During the hours of sleep, every human being moves in the Astral, floats out of the physical body. Even so, unfortunately, during the hours of sleep, within the Internal Worlds human beings wander about with their consciousness absolutely asleep. Generally, they just perform the same daily routine of their life. However, if their consciousness was awaken, instead of dedicating themselves to those nocturnal tasks, they would have the opportunity to contemplate all the marvels of the Superior Worlds with their astral eyes; thus, they would dedicate themselves to study the great mysteries of life and death.

Therefore, here we reveal a clue to awaken astral consciousness within the Superior Worlds, precisely during the time of normal sleep.

Exercise: At any given moment during the vigil state, during the hustle and bustle of daily life, it is necessary to become accustomed to the exercise of “discernment.” For example, when a student gazes at the purple color of a beautiful sunset, the most logical question that he should ask himself is: Am I in the Astral Body? Am I now wandering about out of the physical body?

There, immediately after those questions, the student must execute a small jump, an upward leap, with the intention of floating. Evidently, if he manages to float it is because he is performing the jump in the Astral Body; his physical body (except all of its vital faculties) was left in his bed sleeping, inactive.

Gnostic disciples must remember and grasp the fact that during sleep, the soul astrally see things exactly as those that exist in the physical world; thus, this is why, everybody during their normal sleep, firmly believes that they are acting in the physical body.

Notwithstanding, the law of levitation reigns in the Internal Worlds, while in the physical world the law of gravity reigns!  Consequently, the execution of a small jump solves the question: if one floats, it is because one is in the Astral, thus, the consciousness awakens.

Therefore, every detail, everything that piques our curiosity, (i.e. every beautiful landscape of Nature) must be worthy of “discernment;” the student must ask the aforementioned questions and thereafter execute the jump.

The following is an illustrative example of the events of daily life. Our friend John, mentioned here many times before, used to do this exercise during his daily life, at every moment, before any detail that piqued his attention or curiosity.

One night John visited some friends, who welcomed him with great affection. Thus, contented, seated among them, he was enjoying the conversation. However, since John was habituated (before any important detail) to ask to himself the aforementioned questions, logically, such a meeting of friends was reason enough in order to question himself: “Am I in the Astral Body? Am I now wandering about out of the physical body?”

Immediately, he looked around him, and evidently everything showed that he was in the physical body. Some of his friends were dressed in trench coats; while some were in suits and yet others were dressed in ordinary urban clothing. So, nothing indicated that John was in the Astral. Nevertheless, he said to himself: “I will execute my little jump!”

He, therefore, excused himself from his buddies and left the room. Thus, outside and with the firm intention of flying, he jumped as high as he could. The outcome was astounding, since he remained floating in the environment! He became perfectly aware that he was within his Astral Body and that his physical body was left resting in the bed!

See, if at that moment John had the initiative of asking such questions to himself, it was due to the fact that he formulated such questions to himself at every moment during his daily life. To sum up, this is why such practical questions were absolutely recorded within his subconsciousness. Thus now, during the normal sleep, his subconsciousness automatically impelled him to repeat such practical questions precisely when he was out of his physical body.  So, the end result was Astral consciousness.

Sequentially, John went back to the room and said the following to his friends: “Friends of mine let me communicate to you that we, who are reunited here, are in the Astral Body. The fact is that you, friends, went to sleep a few hours ago and right now, your physical bodies are in their beds! Yet, here, all of us are in the Astral Plane.”

All his friends touched and looked at each other and said: “That is impossible! We are in the physical body, in flesh and bones!”

They ended up laughing at John. They laughed like madmen. Therefore, when John saw the naiveté of his friends or rather, that they were with their consciousness asleep, he withdrew from the room. While floating in his Astral Body he thought to fly towards San Francisco, California; he wanted to visit a certain temple, which an Initiate founded there, and so he went.

Excerpted from Logos Mantra Theurgy (1953) by Samael Aun Weor.