed, constitutes the necessary prelude for the practice of concentration.

Lie down in the dark.

Imagine thought as a concrete, fixed and material entity that enters in you, collects and solidifies.

Observe this entity, and gradually move away from it.

Finally grab it and pull it out of the body. Keep it out.

Through this practice a part of consciousness - the silent observer - will gradually move away from mental contents. That is, the detachment of an empty part of consciousness will take place, which will observe the mental contents as distinct from itself.

This is the prelude to silence, which is the most important technique in any meditation system. We could say, indeed, that every meditative technique of any spiritual tradition, both Western and Eastern, aims to achieve inner silence.

Don Juan taught Castaneda that inner silence is the method to achieve the displacement of the connective point, and to tap into a source of energy that will arise from the interruption of the incessant and exhausting internal dialogue. It is possible to say that inner silence is a real stepping stone to infinity. He who silences his own internal dialogue, knows by seeing and has stopped interpreting what he perceives.

Due to the incessant mental chatter, the subject constantly continues to perceive the world in the way we are used to. Thoughts confine perception in a continuous telling of the strength and stillness of the world to oneself, and this is how thoughts continue to feed the maya, illusion, which ends up being mistaken for reality. The practice of inner silence will let you access to different states of consciousness.

Ordinarily, our senses are constantly exposed to waves of stimuli and so we are unable to reach the inner silence and the peace that would result from it. Only in silence it will be possible to find the basis of all that one truly is, and that the ordinary mind obscures, deceiving us and distorting our real essence.

Luce includes the inner silence in the second part of the ritual, as a consequence of the detachment between the silent consciousness and the concrete mass of thought.

The concrete being of thought is now outside of you.

Take your attention away from what is outside of you and bring yourself to the center of silent consciousness.

There is nothing else.

Another way to achieve inner silence is to practice it immediately after the technique of concentrating on a symbol (which I will explain later). It is the natural continuation of meditation, which will see, as Steiner teaches, a passage from the imaginative phase to an inspirational and later intuitive phase.

At the end of concentration, completely remove the symbol-object from the range of your attention.

Focus on what remains, on the layer below the previous symbol.

The void will remain.

Remain in this void, in total physical relaxation.

Silence, only silence.

Another technique, suggested by Gianluca Volarici ³ in an article published in the Giornale dei Misteri of August 1994, shows the importance of non-resistance in reaching inner silence.

Let the thought penetrate you. Rather, help him to enter, without putting up any resistance. Leave it there, in all its most insidious forms, but do not pay the slightest attention to it.

I don't pay attention, I don't resist. Detachment, silence.

In this way the thought will become inert, and the usual level of consciousness will be completely transcended.

At first you could have the sensation of staying in the coldest darkness. Only later, gradually, we will begin to perceive an increasing sensation of diffused brightness, strength, heat.

This will be the beginning of a slow and inexorable transformation of consciousness.

There will be a further moment of practice of mental silence, that is to eliminate the perception of the subtle contents that will arise during the initial silence. We will reach a more radical silence, a real void. But we will deal with this better later, after dealing with the important topic of inner concentration techniques.

Do not bother with the thought, let it stay inside you. Not resisting, depriving him of your attention. On the contrary, invite him to come forward in his disturbing manifestations.

Concentrate your mind on a black screen.

Thought remains inert and does not disturb the pure act of spiritual consciousness. This non-resistance will allow you to completely detach yourself from the usual level of consciousness. At first you will have the feeling of being in the cold darkness. Gradually a feeling of brightness, warmth and strength will come forward. Objective visions will suddenly arise in consciousness. The ego will tend to perceive itself without the help of the external world or thought. The consciousness of the self will be strengthened which, after practicing this exercise, will remain in ordinary life. It is the beginning of a slow transformation of consciousness. A tenuous principle of clairvoyance will develop, thanks to which others’ thoughts, the future, the hereafter will begin to reveal themselves, and you will receive the best insights into the decisions we must make in our destiny.

Preparatory Exercises: Steiner's 4 Elements And 5 Exercises

In the text Initiation into Hermetics ¹ F. Bardon presents an important exercise concerning the concentration on the four elements.

