Silence

When  we sit in Silence, we, without effort, lose our hard and fast ideas about ourselves, others and the world.  Silence is like a gentle soap that removes stains … the stains of how we think it “ought to be”.

When these stains are gone, there remains only God’s pure creation.

Such is God your Lord, there is no god except He, the Creator of all things. You shall worship Him alone. He is in control of all things. [Quran 6:102].

gratitude meditation

There are so very many mediation practices but, at the root, all of them encourage us to lose interest in our small-selves that we may experience the joy of innocence - that we may appreciate the wonder and mystery of the ever present now.

One of my favorite practices is the practice of gratitude or thankfulness for what God has created.  We don’t have to look far to find all manner of His wonderful creations: the room in which we are sitting, the air we breathe, the many sensations in out bodies, our friends, the many animals, plants, and microbes … the list is endless.

So … during the practice period just let go of whatever ideas pop into your head and gently return your focus on God’s amazing creations; become grateful and thankful.

give it a try …  

peace on you,

bob

God is the One who designed the night so you can rest in it, and the day lighted. God bestows many blessings upon the people, but most people are not thankful. (Quran 40:61)

You shall remember Me, that I may remember you, and be thankful to Me; do not be unappreciative. (Quran 2:152)

Broken?

Meditation is like sitting in front of a very shiny mirror. It shows our inner dialogue. 

If you meditate regularly,  you will come to see patterns in your inner dialogue.  The primary pattern for most of us is: I’m broken now and if I do X, or Y, or Z, I will be better sometime in the future. 

As Ramana Maharshi says: “This is like dressing up like a criminal and afterwards dressing up like a policeman and trying to catch yourself.”  This is crazy!  The trick is to not commit the crime in the first place.  

What is the crime?  The crime is pretending to be broken.  The operative word here is pretending.  In this present moment - right here - right now, you are not broken.  The idea of being broken is a pretense - absolutely not true. 

Meditation is the practice of seeing that right here right now in this room you are already whole, complete, and without need.  If you think otherwise, you are just replaying some memory - you are not noticing what is so right here right now.

Practice makes perfect.

peace on  you,
bob

Meditation is ...

Meditation is the practice of self surrender

What is this ‘self’ that we are surrendering?

When we let go of our ideas about how it OUGHT TO BE (the self) we come to see REALITY as it is.  Seeing things AS THEY ARE fills us with wonder, innocence, and gratitude.  Much better than the alternative!

Let go, let go, then let go of letting go.

peace on you,

bob