Samael Aun Weor - Fundamentals of Gnostic Education: Learn How to Think, Not What to Think

Fundamentals of Gnostic Education

by

Samael Aun Weor

Glorian Publishing

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Publication Data

Fundamentals of Gnostic Education

A Glorian Book / 2012

Originally published in Spanish as Educacion Fundamental (1970)

This Edition 2012 Glorian Publishing

Print ISBN 978-1-934206-85-0
Ebook ISBN 978-1-934206-86-7

Contents

Chapter 1

Free Initiative

Day after day, in all countries of the world, millions of students go to school and university in an unconscious, mechanical, and subjective manner, without knowing why or for what purpose.

Students are forced to study mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, etc.

Students minds receive information on a daily basis, however, never in life does it occur to them to think for a while about why they are storing such information and what is the objective of that information.

Why are we stuffing ourselves with such information? Why do we pad ourselves with that information?

Indeed, students only live a mechanical life; they only know that they have to receive intellectual information and to keep it stored in their unreliable memory, and that is all.

It never occurs to students to think about what education really is. They go to school, college, and university because their parents say so, and that is all.

It never occurs to students or teachers to ask themselves, Why am I here? What have I come here for? What is the true, secret motivation that brings me here? Teachers and students live with their consciousness asleep. They really act like machinesgoing to school, college, university in an unconscious and subjective mannerwithout really knowing why or for what reason.

It is necessary to stop being automatons; it is necessary to awaken the consciousness in order to discover for ourselves the meaning of this utterly terrifying struggleof passing exams, of living at a certain place in order to study day after day so that we can pass the year; the meaning of going through worries, anguishes, and preoccupations, practicing sports, going through arguments and fights with fellow students, etc.

Teachers should become more cognizant in order to help students to awaken their consciousness, whether it be at school, college, or university.

It is regrettable to see so many human automatons seated at desks, in schools, colleges, and universities, receiving information that they have to store within their memory without knowing why or for what purpose.

Youngsters are only worried about getting through and finishing the school year; they have been told they should prepare themselves in order to earn a living, get a job, etc., thus, they study, they fill up their minds with a thousand fantasies about their future, without really knowing the present moment, without knowing the true reason for studying physics, chemistry, biology, arithmetic, geography, etc.

Modern girls study to prepare themselves so that they can find a good husband, or to earn a living and be duly prepared in case their husband abandons them, or if they become widows or never marry. These are purely fantasies of the mind, because, in fact, they do not know what their fate will be nor at what age they will die.

Life at school is very vague, incoherent, and subjective. Children are forced to take certain classes that are worthless in everyday life.

In this day and age, what is important at school is getting through the years courses, and that is all.

In the past, there was at least something ethical in passing a years course. Now, such ethics do not exist. Parents can secretly bribe teachers so that their children can inevitably pass the year even if they are extremely bad students.

Schoolgirls often sweet talk the male teachers with the purpose of passing the class, thus the outcome of this is usually marvelous, even when they have not understood anything about what was taught by the teacher. By all means, they do well in their examinations thanks to their sweet talk, and they pass the school year!

There are students who are very clever at passing a school year. In many cases, this is a matter of tricks and astuteness.

The fact that students can successfully pass a certain examination (some stupid examination) does not signify that they have a true, objective cognizance about the subject in which they were examined.

Like parrots, cockatoos, or parakeets, in a mechanical way students recite the subject they studied and were examined in. Nonetheless, this does not mean that they are cognizant of that subject; rather, this only means that they memorized the materials in order to repeat like a parrot or cockatoo what they have learned, and that is all.

To pass an examination and get through a year does not mean we are very intelligent. In everyday life, we have known very intelligent people who never did well in examinations at school.

We have known magnificent writers and great mathematicians who were very bad students at school and who never did well in grammar and mathematics examinations.

We know a case of a very bad student in anatomy who was only able to do well in anatomy examinations after much suffering. Today, that student is the author of a popular book on anatomy.

Therefore, to pass a school year does not necessarily mean that we are very intelligent. There are people who have never passed a school year and they are very intelligent.

There is something more important than passing a school year and studying certain subjects, and it is precisely to have complete objective, clear, and luminous cognizance of the subjects being studied.

Teachers must exert themselves to help students to awaken their consciousness; they must direct all their efforts to the consciousness of their students. It is essential for the students to become completely self-cognizant of the subjects they study, because to learn by heart, like parrots, is simply stupid, in the most complete sense of the word.

Students are forced to study difficult subjects and to store them in their memory in order to pass a school year. Afterwards, in the practicality of everyday life, these subjects are not only useless, but moreover, they are forgotten, because the memory is unreliable.

Young people study with the purpose of acquiring a job and earning their living; thus, later, if they are lucky, they get their desired job. If they become professionals, i.e. doctors, lawyers, etc., all they will achieve is to repeat the same story as always: they marry, have children, and suffer. Thus, this is how they die without awakening consciousness, without acquiring cognizance of their own life, that is all.