Topic: Meditation
Teaching Your Child To Meditate
As a father to a 4 year old (who would, I am sure, remind me she is nearly 5) I’ve been delighted to discover a growing interest from her around meditation. Whether this is due to my meditating daily, her Essential Self expressing the desire or both, is an unknown to me. However, her interest has been piqued. And with that in mind I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the topic of encouraging your child to meditate.
My daughter has proven throughout this life so far that when she is ready to do something, or to move to the next stage of development, she will. Pushing her is futile; which suits me just fine given that I’d rather her discover this world at her own pace. I believe my role as a parent is to be a guide that promotes freedom to explore and is ready to catch when she falls.
She has sat with me in meditation a couple of times, and from what I can tell the interest is growing. However, given that she is only 4 years old I am positive that a natural and organic evolution toward meditation is really what is called for.
At such a young age, and perhaps until she is 6 or 7, I believe that meditation in 5-10 minute efforts is more than enough. I make a point of encouraging her to focus on her breath. I start by asking her if she can breathe only through her nose. Then I ask her if she can feel her breath as it touches her nostrils. I work with this until she acknowledges being aware of such sensation. Once she has this level of awareness I encourage her to sit with me for a while. Every minute or so I will remind her in a slightly different way to keep focusing on her breath.
After the age of 8, through to about 12 or so, I would imagine that should the interest continue that the major difference would be the encouragement of increasing time spent in meditation. Perhaps a child might be able to manage 15 minutes or more.
I am sure there are children who regularly meditate for longer. However, the key message is that meditation for children in my opinion is something that should be nurtured if the interest is there. I tend not to proactively ask her, and I have seen a continued interest on her part regardless.
A less obvious way to teach about awareness can be with moments of pain. Every parent knows that when a child has a fall or some kind of accident they come bearing tears and looking for comfort. When she turned 3 I started to work with her on breathing in such moments. When she comes crying I will hold her comfortingly and ask her to breathe. As she began to work with that I started telling her that the pain would pass away. And many times she will then focus on her breath. In short order her crying will subside and she will resume whatever it was she was doing. This doesn’t work everytime. But I have been delighted in those moments when she has remembered to breathe through the pain without prompting on my part.
If you are thinking about, or already are, meditating with your child my advice is to remember that this is a journey on their terms. Yes, as their guide in these early years you have much influence. But I would be very surprised to hear a child was interested in meditation when their parents did not have a regular practice. Be prepared to nurture, support and guide. And release any attachment to outcomes.
As for my daughter’s journey, she may or may not continue to express an interest in meditation. For as long as she does I will be delighted to support her enquiries. She may put the practice down for a number of years to pick it up later. Perhaps she is already incorporating elements of these teachings in her own way and time? After all, my 4 year old has already demonstrated the ability to breathe through pain. Her young belief system has been impressed with truths I live by. It doesn’t take sitting down in meditation to engage your child in spiritual practice.
Insomnia and Meditation
When picking my daughter up from school today one of the teachers commented that I never look tired. They asked me how I do it. I gave her a two-part answer. First, I meditate every day. Second, it’s a choice.
That got me to thinking about the elements of our life that relate to how tired we are. Insomnia is one that came to mind. I did a little searching and found the following at Medscape:
“Overall, 15% of respondents met DSM-IV criteria for insomnia in the past month. Of those with insomnia, 16% reported initial insomnia or trouble falling asleep, 20% reported frequent wakening, 27% complained of not feeling rested in the morning, and 18% had excessive daytime sleepiness.”
27% of people report not feeling rested in the morning? 15% of people suffer from insomnia? These are significant numbers.
And yet for all the facts I would like to share a belief I have, to talk from my own direct experience. I used to suffer from sleepless nights. I might spend a couple of hours getting to sleep. I might be anxious about what was to come, or worrying about what had passed before. In the end though, I was far from the moment. I had failed to find a way to focus on the present.
