Three : The Importance of Meditation

One of the primary tools in the search for the spiritual is meditation.  It accomplishes many things.  It is a small, daily task which can have a huge effect, although the results often sneak up on you.

Meditation is a state of no thought or attention.  It is a state where the logical mind, -the mind preoccupied with decisions, analysis, personality, ego etc-, steps aside to allow other elements of mind to surface from their usual submerged and overshadowed states.  These other elements may involve intuition, primal awareness and spiritual mind.  

There are two approaches to meditation which we can term static and dynamic.  Static meditation takes as its aim the absence of thought.  Mind and body are relaxed, with no focal point.  Distractions in the form of unwanted thoughts arise to  disturb the calm waters of meditation. They are accepted and dismissed with the mind striving to return to its state of no thought  Meditation is as much the act of dealing with distracting thoughts as it is the calm state of mind which is the goal.  In static meditation, this whole process is treated as an end in itself.  The closer they get to that total state of calm, the closer they are to the perfection they are seeking. 

In dynamic meditation, this is the beginning point.  Dynamic meditation involves a purpose.  The more impassioned the purpose may be, the greater the success of the dynamic meditation.  Once in the state of no thought with the logical mind set aside, tools are available that can be manipulated outside of the box of reality.  What these tools are will be described in future chapters, however, they involve the manipulation of energy and of causality (building on some of the ideas presented in the previous chapter).  These tools can also be used to receive energy and information.  The world of dynamic meditation is the world of the shaman.  Some might call it a world of magic, but phenomena that happen outside of a particular box of reality are always called magic, until another explanation is understood.  this aspect of meditation through impassioned purpose can be seen in the Huna approach to meditation and prayer.

As a practice, meditation produces many side effects.  

The observation an dismissal of one's own thoughts can increase an individual's ability to deal with distractions in all aspects of life.  Observation of self often creates a greater self understanding or feeling of perspective.  These two things together can result in a sense that the person has developed calm and balance.  Problems that arise in life can be treated with similar strategies as are used to deal with distractions.  Impulses, whether thoughts or emotions, become more controllable and can be regarded in a more balanced perspective.  The entire area of interpreting events in our lives takes on a new meaning.  One goes more slowly and is less likely to jump to conclusions.  One is more tolerant of others and their actions.   The meditative state allows the individual to relate to reality in a more objective manner with judgments based on a bigger picture of the world.  

Another interesting side effect that I have found is that control over distracting or unwanted thoughts and emotions guarantees you a good night's sleep.  

Meditation makes it easier to view the current reality paradigm as a set of limitations rather than as an absolute. It allows one to see the borders of the box, and the possibility of seeing outside of it.  Situations can be seen as an interaction of forces and influences, giving better insight as to how (and whether) to deal with them.  Meditation brings into stronger play one's inner vision, or intuition.  A sensitivity to surrounding forces, how they may effect you and other people, and even to what some people's intentions towards you may be.  Intuition may help guide decisions because of information that may make it to your awareness, through your logical mind, from sources beyond logic.  

It has been my experience that there are other energy alignments which fall into place after regular meditation.  Synchronicities (not coincidences) are more frequent and apparent.  There is less determinism and more determination in one's life.  (Synchronicity and determinism will be dealt with in a future chapter.)

These effects are, of course, neither immediate or dramatic.  They do, however, tend to occur regardless of whether the individual feels their meditation is or is not successful.  I know people who have aimed for great accomplishments in their meditations and who have fallen short of their goals, only to notice a year or so later that their intuition has improved, or that they feel better able to take advantages of life's opportunities, ...or perhaps that they feel more aware of the positive and negative energies surrounding them.   I feel that different individuals have different perceptions, talents or predispositions in the spiritual realm.  Different people will experience awareness in different ways. 

Most people do not have a clear idea of what constitutes the benefits of meditation.  If they have thought about it at all, they think that it is a form of relaxation or a way to a mysterious sense of Nirvana.  I hope that I have demonstrated that it is very much more than that and it can be of very practical use.  It needs to be said that some of the real benefits of meditation are not mentioned here, as they are not easily described in words.  The very fact that it goes beyond words demonstrates it's power in going beyond our reality paradigm, as nothing limits our view of reality more than our language.