 The most insidious obstacles to inner development are those considered common and unavoidable. Getting used to live with our psychological deficiencies, such as fears or lack of confidence, causes us to underestimate these obstacles and therefore not to solve them.
Whilst we are busy looking for important doctrines, teachings and paradigms, small hurdles often stop our evolutionary process.
They shouldn’t be removed, viz. forgotten, but rather transformed through an alchemic process that uses will and intelligence. Through 15 stages we will try and understand the nature of some pebbles that stop the wheel of our progress.
From knowledge to mental liberation, stage 1
Mental Alchemy
The most insidious obstacles to inner development are those considered common and unavoidable. Getting used to live with our psychological deficiencies, such as fears or lack of confidence, causes us to underestimate these obstacles and therefore not to solve them.
Whilst we are busy looking for important doctrines, teachings and paradigms, small hurdles often stop the evolutionary process.
They shouldn’t be removed, viz. forgotten, but rather transformed through an alchemic process that uses will and intelligence. Through 15 stages we will try and understand the nature of some pebbles that stop the wheel of our progress.
From knowledge to mental liberation, stage 1
Widening the mind
Widening the mental faculties is not only a legitimate wish but also a necessary action in order to develop mind and conscience. We must avoid shortcuts, though, because history is full of mad people who have moved energies they couldn’t control. It is difficult, then, to distinguish between holiness and madness.
 Accelerating mental processes produces an energetic surplus that stimulates the mind without widening it. It is therefore very risky to follow this direction without strengthening our self control. The process of widening mental faculties starts in the physical mind, called reason. This is the weakest link of the human essence. Therefore it is better to transform many aspects of consciousness together with the physical mind.
To know oneself is a necessary study in order to identify the defects to correct and the potentialities to develop. We must remember that practice, of any kind, can’t replace the control of a conscious will (aware of what happens). Therefore the alchemic work which will transform mind and conscience starts from the knowledge of ourselves in order to reach knowledge.
Athos A. Altomonte
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