In the past couple of years meditation has resulted in a 180 degree turn for me. I meditate every night before I go to bed. Going to bed is an effortless flow into deep sleep. When I wake up I feel refreshed. And at that point I meditate to start my day. Meditation is the spiritual practice that is the bookends of my day. I start and end my day in the moment – and it has proven to be the most amazing practice of all for me; truly life changing.
However, meditation can be a simple affair. You might start by lying in bed and focusing on your breathing. You might repeat a mantra to yourself such as, “I am peace.” Or perhaps, “I am willing to enjoy a deep and restful sleep.”
That said, I recommend making a conscious effort to set a regular time and space aside for meditation. I would rather see someone set 10 minutes aside a day, every day, than set 300 minutes aside to meditate once a month. If you are struggling to sleep, you should set aside at least 21 days and commit to 10-15 minute meditation at the end of each day. You could try the 30 minute meditation on this site, or google other practices. I also welcome questions through the contact page about different meditations you could try.
Your natural state is one of love, gratitude and harmony. Being caught in chaos and worry are unnatural states of the egoic, objective mind. And if you are thinking, “I don’t have the time!” Then I’ve got a wake up call for you. If you are struggling to sleep, and losing countless hours to fatigue each day, are you really trying to tell me that you can’t give yourself the gift of 10 minutes of meditation a day?
Why Do I Meditate? (Part III)
With my departure on a 10 day meditation retreat I thought I would write a blog on why I meditate. When I began I had intended a single entry. By the time I was done I realized that I had significantly more words than would comfortably fit in a single entry. So with that in mind I’ve prepared a series of blog entries where I explore the question of why I meditate. And with technology empowering me to schedule posts when I am not even at a computer I shall leave you to read while I spend time in my metaphysical cave.
If you’ve done much reading (or listening to masters) about meditation you’ll have likely been confronted with something along the lines of, you don’t strive to become One, you let go and surrender. For many years I kept coming across this sort of statement. And it may strike you as obvious to read this, but I’m not talking about the white-flag kind of surrender either.
At first I wanted to understand what that meant. What do you mean, let go? Let go of what? Surrender to what? Surrender to the moment? What’s the ‘moment’? And then one day, during a meditation I began to discover what all those questions were pointing toward.
It turned out that for many meditations until that point I had been improvising. I had taken an intellectual idea, assumed it as my truth, and had gone along with it. I hadn’t fully experienced surrender and only had an intellectual grasp of what it meant to let go of something I couldn’t physically touch.
In that moment I directly experienced what it was to let go. I found myself experiencing Oneness and in an instant I knew that one didn’t try to surrender – when I was confronted with Oneness I couldn’t help myself. It was as if that part of me that was Truth, individualized aspect of Spirit, was completely revealed. But this had only been made possible because I had been improvising in spiritual practice. And somehow those parts of me that had been getting in the way, like clouds in front of the sun, suddenly parted and the magnificence of it all shone through. In the face of those rays of Truth I was home.
Once you’ve glimpsed such Truth suddenly life takes on a new meaning. I wanted to play. I wanted to enjoy. I found myself in situations where people would laugh at what I would say. Suddenly, I was funny (just ask my wife – she’ll you how un-funny I used to be). The urge to be so serious about life suddenly dissolved, years of earnestness now a fading memory. Having glimpsed the Truth, the creative nature of it All had become so apparent. Spontaneity became a habit, release a pleasure – faith had been transcended by knowing and I was becoming. From that moment on I realized that I was seeing through apparent reality and surrendering to the Eternal Reality.
And once I had experienced this for myself, the yearning that had been so subtle for so many years shifted. It was grosser, more obvious. Priorities changed. Suddenly I didn’t need to ‘convince’ others with my intellectual passion and my philosophy. I stopped drinking. I became vegetarian and then vegan. It was not that I was trying to do these things, rather that old habits no longer did me. Drinking wine would not feel good and the sensations of getting drunk were far less interesting that those evoked through being fully and completely present. Meat in my stomach would feel heavy and I felt a lightness through a new approach to food that felt great. I discovered cooking. It turns out that I love to cook!