Among these elements, particular importance has the concentration on the element of air, and on the element of fire, also underlined by Giovanni Colazza.

In a state of relaxation, we will try to focus on all the properties of air, until we identify with this element:

I imagine the air. I feel it, I live it, as it penetrates and gives life to everything it meets. Always present, silently, in its mutability.

Subtle or impetuous, and always infinitely free.

It is always ready for sudden changes, with calm elasticity.

I feel it in my heart, in the center of my chest.

I nourish this new state gently, without any effort.

The air sinks into the deepest root of my being.

This exercise will end with a transformation of concentration into a real perception of air, as a soul quality to be acquired.

A state of one's being, which will become a stable attitude, generating a disposition of elasticity, calm, openness, unscrupulousness.

Corallo Reginelli ² claimed that the development of the perception of air, through this type of concentration which he often prolonged even for an hour, generates a state of consciousness that is extremely useful as a support in the deepest states of silence. It favors, indeed, the maintenance of a clear consciousness even in meditative situations of deep relaxation that otherwise would induce states of drowsiness.

I have found that the exercise of the air affects breathing, not directly as certain oriental techniques of pranayama, but through the mediation of thought, feeling and will.

This kind of state, indeed, must not only be built with thought, but rather induced through deep forces that involve the totality of one's being.

Then there is the perception of fire, which according to Colazza is destined to spontaneously take the path towards the subtle channels. As F. Bardon says, the perception of heat should be experienced at the head. Colazza points out, however, that the fire should be moved from the head to the heart.

Picture a bright globe, a spiritual Sun. Feel flooded with Light.

Light floods the head, like Fire.

Remain in this Fire, which will slowly move to the throat. The Light becomes Life in me.

And then it will go down to the heart, becoming an active emotional fire.

And finally, it will descend into the solar plexus, abdomen and limbs, becoming Heat.

Remain in this state of Fire, spread throughout the body.

An inner Sun is rising, illuminating and radiating.

The state of emotion created through the development of the state of Fire differs from ordinary passive emotions, as it is a state that is produced in an active and conscious way.

Luce, in the first volume of the Ur trilogy, shows the continuation of the Ritual, indicating it as the lighting of the inner fire.

It is like lighting a flame in the depths of inner silence reached, at the level of the heart.

In the ancient magical-religious civilizations the heart had a notable importance; the Egyptians believed that the heart was the place of the ‘I’. The ancient monks of the monastery of Mount Athos practiced a particular meditative technique, aimed at a spiritual regeneration. Luce (Giulio Parise) quotes an ancient code of the abbot Xerocarca, in which it was written:

Sit alone in a corner. Be careful what I tell you. Close the door and elevate your spirit above all vain and temporal things. Then lower your chin to your chest and with all your soul strength open the perceiving eye, which is in the middle of your heart. Limit the air outlets so that you do not breathe too easily. Strive to find the precise place of your heart, where all the forces of your soul are destined to dwell. At first, you will see darkness and resistance of impenetrable masses, but if you continue this work, day and night, you will end up experiencing an inexpressible joy; for as soon as you find the place of the heart, the spirit sees what it was never able to know before. He then sees the air, which is between him and the heart, shining clearly and perceptibly with a miraculous light.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5: 8)

When, through inner practices and purification, the darkness begins to be dissolved, the spiritual exercises will reach the goal of bringing the consciousness from the brain to the heart: the intellect will reunite with the heart, becoming God’s mirror.

The inner light will lead into the depths of consciousness where the human and the divine meet. The light that rises from the Numen, deity, the interior Christ: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; if you had known Me, you would know My Father as well.

The kingdom of God is within you (Luke, 17:21)

My heart is hot within me; in my meditating the fire burns [...] (Psalm 39)

Dialogue with Christ must therefore take place in one's heart: The Inner Temple.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that he abides in the heart of all beings (Bhagavad-Gita, XVI, 61).

According to the Upanishads, meditation should take place in the heart.

Also, in the Koran there are traces of this wisdom: Muhammad says he saw with the eye of the heart, and he considers the heart the mirror of contemplation in the prophets to whom God revealed himself. Sufism, indeed, makes constant references to meditation and the search for God in the heart.

