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Meditation

What IS Meditation? It is not musing, not daydreaming; but as ye find your bodies made up of the physical, mental and spiritual, it is the attuning of the mental body and the physical body to its spiritual source." [Cayce 281-41]


Ralph Maxwell Lewis

"Meditation is a transformation of consciousness. When we meditate we change our state of receptivity, like tuning to a higher wavelength. Meditation is attunement." [Rosicrucian Manuscript]

Russell
"It may take you many years to fully grasp the above, but you can never comprehend it by reasoning with your brain as a sense

[p.178]

basis, for in that process is the motion of thinking. You must learn to "be still and know." The inner thinking of deep meditation will take you into the zero world of reality where illusion does not exist. The more you are able to find that center where the Light of Creation dwells, the more you will be able to discover the Light of your Self, and that is the greatest miracle that can happen to anyone. When you find your Self you also find God in His kingdom within you. [Atomic Suicide, page 177-178]

"Continuous meditation means continuous God awareness, and that continuity of awareness is forever leading you higher and higher into the high heavens of your own mountaintop.''

"That, and that alone, is the great glory of life, and of living. That awareness, and that alone, leads you to masterliness of achievement, peace, prosperity, happiness and the love of all mankind which is forever enduring." Russell, Home Study Course


Christ Returns - Speaks His Truth
HOW TO MEDITATE
"Your only limitation is the amount of time and energy, you are prepared to devote to meditating on your SOURCE of BEING and opening your human consciousness to enter into IT and receive IT into your mind." [Christ Returns - Speaks His Truth, Letter 4, page 9]

"And when I say: 'making true contact with It', I mean that the prayer of supplication for this benefit or that is not making true contact with your SOURCE OF BEING.
Your prayer is certainly received into the Source of Being, and an answer is frequently received swiftly and the need is fulfilled, even as you have asked. But true contact with the Source of your Being, is only experienced when you have sufficiently cleansed your consciousness of the gross human ego-drive and have spent some time in meditation and a regular emotionally powerful 'reaching out' in consciousness to your Source seeking contact and renewal and refreshment of spirit.

This is the true purpose behind existence. A constant and mutual reciprocation of communication between the Source of all Being and creation." [Christ Returns - Speaks His Truth, Letter 5, page 5]

"When you meditate, take up the position which is most comfortable for you. You do not have to go into physical contortions. Rest and relax. Tell yourself to relax and release all your limbs, including your head, neck, face, into a state of utter limpness.
I must impress on you that meditation should be - eventually - as simple as slipping into slumber. The purpose of meditation is to enable your entire consciousness to move beyond the boundaries of intellect and reason. There are teachers who will tell you to 'imagine' ... whatever you are told to imagine, you can rest assured you are not being assisted to go anywhere except into new imaginative realms of your own thought processes. [Christ Letters - Letter 8, pages 23-28]


The Christ Letters
ONLY through MEDITATION will you be enabled to STILL and QUIETEN your MIND completely.

ONLY then can Divine Consciousness enter your brain cells bringing Its own knowledge into your mind.

ONLY then can the flaws of ego be slowly dissolved from your brain cells and nervous systems. [The Christ Letters, 2007 Message-9]


Cayce
"(Q) Give me any guidance that will help me, to lift the cloud during meditation.
(A) Visualize not as of that in the picturization, but rather visualize as in the tones of music that may give tones in color, in painting or picture of the Christ Consciousness in self. This will raise self-more and more to the greater abilities in self in every direction." [Cayce 275-37]

"(Q) How could I improve my meditations?
(A) By being more and more patient, more and more longsuffering, more and more tolerant, more and more LOVELY to everyone you meet in EVERY way you act, in every word you SPEAK, in every thought you think." [Cayce (272-9)]

"(Q) Please advise me about my meditations?
(A) First study to know what meditation is. As has been indicated; the relationships first of body, mind, soul; then as these are understood, the NATURAL forces, the NATURAL manners of meditation will become as a part of self." [Cayce 308-3]

