Week 3. Spiritual Practice
Meditation
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Therefore, maybe it might be in our movement’s best interest to understand what mediation is...
“The illusion that the self and the world are broken into fragments originates in the kind of thought that goes beyond its proper measure and confuses its own product with the same independent reality. To end this illusion requires insight, not only into the world as a whole, but also into how the instrument of thought is working. Such insight implies an original and creative act of perception into all aspects of life, mental and physical, both through the senses and through the mind, and this is perhaps the true meaning of meditation.”
— Physicist David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order
Anyone else have anything to add?
“TM® is helping you tap into something that's already inside of you - that's you in essence.”
— Actress Cameron Diaz
“The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the Spirit lies its greatest joy. If, then you experience mental resistance during meditation, remember that reluctance to meditate comes from the ego; it doesn't belong to the soul.”
— Paramahansa Yogananda
“When a caterpillar spins its cocoon, it goes through a transformative process and then emerges as a butterfly. Similarly, when we go through a practice of meditation and prayer, we loosen our egoic grip on a sense of self that is separate from the Whole and become vehicles of the emergent evolutionary paradigm of love, peace , compassion, wisdom, harmony and oneness that seeks expression on the planet.”
— Author Michael Beckwith
“Forget the dancer, the center of the ego; become the dance. That is meditation.”
— Rajneesh
Which basically means...
“Meditation is the process of understanding your own mind.”
— Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti
And...
“Meditation was invented as a way for the soul to venture inward, there ultimately to find supreme identity with Godhead. Whatever else it does, and it does many beneficial things, meditation is first and foremost a search for the God within.”
— Theorist Ken Wilber
Which means...
“Consciousness and meditation are methods where you can actually obtain GOD perception.”
— Singer/Songwriter George Harrison
Therefore...
“Meditation, then, is not so much a part of this or that particular religion, but rather part of the universal spiritual culture of all humankind--an effort to bring awareness to bear on all aspects of life. It is, in other words, part of what has been called the perennial philosophy.”
— Theorist Ken Wilber
However, unfortunately...
“The Course says we achieve so little because we have undisciplined minds: we instinctively go into paranoid and judgmental, fearful reactions instead of loving ones. The Course says we are far too indulgent of mind-wandering. Meditation disciplines the mind.”
— Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love
Which means...
“Discipline is necessary to curb the mind, otherwise there is no peace.”
— Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti
Therefore...
“Meditation means to be constantly extricating yourself from the clinging of mind. By letting go of even the thought 'I,' and 'me' what is left? There is nowhere to stand and no one to stand there. No separation anywhere. Pure awareness.”
— Ram Dass
And as a result...
“Meditation is not a withdrawal from life. Meditation is a process of understanding oneself.”
— Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti
Which means...
“Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things.”
— Lao Tzu
Which also means...
“Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.”
— Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti
So, pertaining to meditation, what else are we to understand?
“The way to develop inner peace through meditation begins with the recognition that the destroyer of inner peace is not some external foe, but is within us. Therefore, the solution is within us too. However, that inner change does not take place immediately in the way that we switch on a light, but takes weeks, months and years.”
— Dalai Lama
For example...
“I learned and it was exactly what I needed [Transcendental Meditation].”
— Actress Cameron Diaz
“Another thing that seemed to work was meditation. It quieted my racing mind, brought a degree of calm.”
— Prince Harry, Spare
“I'd say a little over a year ago I started doing TM [Transcendental Meditation] and that's really changed everything.”
— Actress Jennifer Aniston
“I wake up early each morning around five or six, and the first thing I do is meditate.”
— Rapper Common,“Let Love Have The Last Word"
“I still practice Transcendental Meditation and I think it's great.”
— Singer/Songwriter George Harrison
“Now I meditate twice a day for half an hour. In meditation, I can let go of everything. I'm not Hugh Jackman. I'm not a dad. I'm not a husband. I'm just dipping into that powerful source that creates everything. I take a little bath in it.”
— Actor Hugh Jackman
“Meditation is such a more substantial reality than what we normally take to be reality.”
— Actor Richard Gere
“I started praying every morning. Once I opened my mind to the concept of a greater power, I never struggled with it. Everywhere I went, I felt and saw the existence of a creative intelligence in this universe, of a loving power larger than myself in nature, in people, everywhere. My prayers and meditations would gain steam and momentum over the years and become an important part of my recovery and daily experience.”
