let go ...

Meditation is the practice of release, letting go, surrendering.   What do we release during our practice?  

In a word - everything!  We release our ideas of ownership, our notions of control, and the delusion that anything in this life is permanent.  Let go, let go, let go, and then let go of letting go.  

Why do this?  Happiness comes from cooperating with the design of life rather than fighting it.

Let go; cooperate with the design of life; be happy.  So simple.

To God belongs the east and the west; wherever you go there will be the presence of God. God is Omnipresent, Omniscient. (Quran 2;115)

Such is God your Cherisher and Sustainer, 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)

Know that this worldly life is no more than play and games, and boasting among you, and hoarding of money and children. It is like abundant rain that produces plants and pleases the disbelievers. But then the plants turn into useless hay, and are blown away by the wind. In the Hereafter there is either severe retribution, or forgiveness from God and approval. This worldly life is no more than a temporary illusion. (Quran 57:20)

Peace on you,
bob

seeing life as it is

Meditation leads us to see life “as it IS” and away from how we think it “OUGHT to be”.  How IS it really?

The many prophets, sages, and messengers of God point to how it IS.  Life is fluid.  Lao Tzu points to the horrible consequences of rigid views of life.  Regular daily practice  will lead you to see the wisdom in Lao Tzu’s teaching.

The living are soft and yielding; 
the dead are rigid and stiff. 
Living plants are flexible and tender; 
the dead are brittle and dry. 

Those who are stiff and rigid 
are the disciple of death. 
Those who are soft and yielding 
are the disciples of life. 

The rigid and stiff will be broken. 
The soft and yielding will overcome.

Lao Tzu (c.604 - 531 B.C.)

As-salamu alaykum
bob

why meditation?

When we sit in silent meditation we let go of how we think things OUGHT to be and come to "True Seeing" - seeing things as they ARE. In other words, seeing life without such hard and fast ideas of  “me” and “mine” --- seeing life as Allah created it. 

With this understanding comes naturally gratitude, reverence, and worship - The  fruits of meditation. 

I did not create the jinns and the humans except to worship Me alone. 
(Quran 51:56)

We showed him the two paths, then, he is either appreciative, or unappreciative. (Quran 76:3)

B-grade movie

Meditation is like a mirror that shows us the content of our minds.

For most of us what is reflected in the mirror is a B-grade movie: obvious plot, repetitive, boring lead character, about the past and the future, and mostly negative.

Daily meditation is the practice of watching “our movie” over and over.  As the movie is “B-grade”, we naturally lose interest in it and move along to that wonderful field to which the poet Rumi refers:

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about."
Rumi

Meditation leads to better taste in movies.

peace on you,
bob

Meditation is the search for what to give up.

Realization is certainty that there is no one who would ever search for anything nor give up anything. 

God: there is no other god besides Him, the Living, the Eternal. Never a moment of unawareness or slumber overtakes Him. To Him belongs everything in the heavens and everything on earth. Who could intercede with Him, except in accordance with His will? He knows their past, and their future. No one attains any knowledge, except as He wills. His dominion encompasses the heavens and the earth, and ruling them never burdens Him. He is the Most High, the Great. (Quran 2:255)

bob

Reaching That which is always True

Meditation is emptying - when we empty utterly we come to That which cannot be lost or found - That which is Eternal. 

Simply do this:
Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.

(Course in Miracles - Lesson 189)

appreciation

Meditation is simply the practice of noticing that NONE of your beliefs are true.

When we escape from our "prison of beliefs" we arrive at the place where we can see things as they actually ARE; then we are overwhelmed with GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION.

God brought you out of your mothers' bellies knowing nothing, and He gave you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brains, that you may be appreciative. (Quran 16:78)