In 1975 a book came out that is more often known by its short title, Revolutionary Psychology [1].
The book was a thin volume, written in simple language and intended to be accessible to the general public, and it was authored by Samael Aun Weor.
The author had been writing about the topic for many years, but in this book he synthesized his accrued wisdom from all those years of research and experimentation.
His research had been of an introspective kind, and the book could equally have been classed as psychology of self-help, or as philosophy, or perhaps even mysticism. It was, therefore, far removed from the empirical methods of the received academic knowledge officially known as psychology.
In fact, this apparently self-styled psychology was part of the wider topic of gnosis, to which the author had devoted a whole life of investigation and teaching.
In principle, the author did accept the conventional definition of Gnosis as “the enlightened knowledge of Divine Mysteries, which are reserved for an elite” [2].
This notwithstanding, Samael Aun Weor regarded gnosis as a “very natural function of the consciousness” of any human being.
Such gnosis is a knowledge that is esoteric, in the sense that it is restricted to a few interested individuals, and at the same time is universal, because it is applicable to any human being anywhere anytime; it is “a Philosophia Perennis et Universalis (‘universal and perennial philosophy’).“
Accordingly, the psychology that was being expounded by the author was an esoteric psychology, the psychology of gnosis, i.e. gnostic psychology.
In effect, what Samael Aun Weor was doing in this book was to make widely accessible something that had hitherto been the privilege of a few initiates. He was explaining in simple terms for the general public of the 20th century something that in fact belonged to a very ancient initiatic tradition.
Although fragments of those psychological teachings can be found in the works of different contemporary authors, Samael Aun Weor should be given the credit of having made a synthesis that is thorough, yet simple enough to be of practical use.
This esoteric tradition is as old as mankind. One can find the flavour of this lost knowledge in myths and legends of the ancient civilizations, and in mystical writings of different religions and cultures.
According to Samael Aun Weor’s account, this esoteric psychology had been present in Tibet and in ancient Egypt, as for instance in the doctrine of the many selves, which are known in Tibetan psychology as “psychic aggregates”, and which in ancient Egypt were known as “Seth’s red demons”.
According to Samael Aun Weor, the initiates of ancient Egypt used to say that Horus must vanquish the Red demons of Seth.
Those red demons of Seth have also their counterpart in Aztec as well as in classical mythology.
Let us remember Coyolxauhqui and her multitude of brothers, the Centzon Huitznahui, those Four Hundred (or “innumerable“) Southerners that the Aztec god Huitzilopchtli had to slay to defend his virgin mother Coatlicue.
Let us also remember Perseus cutting Medusa’s head, Theseus entering the labyrinth to defeat the Minotaur, or Odysseus felling with his arrows more than a hundred suitors of his wife Penelope.
Furthermore, the esoteric teachings regarding the doctrine of the many selves would have originated in those remote prehistoric times referred by Theosophical writers as the Third Root Race, or Lemuria.
The gnostic esoteric psychology must have been part of the initiatic preparation taught in the schools of mysteries of the ancient world.
It served to train those entering initiation so that they be able to succeed in their difficult work of mastery of the occult elementary forces.
Those teachings would not have been different in essence from the teachings of the different mystery religions and esoteric brotherhoods that have carried the flame of the gnostic wisdom through the history of humankind.
With these psychological teachings a person can train to fully develop his or her potential as a human being, i.e. the object of the teachings is self-realisation of the being.
In practice, gnosis is an absolute, intuitive form of knowledge. Gnostic psychology is therefore intuitive, supra-rational knowledge of self.
Let us remember the Epoptai, or “inspectors of themselves”, who in the Mysteries of Eleusis were placed in the presence of the gods [3].
An inscription on the entrance of the ancient temple at Delphi used to read, “Know yourself and you will know the universe and the gods”.
[1] The full title is Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology.
[2] Samael Aun Weor, The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, chapter 10
[3] Le Plongeon, Augustus, Sacred mysteries among the Mayas and the Quiches 11,500 years ago, NY: 1909