O CAIBALION, cap. 6 - O Paradoxo Divino - Lúcia Helena Galvão

Good evening everyone. Welcome to our reading group of the book Kybalion. Today we are already on topic 6. I remind you that the book has 15 chapters, so we still have 9 second pages ahead. Once that's done, we'll get another one. We're still there, seeing what it's going to be. I accept suggestions. I always prefer classics. Although this is not a classic, it is a modern book, but based on classical knowledge. So let's see what we have ahead. I hope you create a reading group as a healthy habit in your life. Once a week I

will reflect on classics. See the world from another angle. Read books that are really worth it. Read together, because it always adds a lot. Today we are in chapter 6, The Divine Paradox. Remember that I always start with this screen. I start not only because this poem is in the introduction of the book, I start with this verse that is in the introduction of the book, not only because it is in the introduction of the book, but also from the Greek point of view, for example, Homer, you will see that he started all his descriptions

With something that evoked the environment that was going to be created. It's very interesting, it's like we're pulling our consciousness up a little. It's a Greek method of starting things. This poem, which I ended up locating who it is, is from an English poet named Eduard Carpenter. She talks a little about the transmission of knowledge, which is what Kybalion proposes. Oh, do not let the flame go out, kept from century to century in this dark cave, in this sacred temple, supported by pure ministers of love. Do not let this divine flame go out. This excerpt

from Eduard Carpenter's poem, says one thing, have knowledge and go ahead. This is an act of love. Have knowledge because you are a human being. And humanize yourself each time you better understand human nature and consequently nature around you. The more inside, the more out. The deeper it is, the more you understand things around you. This phrase seems curious, right? The more inside, the more out. But it's like that. The deeper in itself, the deeper in things around you. And once you have this knowledge, transmit it. It is an act of love. It is the

best that can be done for humanity. And it is through this same love that we receive this knowledge. The book, these first two screens are the same in all our lectures in the series, because we always have new people. The book is this one, which I just showed you. Study of Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece. Remember that Hermes Trismegistus is an Egyptian sage, who lived in an era that no one is sure of, something between 2700 and 1500 BC. You will say that it is time-worn. It is. A margin of error crazy, this

1200 years. It's too long. But if I consider that there are people who think that he didn't even exist, I think that this margin is not so great. That is, it is a character who entered the mythical terrain, was deified, but the fact is that it is said that there was a school in Egypt that transmitted this knowledge. And the fundamental of this knowledge is that Hermes Trismegistus, or his disciples, or whoever lived in Egypt, had this level of wisdom. I particularly believe that he must have existed. A character, and that deeply impacted history, because

this is not something that arises out of nowhere. The footprint of the size of the walker. Someone to impact. If you consider the smaller figure, 1500 years, plus 2000 years later, it's 3500 years of history. The footprint of the size of the walker. It must have been someone very special. And he said he could know the seven laws that organized the whole manifested universe. But it's all the same. Because the manifested universe for us is matter and energy. For him it was emotions, it was mind, it was spirit, it was God, it was everything. And

he considered that all these plans were subordinate to seven great laws. Which, in fact, was the unfolding of a great law. That took beings back home, back to unity. And that through the events, if you pay attention, you discover these laws. Because one thing is to speak the law to you, another thing is to see it in your life. Because then you incorporate it as a practice, as a truth. You conquer. And this is important, because then knowledge becomes wisdom. And he said that the meaning of life is exactly rediscovering the laws that are behind

the apparent disorder of the world, the apparent arbitrariness of life, And align ourselves with it. That is, as the Greeks said, know yourself, dominate yourself. Transform yourself. That is, we enter into harmony with the laws of the universe. That was the idea. And this reawakened in the Middle Ages, with the alchemists. Then in the Renaissance, with the Platonic school of Caredi, where the Hermetic body was translated for the first time into Latin. And then, for some time, it disappeared. There comes that wave of the modern and contemporary age, where we lived a very intense materialism,

which was not very conducive to Hermeticism. But after a while, we talk again, still with a lot of doubt, still with a lot of, let's say, a little fantasy interpretation, but we remember that there was a Hermes Trismegistus. One thing is certain, Egypt was never forgotten. Everyone knows that whatever happened there, was special. The imagination of everyone awakens in front of that place so, let's say, grandiose. Who built that? That is a testimony of the greatness of a civilization for future generations. So it impacts the imagination of humanity as a whole throughout history. Today, then,

we are in this chapter. Chapter 6, The Divine Paradox. The Divine Paradox will work with an idea that may seem strange to you, but it is not. At a certain point, back there, the work told us, this book, which is a book written in 1908, which comments on the Hermetic Principles, told us that the material universe is an illusion. When this comes to the West, people ... Egypt is the West too, right? But when it comes to the modern West, people start to take it very literally, and think that if the universe is an illusion,

why should I respect its laws? And then the book will talk a little about that. That this Hermetic tradition, as well as the great philosophical traditions of Greece and Rome, as well as the great traditions of India, of the East as a whole, I have a curiosity, because their logic is very different from ours. We have a logical precept that says, if there is, it is true, then there is not, it is false. There is and there is not, they cannot be true at the same time. For them it can. They are true at the