In that moment, recognizing the combined effects of meditation to this point, I knew that I was both nothing and yet everything. I had leapt into the Great Oneness and knew that logic and reasoning were insignificant. The dissolution of old habits that no longer served me began to accelerate. My whole outlook and participation in life had begun to irrevocably shift.
Through practices we purify and pacify the objective mind. We gain control of the objective mind. There was a time when I believed that the monkey mind was a derogatory term, suggesting a mischievous critter jumping through the trees, like the objective mind moves from thought to thought. With practice the objective mind becomes a tool. Like mental scientist I had discovered an instrument at my disposal. Suddenly I was beginning to realize that I could be a metaphysical surgeon, cutting away at the dis-eases of life. With practice my objective mind was starting to become more like a finely tuned instrument for life. I was struck by the effortlessness in making decisions, in somehow knowing what to do without knowing why. Indeed, the process of shifting from faith to knowing and then becoming is truly a marvel.
The objective mind offers so much potential. It is in its nature to move around. And why not – as a facilitator between the apparent reality (which is always in movement) and the Subjective Mind we need its ability to move so freely and translate this experience of space and time. Renouncing the nature of our objective mind is to set aside a part of us that we created through will, and thus to denounce something that was in actuality an expression of the One Mind.
Suddenly, the secret was laid bare. And once you have glimpsed this secret you will never be able to fully let the realization go. The secret is actually profoundly simple. It is laid bare by the wisdom to neither deny nor be tempted to forget the True Self. And the only explanation I have for this knowing and profound transformation is my practice of meditation.
Why Do I Medtiate? (Part II)
With my departure on a 10 day meditation retreat I thought I would write a blog on why I meditate. When I began I had intended a single entry. By the time I was done I realized that I had significantly more words than would comfortably fit in a single entry. So with that in mind I’ve prepared a series of blog entries where I explore the question of why I meditate. And with technology empowering me to schedule posts when I am not even at a computer I shall leave you to read while I spend time in my metaphysical cave.
The more I have meditated the more often I have experienced mystical moments. Trying to describe the indescribable is futile. But the closest I’ve come to articulating words for this Infinite subject is to say that such moments are sublime. There’s an expansiveness and weightlessness that transcends words. Sometimes it feels like a faded awareness of where my body ends and the air around me starts. It is as if I am expanding, and yet this expansiveness of I am is actually a re-joining. My soul’s choice to wear this garment I call a body is suddenly exposed, and with a mental and emotional gasp I sit in wonder at how beautifully peaceful, still and loving the eternal moment is. Time stops, ideas and thoughts evaporate.
And yet with experience of such moments I have come to realize that this is not the goal. Such blissful moments of expansiveness, whilst entrancing, are merely something to be enjoyed along the way, just like the apparent reality. However, the key with both is to en-joy without losing the sense of the truth; to be in the world without being seduced by it.
A question that has emerged through practice is; “Well this is nice. I wonder what will happen next.”
This question is an important one. When we do not lose ourselves to mystical, blissful moments we can continue a rich journey of discovery and development. And the journey is about experience and choice. By acknowledging the pleasure of the moment whilst reminding myself that there is yet more to seek I am not ceasing my development. If anything I am cultivating a grounded-ness that will serve me well as I continue. For I am convinced that the moment we start thinking we’ve made it is the very same moment we have succumbed to the ego’s desire. The ego wants the experience to be unchanging. And it would like nothing better, after all these years of having its duties as a prison guard being eroded, to return to as the gaoler, only in this case I would be the one handing it the keys.
The part of us that is soul, individualized incarnation of Oneness, will truly only be satisfied by a full and complete return to the One. This yearning is what drives us, and has driven so many masters and seekers to aspire and explore as the enlightened mystic. Yet, my experience, and the spiritual texts of note that I have read, has made it clear that it is only through practice that I will find my way.
