Meditation

[Güney27]

I found this from a rosicrucian Website.
It explains the reason and goal of inner work.
Maybe it will helpful for someone.

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Concentration, Meditation, and Prayer

Concentration, meditation, and prayer are all efforts of the Spirit in man to rise above mere material consideration, to realize the timelessness of all Good, and to find that vital spark of God within, which is enfolded in every human being.

   The ability to concentrate the mind is essential to spiritual progress. It enables one to gain mastery of the desire body and eventually to get in conscious contact with the invisible worlds.

To learn the art of concentration, we must bring our attention to a focus and our thoughts to a point upon a single object or condition. We must realize that thought-force is our principal power, and we must learn to have control of it. This is not easily accomplished, but even an attempt in that direction will have its value. It is imperative that we gain control of our thoughts, for without this control the power flows aimlessly, accomplishing nothing. When we have learned to concentrate on any one thing to the exclusion of all other things' we will be able to increase our thought power and ability to use it effectively. We attain quality by diminishing the often excessive quantity.

During concentration, man's senses are stilled as they would be in deepest sleep, but at the same time the Spirit remains within the body in full control of all its faculties. The aspirant learns to become absorbed at will in any subject. In the book Rosicrucian Mysteries, we are told that it is easier to learn the art of concentration while we are still living in the Physical World. The dense body is an anchor and a shield against the disturbing influences of the volatile, fluidic conditions of the higher Worlds. Therefore, we must develop the faculty of concentration in the Physical World where matter serves as a balancing check. When we have realized the value of the art of concentration, we will be eager to practice it daily. Max Heindel advises us to take the time we spend on public transportation or in similar places, where the mind has a chance to wander, and use it in concentrating on an object or an ideal.

Noisy public transportation, perhaps filled with crowding passengers, would not seem to be the best place to practice concentration, but we are advised that one learns better under such adverse conditions; then, having succeeded under difficulties, one will always find it easier to gather one's thoughts into single-pointedness when the chance for quiet concentration presents itself. As a rule, our minds do not hold any one thought long enough to penetrate its nature and complete meaning. To gain control of one's thoughts is a great achievement; anyone who has mastered this difficult accomplishment has the key to success in any field at his command.

We all, at times, have the urgent need to send helpful thoughts to others, but no matter how great our wish to comply may be, only the concentrated thoughts have the strength to arrive at their destination. They have to be massed in one direction to attain their object, just as the Sun's rays, concentrated in a magnifying glass, ignite and create a fire. The aspirant to the higher life must learn to control and direct his thoughts, and by persistent effort he will attain the goal -- which is perfect concentration of thought at will -- at any time desired.

In The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception (page 465) it is stated that, "The aspirant to the higher life accomplishes the union of the higher and the lower nature by means of meditation." The sincere aspirant chooses lofty subjects in his meditation which reveal the nature of the higher Worlds to him, showing him the reality of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. His aim is ever to do the bidding of his own Higher Self.

Intense concentration builds a living thought form, a clear and true image. In meditation we learn much about this thought form; the exercise enables us to enter into its relationship to the world. In concentration we put all of our attention on one subject or idea; in meditation we gather all knowledge possible upon this one subject. The mind ponders and gropes, always bringing added bits of information and thereby gaining a new significance and a new understanding. This process, when adhered to for some time, will enrich our own world of thought in such a way that we will be able to reach out into new fields of knowledge and gain new understanding there also. All spiritual truths become clearer when we have fully understood one, and the words of our mouths become wiser as time goes on.

 When we meditate on such inspiring concepts as "wisdom" and "understanding" and ponder the meaning and reality of these words, we contact forces that have their home in higher and purer spheres than our daily surroundings. We know that we cannot neglect our duties, and often we must live in the din of a busy world for the sake of needed experience. But no matter what the circumstance, we can and should take time for daily silent meditations. Meditation in silence is a real help in gaining soul growth. By this practice we are enabled to build within our own inner selves a sanctuary. We can construct this Living Temple not made with hands and enter it whenever we need to restore the harmony we crave.

Much has been written about prayer, for it is universal. From the primitive to the more advanced races, all address a Great Spirit, a Supreme Being, with fear and trembling or with adoration and confidence. The divine origin of everyone makes itself felt, and the divine Spark in man yearns to recognize the high Source of all being.

