All forms of meditation take everything away except you. They’re kind of like a scientific experiment, in that sense. However, meditation isn’t dry or mechanical, either.
You really will get more out of every time you meditate if you understand what meditation is about is:
just you watching you.
And when I say “you,” I mean you at your most natural. Just “pure” you. A state with no problems. The “I” behind the “me.”
There’s a strange and fascinating twist, though. Meditation, of any form, is designed in such a way that all the while you keep letting go of all memory of what you were looking at, even one second ago. You keep watching and forgetting. But the watching – the alertness – is vital. So, equally, is the letting go and instant forgetting. Any time you manage to do both of these together: “You’ve got it!” as Henry Higgins might say.
You’ll notice there’s something amazingly loose and easy about that forgetting. It really is in many ways the opposite of keeping yourself on a tight leash. OK, you do it while (probably) sitting quietly, and just paying attention. But inside of you, you completely let yourself run wild. At least, in whatever sense it’s possible to “run wild” when you’re every second dropping and forgetting all thought or emotion.
J. Krishnamurti said ultimately much the same thing in a different way. He said that true meditation does not rigidly follow a path, a discipline, or a method set down by others. Also, that it must not involve discipline, effort, or force. So, forget about trying to do it the “right” way. The more you’ve forgotten everything like that, during meditation, while still being very wide awake and present, the deeper you’ve gone.
Common mistakes
The biggest mistake I have seen in “experienced” meditators is that some of them become experienced in using “meditation” to make themselves duller. We have seen that in meditation one of the major instructions is to not hang on to any thoughts (or memories). But that doesn’t mean shutting down the flow of your natural life-energy and consciousness. Incidentally, your life-energy and consciousness are one and the same as your sexual energy and consciousness – except that in meditation they operate at a subtler and finer and gentler level. So your body doesn’t get sexually aroused. On the other hand, in meditation you do get more and more in contact with the energy and consciousness of genuine love and of gentleness and sensitivity.
The second biggest mistake is a fear or unwillingness to let go; a desire to control what’s going on. You simply drop that.
The other point I must make is that it’s important to make use of the benefits of meditation. Meditation is only useful to you to the extent that it makes you more intelligent, in the true sense of “intelligence.” Yes, it does greatly lessen the intensity of any pain or hurt or fear you have been aware of that day. But you also need to use the greater positivity you gain from meditation to face all the painful things – the things that press your buttons – head-on. That’s something that needs to be done outside of the meditation session. During an actual meditation session, the aim is to completely “switch off” from those painful things. To return to your origin, your source, that was there before the world ever was. No problems.
I should add, though, that there is a constant flow of (for these purposes) rubbish thoughts that doesn't stop. You kind of just learn to turn the volume down with regard to these, or even to ignore them fully.
One further point. If you want to become a professional tennis player, you need to practise, practise, and then practise. Where I’ve said above that discipline and effort aren’t relevant, please don’t jump to the conclusion that you can miss out on daily practice.
Watching the breath
Each form of meditation gives you some instruction to follow. Usually, that instruction is given to you with the understanding that it’s merely a boat to get you across “the river” of your pain-body’s resistance. And that once you get to the “other side of the river,” you don’t need the boat.
In meditation based on watching the breath, that “boat” is the action of watching your breath in a certain way, normally accompanied by something that’s a reminder to let go. To let go of everything, and just allow everything to be exactly as it is. In my experience, for many people watching the breath seems to be the quickest way to learn how to meditate. I have also found that when they learn this method, people don’t seem to veer off into spaces which they will then need to get through before they seem to reach the destination.
Some people learn how to do this form of meditation properly within days, and quite a few within weeks of daily practise. You know when you’ve started really reaching the right place with a vengeance when you start encountering intense joy or love. Soon after, you’ll find that in addition you’ll reach a space of very pleasant peace. You could call that “presence” if you like, because it’s so satisfying and fulfilling, it sure isn’t “nothing”. I guess it’s no-thing, i.e., it’s formless.
Watching the breath – the exercise
Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. It should be indoors, or at least have walls on all sides around you.
Sit in a chair, or at least with your back straight and each arm resting on your upper legs. Very gently close your eyelids.
Pay attention to your breathing. Breathe from your abdomen.
Whenever your body starts to breathe in, silently say “Peace” (or: “Let it be”) to yourself. When it starts to breathe out – and not before --, silently say the same. As you do so, be aware of having the attitude that you’re ever so gently letting go of whatever thoughts come up in your mind.
Keep doing this until you no longer notice your mind silently “speaking” thoughts. At that point, stop saying “Peace” (or “Let it be”).
But if you start to notice any thoughts again, go back to saying “Peace” (or “Let it be”) with each inbreath and outbreath, until they disappear.
When you’re finished, give yourself SEVERAL MINUTES to come out of that trance-like state slowly. Begin by wiggling all your fingers and toes, with the eyes still shut.
When you are ready, open the eyes, but still keep wiggling. Gradually make your body movements bigger. Begin to move your wrists, then your lower arms, and your ankles, then lower legs. As you do, let your eyes and your intuition “register” everything around you, “feeling” its solidity almost as if you were touching it.
Without moving your behind, stretch your arms and legs, and swing them about a little. Finally, move your entire body about, including lifting your behind off the chair.
Warning: At first, don’t combine watching the breath with feeling the aliveness. Equally, it’s OK to practise feeling the aliveness outdoors, but not watching the breath. The reasons are “technical”. I’m certainly not the only practitioner who warns strictly against doing certain forms of meditation outdoors. Most types of traditional movement meditation, such as t’ai chi, qi gong, and hatha yoga are fine. So is feeling the aliveness, and being at one with Nature.
Other forms of meditation
The other forms of meditation generally substitute something else for watching the breath. This can be a mantra, for example (a word or phrase like “Om” or “peace”). In most cases, it is something that you keep repeating – until you get to a space where you stop paying so much attention to your thoughts. The great thing about the watching-the-breath meditation is as follows. Firstly, all the other forms of meditation also require you to keep “letting everything be exactly as it is,” or to keep letting go of thoughts and feelings. Secondly, we are already aware of our breathing all the time anyway. So, watching-the breath meditation is the form that requires the most minimal effort.
You’re doing meditation of any kind the ideal way once it starts being “one” with you, or kind of “taking you over.” For instance, if you are doing a movement form of meditation such as t’ai chi, it’s when the energy of the exercises seems to be moving you rather than you. Or when everything physically around you seems to be saying the mantra, if you are doing a mantra meditation. It feels like everything seems to be saying the mantra because you have entered a space of sufficient unity that for you, everything has become the same. And so on.
Creative visualization and affirmations
Some people use the word “meditation” to refer to 'creative' visualization – or other self-hypnosis, or self-reprogramming. This has superficial similarity to meditation. It supposedly can be used to lessen the power your ego has over you. I claim it does fail to actually remove any of the ego.
Remember
If you’re a beginner at meditation, it can take days or weeks or much, much longer before you start accessing any bliss or oneness, even one drop of these. But that’s not a reason to give up practicing every day. Personally, I don’t miss a day because almost every time I meditate I get to drink in some ecstatic pure love and peace. If you keep at it, those sorts of wonderful experiences do happen for many people.
Re: The Higher Self and transcendent experience, including OBEs
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) This suggests grace could be given to another rather than having to be earned, which remains true today, yet seems our present state is one that leans very heavily towards initiation by fire so to speak. How does this concept apply to present day OBE possibilities?
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