I am not one of those avatars that came to earth and decided that I would be enlightened through an instant of awakening. I, like so many others, have chosen to delve deeply into the journey of discovery and will awaken gradually, sequentially and inevitably.
So far my journey of spiritual practice has taught me that the intellect alone is a poor judge at how best to spend time. My philosophical wanderings, debates, and intellectual reasoning have never brought me to dwell upon what my True Self actually is. Certainly, I’ve spun a fine series of words at times. But experience has taught me that entering into practice has done more to reveal that yearning for Self Realization than any number of steps along the path of the intellect.
I will confess that I aspire to be awakened. I wish to be in this world but not of it. My desire is to show up in every moment, armed with unconditionally loving thoughts, words and deeds.
The irony as I write this is that I know that there was a time when I thought I understood what such an aspiration meant. And in this moment I understand more than I did, and will in the future know more than I do now. What I do know in this moment is that I am yet to reveal what this fully means. But without a shadow of a doubt I know that my aspiration to be an enlightened mystic will only be realized through practice.
Over the course of my life I have made many choices and reacted to many sensations. As a child in a dysfunctional home it was not 5 years before social services placed me under a care order. In my earliest years of a being exposed to heroin (my birth father was an addict), alcohol and violence I got to experience impressions of apparent reality that were beyond my ability to process. I know what it is to be a vulnerable child. I know that the first 10 years of my life were filled with much blood, shouting, angst and abuse. And yet, regardless of how innocent and helpless I was, I reacted in those moments and in turn agreed to the expressed beliefs around me that this world worked a certain way. Over the course of the next 15 years I played these beliefs out, carved more grooves in my reservoir of memories, and so enforced the earlier memories. In short, I spent the first 25 years of my life completely lost to this world and my mind. It had me, and I was heart-brokenly seduced by it.
Spiritual practice has been necessary to counter my early years. The fears and desires of so many years needed a rebuttal. Meditation has been central to this righting of the scales. And now after many years of slowly working my way toward balance I have become very clear upon a simple truth revealed through my direct experience – meditation as a practice is serving the purpose of smoothing away the old grooves of separation and polishing in grooves of love. When my spiritual practices have served their purpose, when I have been liberated and freed from every last vestige of the pain, fear and separation I so often felt they will no longer be needed.
Before I became intimately partnered with meditation as a practice I was occupied with whatever sensations surfaced. My objective mind would analyze what arose from the depths, and like a slave I would stumble through life not even feeling the chafing of the shackles. I would wallow in emotion, lose myself to anger and act out the stories that had been passionately played for me as a child. I would see boredom as a cue to find something to do, to keep me busy. I would act upon impulses of lack, inherited from a childhood of poverty, and buy toys to support my need to be kept busy.
Meditation is a practice that cleanses the mind. I have glimpsed moments beyond description that have validated that yearning I felt so long ago. My mind feels purity more than it feels deprivation these days. When I feel a sensation of boredom I meditate or read a spiritual book. When I get done with meditation I pray. My meditation practice has inspired me to aspire for more.
Why Do I Meditate? (Part I)
With my departure on a 10 day meditation retreat I thought I would write a blog on why I meditate. When I began I had intended a single entry. By the time I was done I realized that I had significantly more words than would comfortably fit in a single entry. So with that in mind I’ve prepared a series of blog entries where I explore the question of why I meditate. And with technology empowering me to schedule posts when I am not even at a computer I invite you to read while I spend time in my metaphysical cave.
As I continue on my spiritual journey I’m becoming clearer about some essential realizations. The first and foremost is that the practice of meditation is the most important component of what I aspire to.
Meditation has empowered me to re-train and re-culture my mind. It has been central in my quest to uncover more about myself, which in turn has helped me to clarify my aspirations. The perseverance and determination to thrive with the practice of meditation has been a platform from which I have been able to consciously redesign my circumstances.
