Meditation – The Acquisition of Knowledge and Penetrating Deeper Levels of Reality

Posted On June 3, 2016 / Written by Dr. Linda Gadbois

 Learning how to Exercise the Powers of our own Mind

When we use the term meditation, who knows exactly what it means, because like all words and ideas it means different things to different people. Some perceive it as stopping all thought as internal dialogue or calming the talking mind, others call it blending into the void (nothingness) and emptying the mind, which is kind of the same idea, others achieve it through chanting or repeating a sound or word as a mantra (which is a basic method of trance induction); and others may be completely confused or unsure of what it means. Yet, all of these ideas are true and untrue at the same time. Meditation, which is a form of trance or self-hypnosis, is primarily a calming or stilling of the internal dialogue (self-conscious mind) as the fluttery, jumping from one subject to the next, or the type of thought that’s automatic, uncontrolled, and runs on and on about stuff in a repetitive manner like a broken record, stuck on replay, and instead forms a calm and passive state of mind and through a deepened state of concentration, enters into a singular mind with the idea or concept being concentrated on. Through this single-mindedness of becoming one with an idea, we penetrate that idea or enter into it as it (resonance), giving it life inside of us by thinking about it in terms of what we already know about it, which initiates and unfolding process, much like a growth process, which continues unfolding beyond the boundaries set by our current perception, where we attain knowledge of it by simply witnessing or observing it as it continues to unfold, revealing it’s secrets to us, allowing us to attain knowledge by being in a passive and receptive (trance) state.

It’s only through this passive state of simply focusing on and observing an idea in motion inside of us that we’re not acting to control, that we truly learn through direct experience. Anytime we’re in a controlled state of only thinking about what we already know or believe we know, and controlling the idea to fit our idea about it, we can’t readily perceive anything outside of it. While we’re in control of our thinking, we can only perceive (produce) more of the same type of thinking. When, however, we fixate our mind on an idea, and penetrate it by concentrating on it in a single-minded fashion, stimulating it into motion within us as a kind of growth process of deepening into its internal nature, we see it as it actually is, apart from us (not modifying it with our active mind). As we move into it with a neutral and unbiased mind it begins moving inside of us as a living force, and begins revealing its true nature to us. We then attain knowledge of it by simply observing it as it forms and moves within our mind as a living idea.

Anytime we become fully present and engage in an activity with full awareness as concentration, free of distractions or thoughts that replace and cover over or modify our actual experience, we are in a meditative state. When we practice constant meditation by becoming fully present with what we are doing, and we become one with our experience of the present activity or idea we’re engaged in, we form realization around it that brings a new awareness of it that went unnoticed with a half-minded state of constant distraction and mental preoccupation that prevents us from being in the present. By being present and concentrating our attention on what we’re doing and our experience in doing it, we attain constant realizations that eluded us whenever we weren’t paying attention. Many people as a general rule can spend the better part of their life never present with what they’re doing and how they’re being, but rather caught up in a constant thought process that has nothing to do with what they’re doing. Because of this human tendency to be consumed by a wandering, fluttery, spaced out mind, we can live the better part of our life from an unconscious delusional state. Because of this, we fail to learn and grow from our experiences, and simply run the same type of thoughts over and over, creating our current experiences out of delusions or beliefs of the past, and failing to learn through realization only obtained in the present.

A state of meditation, comes from our ability to control our mind, stay focused in the present, and penetrate ideas born out of our daily practices as concentration on the now. All true knowledge as an inner realization only comes to us through direct experience. It’s our experiences obtain with an open mind that show us the true nature of things. Our mind, through concentrated attention void of verbal thinking, or superimposing a belief over the present experience changing it, and simply being present with it, observing and experiencing it as it is, attains knowledge of it through self-awareness. All knowledge comes to us by becoming one with an idea, and perceiving it by being it. By being the mode through which it expresses, we perceive it as us. We become the channel through which it becomes realized as an inner experience or realization.

This penetrative quality of the mind that learn by entering into, uniting with, and becoming the same as (vibration, sympathetic induction, and coherence), can be easily understood through extended practices of deep concentration on an idea, free from all distractions and the need to control the idea with preconceived notions. By thinking about an idea with a singular mind, we resonate with it, enter into it, become the same as it, and learn about it from within it or within us. By being the same as it in body, mind, and spirit. By taking on the same quality and consciousness. We perceive it by conceiving of it (allowing it to impregnate us). We understand it from the perspective of being within it or having it within us, by experiencing it through our mind. In this way, all learning as the realization of truth comes as an inner process of concentrated thought which acts as a receptor. Our mind has the ability to enter into (sympathize with) ideas, and gain knowledge of them from the inside out. We become one with its consciousness, and understand it by observing its reality from the same mind-set.

So we don’t necessarily meditate to control or stop thinking and blend into a void or nothingness, which is only the initial stage of meditation that frees the mind from random thoughts that distract it, scattering its power to concentrate, but rather as the means for inducing a trance state that removes the conscious mind (talking mind) from its normal state of dominance, rendering it passive and inactive, and making the passive and receptive subconscious (experiential) mind dominant and active instead. Once we calm the sporadic automatic thoughts, creating an empty spaciousness as an open arena, we can introduce an idea into our mind as a kind of seed with hidden potential, and grow it by giving it our full, undivided attention. Through concentration we penetrate it, activate it, become the same as it in mind and body, and gain realization of it by being one with it (within us). We gain knowledge of it through the self-realization of being the same as it. Through focused concentration on a single idea for extended periods of time, we know it inside and out, and it becomes a permanent part of us. We incorporate it into our mind (paradigm) as an experience, which becomes memory. Once we form a memory of it as a direct experience of it, it can be recalled and referenced, and exists as an inherent and natural part of us. We only attain knowledge, as self-knowledge through exercising the concentrative powers of our mind (will).

By concentrating our attention on an idea, becoming one with it, we become the same as it, vibrate at the same level of consciousness, and readily perceive that same consciousness of the idea in everyone and everything around us. Once we know and understand an idea, it’s fully integrated into our paradigm or mental structure, which forms the lens and filtering system that we look through to perceive everything else. Once we know by becoming the same as, forming a memory of it as our soul’s structure, we resonate with that idea, no matter what form it takes on in everything around us. It becomes a natural part of us and helps form our understanding of everything else. Our experiences become memory which inform us by giving us instant interpretations of what appears to be random information (organizes everything into coherent patterns). Once we attain a memory of something, the knowledge in that memory remains apart of us and is instantly recalled and associated as a part of our normal mental processes of perceiving ourselves (the same structures) in everything external to us. Meditation is the method of learning through direct internal experience of the internal nature of the idea itself (soul-to-soul), where we become fixated on, and experience it from within us as an inherent part of us.

Dr. Linda Gadbois

Transpersonal Psychologist, Mind-Body Medicine Consultant, and Spiritual Teacher