same time. And it has to be considered simultaneously, if you want to see the two angles of the manifested universe, that one day will make you overcome and reach unity. So you have to consider that simultaneously the universe exists and does not exist. And he will say for what practical purposes we have to work with it. So he says, The true wise man, knowing the nature of the universe, imposes the Law, the Great Law, with a capital L, against the Laws, the superior against the inferior, and by the art of alchemy transmutes what is unpleasant

to what is pleasant, and in this way triumphs. Unpleasant and pleasant in quotes, right? In the sense of what is good, necessary, and not what pleases merely the whims of personality or the senses. So we will see that this principle will be well developed in the future, when we see the vibration, when we see the polarity. But here he says, The wise man does not deny the manifested universe. He knows that the manifested universe is an illusion, but he knows that to overcome this illusion he has to obey his laws. Everyone is inside the illusion,

but they are subject to his laws. And if you want to overcome it, first obey your laws. Dominate them! And then you go to higher levels of consciousness. This may seem to you, Why does this interest me in practice? For much more than you imagine. Professor Jorge Angel Livraga, who founded New Acropolis, has a phrase that I find very interesting. He says that a poorly conceived idea kills more than a firearm. A firearm stops killing, when its bearer drops it, or when it leaves. Sometimes a poorly conceived idea, if the person leaves and spends three

generations, is still killing the dreams of the people who stayed. So that person who is there on the street, thinking that we live in the most perfected time of history, that we have nothing to learn from the past, and the past can be your father, your grandfather, or it can be Egypt, It can be the great past or the small past, this person may not even know that there is a citizen called, Augusto Conte. But he is a positivist. It's a curious thing. This citizen does not even know that there was someone who announced this

thought. But he is a positivist and is still living the thought of Augusto Conte. That we have nothing to learn from previous generations. That our technology has surpassed everything humanity has ever known. Certainly our technology is superior. But the man who manages this technology, not necessarily. And the most important thing in life is not technology. I doubt that one day you have suffered deep pains in life. Ah, I'm suffering. Why? Because of lack of technology. No! You suffer because of the lack of integrity of people, for lack of recognition, for lack of charity, for lack

of fraternity. You suffer because of the lack of the human. For lack of men, not for lack of things. This is a secondary element in life. No one has this as the main element in life. So the fact that we have progressed technologically, means something, means. It's a means. But the ends are always more important than the means. Because the means, as I've told you many times, when they accelerate our process a lot, and we don't know where to go. Remember what I used to say? That when you go to an abyss, it's better to

go standing. And from a post you get there much faster. That is, the post is not an advantage for those who go to the abyss. So there are some considerations that you have to make. Where do I want to get with this? When we talk about why we disrespect this knowledge today, You will realize that we ignore many aspects of the reality of the universe, or the unreality of the universe, which cause great harm to our lives. Even if you had never heard of the divine paradox. Even if you had never heard of the Kybalion.

Like that citizen who walks down the street and is harmed by Augusto Conte's thinking, without ever knowing that he existed. So we have many. And I would give a lecture to talk to you about the myths of the 20th century. Myths in the wrong sense. Things that we believe are not real. But that someone announced at a certain moment, and we followed the letter, and we didn't even think that this citizen existed. Sometimes we think it's our idea. And that was announced by someone. And we are cloning this thought throughout history. Historical materialism, for example,

would give a lot of conversation. But let's go. He will say, the true wisdom, the real wisdom, which is unreal wisdom, Is measured exactly by this. Considering the universe as unreal is a transgression. Consider the laws of the universe as real and use superior laws over inferior laws is wisdom. That is, a sage looks at things and knows that this here is an illusion set up so that he can live an experience. But he knows when he should think so. And when he should think that this is real. So when I live, I don't know,

a problem of coexistence, one of these dramas of human life, sometimes it's good to de-dramatize it and say, This is not so real. This is an illusion. Let me see what I learn from this. It's not worth suffering so much for that. At this moment it is good to consider that it is unreal. Now, if I'm walking towards the door, it's good to consider that the door is real, because otherwise I will create a rooster in my head. And I'm living in both worlds, I have to know how to manage these two worlds. You must

have seen that joke they put on Facebook of number 6, That whoever is on one side says it's 6, whoever is on the other side says it's 9. I'm right, but you're not necessarily wrong. That is, this exclusion of duality that we do in modern times is something that did not exist for these traditions. So it's good to consider that from time to time the universe is a theater set up. But from time to time it's good to consider the reality. And to be in both worlds simultaneously. And to have wisdom to know when to

change the channel. And this is the wisdom of the wise. You will say, but no one thinks differently. There are many unfoldings that make us sometimes think differently. And fall into an unreality that he will say is dangerous. And it is the same for those who do not have maturity to manipulate knowledge. One of the things I have repeated a lot to you is that sentence of Plato when he says it is preferable absolute ignorance than knowledge in inadequate hands. This is a broader fact than you imagine. When a human being discovers something about a

point, he tends to universalize it to the four corners. When in fact that application only serves that point. And not for the four corners of the world. I'll give you a clear example so you understand what I'm talking about. On one occasion, I've told this story to some, you already know it. In fact, the stories are getting a little scarce, I have to invent others. On one occasion I gave a lecture about the virtues of the hero. It was an interesting lecture. I have, I don't know, 20 years, a long time. There were people here

