MEDITATION IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK
By Edward C. Abdill
“Meditation is the inexpressible longing of the Inner Self for the Infinite.” In those
words, H. P. Blavatsky states the essence of meditation. Yet, there are numerous other
practices called “meditation” that have nothing to do with Blavatsky’s definition. Many
of these practices are quite useful. Some are not; and some may actually be harmful.
BEGINNING: QUIETING THE MIND
Before choosing a practice of meditation, we might ask ourselves, “What am I trying to
do?” A number of common responses to that question are these:
Feel more peaceful.
Get over anxiety or grief.
Overcome pain, physical or psychological.
Improve my health.
Break negative habit patterns.
Become more sensitive.
Most would agree that all these goals are positive and helpful and that indeed they
may be a consequence of meditation. Yet each one of them is essentially a desire for selfimprovement.
Now let us suppose that the ultimate goal of meditation is to merge the Inner Self
with the Infinite. That sounds very abstract, but is it really? “Our hearts are ever restless
till they find their rest in Thee,” says St. Augustine. In other words, the lasting peace for
which we all long is to be found only in the Infinite. If we expect that meditation will
provide an instant fix to our problems, we’ll be sadly disappointed. But if we practice
daily meditation, we shall soon know for ourselves that we have begun the great
journey home.
To begin that journey, we may first consider the terms “Inner Self” and the
“Infinite.” The latter needs little definition except perhaps to say that Theosophically
speaking it is the Eternal, the ground of being, “That” out of which everything finite
(including ourselves) springs. The Inner Self is our own individual root in the Eternal. It
is the reincarnating Self, not the transient self that we are prone to call “me.”
The “me” wants to be happy, to experience pleasure, and to avoid pain. That is not
wrong; it is inevitable, natural, and universal. Being so conditioned to thinking of
ourselves as “me,” we are apt to approach meditation as a means to achieve personal
results and spiritual pleasure. We seek it in the sensate. The “me” wants personal
results.
By Edward C. Abdill
“Meditation is the inexpressible longing of the Inner Self for the Infinite.” In those
words, H. P. Blavatsky states the essence of meditation. Yet, there are numerous other
practices called “meditation” that have nothing to do with Blavatsky’s definition. Many
of these practices are quite useful. Some are not; and some may actually be harmful.
BEGINNING: QUIETING THE MIND
Before choosing a practice of meditation, we might ask ourselves, “What am I trying to
do?” A number of common responses to that question are these:
Feel more peaceful.
Get over anxiety or grief.
Overcome pain, physical or psychological.
Improve my health.
Break negative habit patterns.
Become more sensitive.
Most would agree that all these goals are positive and helpful and that indeed they
may be a consequence of meditation. Yet each one of them is essentially a desire for selfimprovement.
Now let us suppose that the ultimate goal of meditation is to merge the Inner Self
with the Infinite. That sounds very abstract, but is it really? “Our hearts are ever restless
till they find their rest in Thee,” says St. Augustine. In other words, the lasting peace for
which we all long is to be found only in the Infinite. If we expect that meditation will
provide an instant fix to our problems, we’ll be sadly disappointed. But if we practice
daily meditation, we shall soon know for ourselves that we have begun the great
journey home.
To begin that journey, we may first consider the terms “Inner Self” and the
“Infinite.” The latter needs little definition except perhaps to say that Theosophically
speaking it is the Eternal, the ground of being, “That” out of which everything finite
(including ourselves) springs. The Inner Self is our own individual root in the Eternal. It
is the reincarnating Self, not the transient self that we are prone to call “me.”
The “me” wants to be happy, to experience pleasure, and to avoid pain. That is not
wrong; it is inevitable, natural, and universal. Being so conditioned to thinking of
ourselves as “me,” we are apt to approach meditation as a means to achieve personal
results and spiritual pleasure. We seek it in the sensate. The “me” wants personal
results.
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