Comprehend the spirit as a small flame in the heart, which radiates into the body like a wave of flowing warmth. The flame burns in the center of your heart. Consciousness will descend into the heart, passing from the brain, to the larynx, to the chest. I AM. The flame will burn and increase its pervading intensity until it envelops the whole body and dissolves it. Consciousness will be fixed in the heart, as will the state.

And then there is the concentration on water, which is an element closely connected to the astral-lunar body, at the level of the solar plexus and abdomen chakras.

Picture the element of water, in the form of a lake, or a sea. The blue, fluid, changeable water. Feel it merge with your being, floating.

Turn into water, dive into the ocean, float in the waves...

Concentration on water is used in certain forms of techniques that promote astral projection which I will describe later.

It is possible to use the following variant, but without aiming it at astral doubling (which I believe should absolutely not be sought, especially by beginners), but to obtain a state of deep physical relaxation.

Picture a blue wave that travels through your body as you inhale, from your feet to your head. Then exhale, and visualize the wave descending from the head to your feet. Imagine that the wave, as it descends, takes away all the impurities, the waste. Visualize them going out as black smoke.

When the wave rises in the next inhalation, imagine that it cleanses you and purifies you in the deeper layers of consciousness.

Water is a very important element, and can be magnetized, as it attracts and retains to a lesser or greater extent the various influences, accumulating them. Every time you wash, you should imagine with conviction that washing as something that takes away not only the physical but also the soul impurities and negativities.

Finally, the concentration on the Earth element, to be perceived at the level of the basal chakra and the limbs, as a firm grounding.

Picture the Earth element in the form of dense soil.

Imagine that you are a planted tree on the earth, which has strong roots and draws support from the subsoil.

Feel firmness in your legs, the reference point for grounding.

There is a fifth element, the Akasha, which is the primary source, the sphere of all causes. It is an unlimited space, with nothing above, below or to the side, and it is made of a substance of universal ether. It is colorless but can be viewed with an ultraviolet hue between purple and indigo.

Feel the strength of the Akasha element, in its limitlessness and creative power. Visualize it in the form of a silver-white light. Breathe and let the ether-akasha flow into your blood and throughout your body, imagining that it brings balance, regeneration and health.

These elements will be visualized in synchrony with the breath: each element will be inhaled through your nose and all the pores, all the cells of your body. As if the body was an empty container. You will feel full of the element, totally impregnated with it. You will imagine breathing the life force of the universe through the pores, so that your body becomes radiant energy that will be reflected in the external world.

You must remember, in the last part of this exercise, to exhale the element, bringing the previously absorbed force back into the universe.

STEINER'S FIVE EXERCISES

In the human being there are groupings of psychic energies that often escape the control of the ‘I’. No impression and experience reach consciousness without undergoing an alteration due to past experiences. Automatic and instinctive schemes overlap the various psychic domains (thought, will, feeling, judgment and memory), provoking already defined and consolidated reactions.

There are certain dangers along the spiritual path, which in no way should make the sincere seeker desist from continuing. Knowing the existence of such dangers is useful to take the right precautions.

Work done on higher levels of existence would tend to take away from the body a part of its usual activity. The basic energies existing on the subtle levels could have a harmful influence on the body and on the etheric and astral vehicles, as well as on the mind. Spiritual science therefore adopts important precautions, based on the strengthening of the interior life and on thinking, feeling, and willing and on the development of certain virtues, so that one's consciousness is inaccessible to any dangerous external influence.

The various spiritual disciplines have the aim of placing in each of the psychic domains a principle of autonomous activity, paralyzing any harmful influence and limiting the side effects of the same spiritual practices.

The five exercises, reported entirely in the text "A Practical Manual of Meditation" by Massimo Scaligero ³, represent the necessary and essential basis for our work on concentration and meditation.

The first quality to be developed is that of concentration, on which the whole meditation practice is based (and about which I will discuss later). Steiner recommends practicing a systematic exercise for a month, which consists of concentrating on an object, as simple as possible (a pencil, a pin, a cup). Then, it is necessary to create associations of thoughts that are directly connected with the object. You should exercise constant control so that the process of creating a single idea depends on your will, excluding any thought not linked to that object.

