Dedicated to Athos A. Altomonte’s work of instruction
Index: The sensitivity of the Ego and that of Personality - The natural and initiatory Paths - The descent in the lower worlds - By-passing the mind - In order to get out we need to get in - The recognition of the models
Let’s start outlining this argument with the awareness that it is not so much about knowing, feeling, listening to certain notions, but rather about employing them on ourselves shortly. Therefore we will carry out this recognition in general terms.
In an abstract being, in a certain region of space that we cannot and do not want to quantify, an organ of sensation appears. It would be easier for us to call it perception but in actual fact it is not perception yet. A sensitive being that appears like a dot.
This sensitivity is the terminal aspect of something that we might allegorically call a «peduncle» (terminal being) of something that is not in this region, but in its own. This is the Ego, which «invests», as we say, a part of its own energy to start a day’s work. A day’s work that goes through a covering of elements. This day’s work for the Ego is a lifetime for Personality.
This minimal sensitive presence is for us the embryo of what is becoming Personality (synthesis of the evolution of the lower levels), that embodied part that responds to the needs of the evolutionary drive.
Still talking in layman’s terms, the Personality starts being “moved from pillar to post”, because on one side it has the constant presence of the physical elements – substantially four (Earth, physical form; Water, astral form; Air, the ethereal form; Fire, the soul, the spirit) – and on the other something that we might qualify as reminiscence. From the year zero to the twenty-first a series of things occur; because of them on the seventh year this reminiscence is almost completely lost until the twelfth year, when even the last reflex disappears, with the immersion in the form occurred through sex
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Conscience is not yet on the vertical plane; therefore these sensations begin to expand on the horizontal plane (the plane of reason, concrete form).
What does this being that we call Personality meet in its sensations? But most of all, what moves it and what kind of spring is released into it?
The sensitivity of the Ego and that of Personality
A recognition on an egocentric level; it must take the world and bring it towards itself. To take, to touch and to put in the mouth. On an initiatory level this occurs for many lives, because there are two evolutions, that of the form in a life and that of the Ego that needs many «days of school» to form its character.
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Now we have reached the point when we idealize on a geometrical level a sphere of conscience. This is the first sphere of conscience we find. We have said before that the symbol of the first sphere of conscience is what is represented here, but in actual fact this is an artifice.
It is an artifice to say that the sphere is a real sphere; indeed it could be an oblong, like an omelette, because here we are subject to the Law of Attraction and Rejection (I like it, I am attracted, I don’t like it, I withdraw). |
Certainly the perception is not at the center; if it was, it would be predominant. Aware of what reality is, then, for convenience we keep symbolizing it as the «sphere of lower conscience».
It develops a series of memories, teachings and personal experiences read and transliterated from schools; this builds the lower mind, the concrete mind, which is a baggage, an archive. It is certainly not creative or pre-existing; neither can it project its imagination. It lives only in the present or rather in the past, because the present is extremely difficult to conceive (the moment); therefore the lower mental is the past.
An Ego that appears on the threshold of life learns to recognize everything from sensations and perceptions. For the initiate that is looking for the higher perception it is the same thing; he intentionally creates an empty screen, not disturbed by contacts – in a position of alignment it frees itself from any sensitive contact with the outside; it is commonly described as relaxing (this is indeed the basic technique of autogenic training). The body must be so comfortable that we can forget it and it starts visualization with its perception. We won’t talk any further about it, but the analogy is quite obvious. What determines the lower mental is a fact that man endures; on the contrary, when the adept meditates or visualizes in two or three dimensions, he does not endure it, but he implements this reality and goes towards an empty ‘canvas’ or ‘table’.
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This sphere is a sphere of present conscience. He is present in this sphere with his wakefulness senses. The area of the sphere is determined by the faculty of man to perceive farther and farther views with a higher ability.
The enlightened mind of a man is like a light bulb; it illuminates with its reason first and then with perception and other intellectual organs a wider and wider area.