Those of you familiar with the spiritual practice of Affirmative Prayer (also known as Spiritual Mind Treatment) may point to that practice as a tool for conscious creation. And as someone who has spent years learning about crafting prayers I would have to agree with you. However, through meditation I have established a profound clarity, expansiveness and a direct sense of love. Combining meditation and prayer is like adding jet fuel to a moped. When I pray following meditation it always has a feel that cannot be compared to prayer alone.
Central to the Buddha’s teaching on meditation was the idea that we should strive for mastery of the mind. I have rephrased this as ‘mastery of the objective mind’. The more I’ve delved into this practice the more I’ve come to realize that mastery of the objective mind is actually a skill. The more I practice using this skill the better I become at it. Over time I’ve gotten better at being the one that directs my objective mind, not the other way around (which used to so often be the case).
The objective mind (the analyst, critic, linear planner, and judge) is a tool and a facilitator. That part of me that is subjective mind (true self, soul, etc.) created the objective mind with will. Every time I use operate through my objective mind without awareness of the true self I blindly imprint memories, mental conditions, values and agreements beneath the surface of my consciousness.
The Buddha talked about the carving of grooves, or in the Pali language Saṅkhāra, beneath the surface of our conscious awareness. I explain it thus:
About the soul is a reservoir of memories. Each emotionally charged reaction, mental-conditioning, value, agreement, belief or attitude I dwell upon is carved like a groove upon my reservoir of memories. We have grooves that align with our aspirations and grooves that align with reactions to belief in separation. The more intense the emotional experience with that moment the deeper the groove my reactions carve.
When we go through life without an awareness of what is going on beneath the surface we get caught up in the same old thing. We experience boredom. We get into a rut. The idea of feeling invigorated or renewed becomes more challenging.
The great gift of meditation to me has been a way for me to re-train my objective mind. I’ve spent many hours refining such skills as focus, concentration and harmonious awareness. And the deeper I’ve travelled along this path the more indescribably beautiful the journey with this practice has become. Old grooves have been smoothed away (a process for which I will explain more about at a later entry in this series) and I have found an increase in my ability to concentrate. A direct effect of meditation for me has shown up in my being able to maintain a harmonious and loving awareness so much more than I used to be able to. Meditation has yielded great mental discipline for me. And because it has changed my thinking it has literally changed my life.
An Interim Home for Meditation Recordings
I was speaking with a web designer friend in Second Life earlier today and he pointed out that I do not need to wait for the newly designed webpage being available before sharing the meditations I’ve begun to record. If you look to the right hand side of this page you will see a new set of links with the title Meditation Recordings.
The 30 minute meditation is an abridged version of the first 60 minute session and is designed for convenience. I have also shared the first two stages of the Revealing Eternal Presence Meditation practice. My guidance is to listen to the 60 minute meditation I before proceeding to II. If you meditate for 1 hour a day I would suggest working with stage I for approximately 2 weeks before using stage II.
I hope you enjoy these meditations. Over time I will be sharing more of this meditation practice as well as providing them in Podcast format so that you can more easily transfer them to mobile devices.
A Message of Hope – it is Time to Meditate
A dear friend of mine sent me a facebook message yesterday. She asked me, if I wanted to use a video at our meditation gathering on July 19th. After watching it, I could only say yes. We’ll be watching this after our meditation.
Produced by James Newton Howard, this short film is relating Truth, in a clear and accessible way. We really do have enough books on peace – it really is time to be peace. We really are a part of nature – it is time to take responsibility for what we each need to do. And one of the most powerful practices I know to accomplish this is to meditate – every day.
Meditation really is simple. It is about being present, harmoniously retreating from the past and future, into a perfect Now. When I reveal Eternal Presence I am connecting with my heart. When I connect with the moment, when I shift my focus into that space in between craving and aversion, pure acceptance, I connect with the pure essence of who I am. I connect with Oneness.
