"To change is the best; however, we must begin by being sincere with ourselves.  We need to make a psychological inventory of ourselves in order to know what we have in excess or what we lack.” ―Samael Aun Weor, Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology

Our internal states shape our exterior life. By becoming acquainted with the numerous conditions of our internal, psychological world, we can modify them in order to awaken the free and natural state of consciousness: compassion, empathy, wisdom, serenity, cognizant love, and happiness for others. Through liberating the consciousness of its egotism, faults and obscurations, we can then penetrate, with the eye of awakened, spiritual perception, into the true knowledge of life's mysteries. However, all of this is based on directing conscious attention, not reacting mechanically to life in a passive, unconscious manner.

The first, kindergarten step to awakening to our essential nature begins with observing ourselves. By directing our attention with full consciousness and will, we can discover what psychological elements within our interior universe produce suffering and conflict. Therefore, by observing the conditionality of our psyche, we can modify it. Only by learning to observe and eliminate our faults can we produce radical, fundamental, and permanent change, and thereby experience the awakening of our true spiritual and divine potential.

Resources and References:

http://chicagognosis.org/lectures/self-observation