Man approaches God in confession, supplication, and adoration, but also often feels the need to ask Him for his material sustenance. We sometimes wonder what our prayer should be. The answer is that "we must get away from the idea that every time we approach our Father in Heaven we must ask for something. " The earnest aspirant will not ask for material things; he may ask for spiritual illumination, but when that high goal is reached the illumination should be used to benefit others.

Actually, invocations for temporal things are black magic. We have been given the promise: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." Christ Jesus indicated the limit in The Lord's Prayer when He taught His disciples to say: "Give us this day our daily bread."

When we approach the Throne with praise and adoration, we are in the receptive state which brings us nearer to our ideal, where we may experience an outpouring of the Spirit, radiant and glorious. Then we will have learned by first-hand experience that prayer is a powerful method used in perfecting our ability to recognize Divine Light.

When we unite our prayers with those of others who are of like mind, much can be accomplished. Collective prayer in places of worship is helpful when done in an atmosphere of reverence and quietude. But unless we can have this harmony and peaceful cooperation in sacred places, it is better we do as Christ bade us do, "Enter into your closet and pray in secret. "God knows our hidden thoughts and the sincerity of our motives. It is good to pray in the same surroundings, if that is possible. We can dedicate a place in our home, no matter how small, for daily worship. Here we can build the Invisible Temple, adding to the spiritual atmosphere from day to day, and in time this place will be to us a holy place.

If we realize that "all spiritual development begins with the vital body," we will understand why we are told in the Bible to pray without ceasing. The keyword of the vital body is "repetition." The pure and lofty thoughts our mind dwells upon cleanse and purify this vehicle. By earnest, repeated prayer we can acquire the habit of daily communion with God, and we will be lifted up on wings of power and aspiration. It is essential that we put intense earnestness into our devotional exercises. Otherwise our monotonous repetition becomes mere habit, and we are in danger of saying mere empty words. When we dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to the Highest we know, then prayer is the most powerful method of soul growth known to us.

 

[Jonathan Österman]

These are great, Federica

The smell-thinking capacity is perfect description for cats too. Mine is constantly mapping out her terrain by sniffing through it .

Klocek about understanding cats versus dogs, in "Drawing from the book of nature". Cats are sniffers, but cautious ones, he says. Drawing animals and plants must logically be another good means to capture the nature of their life and soul beyond (by which I mean extending larger than) the physical, like writing the perceptions, not in language but still through concepts.

The cats are the other great division among the carnivores. While the dogs are limb carnivores, the cats are nerve/sense carnivores. The dog lives on the plains, the cat prefers the deserts and upland regions where it can find trees to climb and cool rock caves in which it can sleep in comfort during the day. The dog hunts by running. The cat hunts by staying still. Sitting on a tree limb, or on an overhanging rock ledge, is a favorite trick of a hunting cat. Domestic cats reveal this trait by preferring the tops of refrigerators and the backs of sofas as resting places where they can survey the area below unnoticed. Contrary to the long-winded endurance of the dog, the cat is very short-winded, but extremely fast in starting and in short bursts of speed. A cat's strength is to sit quietly, but intently, and then rapidly spring into action when the time is ripe. The dog wags its tail in unconscious joyful abandon. A cat wags its tail in calculated twitches either when it is angry or while waiting to pounce on its prey. A dog has a keen sense of smell and poor eyesight. A cat has a weak sense of smell and very developed eyesight. A dog is an aggressive sniffer, a cat is a cautious sniffer. Dogs explore things with their mouths, cats explore things with their paws. Dogs spread their limbs when lying down, cats pull in their limbs and tail when lying down. These differing traits, and many more, point to the basic will nature in the dog, and the sense nature in the cat. The will moves out to the periphery and explores in an unconscious way. The senses pull in towards the center and explore the world in a more thoughtful, considered way.

Oh yes, these are very insightful observations! And it again shows just how much of spritual reality we express through polarities on the physical plane. Cats and dogs, felines and canines. And it all comes back to the fundamental polarity of Will and Thinking (limbs and nerves/senses).

The one thing I question is the weak sense of smell for cats. Perhaps relative to dogs, but not humans. My cat can smell a single treat from across the room. Also her whole body convulses in the presence of certain undesired smells like cinnamon. Thats why I keep a box of cinnamon flavored mints around in case she is bothering me. I dont expose her to the smell, but just shaking the box is enough to keep her away : )

How much time per day do you spend in meditation, Ashwin?

