Active Meditation

We live in an insane, speeded up world where privacy, peace and quiet are luxuries that we must take. But we always have a choice to take thirty minutes every day to shut out the world’s problems and noise, to seek inner quiet and rest or we can be obedient and slavish and accept the information overload that we all face.

There are too many TV channels to watch, too many books to read and too many movies made that will not give us quality only numb our senses.

When I was a child I grew up in a slower environment, we did not have a TV until I was 8 or 9. We had much less stress and crime around us. Things were quiet and stable.

We were also taught to pray. My maternal grandmother had taught me her favorite prayer and I followed her advice and prayed. When I felt sad or in discord over something I prayed to God and then waited in hopes to get results.

It was comforting. Psychologically it is good to have an outlet like that but as I grew older I prayed less and less. I guess I did not believe that anyone was listening to my petty little problems when there were bigger issues to deal with than mine.

When we pray we seek solace that is external. We look up and in hopes we tell God about our problems and ask him to help by doing this or that. As if some acts were to alleviate our problems.

Contrary, in meditation we must listen to God. We do not ask God for things but we listen to him. By listening we are remaining in a state of alertness. We are ready here and now to receive guidance, solace and peace of mind. After all, wouldn’t an all knowing, omniscient God already know what bothers us and what we need? What is the point of praying and explaining?

In meditation we do not think of our problems or issues. Instead we must put everything on the backburner. All issues and concerns we have must be quieted down. We must focus on our own being.

The very essence of life and be-ness is enough to start your meditation. Banish all thoughts from your mind. Be in a room that is quiet; do not let anyone disturb you. Wear comfortable clothes and sit upright in a comfortable chair.

Concentrate on your breathing. Imagine that when you breathe in, you are alive; when you breathe out you are dead. Every inhale you are alive again, and every exhale you die. Your death is momentary for the length of the pressing of air from your lungs. Then you breathe in again and are resurrected. Do not think of anything else but to be alive. Nothing matters and nothing can hurt you. You are ready to die and come back to the living with each and every breath you take. Just listen to your own heart beating and the air passing through your body.

This is one technique of meditation and there are countless others. You must pick and choose what you like, just like the clothes you wear. Find the one that fits you best. The scenarios are numerous but you must take one that is close to you and your personality. I, personally found OSHO’s “The Book of Secrets” a great help to guide me through scenarios of meditations, but I stopped where he puts too much emphasis on tantric exercises that manipulate and open up centers. I would not advise you to do those.

The other meditation technique is where you imagine a scenario of you sitting in lotus position near a mountain lake; you are in the alpine region of forest, sitting near crystal clear water. You are very relaxed and slowly you put all your fears, every one of them, in little boxes and float them on the surface of the water. You watch the water carry the little boxes further and further away from the place where you are until the little box is no longer visible. During this meditation you are not to think of any of these negative and scary things, you are observing yourself doing this. As the observer you see you sitting in meditation and letting go of all your fears. After each little box passes on, you feel happier and more relaxed.

You see, this is self suggestion. You can do this as part of your meditation practice or you can do this while driving your car. It does not matter. The key to this is to have an active imagination, and visualize the scenarios well. After more practice the visualizing will get better.

Meditation can be done as I have suggested, alone, or in a group setting. When the group meditates together it is called guided meditation, as usually the group has a facilitator who guides the group. It is nice to start out in a group setting to get your feet wet, but my experience is that you can do this anytime and anywhere. This is the liberating part. You do not need a shrine, candles or incense. Those things are nice to have, such as a statue of your favorite Master, be it Buddha, Jesus, Vishnu, Krishna, or Mohammed, but are not important. What is important is your imagination and control of your own thinking, or in this instance, non-thinking. Visualize well and you will start “hearing” from God.

It is said, that people who meditated for decades have lower cases of health issues, almost no stress and in some instances they can experience out of body episodes. In my humble opinion this should not be your goal when you meditate, but you should know, extraordinary things are included in the beneficial list of the effects of regular meditation.

Death and Dying

My friends have a small boy, aged 6. When his grandfather died his parents chose not to tell him what had happened. Somehow the old man’s death was shunned. It was not something they talked about and remained a mystery surrounded with scary images of the unknown.  Sadly, this is how we approach the idea of death in the West. The little boy kept asking about “Tata” and he never got any real answers. He must have missed the old guy, I know I did. I think an explanation would have been proper, especially to celebrate the grandfathers passing.

I made sure I explained to my daughter about death when it was appropriate.  Kids should learn and know this as early as possible. There is no death in the sense we perceive it in the West and it should not be shunned or tabooed as a subject. In the East when a child is born they cry and feel sorry for him or her. We in the West treat this subject in back-asswards fashion as usual.

My daughter’s cat vanished and she is in denial about it, she is an 8-year old. Upon searching I found the cat dead and I buried her. Later, I even cried about the cat but I never revealed the truth to my daughter either. The reason why is not important. She is happier that she believes that she ran off with a Tom cat. But what is death? In my worldview the spirit never dies! Just pretending that the cat ran off was more comforting for my daughter than the nothingness of Death. Many people mistakenly think of death as nothingness, non-existence. Some people even dread death as religion taught them about punishment and eternal torment in Hell.  But is death really like that? My point is, that what I told my daughter obviously had not sunk in. She still perceives death as non-existence. Well, she is a child, what can I expect? Missing people and animals that passed on is a natural feeling, but fearing ones own death is not natural and it is not wholesome.

The reality is that people in the western world walk around with an insurmountable weight on their shoulders, namely that of death. As soon as we are born into this world we are dying.  Kids should know that death and birth are a transition like sleeping and waking. In fact the cycle of life repeats itself in a macro-sense as well in the micro-sense. But those who remain in ignorance are doomed to be kept there. Our materialistic and nihilistic consumer society needs this fear and ignorance. As long as we are in anxiety we are buying stuff, if not with cash, then with credit.

We live in an insane, selfish, greedy world today where all needs must be instantly satisfied and all personal responsibilities put off.

Imagine how the world would change if people would realize the merit of karma and reincarnation and would not fear and dread death as much.  Where do you think this stress and anxiety would be coming from then? People feel depressed out of control and helplessness. It is from ignorance in understanding death and dying. We are overmedicated and anxious, when we should be aware and knowing that we actually are in control. Our daily acts and deeds will determine our next life as our current life is derived from our past lives and deeds. There is nobody out to get us but everything in the Universe is in constant action-reaction and the akashic records are kept in perfect tune. Everything works perfectly in harmony and we should never be afraid to die. Fear is nothing but the ill use of our imagination.