We live happy and content until we decide to go and check what’s beyond. We choose to go and find other dimensions. What do we discover? We discover, in actual fact, this Presence called Ego which we had only heard about.
For the moment we will consider as the top of this exploration the Causal Body, but there is much more. The Causal Body is the mental cloth of the Soul. We are obviously still talking about the Psyche. |
Us as Personalities are undisciplined and uneducated; we are under the influence of this magnetic field called psyche, which is the aura expressed by the soul. The lower being, which is our small part (which we are identified with), has not awareness of how big this space can be. Now with a certain work the adept starts perceiving, forming an idea within himself of what there is beyond the «first wall» which we might call the «second wall» or rather a garment.
He knows, because he has been instructed so, that this part called the metaphysical or higher sphere exists, but he doesn’t know it (him, in the sense of Personality). Of this psyche’s garment, of this view, he has heard about and has some perceptions (for example in the oneiric detachments there is sometimes something that goes beyond the sensation of an electric shock or the emotion of desire. We have sensations that have been classified in the last six thousand years; there is a huge primer of these events that reoccur always in the same form and mode). Therefore he is aware that this sphere exists, so much so that it goes through him. |
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The Natural and Initiatory Paths
He wants to know it and at this point he wonders: «what do I have to do?» It is obvious that this argument continues if an individual wants to know his own metaphysical sphere; if he is not interested, he keeps living and growing with another method called the Natural Evolutionary Line.
The Line that the adept has chosen is the Initiatory Path, which consists of a process of acceleration of conscience in order to force the latter to «acknowledge» in a faster way than normal. It is obvious that the process of acceleration doesn’t involve skipping duties or unpleasant things; all that you needed to do you do it in less time, with more «sacrifice» but with bigger gain.
We have a certainty, though. We can more easily reach and dominate all that is ‘below’ us. Instead of stretching upwards, we know that there is another sphere easier to get in contact with, which is the one lower than our threshold of knowledge. This certainty for the adept originates from the awareness that a small part of conscience in the subconsciousness is in contact with the lower Ego, just like the latter is in contact with the higher sphere. There is a boundary between the part that belongs to the kingdom of metaphysics and that making the subconsciousness.
The descent in the lower worlds
The adept starts in silence (the rule of silence is back) to ground his roots not towards the top, as everybody commonly does, through study and research, but by immersing himself. It is clear that he will not emotionally descend into lower drives, but he will use a bathysphere immersing in a current, in a concept or a lower sensitivity, even much lower, but protected by a diving suit: reason.
It is safe to enter the «trip» of a lunatic (psychoanalysts do) and be with him in his own sphere if we are protected by our own reason, otherwise we cannot help him.
It is legitimate to ask oneself the question: why go down if we want to go up?
Because we can get outfrom this sphere characterized by less tension. The adept goes down in a kind of spiral up until a particular and strange moment when, with his reason and conscience, not having blended at all with the lower elements, he sees them (his own astral). At one point he will be in total silence, because once left this sphere he will experience an incredible silence, which is the outer garment of the psyche.
By-passing the mind
In psycho-synthesis this action is called by-passing the mind. The mind is not by-passed by piercing it, just like we don’t leave the world of sensations like a ray, directly, but only following a spiral motion.
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By-passing the mind means to reach the lower garment of the psyche and then start going back upwards. In this process there are two events in progress; a dynamic action (which allows us to immerse and then go back up in the psychic body) and a magnetic action (because from a certain point on the higher being attracts the lower being). They are complementary and opposite.
Once reached a certain point, the adept lives by letting himself be carried by the «wind» or current, but we are still talking about ‘an atmosphere’ that belongs to him. It is a journey inside himself. Like any other individual, he is in actual fact all this (and much more, but for the moment we’ll stop here). What’s missing is the awareness of being as such.
In other words, on a geometric therefore symbolic level, we have a global image of two mechanisms which we need to learn to use: the dynamic and magnetic events. Technically, they can be recognized in the visualization(the former) and in the meditation (perception) (the latter).
