Well, I've just hit the second year anniversary of writing this
ezine. It's hard to believe it's flown by so quickly. Anyway,
thank you to everyone who continues to read it, and who write in
to say how much it helps. I know that many of you have supported
this ezine from the very beginning, and I am grateful.
We are fast coming up to the anniversary of the September 11th
event. I was tempted to write an article for this issue, and in
fact began it. However, given that I am not very approving of all
that has followed in the last year, I felt it was turning out a
bit too critical. Thus, I thought it best to hold my tongue at
this stage! Nevertheless, it would be nice to hear more honest
opinions on the matter from the spiritual/personal growth
community, than the rather sugary consensus that we have been
receiving of late. Enough said. Let each of us remember the
anniversary in the way that most honors the departed ones.
I would also like to drop in another reminder for those of you
who have not yet taken the 14-day LifeBreakthrough course. It is
free and I continue to receive wonderful feedback on how much it
is helping those who took it. You can sign up for it at:
Meditation is rightly considered an excellent practice for
spiritual and personal growth. It is easy to begin, and yet there
is endless scope for the accomplished practitioner to go ever
deeper. Hence, a meditation practice suited to your personal
needs is highly recommended.
There is a vast scope within the world of meditation. At one end
of the range is the simple focusing of attention upon the flow of
the breath. At the other end are the highly complex
visualizations of entire mandalas complete with highly ornate
Buddhas and guardian beings, performed by advanced Tibetan
Buddhist adepts. Between these boundaries, we have a rich range
of practices suitable for all, at every stage of the path.
Whether it be a visualized pathworking derived from myth or
dream, or a shamanistic inner quest under the guidance of your
totem animal, or simply following the rise and fall of your own
thoughts, there is a practice just right for you right now.
On a purely physical level, meditation is tremendously
beneficial. Studies indicate that long-term meditators can slow
down, and even reverse, some of the traditional biological
markers of aging. The physical age of some meditators can be as
much as 10-20 years behind their chronological age.
Regular meditators also experience a sense of enhanced peace and
tranquility in life. They enjoy an increased ability to cope
with external pressures. A brief meditation period before the day
begins is an excellent way to prepare for everything that lies
ahead. By doing so, you set the tone, and create the inner
atmosphere, that you take with you throughout the day.
However, the physical planes in which we habitually live are only
the grossest levels of existence. There is a vast continuum of
consciousness, and other levels to the universe, of which we
remain largely unaware in the course of our daily lives. The only
way to become aware of these other levels of reality is to turn
inwards. This is what the shamans around the world have been
doing for countless millennia. Hence, meditation may be described
as a doorway that leads past the illusion of material reality to
the truth of all existence.
Meditation also helps to unlock your inner genius. We all have
buried within us abilities and wisdom that we never use. It is
only through a process of relaxing and going within that we can
start to contact these vast inner resources. This is one of the
key secrets of every great achiever in every field of life.
If you have never meditated before, and are unsure where to
begin, here are a few simple pointers. You are recommended to
consult more detailed books, or a live meditation teacher, as
soon as you are able.
To start with, you should establish a definite place and time.
Developing a regular time is important. You want to build this
practice into a regular habit, and not leave it as a once in a
while diversion, when you have "nothing better to do". Make an
appointment with yourself to do this EVERY day, at least once a
day. It does not have to be very long: even fifteen minutes is
quite adequate when you are getting started.
As regards place, it is good if you can reserve a space in your
home for this work. A separate room would be perfect. However, if
you cannot do this, then at least try to reserve an small area of
one room for this purpose. You could even go outside if
necessary. Wherever possible, try to select a place where you are
unlikely to be disturbed, and which is quiet. Highly experienced
meditators can practice in the middle of a busy street. However,
when you are starting out, some peace and quiet is essential.
When you seat yourself, try to make comfort balanced with
alertness the priority. You want to find a position you can
remain in for some time without excessive fidgeting. It doesn't
have to be a lotus posture, unless this work for you. Simply
sitting on the floor cross-legged, or even sitting upright in a
chair, works fine. Avoid lying on your back, as you are likely to
drift off to sleep. Your eyes should either be closed, or else
only slightly open, with heavy eyelids.