These words cannot really convey the truth of what this means to you. I can write about meditation and you can read these words, but it really is for you to embrace this for yourself. Perhaps I write these words out of a calling to invite you, to entice you? Perhaps Mr. Howard was driven in a much more profound way by producing this film? What whatever the vehicle, we must be the drivers.
It is indeed time to remember, who we truly are. The more I practice connecting with Love, with my heart, the more old ideas of fear, forgetting and separation dissolve. It has taken time to wash away old remnants of the world. And it will take time to dissolve the old values, attitudes, beliefs and agreements within that have kept us imprisoned. There is no one way to do this. But my experience has taught me that meditation is a most exquisite method for dissolution.
And when we dissolve the old prison walls of beliefs and prejudice all sorts of wonderful qualities are revealed. Forgiveness, harmony, acceptance, joy and so much more result from choosing Love.
If you are not meditating every day then something has yet to shift for you. If you do not dance through the rhythms of love, gasping at the miracles of every moment, then only you can make that choice. So many teachers are saying so many similar things. We can choose love. We can choose to see that every one, beyond their choices, ignorance and moments of forgetfulness are beings of Love.
You are a great Spirit. If you have experienced resistance to meditation this is really a result of that part of you that is mediocre opposing the Truth of who you are. You are one. All are one. There is no time like the present to realize that now is the time to awaken.
Don’t believe a word you hear,
Don’t believe a word you read,
Don’t believe a thing that you see.
But learn how to observe,
How to directly experience the Truth for yourself.
And from this place of direct experience you will know the Truth contained,
Within every word, sight, and event.
Know the Flow and be happy.
What is Your Meditation Practice?
You cannot become harmony while focusing on self. It is my experience that meditation ultimately requires that we surrender ourselves to that place between craving and aversion, between like and dislike, and simply become present. Meditation can be a constant practice of sitting in harmony and allowing the revealing of Eternal Presence. There should be no doubts about the present moment, no hesitation to fully allow the embrace of the moment. Any resistances that surface are of themselves opportunities.
This morning I was speaking to some friends about Revealing Eternal Presence meditation. We were in discourse about the nature of meditation. The truth as I see it is that any meditation can be good for you. There is no ‘one way’ nor is there a way that is perfect for everyone.
The outer way of meditation, where we contemplate something in our imagination or an object of nature, such as a stone, can be a very good practice for refining concentration. It can result in an increase of mental efficiency and the ability to make decisions.
With the inner way of meditation one contemplates questions along the lines of, ‘How am I Love? How well do I accept Love?” This can be very good for raising emotional awareness and is particularly good if you are ready to improve your emotional awareness and empathy.
The middle way, such as Revealing Eternal Presence meditation, works beneath the surface. I liken it to deep surgery where, through a process of observing in a state of harmony, we get to witness the Law of Cause and Effect dissolve old beliefs and mental conditionings from the Reservoir of Memories. This process of release is powerful since it gets to the root-cause of all the emotions and thought-patterns we experience on the surface. And so when I was asked if the middle way works at all levels, I answered that yes it does.
Any experienced gardener will tell you that if you simply pull a weed out of the ground you can expect a weed to sprout again in the same place. They will tell you that the reason for this is that unless you completely eradicate the root the plant will not truly be gone. This is the same with thought patterns and emotions. What we experience on the surface, the emotions, thought patterns, are all the result of previous thought-patterns that have carved themselves deep in the Subjective Mind, the unconscious. The Buddha called these Sankhara (in the Pali language) or mental conditionings. Not only do our conscious thoughts influence our conditions but our unconscious, or subjective, thoughts are also creating.
However, the roots of our experience really can be dissolved with meaningful practice. I am not proposing that Revealing Eternal Presence meditation is the only spiritual practice to accomplish the dissolving of such roots. But it is my experience that if one is diligent and perserveres that this indeed will be the effect.