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The Eastern Masters taught the technique of meditationin the West. As Westerners we are interested in using this technique only after implementing visualization. This means that at first we carry out a dynamic mental mechanism, projecting the will, therefore active. The meditation, perception that reaches us later is the attractive part, where we let ourselves go to be guided, etc… therefore, even in different schemes the key or the game is still the same. Because man is like a two-speed record player, 45 or 33 rpm; you can play either one or the other, the lower or higher mental.
In order to get out we must get in
We talked about the operative area in its general context; now we need to look at the issues that we have and that overwhelm us. The first one is in fact getting out.
In order to get out we must get in. indeed we are not talking about an exoteric structure, like getting out of a house. Here every time we want to get out we need to interiorize ourselves. And in order to carry out this yet small operation in such a small part of our conscience, that is the physical conscience, we need to dominate this area first. This ‘master’ (in the feudal sense) – which is me in my lower self – cannot operate if he doesn’t become the «magister vitae» of his domain, his kingdom, Personality. Until he dominates his Personality, himself, he cannot do anything. This «me» must face his own recognition through the technique of «I am not this, I am not that», which is the way of wisdom and consideration.
When consciously in the sphere of conscience we start saying ‘I am not this, I am not that’ we address a model that on a technical level is called sub-personality*.
To use the reason means to find a total and balanced mediation with all the emotional drives, all the sub-personalities.
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* Sub-personalities – The whole of different feelings, attitudes, relationships and behaviors resulting from the combination of emotional and mental phenomena, which activate the realization of their purposes, outside our conscience and independently – even against – our will. Some correspond to the various roles or functions that we must carry out in life. In actual fact they act like different beings with different and even opposite beings; nevertheless it is possible to coordinate them in a higher unity. We must recognize them, not identify with them. The second task is to use them appropriately; the third is to modify and shape them. – Roberto Assagioli
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In our alignment as soon as we see the appearance of a model that we are learning to recognize we say: «I am not you»; «you are in me, but I am not you». We are not talking about trivial matters like I am a male, I am blond, I am Italian. In actual fact I am psyche, I am mind. With regards to these sub-personalities, I am the boss; they must collaborate with me and I manage and nurture them regardless. But the most important sub-personalities are not these small codes between me and the physical body, such as «I am not hunger»; they are much bigger. To be immersed in a role creates a very strong sub-personality. For example the sub-personality of the son, the father, the mother, the professional, remains. These are immersions in roles where transference occurs, where we identify with them (it is an inner transference with ourselves). At the end of a working day I go out and I am convinced I am that mechanic that worked many hours in a garage. I left there a sub-personality that I need for the job I do, but I am also a free good thinking man, therefore I do other things (involving other planes of my sensitive sphere). Following this example and stretching further up we understand that we are not such a huge amount of things.
The example of Gulliver symbolizes Personality; when it is not vigilant and it falls asleep it gets tied up by Lilliputians, sub-personalities. When you are tied up (bonds are like blackmail) you are forced to do anything but what you’d like to. This parable is significant if we think of all the curses we say in life, each time we need to do what we don’t want to; this happens precisely because of the relations with sub-personalities, which we must conduct.
The equidistance, the esoteric detachment is the secret to feeling better and the first step in the recognition of an Inner Hierarchy.
Fewer sub-personalities we have, less bonds we are subjected to. Therefore let’s use sub-personalities without being tied to them, otherwise we become slaves of a routine that interests them more than us. Man is thought, which does not mean to run like a headless chicken from a useless thing to another. It means to do our best for necessary things. |
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Another little useful parable is that of Narcissus. The Ego looks at the water, the astral world, the world of desire, and sees the reflection of his lower Self, with which he doesn’t communicate; he doesn’t understand that it is a reflection and thinking that it is someone else he falls in love with it. He falls in the astral world; he reincarnates and dies, in the sense that he loses his conscience. For a thought-form to lose its memory is the same as for a normal person to lose his life.