like you who were not even born. And then at the end, a person raised his finger and said, this is all beautiful, very romantic. I remember this word, it was beautiful. It's all very romantic. But, in fact, we have already shown that this does not apply, it's a fiction. Because nothing is so absolute as that. It doesn't matter if a person is honest, this is relative. It doesn't matter if a person is fair, this is relative. I was very curious, why is it relative? Because everything is relative in the universe. Even the law of gravity

is relative, close to a black hole. So, if gravity is relative, much more will be your honesty. I just let my son be honest, because it is a social convention. If he is not, he will be discriminated. But that doesn't have value in itself. Because if gravity is relative, what will be honesty? I was looking and said, my God, how can the human psyche have reached such a loop? Because when Einstein announces relativity, he is not saying that all things can ignore the reality of the objects that are in your dimension. It is true that

gravity may be relative, close to a black hole. I don't understand any of that, but maybe it is. But are you a black hole? No, you are a human being. Do you want to test gravity? I do not recommend it, but if you want, you will see that for you it is very absolute. So, at the level of the black hole, gravity is relative. At my level, it is absolute. And the whole universe is like that. Do you understand that? The only being, more ahead we will talk about it again, who can look at everything

and say, this is all relative. And the absolute. For him, in fact, everything is relative. But I, who am relative, things that are at the same level of relativity as I, are absolute to me. So honesty, at this moment, is absolute to me. The day I fully conquer, I can say, now it's something else. But as long as I don't conquer, it's absolute. Things that are at the same level of relativity, for us, are realities that have to be conquered. Now, human immaturity does not know how to distinguish who is a human being and who

is a black hole. Human immaturity, when it discovers a point, and there is a name for it, which is sophism, the fallacy of generalization. It discovers what is real, for a point in the universe, applies to the four corners of the universe. I don't know if you've ever heard of a Spanish philosopher named José de Ortega y Garcés. He has a book called, Today, Specialist. In fact, it is not a book, it is an article. Where he says the following. One of the terrible things of our time is exactly this generalization. You take something that

is true for a point and generalize it for all corners. And do something else terrible too. Which is to take a person who knows a point and ask her for an opinion about everything. Don't they do that? They arrive on television and take the soccer player, who is very good at left-handed, and ask what he thinks of the president of the United States of America. And the worst thing is that he does. He speaks. And he speaks and the people take it seriously. Because as he plays well, he must know about American politics. He doesn't

know. The artist of the globe talking about ecology. It seems to me that dramaturgy and ecology are two different things. It is not because he may be a good actor, maybe, I don't know, that he will understand ecology. They are two things, not just one. That is, this generalization is a fallacy. And it is the product of our immaturity. We don't know how to put everything in its place. Plato called it justice. The sensible man is fair. He puts everything in its place. So if you have a little knowledge of this size, it applies to

the four corners of your life. So I'm going to apply the theory of relativity in my son's education and let's go. My son is not a galaxy. My son is a human being. And there are things that are proper to human beings. And there are others that are not. So you realize that there are elements that are curious, that we don't even understand the relativity that will apply it. In the human plane. Today this is so fashionable, people. So fashionable. I'm seeing people applying quantum mechanics in psychology. Neuroscience in love. Love is oxytocin, a hormone.

Let's see. Love is love. Neuroscience is something else. Anyway, this immaturity of the human being is like a child. Imagine a child who has the members of his body symbolically associated with the sectors of life. So one arm is art. The other is science and technology. One leg is, let's say, politics. The other leg is the mystical and religious aspect. But our civilization was stuck in everything. It developed only this arm. Science and technology. The arm was huge, adult and the infant body. Do you realize that this is an aberration? That he will end up

hurting himself with this arm? So this type of immaturity is very common. We have concepts in our day to day that were taken from absolutely bizarre conclusions. I will not go into this one. One day I will still do this lecture with you, because it is interesting. They are the myths of the 20th century. Now it is already 21. We have beliefs that are bizarre. Taken from conclusions that make no sense. Because we apply things that are not human to the human species. So he says, be careful. Because considering the universe as unreal makes us

start applying laws in an arbitrary way. I don't have a concrete experience of things that are real to me. So you have to work with the two elements. Remember that I told you that in Greek theater they said that tragedy and comedy were actually the same thing. A situation in your life seen by emotion is a tragedy. Seen for reason is a comedy. And sometimes it's good to see for reason. To de-dramatize life. And see that things are not so real. And that's how you consider the universe as unreal. But every now and then you

have to turn the key. To manage your financial life well. To manage space and time. To manage the organization of your home. You need to consider it all as real. There have been generations in the history of humanity of movements that believed that denying the material world, leaving the house a mess, leaving the body dirty, was virtue. Because the material world is an illusion. We've had it all. And you know very well what I'm talking about. We've had that many times. And we still have. So, the wise man knows how to turn that key. And

use everything in its place. Big laws against smaller laws. So the universe tends to disorganize. I'm going to work on the mental plane to keep myself in order. So I work with the mental plane against the disorder tendency, the entropy of the physical plane. I go up there. I work on the emotional plane in relation to energies. I will always go pulling to a plane, where I have the greatest control of circumstances. But I do not ignore the circumstances, nor do I consider them so true. This is crazy for the Western man. But we have

