INTRODUCTION TO MEDITATION

Most of us, when we hear the word meditation, think of the process of reflecting or pondering on some idea or plan or project.  Meditation from a metaphysical standpoint has a different meaning.

Meditation is a very specific technique, performed in a very specific way to achieve a very specific and desired result.  We meditate in an attempt to connect with the universal mind, thus enabling us to "bring down" the universal vision.  We want to contact as much of the universal vision as we can, so that we can then do our part to manifest it on the physical plane. 

The first step towards connecting with the universal mind is to learn to control our own mind and hold it in the light, or hold it in a meditative state.  This takes much practice and is not something that can be done right away. 

Once we have achieved a certain amount of mastery and are able to maintain the meditative state, we are then open to receiving input from our higher self, our soul.  Our soul is in constant contact with the universal vision, and so if we can contact our soul, we can receive direction as to our part in the master plan of the universe. 

Meditation, then, is the process whereby we are able to contact our soul or higher self.  This is the main reason that we meditate. 

"The goal of meditation is to bring about the free play of all the incoming forces so that there is no impediment offered at any point to the incoming energy of the soul; so that no obstruction and congestion is permitted and no lack of power -- physical, psychic, mental and spiritual -- is to be found in any part of the body.  This will mean not only good health and the full and free use of all the faculties (higher and lower) but direct contact with the soul."  (Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II, pg. 593.)

In The Light of the Soul, meditation is defined as "the capacity of the thinker to use the mind as desired and to transmit to the brain, higher thoughts, abstract ideas, and idealistic concepts" (pg 183).  The book goes on to say, "Meditation of the right kind is a purely mental process and into it desire enters not....Meditation is the result of an inward-turning tendency, of the capacity to abstract the consciousness from form and substance and to centre it within the head" (pg. 388).

Meditating in groups is more effective than meditating alone, for a group is able to bring down more than an individual by himself is able to do.   We are always more powerful when we work in concert with others who are of like mind and like aspiration. 

References:

Bailey, Alice, Esoteric Psychology, Volume II, Lucis Publishing Company, New York, 1942.

Beckham, Carole, Cycles of Opportunity, Source Publications, Mariposa, CA, 1998.

The Light of the Soul, A paraphrase of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Lucis Publishing Company, New York, 1927.

Prater, Rick, Bridge to Superconsciousness, Source Publications, Mariposa, CA, 1999.