Tradition as well, in the mythologies of all the times, preserved for the initiates the moral of what is right and what is not, of good and evil, which are the two pillars of the Sephirotic Tree, up to reaching what we are going to embark on, which is well represented by Psycho-synthesis.
The next step will be to acknowledge in practice who lives within ourselves.
If I want to understand the character of the people who live in a house, what kind of people they are, I can start observing their books, their furniture, what the arrangement is (I won’t take into consideration the mess because it could be a momentary issue), what they eat, even looking at their pantry and fridge. We can do this fact-finding study on ourselves through models; we must start rediscovering the models closer to us, the most in sight.
Commonly one feels more like one thing rather than another, or he wants to emphasize towards the others an aspect (his own) more than another, or in other people he notices one thing more than another. These are the models. Discovering our models, we discover our lower ego. That is the only door through which we can start immersing. They are the windows through which we can get in in order to get out. Here is why we need to get in in order to get out.
The recognition of models
When we recognize the models, what do we discover? Through models, which are like animals’ droppings, the hunter, which is the psychotherapist, discovers the beast. The latter, as cunning as «foxes», are sub-personalities. They are so cunning that they make us believe what they like. They make us believe that we are sad because of something which we actually don’t care about, because we don’t need it. But we still experience sadness. Therefore we strive to have that thing at all costs and then we realize that the sadness is still there. The confirmation that the desired object is unnecessary is given by the fact that immediately another object replaces it in our yearning.
Therefore models are traces.
By studying the order of the models we will understand the traces to follow in order to go in search of sub-personality; when we would have left the lower self, we won’t kill the sub-personality (even more so the Personality) but we will empty it. In order to empty a sub-personality it is enough to look at it and acknowledge it, which means to remove it. But this is a voluntary action that must be accomplished without being dominated by a therapist. It is I who forgemyself from my strength, learning to unconsciously obey others. To remove the problem means to leave the image as a two-dimensional memory in the archive of our own concrete mental, but «deflated» of energy. The memory remains, not the sub-personality. Looking at it, but not as a challenge because any action of force or violence (repression) vitalizes that form of thought in the moment when we use it. Indeed, if I assault one of my negative sub-personalities (we can have positive ones, such as the devotee one, the one that feeds the cats, the one that gets emotional kissing children) and I use the force, I fight it, I oppose it; by doing so I am giving my psychic energy to that thought-form. Therefore each time I assault it, it happens like in the myth of the Hydra with nine heads; the more Hercules attacked it the more it gained strength.
Therefore we need to learn to look at them; how we will see elsewhere. The important thing now is to know that it is a matter of visualization rather than violence or force. Not to mention the mortification of the body, crazy interpretation of teachings that lead to obsession. When the true warrior destroys the enemy, he never kills him, or even humiliates him. Once overcome the adversary, he turns him into his ally. With this method the paxromana dominated the world.
Sub-personalities, the important, interesting, productive and economical ones, must be kept aligned. There are two alliances that esotericists call holy alliances, one with the lower domains and one with the higher domain. I cannot ally (Ark of the Covenant) with ‘my personal God’ unless I pacify the lower domain. If there is peace in the lower kingdoms there can be alliance with the higher sphere. After all a conflictual sphere cannot exist next to a harmonious sphere; the «silence of Psyche».
We must work on this.
Go and find models, go down the bottom, discover sub-personalities; this is the meditation of the Raja Yoga, the beginning. We must start from elementary Raja Yoga. With the use of visualization it becomes very powerful, because we move energies inside and outside ourselves, since the simile calls its simile by magnetic attraction. When a person emits a note, this goes around the planet.
If we don’t open this treasure chest (the Z of the secret Masters) it is not possible to recompose the broken ivory key, symbol of the loss of conscience. This is possible through this dynamic technique that I can apply on the lower Self, but which I cannot use on the higher Self. 