to consider both things. When people come and tell me, when I die, everything ends. There is nothing after death. I am forced to recognize that in a certain way, yes. Because what do you consider as me? The modern man, when he says me, he is referring to what? Within our materialistic context. Physical time, half a dozen ideas, half a dozen feelings, this dies. So when he says I die, depending on the self, I have to agree. But depending on the self, I do not agree. It is the same statement. Do you understand? That is, it

is something that is real and ceases to be. It depends on what you think is the self. You die and everything ends, or you die and everything does not end. It depends on what you consider as everything. So this conciliated duality, which is so typical of hermeticism, equal and unequal are the same thing in the principle of polarity. The extremes touch each other. This makes the Western man crazy. He is used to a binary mentality. If it is one thing, it is not the other. Well, for the whole, the universe is a dream. For part,

at its level, the universe is real. So at our level, we have to consider that the organization of time, space, objects, With respect to the things that touch us, the behavior in general in everyday life, has a dose of reality. It is the example that I gave you a million times. I'm sorry, but it works. I always remember it. It was that blessed game, the Orr, that I played when I was a teenager. I played a little more than a teenager. And that thing with those plastic planes, those little tanks. Well, I knew it was

a plastic plane. I would not drop any great power with a plastic plane. But it was a game, it had its rules, and if I wanted to win, I had to take them as I wanted. And I would take the rules as they were. And I would only win because I took the rules as they were. Or else I would not enter the game. That is, we have to consider the rules of the universe, and know how to handle them. And know where they want to take us. What level of consciousness. On occasion, I gave

a lecture, which was already given by another speaker, I talked a little about the question of games. Everyone knows that the game is an illusion, that one of the computer. But everyone wants to reach levels, levels, of skill, of expertise, of knowledge, of knowledge. Of the domain of tools. It is like that. And life is also like that. In fact, I think games imitate life. And that's why they are so fun. Because our life has become apathetic. And games are interesting. They have stages, they have overcoming. And ours, we practically accommodate ourselves. So, we have

to have the mind in the stars. And the feet on the ground. Be pontifices. Have a general notion of the universe. But at the same time, know where we are now. And the practicality of knowing how to apply these laws of the universe in our context of time and space, now. That is, knowing that there is a whole ladder that leads to the stars. But don't stop looking at the step that is in front of you. Otherwise, you can roll until the few that have already risen. Have the notion of the entire ladder. But have

the focus on the step that is in front of you. Today there is a practical example of this, which is the phrase of ISO 9000. I don't know where they copied it from, but it's a classic phrase. Which is local action with global vision. Isn't it the same thing? The vision of the whole, but a focus on what corresponds to you at that moment. So, this is the idea of the pontific man. Continuing, he will say That the divine paradox is an aspect of the principle of polarity. That we will see later. I don't know,

chapter 10, I think. Principle of polarity. The danger of omitting the other side of each question. So, the philosopher, this is an action principle. For a person who loves wisdom, who knows that he lives in a dual world. Always consider the other side of everything. This is valid for you to consider that the universe exists and does not exist. And it is also valid to consider the practical situations of your life. Did people offend you or not? Do people have or have no problem with you? Consider the two possibilities. You realize that when we polarize

in a mental aspect, or emotional aspect, of prejudice, of negative emotion, there is a resistance to see the other side of things. And we live more or less like that. We are passionate about our opinions. So, if you tell me, someone doesn't like me. I tell you, consider the possibility of him liking you. You will have resistance. We cling to our opinions. We cling to one side. And we don't even want to think that it can be different. You must have seen it, it's a joke. But it's something that happens exactly like this. People who

have the habit of gossip. The little dog. The habit of creating stories. They have fun with it. Are these people interested in knowing what really happened? No, it's a mess. It takes away the grace of knowing reality. The version is more fun. Normally more multicolored. And we have a little of that. We create a version of reality. And the best way to see if you are not clinging to one side, is to create the anti-version. And take an average of the other and see. Of the two and see where you are wrong. What is the

element that is dragging you? What is the passion that is holding you? The philosopher always considers that he is in the dual world. And you have to see both aspects of everything. At least as a mental consideration. It may be. It is likely that it is not absolutely as I think. Consider both sides of all issues. Prejudice, rigidity, all the fanaticism syndromes we have, would not exist if we had this practical, applied precept. And if? And if I were not the owner of the world? And if this is not really what has to be imposed

on the whole world as a belief? And if it is not really this person who is superior to this? And if there is no superior? And if all things were balanced? And if? Only this consideration would already take strength from your passions and your hates. And from all the collective syndromes that we feed so fervently. Just consider. The possibility of existence on the other side. So he will say. The mind perceives the world as transitory. And the body perceives the world as real. And you have mind and you have body. It would be good to

consider the opinion of both. If you have both, it is because both have something to teach you. Everything that is outside, everything that is inside, has something to teach you. And it seems that our vehicles are forms of decoding of aspects of reality. That is complex. So when the mind says. Ah, this business is not very serious, is it? How can things be like this if they disappear in a moment? How can death exist? If a person is a reality so complex, nothing can turn from one time to another. How can things pass from one