"There are DEFINITE conditions that arise from within when an individual enters into true or deep meditation. A physical condition happens, a physical activity takes place! Acting through what? Through what is called the imaginative or the impulsive, and the sources of impulse are aroused by the shutting out of thought pertaining to activities or attributes of the carnal forces of an individual." [Cayce 281-13]

"MEDITATION means, then, the entering within self to seek for the Creative Forces…" [Cayce (1020-1)]

"Quiet, meditation, for a half to a minute, will bring strength [if the body will] see PHYSICALLY this flowing out to quiet self, whether walking, standing still, or resting." [Cayce 311-4]

"For prayer is supplication for direction, for understanding. Meditation is listening to the Divine within." [Cayce (1861-19)]

"Meditation is emptying self of all that hinders the creative forces from rising along the natural channels of the physical man to be disseminated through those centers and sources that create the activities of the physical, the mental, the spiritual man; properly done must make one stronger mentally, physically, for has it not been given? He went in the strength of that meat received for many days? Was it not given by Him who has shown us the Way, "I have had meat that ye know not of"? As we give out, so does the whole of man - physically and mentally become depleted, yet in entering into the silence, entering into the silence in meditation, with a clean hand, a clean body, a clean mind, we may receive that strength and power that fits each individual, each soul, for a greater activity in this material world." [Cayce‬ (281-13)]

"Meditation, then, is prayer, but is prayer from WITHIN the INNER self, and partakes not only of the physical inner man but the soul that is aroused by the spirit of man from within." [Cayce‬ (281-13)]

"Meditate, oft. Separate thyself for a season from the cares of the world. Get close to nature and learn from the lowliest of that which manifests in nature, in the earth; in the birds, in the trees, in the grass, in the flowers, in the bees; that the life of each is a manifesting, is a song of glory to its Maker. And do thou likewise!" Cayce (1089-3)

"When we quiet the physical body through turning the mind toward the highest ideal, there are aroused actual physical vibrations, as a result of spiritual influences becoming active on the sensitive vibratory centers in the body, stimulating the points of contact between the soul and its physical shell. Let us trace this activity.

"When we attune ourselves to the Infinite, the glands of reproduction may be compared to a motor which raises the spiritual power in the body. This spiritual power enters through the center of the cells of Leydig glands (located in the genitive system). This center is like a sealed or open door, according to the use to which it has been put through spiritual activities. With the arousing of the image, or ideal, this life force rises along what is known as the Appian Way or the silver cord, to the pineal center in the brain, whence it may be disseminated to those centers that give activity to the whole mental and physical being. It rises then to the hidden eye in the center of the brain system (pituitary body), which is just back of the middle of the forehead. Thus on entering meditation there arises a definite impulse from the glands of reproduction that passes through the pineal to the pituitary gland. Whatever the ideal of an individual is, it is propelled upward and finds expression in the activity of the imaginative forces. If this ideal is material, there is built more and more into the body a love for, and a tendency towards, things of the earth. If this ideal or image is of a spiritual nature there is spiritual development. Psychic forces are only an awakening of soul faculties through activities in these centers. If an anatomical or pathological study should be made for a period of seven years (which is the cycle of change in all body elements), of an individual who is acted upon through the pituitary gland alone, it would be discovered that such a person trained in spiritual laws would become a light to the world. One trained in purely material things would become a Frankenstein (monster), without a concept of any influence other than material or mental." [See Cayce (262-20)]

"Don't let a day go by without meditation and prayer for some definite purpose, and not for yourself, but that you may be the channel of help to someone else. In helping others is the greater way to help yourself." [Cayce 3624-1]

"Then set definite periods for prayer; set definite periods for meditation. Know the difference between each. Prayer, in short, is appealing to the divine within self, the divine from without self, and meditation is keeping still in body, in mind, in heart, listening, listening to the voice of thy Maker." [Cayce 5368-1]


Brunton
"If he will take the time to withdraw for a short period from the continuous physical and mental activity that goes on from the moment of waking in the morning to the moment of falling asleep at night; if he will use this period to observe within himself certain delicate nuances of feeling and subtle changes of thought, he will begin to cultivate his awareness of soul, his own link with God." [Brunton (3-1.144)]

"The differences between the first and second stages are: (a) in the first there is no effort to understand the subject or object upon which attention rests whereas in the second there is; (b) concentration may be directed to any physical thing or mental idea whereas meditation must be directed to thinking about a spiritual theme either logically or imaginatively.

