True Purpose of Our Existence

Reclaiming the Essence and Returning to the Divine

Most of us sense that life is more than survival, more than chasing success or avoiding pain. Somewhere deep inside, we feel the pull of something sacred, something forgotten yet intimately familiar.

In the Gnostic teachings of Samael Aun Weor, this longing reflects the essence within us: the consciousness that carries our possibility of awakening and returning to the Divine.

The Fall into Fragmentation

Gnosis teaches that only a small portion of our consciousness is free. Samael Aun Weor describes this condition as approximately 3% free essence, with the remaining 97% imprisoned within psychological aggregates, the many elements that collectively form the ego.

We can begin to recognize this fragmentation through ordinary self-observation. One part of us longs to love, while another resents. One seeks truth, while another wants recognition. We sincerely decide to change, only to find ourselves repeating the same reactions.

These conflicting desires reveal how divided we are within ourselves.

According to these teachings, the development of the ego is connected with humanity’s fall and the misuse of the creative sexual force. Fear, pride, envy, anger, lust, and other psychological elements hold portions of our consciousness captive, limiting our ability to perceive clearly and act freely.

The work of awakening begins with recognizing these elements in ourselves.

The Wheel of Samsara

Gnosis describes the essence as passing through the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms before entering the human stage. Within this cycle, the essence is granted 108 human existences in which to pursue conscious awakening.

If these opportunities are exhausted without liberation, the teachings describe a descent into the infradimensions of nature. There, through a painful process of involution, the psychological aggregates are gradually disintegrated, eventually releasing the essence so that a new evolutionary cycle can begin.

Within this framework, the descent serves a purifying function. Yet the mechanical release of essence through nature is different from consciously accomplishing the work of spiritual transformation.

Gnosis offers another possibility: to undertake that work voluntarily.

Facing the Inferno Within

The voluntary descent begins in our own psyche.

Rather than looking only at the suffering caused by others, we turn toward the anger, fear, attachment, and pride operating within ourselves. Daily life becomes a mirror in which these hidden elements can be seen.

Self-observation allows us to notice an ego as it acts. Meditation helps us comprehend its motives, its roots, and the suffering it creates. Through prayer, we ask the Divine Mother to eliminate what we have sincerely understood.

Observation alone does not dissolve the ego. Intellectual analysis alone does not free the consciousness. The work requires comprehension and the assistance of the Divine within.

As each psychological element is dissolved, the essence imprisoned within it is released. Our capacity for conscious attention, compassion, and inner freedom can gradually grow.

The teachings also describe initiatic ordeals associated with earth, water, air, and fire. These ordeals test qualities such as steadiness, adaptability, detachment, and serenity. Spiritual progress requires these qualities to become lived realities.

The Sacred Science of Sexual Alchemy

In the teachings of Samael Aun Weor, the creative energy connected with humanity’s fall also holds the possibility of regeneration.

Sexual alchemy, called white tantra or maithuna, involves the loving union, living under same roof, of man and woman without the spilling of the sexual energy. Its purpose is the transmutation of that force and the development of the spiritual organism, the solar body.

This work is inseparable from conduct, love, and psychological transformation. It cannot be reduced to a physical technique.

The Divine Mother Kundalini is understood as an individual expression of the Divine Mother within each person. Her awakening and ascent are governed by the merits of the heart.

The spinal column is associated symbolically with Jacob’s Ladder. Yet ascending this ladder requires more than working with energy. It requires changes in how we think, feel, act, and relate to others.

Samael emphasizes fidelity, sincere love, and stability within the alchemical partnership.

Sexual energy is sacred, and the responsibility involved in working with it extends into every aspect of life.

The Solar Bodies and Spiritual Rebirth

Gnosis distinguishes the essence we possess from the fully developed soul we are called to incarnate.

Within his teachings, the Solar Bodies are actual subtle vehicles created through sexual alchemy. The solar astral, mental, and causal bodies provide the foundations for a conscious emotional life, a conscious mind, and conscious will.

Their creation belongs to the work of spiritual birth. The dissolution of the ego belongs to psychological death. These processes are related, but they are not interchangeable.

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:6

In this understanding, spiritual rebirth involves a profound transformation of what we are. Accumulating knowledge or adopting a spiritual identity cannot substitute for that work.

The aim is to prepare ourselves to embody the higher principles of our own Being.

Bringing the Work into Daily Life

Samael Aun Weor presents the path through three factors:

• Sanctity - Psychological death of our ego;

• Chastity - Saving sexual energy and transmute it - Spiritual rebirth;

• Charity- Sacrifice for humanity.

Psychological death means comprehending and dissolving the ego so that consciousness can be freed.

Spiritual birth concerns the regeneration of the human being through the right use and transmutation of the creative energy.

Sacrifice for humanity means serving others without making personal recognition or reward the purpose of that service.

These factors bring the teaching into the whole of life.

Meditation matters, but so does the way we respond when someone contradicts us. Transmutation matters, but so do honesty, fidelity, and responsibility.

Study matters, but so does our willingness to help another person.

We begin to understand the teaching more deeply when we attempt to live it.

Returning to the Divine

For me, the value of these teachings lies in the responsibility they place within us.

Teachers and communities may guide and support us, but no outer authority can perform our inner work. We must observe our reactions, comprehend our suffering, and sincerely seek the assistance of the Divine.

The return begins with the consciousness available to us now, however limited it may seem.

Each moment of honest observation gives us an opportunity to see. Each sincere act of love gives us an opportunity to serve. Each ego comprehended brings us closer to releasing what has been held captive within it.

The longing that first called us toward the sacred can gradually become a conscious commitment to the work.

The Divine awaits within.

Iuliana S

.Originally published April 1, 2025

Source and Acknowledgment

This reflection draws on the teachings of Samael Aun Weor, particularly The Perfect Matrimony, Revolutionary Psychology, and Hell, Devil, and Karma.

It is my personal understanding and presentation of these teachings, rather than an authoritative exposition. I am grateful to the teachers and organizations that have made these works accessible, including Glorian.