time to another? The feelings, the thoughts. How can they be so concrete, so real? How can ideas pass? The mind is right. This is not so real. Now the body hits the wall with its face. So he says this is true. He is also right. And if we live in both worlds, we have to know. We have to know how to work with these two aspects. You must have heard our national director like to tell this story. I think it's funny. No one knows if it's real. But I think it's funny. That is the story

of Tancredo Neves when he was governor of Minas Gerais. Have you heard that? He said that on one occasion, a person came to talk to him and said. Look, I live near the center of the city of Belo Horizonte. And the people have a park there that our children play. The only green place there. And the people are trying to destroy the park. And he said that he wanted to build a building. It was absurd. Children only have this space to play. He said that the woman is absolutely right. Then came the owner of the

company that wanted to build the building. Look at that space. If you make a statistic, you will see that it will be 20 children there per month. It is a very little occupied business. And people have nowhere to put their car. We will create a garage building. It will benefit several workers who work in that region. You are absolutely right. Then came his advisor and said. How can you? The man said to the lady that she was absolutely right. And he said to the employer that he was absolutely right. The two contradictory positions are only

being contradictory. Then he said to the advisor. You are also absolutely right. If we consider things from a lot of different points of view. That's it. Now let's see how we reconcile all these elements. But they are true. Everyone said the truth. So, learn from everything that nature informs us. And ponder all these things to have a right attitude towards life. The mind is right when it says that this is not so real. But the body is right when it says that if I don't consider this true, I'll hit the wall. So, he has to

know. The universe has its dose of reality. And its dose of unreality. Continuing. As we have already commented, the only thing that can say that everything is relative is the absolute. The problem of knowledge in hands and hands. In immature hands. We really have to consider the amount of knowledge that maybe, if we were to make a serious statistic, it would be better that humanity did not have. One of the things that is even discussed today in terms of articles on the internet. For example, nuclear fission. If you consider what has already been created from

it, what was beneficial. In terms of plants, energy generation and everything. And what was malefic. Because even these plants, sometimes, like Fukushima, give a disaster and give nothing. Anyway, if you consider the malefic and the benefits, many people say that it would be better if it had not been discovered. Maybe it would be better to let the human being grow a little more. In terms of morality, in terms of psychological balance, spirituality, less selfishness. To find out in a hundred years. Maybe it would work better. Because one day we would have to have this. Maybe.

But maybe it wasn't good now. In the same way you say to a child, to a teenager. Maybe it would be better not to have met this person now. Meet her ten years from now, when she is more mature to defend herself. Isn't that so? What happens with the part, happens with everything. So we have to consider this aspect. That from the classical point of view, it would make no sense. That our civilization considers as education, accumulate information on top of a man. That perhaps it does not have the moral basis to support it. Well,

he will say, the whole is above the space, time and laws. But when it manifests, its acts agree with the laws. I already told you that there is an Indian book, called Ramayana. In fact, it's not just this book, but this is a good example. The whole history of the book is one thing. It is a creator being, the greatest god in history, who is Narayana. Who is punished. Who is punished because he violated a law of manifestation. It is the karma of Narayana. I told you the end of the story, this boring thing. But

you will forgive me. But the story is this. It is God being punished for violating the law that he himself created. Once he creates these laws, he is even subjected to it. This is interesting, that later on, I will even quote this again. Helena Blavatsky, who is a great philosopher of the 19th century, she talks about it. If you believe in any supreme being, do not ask him to prevent the consequences of the acts you have already committed. Because he can't do that. He is great for obeying the laws and not for running them over.

You released an object and you can't ask God to not let it fall. It will fall. He created the law of gravity. And all beings are great for obeying the laws and not for infringing them. Because these beings can help you somehow to create consciousness to avoid causes. But not escape the consequences. That is, a tax paradise. The law of karma, as we would say. But go to the Kaimans of karma. There karma does not catch me. That is, I generate all actions and the consequences do not reach me. By the way, consider this. Which

is something I have also spoken about in several lectures. To educate a child, a young man, a child, a student, whatever it is, is to help them integrate into the laws of nature. And not to become an infractor, because you created an artificial universe. So the child does not generate any cause. And you give access to all the consequences. He did not eat the food, but he has the right to the dessert. He did not clean the room, but he has the right to the new toy. You generate in the head of this child an

idea that without causes, the consequences come. And they do not come. And you will not be able to control this artificial universe throughout the life of this being. He will demand the consequences without generating the causes. And the world will say no. And this will be suffering. To educate a child, a young man, is to adapt him to the laws of nature. And not to disajust them. Without causes, there are no consequences. This is the law of karma, this is Newton's law. It is part of the laws of the manifested universe. And it is one

of the laws of the Kybalion, the principle of cause and effect. So all beings agree with the law. He puts something interesting, that he recommends as a future. The book was written in 1908. We are in 2017, we have not yet reached this future. But he says, in the future science will conclude that matter is unreal. It has not yet concluded. But it came to the conclusion that it is less dense than it was imagined. Today we know, in modern physics, that matter is made of atoms, molecules made of atoms, made of sub-particles. So you

have protons, neutrons, electrons, and inside there are quarks, muons, I don't know what else. In other words, it is coming to the conclusion that matter is less dense than it was imagined. But it has not yet been concluded that matter is an illusion. We are still far from that. And just as it has not yet been concluded that there are other planes, besides the physical and energetic plane. Mind, emotions are still considered as a subproduct of the brain, of hormones, etc. But the truth is, that in these 100 years there has been an evolution in