[LukeJTM]

I believe the Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition stages (as defined by Rudolf Steiner) is describing that process. If I understand so far, the Imagination stage is where one can start seeing spiritual imagery (which might be symbolic images for example?), or maybe seeing the forms that underlie the physical objects (i.e. the etheric world). The Inspiration and Intuition, I think, is where one can start seeing much subtler worlds than the etheric, and can also perceive higher beings and communicate with them directly or consciously, and experience their perspective as your own. Could you maybe comment on how accurate this short summary is, and help me correct errors or misunderstandings?

Luke, I would like to attempt to give a picture of the stages of consciousness, using the pond image given in Zajonc's meditation that Ashin quoted here. I’m not sure if Zajonc has the stages of consciousness in mind in that meditation but I surely find the image suitable. In that sense, please don’t try to map directly what I say to what Zajonc describes.

Preconditions – soul space – the pond

The first step would be to understand what the pond symbolizes. It is really the space of our inner experience. There’s no need to fantasize this space in some way. What we need is to simply feel the actual contents of our soul space, our perceptions, thought images, feelings and so on. This space is really the only space we ever know. Even when we imagine large things, like a planet or the whole Cosmos, it is still based on the sense of space we’re familiar with through our bodily sensations. In a certain sense, we can only know a large space when we imagine our imaginary hands spreading out so far that we can encompass it. In other words, all space that we know is inner space. This inner space and all its contents can be symbolized with the pond (and of course we shouldn't try to imagine that this inner space is somehow placed within the 'real' outer physical space).

Ordinary consciousness – lost in the patterns of the pond

At the first stage, this pond is criss-crossed with sensations in the most complicated ways. These patterns form our familiar bodily sensations. Normally our thinking is so sucked into these sensations that we feel that we live in their movements, our whole soul life is subordinate to their unfoldments. This is what we call the world of Maya.

Here we should make an important distinction. Maya doesn’t mean that the World is simply a thin dream image before our soul’s gaze, which has no substantiality. The World is real. It’s just that our familiar sensory experience of it is a secondary pattern. By secondary I mean something analogous to the way how the pixels of a screen are primary while the image is a new level of interpretation.

Imagination – consciousness of the pond

With all this in mind it should be easy to understand the first of the higher forms of consciousness – Imaginative. While in our ordinary consciousness we live entirely in the patterns in soul space and their secondary interpretation, when through concentration we manage to extricate our spiritual activity from the suction of the patterns, the pond metaphor becomes a reality. Now we really feel our inner space as an infinite pond, filled with the most complicated phenomena, patterns, ripples, waves. We understand directly how so far we have been mesmerized by the patterns. Of course, when speaking of patterns and ripples this shouldn’t be taken in the mechanical sense. These movements are not something that we simply see but something that our whole soul state metamorphoses through. It’s like the difference between only seeing a gymnastic exercise and actually performing.

This is the first important distinction. We see into soul space not simply by having an additional layer of visual sensations but by moving together with the driving forces behind phenomena. If it is only the former, the experience would never lead us to any certainty. It could be just a sensory hallucination. But when our thinking activity is liberated from the slots of the brain and begins to flow in novel ways, this can never be doubted – simply because it cannot be imagined through our old thinking patterns. We can be mistaken when we try to understand these movements and their relations but not about the fact that our spirit has lifted itself from the physical slots and wills its transformation in soul space.

This leads us also to another distinction. When we flow together with the transformations in soul space it becomes clear that they result from spiritual activity similar to our own. Just like our ordinary thinking activity stirs sounds, words, images in soul space, so on a greater scale our soul space is part of the World soul space and the most varied activities stir its forms. At this stage we understand very little of the nature of the various Intelligences, the spiritual beings who will the activities but it is clear that the contents of the soul space are impressions of their deeds. What we experience in soul space as contents and movements is not the beings themselves but only their effects, just like we don’t see our ego as a finished perception in front of us but we perceive its effects, for example, as the sound perception of our thinking voice.