Here are two simple processes that you can commence with, but
which can stay with you for the rest of your life. Do not be
deceived by their apparent simplicity. They are deep, powerful
and highly purifying to the mind.
The first is to simply follow your breathing. This is a technique
recommended by the Buddha himself, and by countless teachers
after him. With eyes closed, you focus your attention ever more
carefully on the rising and falling of your breath. Throughout
this process, you should be breathing from your abdomen, which
rises and falls with every inhalation and exhalation. One
variation is to follow the breath in through your nostrils, then
down into your lungs, being aware of them filling up, and then
out through your mouth as your lungs deflate. Hence, you follow
the path of your breath through your body. Another variation is
to focus solely on your nose, and actually feel the passage of
your breath through it alone. If you do, you will feel your
nostrils cool slightly as you inhale, and warm slightly as you
exhale.
The other process you can work with is to just be aware of the
passage of your thoughts. You will find that thoughts will
intrude anyway during your meditation periods. So why not make
some positive use of them? In this practice, the purity of your
consciousness is like the clear blue sky across which your
thoughts, like clouds, arise and disappear. As you work with this
process, you will come to realize that it is not really YOU who
is thinking. Rather, thoughts seem to arise by themselves within
the mind, from a wholly different source.
In this latter practice, it is important to not get caught up
with the train of thought and get carried away. Rather, you are
playing the part of the detached observer, watching your
thoughts, rather as you might watch the motion of waves upon the
ocean.
What happens if, during either the breathing meditation, or the
observation of your thoughts, you happen to get carried away with
daydreaming? That is fine. As soon as you become aware of it,
simply return to the meditation.
As you continue, you will find your practice improving. You will
be able to meditate for longer. Your mind will become more
focused, and ever less distracted and carried away with thinking.
You will find yourself more tranquil and calm in your sessions,
and throughout the day.
By engaging in either, or both, of these meditation exercises
regularly, you will experience tremendous mental, physical, and
spiritual benefits. Indeed, you will carry this happy mental
state out of the formal session and into your life. Meditation is
the foundation upon which you can build a happy and spiritually
enriched existence.
Try it for yourself and see.
Copyright Asoka Selvarajah 2002. All Rights Reserved.
Asoka Selvarajah is a writer on personal growth and
spirituality,
and the author of "The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing Your
Higher
Self". His work helps people achieve their full
potential, deepen their
understanding of mystical truth,
and discover their soul's purpose. Learn more about his work
In this provocative book, Royal Society biologist Dr. Rupert
Sheldrake proposes that there are no rules of nature, but rather
deeply ingrained habits. Things are the way they are because
there is a memory of their own past.
He proposes that this memory is carried by a non-material medium
called a "morphogenetic field". Thus rabbits are "rabbit-shaped"
because they tune into the morphogenetic field and through a
process of "morphic resonance" produce offspring that are also
rabbits! The same is true of the shapes of molecules, the
propagation of ideas, and the formation of ice crystals. Also,
once a habit is broken, it becomes easier for others to do the
same through this same morphic resonance. This is why, after
Roger Bannister first broke the 4-minute mile, many hundreds of
other athletes did the same within a year. A new "habit" was
established.
It is definitely unusual for a mainstream scientist of
Sheldrake's calibre to come out with such a challenging theory
such as this. However, he backs it up with numerous examples from
the whole realm of nature. If his ideas are correct, they give a
scientific basis mystical concepts that have existed for
millennia.
If you have been watching the news recently, you are doubtless
concerned, worried, and perhaps even frightened, by the terrible
things going on. If you had been watching it last year, you would
have been even more worried and frightened.
Indeed, if you had been watching the news, five, ten or twenty
years ago, you would almost certainly have had the same reaction.
The news, as brought to us by the media, is always predominantly
bad. What little good news is presented is used almost like salt;
to improve the flavor of the foul dish we have been served up.
The threat of impending war, the Middle East situation, roaming
murderous pedophiles, floods and earthquakes. On and on and on
it goes. Yet, is this really ALL that is going on in the world?
And by paying so much attention to all of it, what are we doing
to our own mental state?