— Anthony Kiedis, Scar Tissue (Rock Star)
“Meditation and prayer were life-saving.”
— Actress/Model/Activist Pamela Anderson, “Love, Pamela”
“I do a lot of reading, meditating, and praying to stay as grounded as I can be in this crazy world.”
— Actress Jada Pinkett Smith
“I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“If you want to be successful, just meditate, man.”
— Rock Star Carlos Santana
And what does all this mean?
“You don't have to be some sort of freak to meditate.”
― Singer/Songwriter John Lennon
And...
“The superior man is quiet and calm, waiting for the appointments of heaven.”
― Philosopher Confucius
Furthermore...
“The beauty of meditation is that you never know where you are, where you are going, what the end is.”
― Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti
Therefore...
“In a way, techniques of meditation can be looked on as measures which are taken by man to try to reach the immeasurable, i.e., a state of mind in which he ceases to sense a separation between himself and the whole of reality.”
― Physicist David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order
Which means...
“If there is no meditation, then you are like a blind man in a world of great beauty, light and color.”
― Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti
Which also means...
“Meditation is the straight flight of the mind to the Kingdom of Heaven present in the heart of everyone.”
― Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Therefore...
“In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart.”
― Lao Tzu
So, what does all this mean?
“If you meditate regularly, even when you don't feel like it, you will make great gains, for it will allow you to see how your thoughts impose limits on you. ”
― Author Ram Dass
And pertaining to our OCA movement?
“I believe that ultimately it all comes down to whether we seek conscious contact with God on a daily basis through prayer and meditation.”
― Author Marianne Williamson
Which means we must eventually...
“Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding in a train.”
― Priest Thomas Merton
Which means...
“Every path, every street in the world is your walking meditation path.”
― Buddhist Monk Nhat Hanh
So, in summary, pertaining to meditation...
“There is no meditation without wisdom, and there is no wisdom without meditation. When a man has both meditation and wisdom, he is indeed close to nirvana.”
― Buddha
Furthermore...
“Upon meeting the Dalai Lama in India in 1996, I asked him: “Your Holiness, if enough of us mediate, will that save the world? He leaned toward me and said, “I would answer you in reverse. If we want to save the world, we must have a plan. But no plan will work unless we meditate.”
― The Dalai Lama (to Marianne Williamson)
Therefore...
“You can just imagine if everyone on earth did have one day where we just put all our minds together regardless where the force is, as long as it's positive, and just meditate for even a hour that day. And just live nice with them nice meditation. I mean, now, the climate would be nice.”
― Musician Bob Marley
Now, relax everyone. To meditate deeply—to move beyond the illusion of our clinging mind and feel the oneness, the Heaven that we truly are—is an advanced spiritual practice.
So, I don’t expect everyone who joins the OCA Movement to meditate right away. If you already do, that’s wonderful. But meditation is not a requirement to begin this journey.
That’s why I created Mindful, Conscious Breathing Mondays—for those who don’t yet meditate. In time, as we begin to understand the power of conscious breathing to bring unmanifested consciousness (Heaven) into the world of form (Earth), the movement will naturally evolve into Meditative Mondays.
And from there, Meditative Mondays will grow into meditating daily—and eventually into meditating in the moment, which is a very advanced spiritual existence.
But for those who do not meditate currently—no worries. As the Dalai Lama said, “That inner change does not take place immediately in the way we switch on a light, but takes weeks, months, and years.”
This reminds us that, as a collective movement, we must also learn patience.
And when the Dalai Lama told Marianne Williamson, “If we want to save the world, we must have a plan. But no plan will work unless we meditate,” he was right.
Because now we do have a plan. And for that plan to work, we will all need to learn how to meditate and gradually make it part of our daily existence.
For some of you who don’t meditate, you might be thinking, “Screw that—meditation is a waste of time.” Unfortunately, that’s the ego talking.
And in time, meditation itself will take care of that frame of mind—because time, after all, is an illusion too.
What we all must understand is...
“Meditation and prayer have withstood the test of time. They work today as perfectly as they did for those who first practiced and perfected them.”
— Author Michael Beckwith