Inspiration – resonating with the intents of the beings

While in Imagination we’re lifted from suction of the pond patterns and begin to cognize the impressions of the activities of the Cosmic Intelligences (symbolized by the stars, mountains, etc. reflected in the pond) we still don’t have particularly clear idea of what and why they act in such ways. This is what we approach in Inspirative consciousness. Probably the best analogy for this is reading or the difference between hearing sounds and understanding them as words.

Of course, these are only sensory analogies. To understand this, in our ordinary cognition we have first to make very clear the distinction between the perceptual element of thoughts (for example the sounds of our thinking voice) and the inner activity that we perform in order to impress these sounds. In other places we have called these ‘thinking gestures’. Just like we can distinguish between the perceptions of our hand and the willing efforts to move it, so we should try to do the same for our thinking. This is of course much more challenging because we need special effort to observe our thinking process. In any case, it can be said that in the Imaginative state we live not only in the thinking gestures that we consider our own but we allow our thinking gestures to move together with the gestures in the environment. These of course, just like our ordinary thoughts, have their perceptual counterpart – encompassing images, weaved of color, sound and so on. Yet, these perceptual elements are not the essential thing. It is only because our transformed thinking gestures merge with those which fill the whole of Cosmic soul space, that we understand the perceptual counterpart as images of higher order reality.

So in this analogy, our liberated thinking gestures correspond to the sound. We understand that soul space is real, that it is animated by the thinking gestures of the most varied Intelligences, yet besides the most immediate effects, we don’t intuit any deeper intents. For example, in Imagination we can unite with the thinking gestures that work in our blood flow. This is not the same as simply having a bodily sensation of blood moving, in the sense that we can feel warm water sipping down our throat when drinking it but instead we find that there’s something akin to will impulses that live in the rhythms of our circulation. In Imagination we can find these blood forces as facts of experience but only in Inspiration we can understand their wider significance, how through them the whole evolutionary journey of man is intended.

Intuition – resonating with the perspectives of the beings

Finally, in Intuition the intents that we come to know in Inspiration are experienced in an even deeper way, in the context of the individual beings.

Probably it would be easier with another analogy. Let’s suppose we see a man walking. On the lowest level we see transformations of patterns of perceptions. We can study them as a scientist would. We can analyze them, quantify them and even discover some mathematical ‘laws of nature’ that seem to match what we see. At the second stage we recognize that this walking man is perceived as such only because certain will impulses work in him. Note that the only reason we can understand this is because we know from our own experience what it is to will the movements of our feet. Similarly, to know the deeds of the Cosmos in soul space, our thinking-will must be able to transform into the corresponding forms. At the third stage we can understand something of the intents of the movement. For example, we may find out that the person is going to see a friend. Now we have not only the will but also the idea that guides it through time. Finally, the fourth stage would be analogous to understanding the individual perspective of the person. In the previous stage we understand his movement according to our perspective. We understand what it means to us. But now we understand what it means to the I-experience of the person, how that movement fits in the unique story of his life.

In a similar way. Intuitive cognition leads to concentric experiences of the spiritual beings. We now grasp something of the transformations of soul space in the context of evolution of these perspectives.

Hi Cleric. I'd somehow missed your reply. That is a crystal clear explanation, it makes a lot of sense. Which stages have you attained, may I ask? Are you at the intuition stage?

[Cleric K]

Hi Cleric. I'd somehow missed your reply. That is a crystal clear explanation, it makes a lot of sense. Which stages have you attained, may I ask? Are you at the intuition stage?

Hi Luke, I'm glad that you found something of value.

Asking the question like this could be misleading. It makes it seem as if the stages of consciousness are like separate floors. Once we master Imagination we climb to Inspiration and so on. But in reality there's always something of all stages at any given time. In our ordinary consciousness there's also Intuition - this is the very awareness that we exist, the we will our way through a stream of becoming. In that sense everyone is already at the Intuition stage. The difference is that normally this intuition is too 'perforated'. Our inner life is like a pendulum that once in a while only for a moment passes through its point of balance.

It is true that just as our ordinary cognition rests on the support of the senses and brain-bound thinking and imagination, so our higher being first begins to gain consciousness in the the Imaginative soul flow, then in the Inspirative ideal flow, until it can know itself in pure Intuition.