certain aspects. Matter is less dense. The evolution of beings is now considered in a more sensible way. We consider life in a more complex way than we considered 100 years ago. Because today we already know that there are bacteria that survive in a lake, for example, full of sulfur. And that they replaced inside their cellular structure and put sulfur in there. Today life is considered in a much broader way. It is already considered the possibility of existence. We have a lot of life in other planetary systems, in a very different way from the organic life

we know. We have expanded our horizon of life. In other words, we are progressing. But this process, perhaps, to get where it predicted, considering that matter is an unreal, and that there are other more subtle planes, such as the mental plane, I think this will take another century or less. It is never known. But we have progressed. And today matter is no longer that brick we considered in the past. A dense and absolutely inexorable brick. Today it is full of cracks, holes and subparticles. Less concrete than it was in the past. Look closely at this

example he gives. The artist who sculpts or writes well, refers to the abstraction of beauty, but needs the physical body, the book or sculpture as a means. You can even show off in front of Michelangelo's Moses. And you can really show off, because that's no joke. It's no wonder Michelangelo came to him and said, speak, because it seems that you will stand up and speak. It is impressive to realize that certain sculptors were able to impregnate emotions in a piece of marble. You look at the face and there is a being with a lot of

characteristics, of will, determination, strength, which even impregnates you with a certain fear. It is very impressive to see these statues of Michelangelo. Now, through the statue of Michelangelo, you realize a series of things about human will, about human determination. But you needed a piece of marble for that. Through the work of Leonardo da Vinci, you realize the subtlety, for example, of a Mona Lisa, of a Santana, whatever his work is. João Batista, above all, is fantastic. With that subtlety of pointing upwards, with that enigmatic smile, like that of the Mona Lisa. You needed that piece

of painted canvas. Through the work, she suggested things that are on the other side. But without the work, this artist would not be able to signal. If there were no instruments, we would not hear Mozart's Lacrimosa. We would not understand what he is suggesting about life. You need the instruments that execute that melody. You need the matter to see more than it. We cannot deprive ourselves of the matter and its laws. If you do not know how to play a musical instrument, you will not know what Mozart was suggesting. Or Beethoven, or whoever. So, the

same thing happens with our body. It is not definitive, it is not eternal. But through it, we will perceive many things. The laws of the universe have manifested the temporal ethics of the moment we live. It is not absolute. But through it, we will perceive how to dominate ourselves. How to live with others. How to have a civilized life. In other words, they have an absolute value in our lives at this moment. Just like the step in front of us. When you go up 10 steps and look back, nothing will appear. But at this moment,

it is what is most real in your life. The step in front of you. So, continuing. To complement this idea, I brought you this letter from the Egyptian Tarot. It shows this very clear idea. It is the sympathetic death, as we usually represent. I do not know why. What does death have to do with skeletons? I do not understand. The skeleton is who died, not death. But the fact is that this skeleton represents death. There is a rainbow there, he is picking heads, legs, feet. Do you see? With a scythe. This letter is very indicative.

This Tarot Arcana Egyptian. That says that when death comes, it collects what is floating above the earth. Are you seeing that the organs, the pieces of the human body are floating above the earth? Why does a person's head float above the earth? Why doesn't it stay, let's say, deep down? Why doesn't it get swallowed, swallowed by the earth? Because you had some thought that was above illusions. Some thought that was above matter. Some level of wisdom. Why was it conquered? Why does a hand float above the earth? Because you performed some work, real, for the

sake of others. Something that time, matter, did not swallow. Why does a foot float above the earth? Because you walked on paths that really made you move forward. This was real, this was eternal, this was not swallowed by time and space. So it floats above the earth. And it collects what these organs allowed you to conquer. In fact, it is a symbol. It will not collect heads, hands and feet. But it will collect good paths, good works, good thoughts, good emotions. That were conquered through heads, hands and feet. So you wouldn't walk good paths if

you didn't have a foot one day. The foot is not real, but what it allows you to conquer, yes. So it has its dose of reality now. The hand is not real. One day this will disintegrate. But what it allows me to build, yes. So it has its dose of reality, for what it allows me to reach. The head is not real. This concrete one here. But what it allows me to conquer with wisdom, yes. And it will eternalize itself in that. For what I conquered through it, will flourish on earth. So I need this

vehicle. And this need, this possibility of it leading me where I should go, is its reality. And the respect we owe to it. So notice, a wise man is a being. Very interesting. Because no one, as much as he, knows that the world is unreal. And no one, as much as he, respects the world. Doesn't it seem like a paradox? It is one more of the paradoxes of the Egyptian tradition. He knows it is not true, but he takes it seriously. It's like an actor. He knows that there is only one character, but he performs

in the best way possible. A good actor. Knowing perfectly who he is and who the character is. And controlling the two worlds without mixing them up. Without mixing. This is a good actor. Continuing in our history, he says that serenity is a consequence of knowing that there is no force outside the whole to act on us. Understand it and harmonize with it. The whole, the universe, is a unity. All the things that are in here, that seem pleasant to us, unpleasant to us, that seem real or unreal to us, are necessary. Although I don't understand

