Advanced Meditation

There is no end and there is no beginning. There is only eternity.

Eternity can be warm, assuming the shapes we love, the petals of the beautiful flowers of existence. Eternity can be cold and ruthless - the solar systems and worlds which begin and end, the winter of our death and then the spring of our rebirth. As human beings, we try to understand, in the brief span that we're given here in this world, why we're here, what we should do while we're here and where we'll go from here. And, of course, we wonder how much time we have.

At first glance, we appear to be people. The world appears to be physical and solid. There appear to be universes, stars, planets, our planet, seasons, different species of animals, plants, protozoa, bacteria - the visible universe. There are many universes, countless universes, and many of them are invisible. As you know, we call these the astral planes, but they are as real as this world is and they're filled with beings and forms that have life spans, as do the beings and forms in this world. They too wonder about the nature of existence, where they've come from and where they're going to and how much time they have.

Meditation is wondering. It is both wondering and wonder at the same time. When we meditate we quiet the mind and open ourselves to our limitless possibilities. As a human being you are capable of a higher level of perception than you may now be cognizant of. You are not really who you think you are. There are many selves inside you, not just one. In introductory and intermediate meditation we seek to know ourselves. We get a sense of the countless selves within ourself, the different forms that they take. We become acquainted with them. We find that some selves agree with us, some don't. Those that don't seem positive or helpful we push aside. Those that seem progressive we enjoy.

Meditation means the cessation of thought. For years we practice meditation, like any art, and we get better at it each day. In the beginning it's just enough for us to sit down and focus our attention for twenty minutes or twenty-five minutes, to chant a mantra for a minute or two to start, practice a couple of gazing exercises, concentrate, and to try and still the mind as best we can - and if we can't stop our thoughts, to ignore our thoughts and just let go and feel. Feel beyond our thoughts.

Our thoughts will swim around and talk to us while we're sitting there, make fun of us, ignore us. We'll think about everything that one can think about. But if you pay no attention, if you don't look in the direction of your thoughts, you meditate. Your consciousness expands. You are no longer focusing on the thoughts, but now you're increasing the spectrum of your focus. As you meditate, as a singular meditation evolves, you'll find the nature of your thoughts will change.

At the beginning of a meditation session your thoughts will be relatively earthbound; you'll think about yourself, your world, problems, difficulties and anxieties. Then as the meditation evolves, your attention, as it passes into higher realms of consciousness, will cause a resulting change in your thought patterns. Your thoughts will become more pleasant, more creative. You'll think about positive things you can do, good feelings will start to flood your being, feelings of hope, joy. You'll have visual experiences - you may see flashing lights, hear bells, feel energy changes inside your body, have a sense of being weightless, as if you're floating, and feel altogether pleasant.