Dearly beloved readers:
I am pleased to send you the present engraving which appears in a book in Latin entitled with the name…
…HOROLOGIUM AUXILIARIS TUTELARIS ANGELI
─‘Reloj auxiliar del Ángel de la Guarda’─
This book was written by the German Jesuit Jeremiah Drexel (1581-1638) and published in 1631 in Amsterdam. The book is also known by the title The Devout Christian’s HourlyCompanion composed of holy prayers and divine meditations.
To enter into the study of this beautiful engraving we will set our eyes on the clouds of the heavens, and within them appear the Hebrew words alluding to the Creator IOD HE VAU HE ─translate as JEHOVAH─.
Further down appear the Latin words DISCE ORARE ─translation: ‘learn to pray’─.
Outside the clouds we observe two other Latin words: DISCE VIVERE ─translation: ‘learn to live’─.
At the feet of the angel in our engraving we can see a torch and a jug of water accompanied by the Latin words DISCE MORI ─translation: ‘learn to die’─.
What does all this mean?
Unquestionably, all of us who try to live the Secret Path that Gnosis teaches us, must be very clear about the immediate need to know how to pray, to know how to live and to know how to die.
The meditations or reflections and prayers in this book focus on three basic things, as the engraving shows:
First: In “learning to die psychologically” through, for example, reflections on the certainty of mystical death, or on the irreparable waste of time, or on the multitude of our karmic debts. As for this question of knowing how to die, there are many students of Gnosis who believe that they are really dying psychologically, but in reality they are fantasizing about themselves. To really die you need to go through many emotional crises, voluntary sufferings, conscious sacrifices, and these are not words or pietistic poses or feigned meekness, no. True inner death will always produce inner bitterness, and we cannot fall into self-pity to justify our sadness or tears. The true martyrs of antiquity who embraced mystical death, to top it all, were always alone, without a little hand to caress their shoulder or promise them a better life…
Second: On the other hand, these meditations in the book focus on “learning to live” by meditating on patience, obedience to divine principles, temperance, humility, etc. Knowing how to live means always being vigilant to remain in the RIGHT WAY OF ACTING, RIGHT WAY OF FEELING AND RIGHT WAY OF THINKING. To be able to carry out this task, it is indispensable NOT TO FORGET OURSELVES at any moment. This means to remain, as our blessed Guru expressed it well: “Like the sentry in times of war.” Our words must be meditated before they are spoken, our thoughts must be examined before they are taken for granted, and our actions must coincide with our profound yearnings of wanting to change our mechanical life for a CONSCIOUS life.
Third: “Learn to pray,” which means conversing with our inner God. To know how to pray, it is necessary that we do it in the THIRD STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS, in other words, our prayers should never be done mechanically. When we pray mechanically ─our Patriarch Samael Aun Weor tells us─ our psychological aggregates take our prayers and turn them against ourselves, in such a way that what we were begging for will become something that, precisely, will beg the opposite of what we long to receive.
In a section below we find the following Latin words:
«Horologii ab Angelo directi Funiculus triplex;
VITA, VOTA, FATA.
Trahe VITAM Secundum Deum
Trahe VOTIS ad te Deum
post FATA traheris ad Deum».
Translation:
‘The triple little cords of the clock directed by the angel is telling us:
VIDA, VOTOS, HADO.
Life goes on according to God.’
In other words, try to match your life to the will of your REAL BEING.
‘Draw God to you through vows.’
Or promises, which means that whatever you promise your INNER BEING, always try to fulfill it. Put the thelema —the will— into action to make your vows come true. Do not let yourself be swept away by the evil force of entropy.
‘After Fate [destiny] you will be drawn to God.’
Certainly, through perseverance, little by little, the very force of the BEING will draw you toward the Great Reality. The encounter with our inner Father is always the result of two forces: a centrifugal force –that which the BEING exerts from the inside, to the outside– and another centripetal force –that which we will exert from the outside to the inside through prayer, fasting, esoteric practices, continuity of purpose, etc., etc., etc.—.
The clock that the angel shows us is indicating to us that our life is going faster than we think. We have been sent to a school we call LIFE and we must become conscious of our short stay in it.
The three little cords that are tied to this clock indicate, precisely, what has been mentioned and explained: VITA, VOTA, FATA, life, vows and deeds or destiny.
It is also interesting to see that these three cords of our angel’s clock have floral endings. Why? Well, precisely because the fulfillment of our duties: knowing how to live, knowing how to pray and knowing how to die, will give us the spiritual fruits that we long to find in the course of our journey.
It is also interesting to observe that EVERYTHING PASSES, nothing remains. Times pass, epochs pass, fashions pass, friends pass, enemies pass, seasons pass: spring, summer, fall and winter, human glories pass, passions pass, beauty passes, ugliness passes, words pass, honors pass, human goals pass, etc., etc., etc. Only that which HAS BEEN, IS AND WILL BE remains, that is, THE PROFOUND INNER BEING.
With these words we also want to point out that the water that flows from the vase or amphora that the foot of the angel treads on, and also the torch, both things on the ground are also transient even if they do not seem to be so.
The V.M. Samael always spoke to us of one of the autonomous and self-conscious parts called our Guardian Angel. This sacred part of our REAL BEING is always watching over us, endeavoring at every moment for us to value every second of our existence so that we do not waste time while we live on the face of our world. Such is the central figure of our engraving, and so we see him pointing with his right hand to the Creator near the Hebrew words that define Him.
I now give you a few sentences for your reflection:
“Prayer: the key to the day and the lock of the night.”
Thomas Fuller
“Conforming to God’s will is the most beautiful prayer of the Christian soul.”
Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
“True prayer does not consist in retiring at a given time to utter oral or mental words, but it is a religious way of doing everything, and thus one eats, drinks, walks, amuses oneself, writes, works and even falls asleep prayerfully; everything is prayer.”
Unamuno
“Some thoughts are like prayers. At certain moments, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.”
Victor Hugo
“Art and science are not enough, but patience is also indispensable.”
Goethe
TEMPORA MUTANTUR.
─‘Times are changing’─.
KWEN KHAN KHU