My mother is a big watcher of the news. She follows every nuance
of the Middle East situation, is concerned by what the Western
powers are planning with their warlike remedies for Terrorism,
knew every detail of the OJ Simpson trial, and so on. She
sometimes confesses to being depressed and worried; perhaps
because of all the bad things going on, and the helplessness she
feels about it. My suggestion to her was simple. STOP watching
it!
The news, as presented by the media, is NOT reality. It is not
ALL that is going on. It is not even a small portion of what is
happening. It is a carefully selected edit of reality, designed
to sell newspapers and boost viewing figures. Bad news achieves
all of this. Good news does not.
Here is a simple proof of this fact. Someone once started a
newspaper that reported primarily good news. It went bust almost
immediately. Hardly anybody bought it. It is a perverse quirk of
human nature that people do not want good news. They want bad
news. That is what they get, and the network ratings soar as a
result. The more graphic and terrible the news, the more people
will tune in to watch it. The more it can be incessantly churned
with "expert analysis", the more fascinated people get.
Yet, what does this constant digest of misery do to us
individually and as a society?
It adds to our anxiety, fear and
general dis-ease with ourselves and the world we live in. We come
to regard the world as a predominantly dangerous, violent and
scary place. It can even cause us to become desensitized to the
pain and suffering of others. When we are shown, for the
thousandth time, the starving human faces from the third world,
we might be tempted to flick over to "The Simpsons" or "Ally
McBeal" instead. After all, they are more entertaining, are they
not?
None of this implies that we go through life with blinkers on. It
simply means that we need to be much more conscious of what we
are allowing to shape our consciousness. For instance, only a
fool would remain completely oblivious to the terrible happenings
of 11th September 2001. However, that does not mean you have to
become a world expert on the matter, or absorb the same images
and analysis countless dozens of times.
Much of what gets reported is not really "news" at all. It may
sound rather brutal to say this, but the fact is that most
murders, rapes, pedophile assaults, and many forms of vehicle
accident are not really "news". Why? They have been happening
since human beings first became sentient, and will continue to
happen until the day we all cease to be. Hence, why exactly do
these events constitute news, why do we all need to be informed
about them as a nation, and why do they continue to morbidly
fascinate us?
Moreover, it gets worse when we are obliged to hear about dire
events in countries where we have no connection whatsoever. We
learn all the gory details about coaches crashing, child murders,
people burning to death etc., in countries halfway around the
world from us! WHY? If we do tune in with morbid fascination, and
then go off and do nothing whatsoever to assist, are we not
engaging in a sort of international nosiness? Are we not merely
being ENTERTAINED? If you find this thought offensive, ask
yourself: what are you DOING with this information?... If the
answer is nothing, I rest my case.
Personal development trainer, Brian Tracy, said that one of the
the best time saving techniques is to stop watching and reading
the news. If anything truly important happens, you will get to
hear about it eventually.
This is absolutely true. For example, for the last two years, I
have lived in Italy, and have only been exposed to Italian news
networks. They tend to focus mainly on domestic issues, and this
does not greatly interest me. Hence, I lost the daily digest of
international calamity I had been previously accustomed to.
Often, I did not know what was going on in the world. Yet, I did
not find myself lacking anything. If it was a lack, it was a
refreshing one, as I found it easier to be more focused on the
present; on the NOW. As ever, if something really important
happened, I would hear about it directly or indirectly. However,
being relieved of the incessant nitty-gritty morbid fascinations
of the world news media was truly a refreshing experience.
There IS a lot of good news going on too, but you and I are not
getting to hear much of it. Hence, we have to find our own by (a)
being critical of what we are receiving through the media, and
firmly deciding how much of it we attend to; and (b) finding out
own sources of good news, be it directly in our lives or through
suitable alternative media, e.g. magazines and/or the internet.
Just as many parents censor the daily dosage of sex and violence
their children are receiving on TV, we need to do that to
ourselves as well!
Each of us has enough problems and anxieties in our own lives,
and in our own country, without being incessantly exposed to
things we can do little or nothing about. This is not intended as
a "head in the sand" approach to life. However, we do not NEED
all this tidal wave of negativity we are being force-fed, and
would be better off without most of it. Ultimately, each of us is
responsible for the state of mind we enjoy, the world we choose
to live in as a result, and the mental food we consume in order
to create both.
Copyright 2002, Asoka Selvarajah. All Rights Reserved.
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