In the third stage this theme pervades the mind so completely that the thinking activity ceases, the thoughts and fancies vanish. The meditator and his theme are then united; it is no longer separate from him. Both merge into a single consciousness. To shut off all perceptions of the outer world, all physical sense-activities of seeing hearing and touching, is the goal and end of the first stage. It is achieved when concentration on one subject or object is fully achieved. To shut off all movements of the inner world, all mental activities of thinking, reasoning, and imagining, is the goal and end of the second stage. It is achieved when the subject or object pervades awareness so completely that the meditator forgets himself and thus forgets even to think about it: he is it. To shut off all thoughts and things, even all sense of a separate personal existence, and rest in contemplation of the One Infinite Life-Power out of which he has emerged, is the goal and end of the third stage." [Brunton (4-1.214)]


COMPASSION IS THE FLOWERING OF MEDITATION

If meditation really happens, whatsoever the cause, compassion has to follow. COMPASSION IS THE FLOWERING OF MEDITATION. If compassion is not coming, your meditation is somewhere wrong....

THIS IS COMPASSION - when the other becomes more valuable than you. THIS IS LOVE - when you can sacrifice yourself for the other. When you become the means and the other becomes the end, this is love. When you are the end and the other is used as a means, this is lust. Lust is always cunning and love is always compassionate.

ROOTED IN MEDITATION, YOU WILL HAVE WINGS OF COMPASSION.

That's why I say to you, I would like to give you two things: ROOTS INTO THIS EARTH AND WINGS INTO THAT HEAVEN. Meditation is this earth, it is here and now. This very moment, you can spread your roots into it. And once roots are there, your wings will reach to the highest sky possible. Compassion is the sky (celestial), meditation is the earth.

AND WHEN MEDITATION AND COMPASSION MEET, a Buddha is born.

GO DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO MEDITATION, SO YOU CAN GO HIGHER AND HIGHER IN COMPASSION. The deeper the roots of a tree reach, the higher the peak. You can see the tree, you cannot see the roots - but they are always in proportion. If the tree is reaching to the sky, the roots must be reaching to the very end of the earth. Same is the proportion. As deep as your meditation is, the same, the same depth will be achieved in compassion.

SO COMPASSION IS THE CRITERION. If you think you are meditative and there is no compassion, then you are deceiving yourself. Compassion must happen, because that is the flowering of the tree. And meditation is just a means towards compassion. COMPASSION IS THE GOAL.

MAKE YOURSELF MORE AND MORE ALERT. Call your own name and answer, just to create more awareness. When you will really become aware, you will feel a new upsurge of energy. Compassion will happen to you. And with compassion, bliss; with compassion, beatitude; with compassion, conviction.


OSHO
A Bird on the Wing
Ch #11: Sober Up
am in Buddha Hall


Ralph Maxwell Lewis
"Cosmic meditation is not an escape but a recourse to a fountain of wisdom. It results in a spiritual influx, the results of which the objective mind can translate into procedures, into useful ways of living. What the mystic receives through such meditation must be passed on to humanity. This is accomplished by transmuting such experiences into material realities, objective knowledge, in which others may indulge. Such revelations are not the mystic's sole possession, to be filed away as a mere part of a collection of ecstatic experiences. They must be used to help others in their professional and social worlds. In this way do we transmit to humanity what we have received." [Ralph Maxwell Lewis]


Frederick Buechner
IN OUR MINDS we are continually chattering with ourselves, and the purpose of meditation is to stop it. To begin with, maybe we try to concentrate on a single subject—the flame of a candle, the row of peas we are weeding, our own breath. When other subjects float up to distract us, we escape them by simply taking note of them and then letting them float away without thinking about them. We keep returning to the in-and-out of our breathing until there is no room left in us for anything else. To the candle flame until we ourselves start to flicker and burn. To the weeds until we become only a pair of grubby hands pulling them. In time we discover that we are no longer chattering.
If we persist, every once and so often we may find ourselves entering the suburbs of a state where we are conscious but no longer conscious of anything in particular, where we have let go of almost everything.
The end of meditation is to become empty enough to be filled with the kind of stillness the Psalmist has in mind when he says, "Be still, and know that I am God" (46:10). [Frederick Buechner]