Whatever meditation practice you undertake you should ensure the following:
- You feel better when you are done with the meditation than when you sat down
- You feel drawn to meditate more and more, to the point that the meditation calls you to sit
- You experience an increased perception of radiance and illumination in your life
- In those moments you experience fear your reaction is one of recognition and observation (not suppression). The moments of ignorance, when observed with balanced and harmonious awareness, are wonderful opportunities for growth, release, and constitute work at the deepest level of experiential wisdom
In short, if you are left fully satisfied from your meditation then you are on the right track. However, do not expect such results to happen in one sitting with any practice. This may be the case for a lucky few, but for the most part you should undertake to reside with a particular practice for weeks or months. Only when you have given a practice the fullest opportunity should you move on to the next (the exception being if you have a strong aversion). If we flit from spiritual practice to practice we are no more conscious than a mosquito looking for the next meal.
Ultimately, meditation should lead you to seeing past the apparent reality and identity to Eternal Presence. We should feel a total and absolute offering of ourselves to a sense of unconditional Love. Concentration, awareness, the ability to watch oneself is a skill. The more we practice the better we become.
What is your meditation practice? If you are becoming curious and are looking for a practice to pursue then you should know that with the release of the new Know the Flow website I will also be publishing a series of meditation podcasts to take the meditator through the process that has worked so well for me. After all, this blog is just words. And no matter how much sense these words may make, it is only when we experience something for ourselves that we can truly make it ours.
Know the Flow and be happy my friends
Episode #1 – 30 Minute REP Meditation I
This 30 minute meditation recording is an abridged version of the first steps of the Revealing Eternal Presence Meditation, and has been recorded for your convenience. The intent with this meditation is to support you in your meditation practice wherever you may be, or whatever you might be doing.
One might be curious as to whether a 30 meditation is a sufficient. In my experience the practice of meditation is something we cultivate over time. I would rather see someone practice for 5 minutes a day every day, than to practice for just one hour once a month. That said, if a 30 minute recording strikes you as a little less intimidating then this format will have served its purpose.
When I started meditation 15 minutes would often feel like an eternity. However, I persevered with patience, and from such humble roots my practice has sprouted into a profound aspect of my life. The roots are deep and I gain nourishment from both regular watering and from the nourishment in the world around me. What started as 15 to 30 minutes of meditation a day became a spiritual practice central to my life, where life itself has become a meditation, and through which I have truly begun to awaken.
As a closing thought it is also my experience that sitting for 30 minutes or less in a meditation is less likely to conjure up storms or do work at the deepest levels of your mind. In turn I do not expect many questions related to this meditation. However, as is the case for all these meditations I encourage you to ask any questions you may have through comments (by clicking on the title and then adding a comment) or by clicking the ‘Contact’ link in the top-right of the page.
Know the Flow and be happy.
You Have to Walk the Path Yourself
As I continue to explore the expressions of spirituality online I am struck by the abundance of quotes, texts and written discourses. Many quotes I read provide something for us to contemplate. Yet, as Krishnamurti once said, ‘most of us live as mere technicians.’ For all the technical understanding of how to live consciously, even when someone points the way, we must be the ones who make the journey. You have to walk the path yourself.
I once heard a story of a wise man that taught classes for seekers of Truth. Every day a young man would come to hear the master’s discourses. He had listened dutifully for a couple of years. One day this same man came a little early and found the wise man alone. He approached him and spoke aloud a question that had been been forming for sometime.
“Master, I have a question that keeps arising in my mind, raising doubts.”
“Oh? There should not be any doubts on the path; have them clarified. What is your question?”
“Master, for a couple of years now I have been coming to your classes, and I have noticed there are many different students, older and younger, who come to listen to you. Some of them, I can see, have certainly reached enlightenment or close to it. I can see that many experience change in their lives. They are better than they were before, although I cannot say they are fully enlightened. But I also notice that a large number of students, including myself, are as they were, or sometimes they are even worse. They have not changed at all, or have not changed for the better. Why should this be, master? People come to you, such a great man and clearly a master of Truth, with such compassion. Why don’t you use your power and compassion to guide them to enlightenment?”
