Psychological Gymnasium

Introduction

In this post I thought to write about the psychological gymnasium and explain a bit about the science involved in it. As it certainly seems that way, that there is a science involved in it. It may perhaps be an offshoot of the “Science of Probity”, which is the science of tests on the initiatic path.

Definition

A gymnasium is something typically referred to as a set of circumstances that attempt to provoke a person’s egos into physical manifestation, providing the person with a tangible means to observe the provoked egos and the opportunity to evaluate one’s comprehension as well as to develop further and exercise one’s ability and capacity to counteract them.

The word gymnasium has a Greek orgin coming from the word gymnos which means naked in relation to the Greek verb gymnazo which means 'to train or exercise naked'. The ancient Greeks established temples or gymnasiums where the means 'to train' for competition in social and spiritual life where provided. The training was often offered in honour of the Gods, so it seems fit that we the term gymnasium in our Gnostic language to mean a spiritual opportunity to train.

Some may see the psychological gymnasium as something odious, painful and difficult or some may see it as something liberating, a bearer of new life and therefore as something beautiful. It is up to us always to “ponder carefully and choose wisely”.

Important Point – All Relative

Each psychological gymnasium is relative, meaning it depends on the individual. In other words, it is relative to the individual. A certain gymnasium for one is terribly difficult, but for another the same gymnasium is ‘a walk in the park’.

The main thing is that the gymnasium provokes into tangible manifestation certain egos. That is its role.

Gymnasiums only exist in relativity, that is in relation to something. Gymnasiums exist in relation to being: put into an event, into a circumstance, with a person, with people, in a country, on the Moon, in space on the space station, or in a relationship, in a certain bodily condition such as being sick etc.

Every relationship is a “sensual gymnasium” of the heart. Knowing how to love someone without desire, without ego, and without fear.

We cannot have a gymnasium when we are not in something. This means that fundamentally while we are "in" creation, "in" a relationship, there will always be a form of psychological gymnasium. This is something for us to accept. There are those that come to us and then there are those that we can chose and enter and leave voluntarily.

In regard to the gymnasiums that come to us there are a few more classifications. I will explain each of these different types a little later on. However, they differ from the gymnasiums that we chose in the sense that the gymnasiums that come to us can not be so easily left, they usually must be seen through to the end or goal is achieved.

No matter what type of gymnasium, whether it be one that we chose to one that comes to us each gymnasium has the same purpose and the same way of ending.

Purpose Of

The purpose of each gymnasium is to work a certain psychological defect (“I”) or concept or attitude or habit or way of thinking etc. until the difficulty, problem, inconvenience or suffering present in those circumstances is dissolved. This may not mean the elimination of an ego, in most cases it doesn’t but it can do. Usually they aim at certain degree of dissolution.

A Didactic, An Order Present

These circumstances are usually set according to a certain didactic or order established by our inner Real Being and are done so in accordance with His will.

There are mechanical gymnasiums “like school holidays” and “Christmas” that are naturally busy times and tend to provoke our egos more but they are not those set forth by our inner Real Being.

Our Inner Lucifer or Typhon Baphomet and Divine Mother can also play major roles in setting up certain psychological gymnasiums for us. In fact that is the way that they help us, so psychological gymnasiums are a means through which our Inner Divinity helps us to grow and develop consciousness. It may also be the impetus for them to help us, and just quietly, it is really them working through us.

So in reality, psychological gymnasiums are the spiritual work of our Inner God. [Philippians 2 verse 13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” / Philippians 2 verse 6: “Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (is formed in you alchemically.)”

Ending

Every gymnasium ends as soon as we overcome the central issue (ego or “I”) that made those circumstances into a psychological gymnasium.

As soon as the required level of psychological work is complete the need for those circumstances ends and new circumstances usually appear.

Karma

Certainly all the gymnasiums are karmic, and they are all opportunities for us to cancel the karmic debts created by the egos central to that gymnasium. What comes out is what is lurking inside of you hidden and unknown.

Unfolding Where

Gymnasiums usually unfold in one of our environments at a time. It is really difficult when there are gymnasiums unfolding in all of our environments. For example, at home is one environment, at work is another environment and at Gnosis is another environment. We usually have a gymnasium in one environment at a time, perhaps some have gymnasiums in two environments at the same time. If work is fine, then Gnosis is difficult, if Gnosis is fine, then home life is difficult etc. etc. It always tends to process this way.

When our Being has to pay more karma or when some spiritual work needs to be accelerated, a psychological gymnasiums will appear in more than one environment at a time.

A Help

Psychological gymnasiums are there to help. It is very much like you are at work and the boss gives you some work to do. This work allows you to get paid, increase your skills and learning and keep your job. If your boss does not give you any work to do, the opposite happens. We don’t learn, our skills don’t improve and if we are not doing anything and it won’t be long before we are ‘axed’. So, to be given a psychological gymnasium is to be helped and be considered worthy of work – Thank God!

A Gymnasium and Not a Gymnasium

A circumstance or event is a gymnasium when there is specifically something in us to overcome within those circumstances. When we know that we have to conquer a particular defect or behaviour or develop a psychological virtue then that is a gymnasium. When something is just difficult and there is nothing that specific to acquire or work towards, then that most likely is not a gymnasium. Remember gymnasiums have a defined purpose and reason for existing.