now. This is a curious thing. There is a very interesting book that I like, a relatively recent book. Written by a mythologist named Walter Otto. Theophania. Where he talks about it. He will say, well ... The one who studies Greek mythology will see something very interesting. A Greek could consider, I did not understand why this happened to me. But he would not say, this that happened to me was wrong. He considered that there was some order in the universe. That had put that in his life. That it was necessary for him to get to the

next step. Even if he did not understand. You will not see within, for example, Homer's work. At no time did he say, the gods should not have done this to Ulysses. No. Ulysses did not understand why it was done. But what was good for him was. Nothing happens to man that is not proper to man. Even if he does not reach this wisdom at that moment. So what is pleasant, what is unpleasant. What seems positive, what does not seem. Sometimes at the end of life we look and say. The unpleasant things made me grow more

than the pleasant ones. So both were necessary. And the good is what is necessary for man to grow. So when we have this tranquility, knowing that nothing will happen that is evil. Because there is nothing evil. Evil is my interpretation of things that I do not like. Because at this moment they will force me to change. So, as I told you in the last lecture. Your son who is in school. Must consider the homework the most evil thing in the universe. Isn't that so? But for you who are the father, it is the most benign

thing in the universe. Because if it is not so, he does not grow. So the evil and the benign is an interpretation. But if we know that there is nothing that really harms us. The whole universe harms our growth. Do you realize that this gives a very great security? The problem is the shadows. The shadows that we put inside our head and we find. There is something that wants to destroy me. My ignorance is the only one. There is nothing outside that wants to destroy you. Everything wants to build you. There are forces that are

really obscure in the way we imagine. They are forces, let's say, it's like the two dimensions of a ladder. One wants to propel you up and the other wants to stabilize you. Both build the ladder. For hermeticism, considering all things as necessary is the virtue by excellence. It is the man who considers the universe as one. There is nothing outside it. There is nothing evil plotting against me outside the universe. The universe is one and everything is inside it. This may seem silly, but it has a very interesting psychological effect. Because it gives you serenity.

Realize that one of the complicated things in our historical moment is victimization. And what is victimization? Jânio Quadros syndrome. Evil forces plot against me. Where are the evil forces? There is not. There are no evil forces. I am not a victim of anything, except my ignorance. Do you realize that only this is already relaxing? I don't have to fight against the shadows. There are no shadows. Unless it is the same project, by ignorance. This idea of ​​serenity for them is a direct result of wisdom. Hermeticists considered it that way. The highest beings in the universe,

I already told you, HPB talks about it, Helena Blavatsky, who is this philosopher from the 19th century, the highest beings in the universe are still subject to the law. And they will continue, while the universe lasts. So don't expect that there is someone out there, who no longer has to submit to the law, who will give you a little way. There is no way in the cosmos. The law is the infrastructure that sustains the universe. It is the backbone of the universe. No one will give a little way to dribble it. Because otherwise the universe

will collapse. There is an interesting thing, that I like to tell in the story of the Celts. On one occasion, the Celts meet Alexander, on the banks of the Danube River. It's a beautiful story. They were considered to be sensational warriors. Alexander had the idea of ​​asking a druid, from Viciacus, I said to him, your people are so fearless, what are you afraid of? Then this druid answered him, we are only afraid of two things, that the sky falls, or that the sea rises towards the sky. If everything is in its place, doing what corresponds

to it, we know what corresponds to us, and everything is fine. Do you realize? There is no more gravity. I drop an object, it rises. I will be worried, because if the objects do not know what to do, what will I say? But if the objects are falling, I'm calm. Each one is in his place. The sky is in its place, the sea is in its place, I'm in mine, I'm a human being. So, if the laws of the universe remain, the logic of the universe does not break, I find my logic and I'm leaving.

Each one is on his way. I'm going to find all of us at the end. And the wisest beings know that what guarantees the universe is Dharma. As the Indian tradition says, it is the law. It is obedience, the great universal law. No one will run over it to benefit you. This does not exist. This expectation is vain. Science progresses towards hermeticism. This says the book, this book from 1908. In many points, although they still do not understand mentalism. That is, the mental plane as an independent world, the plane of ideas, as Plato said, which

determines what is happening down here, This will still take time. But we can observe this in practice. The influence that exists in our mind about reality. Did you not have a grandmother who said that phrase? The owner's eye fatten the cattle. Did you not have that? My grandmother used to say that a lot. This is still a principle of mentalism. That is, there is something about subtle plans that determines reality. You put two people with a little plant in the house. Both take care of the little plant in the same way. But one has a

love for the plant, concentrates on it, Observes, torments it to grow. I don't know why, water loads. These people, sometimes the plants are more beautiful. Does not exist this? The mind influences the matter? Science has not proven this, but we see it happening. Maybe at some point this is a practical reality, becomes a theoretical reality. But the fact is, as the name of that character says, I always forget, from the self of the compassionate. The Chicó. I don't know, I just know it's like that. Isn't that so? That is, what we have of mental expectation,

in fact, generates effects in our lives. Those people who have the green finger, for liking the plant and paying attention to it, it develops differently. In short, one day, who knows, mentalism will be a reality for science too. It is never known. We have already broken many taboos. We must act and live as if the transitory things were real. And at the same time, as if they were not. Oh, how crazy! This is discernment. Example of good pranic karma. Respect for things. Have you ever heard about it? I'm doing a mix, because karma is an