The master smiled and said, “Young man, where do you come from?”
“Master, I was born in Bombay, India.”
“I would imagine that you have thought about returning there. And if asked could tell people the best way to travel to Bombay?”
“Yes Master. I am sure I could.”
“And having come from Bombay, having travelled and thought about this path many times, you must know it well?”
“Oh yes Master. I know the path very well. I might almost say that if I were blindfolded I could find it on a map.”
“And your friends, those who know you well, certainly they must know you are from Bombay, or at least from India?”
“Definitely. I have even discussed my hometown with other students. And there’s no doubt that in between my memory and research I can describe it as well as anyone else, perhaps better.”
“Then I’ve no doubts that others have asked you about the path from here to Bombay. Do you hide anything or do you explain the path to them clearly?”
“What is there to hide, master? I explain it to them as clearly as I can. Very plainly, master.”
“And these people to whom you give such a clear explanation, do all of them reach Bombay?”
“How can that be, master? Only those who travel the entire distance to its end, only they will reach Bombay.”
“This is what I want to explain to you, young man. People keep coming to me knowing that this is someone who has walked the path from here to enlightenment and so knows it perfectly. They come to me and ask, ‘What is the path to englightenment?’ And what is there to hide? I explain it to them clearly: ‘This is the path.’ If somebody just nods his head and says, ‘Well said, well said, a very good path, but I won’t take a step on it; a wonderful path, but I won’t take the trouble to travel it,’ then how can such a person reach the final goal? I do not carry anyone on my shoulders to take him to the final goal. Nobody can carry anyone else on his shoulders to the final goal. At most, with love and compassion one can say, ‘Well, this is the path, and this is how I have walked on it. You also work and you will reach the final goal.’ But each person has to travel themselves, has to take every step, travel every step on the path himself. He who has taken one step on the path is one step nearer the goal. He who has taken a hundred steps is a hundred steps nearer the goal. He who has taken all the steps on the path has reached the final goal. You have to walk the path yourself.”
The message of this story is obvious. No one can quiet our mind for us. We have to learn what is necessary to quiet the active mind. No one can reveal Eternal Presence within us, we must reveal it within ourselves. In my experience revealing Eternal Presence “comes only when the thinker and the thought are one, when there is no duality such as the thinker controlling thought.”
I will continue to explore such ideas over the coming months. And yet I know that this blog, filled with words as it is, is a limited vehicle for such ideas. And regardless of the eloquence of words, it is only when we walk the path ourselves that we can possibly hope to reach the destination. Otherwise, all we will be is a technician of Love, not a Lover.
With the realization of the limitations of words alone to inspire and support you I have an exciting announcement. As you may already know I have been working with a web designer to create a new home for this blog (currently planned for before the end of July). When the new site is released meditation podcasts will be available.
I have already begun recording guided meditations. For those who prefer a shorter time in sitting I shall be publishing two to three 30 minute meditations. However, I am most excited about the series of 1 hour guided Revealing Eternal Presence Meditations, designed to be followed in order and guiding you from the very first steps of this approach through to a fully established meditation practice. You will be able to download these audio files for yourself and be guided by me in the technique of Revealing Eternal Presence Meditation (an e-mail subscription option will allow you to be automatically notified when a new podcast has been published to KnowTheFlow). These meditation podcasts will be yet one more instance of someone pointing the way. However, maintaining a daily meditation practice is a very meaningful step in making your own way toward the destination. More details will be provided once the site is launched.
The goal of making these meditations available freely on this site is to offer you an opportunity to be guided in practicing quieting your mind. Whilst these blog entries are intended to inspire and support you, it is my experience that sharing my meditation practice is a more a more significant contribution than words alone. It is my deepest hope that you are inspired by such offerings and if the time is right embark upon a most wonderful journey with me.
Know the Flow and be happy my friends.