Every Gymnasium and the Level of Being

Every gymnasium presents certain impressions to transform and every gymnasium is about certain values that need to be transformed into a state that by possessing them in their transformed state, elevates us to a new level of Being.

Every gymnasium wants to elevate us to a new level of Being. There are gymnasiums that are to conquer a new level of the Being and then there are gymnasiums to consolidate that new level of Being.

Supervisors, tell us that there were gymnasiums always present in the Ancient Greek. This indicates clearly that training was the aim, and certain standards were to be upheld.

Gymnasiums and the Path

There are tests on the path that serve to show us the truth about ourselves and to formalize how our work is going and to allow us access to more advanced stages. They essentially confirm and present to a greater and wider set of witnesses that one is ready to progress.

The tests may also teach and they may also allow us to pay a certain amount of karma. Gymnasiums can also do this in that they can prepare us for the tests, and they can also help us to clear karma and they can also teach us certain truths about life and the path. They can also teach us how certain principles operate in life and on the path.

Gymnasiums are the circumstances from which we extract and generate our own wisdom about life and about the path and our essence and consciousness.

They may also teach us what is standard for everyone to know and experience when walking the path.

Gymnasiums are for the Consciousness (Soul)

In Gnosis everything is studied in relation to the consciousness of the Being - - which as we have stated in other blogs "Motho", "Umuntu". Motho is what we know as Essence, and this Essence lives inside the physical cloth called "body", but the body itself is not Umuntu. Thus, students must learn to distinguish between the Soul and its garment. Every gymnasium is for our consciousness. It is there to help our consciousness develop. So logically if we take it with our consciousness or with the spiritual work we will send the gymnasium directly to the place where it was intended to reach and we will obviously accelerate our trajectory through the gymnasium.

True ancient schools of initiation encompassed karma and cause and effect. It is for this reason neophytes were always subjected to a lot of difficult tasks and methods of achieve a psychological "death", or a letting go of the Ego (false sense of self).

Gymnasiums That We Choose

An example is where we know a certain person and when we visit them they always without fail ask us to help them with their computer, and because they are old and not very computer savvy they tend to bring out our impatience and our annoyance.

So, to really work our impatience and annoyance down to the ground we can voluntarily visit that person as often as we need to, so to have that annoyance and impatience made cosmic dust as Master Samael puts it. This is a gymnasium that we can choose to take on board. Another example would be to visit or talk to a person that dislikes you and always makes remarks that offend and sadden you. As soon as talking to that person does not offend and sadden you anymore you are done with that gymnasium and you can chose another one. Voluntarily choosing our gymnasiums has the effect of accelerating the progress of our own work.

What is interesting though, that the gymnasiums available for us to choose from have been designed or programmed or made available to us according to a certain karmic design. We cannot always just choose any gymnasium that we like, because it may be inconvenient or we may not actually need it or rather our inner Being does not require it as yet. Remember, the purpose of a gymnasium is to elevate the consciousness of the Being. Types of Gymnasiums That Come to Us

(Short Term): There are those that come to our life for a short period of time only and are often not repeated. These are special circumstances in our life where something unusual happens. It could be that a parent who never gets sick, gets sick and you are the only one home to look after him or her.

It could be that someone is sick at work and you have to assume his or her duties for a short time until they are better. These gymnasiums usually catch us by surprise.

(Long Term): These are the more difficult gymnasiums. Where heavy egos are involved and much time is required for us to work those egos making those difficult circumstances for that ego to be transformed into joy. This could be in a relationship for example where a person remains angry, cold, aloof and resentful with you for a long time and you can’t escape that person or circumstances with that person. And all the while you didn't really anything that great to incur such a lengthy harsh treatment.

Stages

A gymnasium could be a certain stage of our life or a certain stage in a relationship.

Repetitive

There are gymnasiums that repeat and repeat. This is because we often don’t acquire what was inherent to acquire in the gymnasium. These gymnasiums may repeat in very similar ways even with the same people and even with the same circumstances and words. As soon as we acquire what is required these repetitive gymnasiums end.

Repeats in Octaves

Some gymnasiums repeat in octaves. In other words, they start off light and gradually increase in intensity, complexity and therefore in the amount of work required to transform impressions present in the circumstances and dissolve the defect taking those impressions.

Passive

This is when you do nothing and circumstances just unfold around you. This is usually because people around you develop for a short while a negative attitude towards you, perhaps by having spoken to someone else and then they contribute to setting up some difficult circumstances.

Special and Specific

There are those that are very unusual and are very short maybe an hour or maybe a couple of days. They may be so short that they are there to just teach or show us something. These gymnasiums could be to teach you certain principles and truths of the initiatic path.

A Particular Person

We could have a gymnasium with just one person. This is quite common. The nature of the relationship with that person could be the gymnasium and as soon as we overcome the defects feeding off that nature or contributing to that nature or quality the relationship takes on a new lighter and better in quality type of a nature.

Conclusion

In life we are always facing ourselves. Everything is a mirror of our internal psychological states. When we comprehend this, we will learn to work directly with the consciousness internally, instead of falling into the illusion of an external enemy.

May Christ Consciousness increase in you always.

(SoG:SA)