Indian concept, we are talking about Egypt. We are doing a comparative study, trying to evoke what each tradition can bring to us. And karma is synonymous with the law of cause and effect, which is Kaibalion. So it's all the same. It is said in the Indian tradition, that a person who has no problems in the energetic or pranic plane, which is this word I use there, is the energetic dimension. It is said that man has a physical, energetic, emotional and mental body. The energetic plane is the financial plane, the resource plane. And you realize that

some people, without much effort, seem to get better at this plane than others. It has never happened that you meet, I don't know, with a colleague from the university time. At my age, sometimes I meet people from my time at the university. That is, those who studied with me three decades ago. And at that time, they did not solve their financial professional problem. There is no minimum independence in this plane. Then you look at it and say, I don't even know how I did it, because it was so easy. For some it is easy, for

others it is difficult, within the same historical context, within the same city, within the same context of possessions, within very similar things, sometimes brothers. Then you realize, well, is there anything else in this? The tradition of the energy plane is the same. So, the Indian says that good karma in this energy plane has a lot to do with the respect you have for things. Isn't it interesting? When you respect the simple objects that serve you, you tend to have them. That person who breaks everything he has, who does not respect anything, moves everything in any

way, despises things, tends not to have things. She tends to be scarce. Two elements that generate excellent karma in this plane, sorry, pranic or energetic plane, Two things, which are generosity and respect for things. We have a teacher who is very good in this area of domestic economy, he usually talks about it. There is a coin on the floor, the person does not lower it to get it, because he thinks it is worthless. He tends to have a financial problem. He does not value the little things, breaks the chairs in your house, breaks the kitchen

utensils. He tends not to have things. This is karma that disrespects things. Imagine a wise man, That we are considering, we are philosophers, we seek wisdom. This ideal wise man that we seek as the future, would be that the little things, he would have a deep respect for them. They are here and have as much right to be here as you. And they are serving you humbly. They have a deep respect for things. Although he knows that things are not real, but no one respects them more than he does. Isn't that curious? So knowing the

relativity of the world does not mean despising the world. It means considering everything in the value it has. We are in a good time to talk about the story of water. Knowing how to use it will not be missing. This maxim is very cute, but it is not very philosophical. If you consider, if there was a lot of water, and we knew that it would not be missing, would it be right to treat it in any way? That is, water only has value because it serves me? Or does it have value in itself, regardless of

whether I exist or not? I respect it for what it is. I, human, she, water, both have the right to exist and I must respect it. Missing or not missing. A utilitarian approach where things have value because they serve me. So I am what? The king of the world? So this anthropocentric view is typical of a person who manipulates things badly and therefore generates the scarcity of things, which is the world we live in. Do you understand? Understand this. So respect things, but do not wish them intensely as an ambitious would wish. But once you

have them, respect them. All of them. The spoon in your kitchen deserves respect. Things deserve respect. They are there to serve you humbly. Although you know they are not so real. Neither are you so real. This is the enigma, the divine paradox, which really gives a knot in the head of the modern man, so materialistic. But it has to be considered that way. And you realize that there are situations and situations to play with these two faces in our lives. Well, and finally, what he puts in the book I brought to you. Transmutation is not

a presumptuous denial, but it is the offensive weapon of the master. So he knows he can get out of this materialistic level to a more spiritual level. He uses it as a weapon of overcoming. But he does not despise the consequences. He does not despise the things that are on this level. He does not despise anything, on any level. Even the fantasies of a person have a certain value and he will consider them with respect. They are worlds and worlds and worlds that you have to respect them to overcome them. And he will say, this

is a transcription of a section of the book, Our occupation in the universe is not to deny its existence, but to live, employing the laws to elevate us from the lower to the higher, doing the best we can, in the circumstances that appear every day, and living as much as possible for our high ideas and our ideals. In other words, we are not here to despise anything, but to consider that everything has as much reality as we do. These things are not real, I don't either, so we are all real at a certain level. We

are in the same. I'm not that real either. So the things that are at the same level of reality as I have value and I will respect them, just as I deserve to be respected. I look for something that is more real than all this. I will go from level to level until I reach absolute reality, because that is my goal and the way to that. But I walk on solid steps of respect and consideration for everything that is life itself, for what is worth in itself and not for the utility it has for me.

Let's stop being great manipulators of life. Well, this is the lesson of the divine paradox. You realize that the idea of generating this study group is exactly because, each chapter of this has a complexity, that for us to talk about it within a lecture that talks about the whole book, I would have two minutes to talk about it. And we really don't assimilate an idea like that in two minutes. Within a book that has 15 chapters, how long would I have to talk about it? The idea is that we can chew these elements, which are

complex for us, that this is a step of reflection. Remember that phrase that I have always repeated, from the Confucian tradition, Man and place. Man speaks of people. The common man speaks of things. The man who seeks wisdom speaks of ideas. Let's try to reflect on these ideas and make them an important thing in our lives. And a tool for consideration of the two aspects of life, to know how to use it in the situation that corresponds to them. Let's be fair, know how to treat each thing as it corresponds to it. It is not

so real, and at the same time it is real.