Rudolf Steiner
"Numbers can give you a clue to what is called meditation if you have the key to plunge deeply enough." [Rudolf Steiner, Nov 15, 1907, Stuttgart]


Aryeh Kaplan
"Meditation is primarily a means of attaining spiritual liberation. Its various methods are designated to loosen the bond of the physical, allowing the individual to ascend to the transcendental, spiritual realm. One who accomplishes this successfully is said to have attained Ruach HaKodesh, The ‘Holy Spirit,’’ which is the general Hebraic term for enlightenment.
The best-known contemporary method of meditation is that which involves a mantra, a word or phrase that is repeated over and over for a designated period of time. One concentrates on the mantra to the exclusion of all else, thus clearing the mind of all extraneous thoughts and divorcing it from the normal stream of consciousness. In this method, the mantra may be repeated verbally, or the repetition may be completely mental. This type of meditation is found in the Kabbalah, especially among the earlier schools. In the Hekhalot, for example, one begins his spiritual ascent by repeating a number of Divine Names 112 times.
Mantra meditation is an example of structured, externally directed meditation. It is externally directed, insofar as one concentrates on a word or phrase, rather than on the spontaneous thoughts to the mind. Since it involves a specific practice, repeated for a fixed length of time, it is considered a structured meditation.
Another example of structured externally-directed meditation is contemplation, where one gazes at an object, placing all of one’s concentration on it. In occult practices, the best-known type of contemplation involves gazing into a crystal ball. Other types of contemplation involve mandalas, pictures or letter designs, where one gazes upon them, emptying the mind of all other thought. In Kabbalah meditation, the simplest contemplative device is the Tetragrammaton itself, and this is discussed even in non-Kabbalistic works."
"Very closely related to this is the method of Yechudim (Unifications), which plays an important role in the system of the Ari. Here one does not contemplate a physical picture, but rather a mental image, asually consisting of various combinations of divine names. Since the structures and combinations of these names are predetermined, and do not arise spontaneously in the mind, this is also considered to be an externally-directed meditation.
The second basic method of meditation is that which is internallydirected. This consists of meditating on thoughts, feelings or mental images that arise spontaneously in the mind. Usually, this is best accomplished by focusing on a general area, around which these thoughts will be evoked. Since there is no formal or predetermined method of evoking such thoughts, this is most commonly an unstructured meditation.
Internally-directed meditation can be practiced purely in thought, or, as in some systems, one’s thoughts can also be verbalized. One of the best methods of verbalizing such thoughts while keeping them concentrated on a single focus is to express them as spontaneous prayer. It is this method that forms the basis for the meditative system of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
The third basic type of meditation is that which is non-directed. Such meditation strives for a stillness of the mind and a withdrawal from all perception, both internal and external. It plays an important role in the advancd states of many other methods, but at the same time, it can also be used as a method in its own right."
"There is evidence that this method was used, at least for the most advanced, in the very terminology of the Kabbalah. Indeed, in a number of cases, it is only when looked upon in this sense that some terminology is comprehensible. Thus, for example, the Kabbalists call the highest level of transcendence Ayin, literally “Nothingness.” Actually, this alludes to the ultimate level reached by non-directed meditation, where all perception and imagery cease to exist." [Meditation And Kabbalah by Aryeh Kaplan]

See Also


As a Man Thinketh
Christ Letters - Letter 8, pages 23-28
Inner Voice
Meditation
Part 24 - Awakening Your Genius
Prayer
Purification
Silent Voice
still small voice
Stillness
Thought
Voice of God
Vipassana Meditation
weeping
18.19 - Purifying Mind - Clarity

Created by Dale Pond. Last Modification: Wednesday February 28, 2024 19:05:36 MST by Dale Pond.