The second quality to be developed is that of the will, which can be exercised choosing to perform an action at a certain time that in one's ordinary life one would not have an interest in doing. An action that has no comparison with one's daily activities, with one's own interests and inclinations, preferably as insignificant and of no use as possible. What matters most is the use of the forces connected with the will. I want this, the disciple will perceive when he is about to perform this action, feeling an energy that will pass through his arms and legs. When this action takes place, it will be essential to have a clear awareness of the act itself, in full presence to oneself.

The third quality is connected to the field of feelings and involves one's day entirely, in every moment. The disciple will have to learn to be aware of his emotional expressions, taking part in them without abandoning himself to the point of expressing them involuntarily. Imperturbability will be developed, which is not indifference at all, but consists in a careful and constant observation of one's own feeling, through which all the occasional movements of emotions will be subjected to the control of consciousness. A center of consciousness will observe the multiplicity, the mutability, the instability of the various emotional waves, and will begin to regulate them according to the cases, developing an inner calm, which will progressively limit the alternating oscillations of emotions. The disciple will be able to control and decide the external expressions of his feeling.

For a more in-depth discipline of feelings, the trick to consider a feeling as an objective quid, not linked to one's own physical person, is very valid; a state that can be placed outside oneself, in space, without losing its consistency. Within oneself, a state of emptiness and detachment must remain, similar to that of the air. What needs to be achieved is the ability to hold still while opening to these soul states.

Abraxa (Ercole Quadrelli) of the Ur Group said:

"You must not destroy the feeling, but you must destroy your murky adhesion to it. Loosen yourself from the bond of the heart. No longer identified with feelings, welcome and observe them as you would for things in the outside world: ".

A balanced state of mind will therefore be intentionally replaced, which will oppose all the various ranges of intensity of feeling. Ordinary automatic reactions will be replaced by a consciousness that will have the power to stop what would have been instinctive reactions.

On the other hand, one can let oneself go to the fullness of a feeling, but consciously wanting it, that is, by intentionally deciding to adhere to it.

Often, we are under the illusion of having an emotional balance, to the point of believing that we do not need these exercises. This illusion often implies, on the contrary, a lack of balance, and would make the practice of an appropriate inner discipline desirable.

When one begins working on feelings, one creates the basis for the work on meditation to be further developed in view of the liberation of the mental from the physical-cerebral-psychic complex, and therefore the concentration becomes pure, exercising a thought free from the senses, free from the nervous system.

You will think:

"The feeling is not mine; it is not in me. It is a state that I can place outside myself, in space, without it ceasing to be made up of consciousness. It is an objective quid, not related to the reference to my physical person. Inside, a detachment, a freedom, a void like air".

Abraxa of the Ur Group said: Nothing more awaits, rejoices or trembles in the being of the soul. You should remain firm while opening to these states of the soul: that nothing is added or taken over, recalling the ‘I’. Do not destroy the feeling, but the murky adhesion to it. Loosen yourself from the bond of the heart. No longer identified with feelings, welcome and observe them as you would for things in the outside world.

"I am not the feelings which I let echo freely within me. They are not mine; they are not me".

So generally, you are not in control of your feelings, you are subjected to them. In having a perception or an experience, if in the past similar experiences had joined pleasure or pain in the soul, together with the memory, the memory also automatically brings back to that affective complex that preserves them in me, and my reaction towards the world will immediately be affected. Therefore equanimity must be achieved, that is a certain balance of the soul in the face of the oscillations of pleasure and displeasure. No longer automatic reactions, but the power to stop those automatic reactions that experiences would tend to determine and then the possibility of reconsidering every impulse of the soul, according to one's current perfectly conscious state.

I stopped this immediate reaction that X caused in me. I will consciously replace a balanced state of mind. I consider this impulse again. I take it. I abandon myself to this feeling that ascends in me. Or I reject it: I find that this feeling limits my freedom.

We must therefore be vigilant in order to consciously substitute a balanced state of mind for alternatives of exaltation or depression. An inner calm will be established right into our body.

Kremmerz suggested creating a state of perfect neutrality, of positive