The Law of the Pendulum governs absolutely everything in the cosmos. For the human being, this law subjects us to the pain swinging between strong emotions. At one extreme is euphoria; at the other, despair inevitably awaits.
All our longings and desires oscillate with the pendulum. Hope and pessimism, success and failure—these are the extreme ends of its movement. The burning question is: Do we have to continue living our lives trapped in the mechanics of the pendulum?
The Pendulum in History
The universal pendulum influences not only our inner life but also the course of history. Historical processes unfold beneath its relentless Law. We observe how the movement of the pendulum raises and sinks entire empires. Egypt rose in great splendour along the banks of the sacred Nile. When the pendulum swung to the opposite extreme, Egypt fell.
At that same time Jerusalem, the beloved city of the prophets, was rising. It too collapsed when the pendulum swung once more. At the other side emerged the mighty Roman Empire, only to fall with the next movement of the pendulum. Civilisations flourish and then crumble under this cyclical force. Such unceasing oscillation shows that no material structure is ever permanent.
The Extremes of the Psychological Pendulum
The pendulum does not only move through time; it also oscillates within the human mind. At one extreme are found all religions, sects, and pseudo-esoteric schools. At the other are the materialistic and atheistic currents: Marxism, scepticism, absolute atheism. There is constant movement between these ideological opposites.
A religious fanatic may swing to the opposite pole as a result of any disappointment, transforming into a sceptic or an atheist. Likewise, the materialistic person may change abruptly. A metaphysical experience or an experience of profound terror may thrust him towards the opposite side, turning him into a reactionary believer.
A striking example is Antony Flew, the renowned atheist philosopher. After decades advocating atheism, the pendulum swung. Confronted with the complexity of DNA,
Flew accepted the idea of a Creative Intelligence. He acknowledged that scientific evidence had led him to believe in a Higher Being.The staunch materialist, in the face of death or overwhelming fear, instantly moves to the other side of the pendulum, praying, imploring with sudden and boundless devotion.
In The Great Rebellion, Master Samael Aun Weor warns us about ideologies. Spiritualism and Materialism are concepts that endlessly replace one another. Both are processed by the mind under the Law of the Pendulum. These extremes are superficial workings of the intellect. They can never guide us to the Real; they merely lead to passing fads of thinking.
The Intellectual Trap: Concepts and the Illusion of Matter
The great theories governed by the pendulum rest upon debatable concepts. Spirit and Matter are notions that no one truly comprehends. The mind knows nothing of Spirit; it knows nothing of Matter.
The mind can generate concepts, but never know reality. Spirit is the Being and only the Being can know itself. Master Samael Aun Weor writes:
“The Being is the Being, and the reason for the Being to be is the Being itself.”
Scholars and scientists speak of Matter with great assurance. Yet we need to ask: what exactly is Matter? Is it cotton? Flesh? Iron? Stone?
To claim that everything is Matter is to oversimplify reality. It is like saying the human body is nothing more than a heart, when each substance is different; each organ is distinct. Matter is, therefore, a highly disputable concept. The concepts of the pendulum may serve for debate, but they can never replace what is Real.
Theories change with time and the passing of years. A clear example is the belief in the immutability of species, which held that living beings were created without evolutionary change.
What was once scientific dogma no longer applies. Today’s firmly held belief may be obsolete tomorrow. This demonstrates that the mind perceives only the illusory forms of nature. It knows nothing of the truth concealed within them.
Concepts at either extreme of the pendulum—right or left—are really only superficial vanities. All these movements occur at a superficial level of understanding. Truth is not a matter of theories or beliefs.
Truth Lies at the Centre of the Pendulum
What is Real— the Truth—is what genuinely concerns us. It cannot be found within the ceaseless swing of theories and doctrines. Master Samael Aun Weor teaches:
“Truth is the unknown, to be discovered from moment to moment”
Truth resides precisely at the centre of the pendulum. It is not on the far right, nor on the far left. When Jesus was asked, “What is the Truth?” he kept a profound silence.
When the Buddha was asked the same question, he simply turned and walked away.
Truth is neither opinion nor prejudice—whether of the right or the left. Whatever image the mind forms of it is never the Truth. Whatever notion the intellect shapes about it is never the Real.
Neither spiritualist currents nor their materialist opponents can lead us to Truth. Truth must be experienced directly. It is like putting your finger in the fire and getting burned. The centre of the pendulum lies within us. There we must uncover the Real; there we must experience Truth for ourselves.
The Practical Path: Death of the Ego and Liberation of the Essence
We need direct and profound self-exploration. This allows us to discover ourselves and truly know who we are. The experience of Truth comes only through the elimination of error—that is, the undesirable elements which together form the ego.
Only through the dissolution of the “I” does reality appear. You must eliminate your errors, prejudices, and fears. Destroy your passions, desires, beliefs, and lusts. Intellectual self-sufficiency must be entirely eliminated.
Truth arrives spontaneously only when the psychological “I” has died. The mind cannot seek Truth, for it does not know it; neither can it recognise it. While consciousness remains trapped within the ego, it cannot experience the Real. The Real lies beyond the body and beyond emotional states.
When the ego is reduced to cosmic dust, consciousness becomes free. It awakens definitively to experience the Real directly. Justly the Great Master Jesus declared:
“Know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.”
What use is it to know fifty thousand theories if you never experience Truth? It is far better to explore oneself in order to truly know oneself. Only then, in a direct way, will we experience the Real—what lies beyond the oscillation of the pendulum.
The Value of Experience
Any person’s intellectual system is respectable. Yet each one of these has its opposite, and neither of them is the Truth. True wisdom is not found in external knowledge.
Far greater value lies in the action of inner self-exploration. One day you must experience TRUTH directly. Truth remains still, beyond the restless swing of the pendulum. Stop seeking answers at the extremes of the pendulum.
Move towards direct experience.
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