One way to metaphorically understand these things is by picturing that while the pendulum of our inner life swings wildly, every time it passes through the balance point, a tiny 'stroboscopic' flash of Intuition is experienced as the meaning of a thought. When we begin to grasp the forces that swing the pendulum, it can be guided to move in more rhythmic ways and then then the flashes of Intuition elucidate more of our soul life (Imagination). In other words, our awareness always has at its core Intuition. It is what gives the meaning to every other stage of cognition. The question is how 'chopped up' this intuition is. For this reason, there's very little sense to compare with one another and wonder who is at what stage. The important thing is that the stroboscopic flashes of Intuition that we experience, gradually begin to feel as entangled in sacred meaningful flow. Then we begin to understand the kind of spiritual activity that organizes this higher flow and even we can do something there.

This is really key. As long as we imagine that we have to move to another completely separate floor of consciousness in order to know the higher strata of reality, we project in our mind an image, which like the carrot in front of the donkey, always remains out of reach. Instead, we have to realize that we are already within Intuition, it's only that normally we experience only stroboscopic flashes.

Here we should beware of a danger however - when we say that we are already within Intuition, we shouldn't imagine that we already contain it within the sphere of our consciousness, even if in a sparse way. This has been at the core of endless discussions with Eugene. We have to resist the temptation to feel ourselves as the top-container of all reality and imagine that Intuition only gradually elucidates the contents that have been until now dimmed down. Instead, we should always feel great humility and know that the higher (non-'perforated') Intuition, can't fit in our present geometry of consciousness. Our conscious form has to be continually sacrificed in order to be resurrected in new forms.

[LukeJTM]

Hi Luke, I'm glad that you found something of value.

Asking the question like this could be misleading. It makes it seem as if the stages of consciousness are like separate floors. Once we master Imagination we climb to Inspiration and so on. But in reality there's always something of all stages at any given time. In our ordinary consciousness there's also Intuition - this is the very awareness that we exist, the we will our way through a stream of becoming. In that sense everyone is already at the Intuition stage. The difference is that normally this intuition is too 'perforated'. Our inner life is like a pendulum that once in a while only for a moment passes through its point of balance.

It is true that just as our ordinary cognition rests on the support of the senses and brain-bound thinking and imagination, so our higher being first begins to gain consciousness in the the Imaginative soul flow, then in the Inspirative ideal flow, until it can know itself in pure Intuition.

One way to metaphorically understand these things is by picturing that while the pendulum of our inner life swings wildly, every time it passes through the balance point, a tiny 'stroboscopic' flash of Intuition is experienced as the meaning of a thought. When we begin to grasp the forces that swing the pendulum, it can be guided to move in more rhythmic ways and then then the flashes of Intuition elucidate more of our soul life (Imagination). In other words, our awareness always has at its core Intuition. It is what gives the meaning to every other stage of cognition. The question is how 'chopped up' this intuition is. For this reason, there's very little sense to compare with one another and wonder who is at what stage. The important thing is that the stroboscopic flashes of Intuition that we experience, gradually begin to feel as entangled in sacred meaningful flow. Then we begin to understand the kind of spiritual activity that organizes this higher flow and even we can do something there.

This is really key. As long as we imagine that we have to move to another completely separate floor of consciousness in order to know the higher strata of reality, we project in our mind an image, which like the carrot in front of the donkey, always remains out of reach. Instead, we have to realize that we are already within Intuition, it's only that normally we experience only stroboscopic flashes.

Here we should beware of a danger however - when we say that we are already within Intuition, we shouldn't imagine that we already contain it within the sphere of our consciousness, even if in a sparse way. This has been at the core of endless discussions with Eugene. We have to resist the temptation to feel ourselves as the top-container of all reality and imagine that Intuition only gradually elucidates the contents that have been until now dimmed down. Instead, we should always feel great humility and know that the higher (non-'perforated') Intuition, can't fit in our present geometry of consciousness. Our conscious form has to be continually sacrificed in order to be resurrected in new forms.

That makes more sense, Cleric. Thanks. So what you are suggesting is that they aren't so much 'stages', they are basically subtler layers of thinking, feeling, and will? In other words, (ordinary) thoughts, feeling, and will are condensed manifestations of imagination, inspiration, and intuition.

[Cleric K]

That makes more sense, Cleric. Thanks. So what you are suggesting is that they aren't so much 'stages', they are basically subtler layers of thinking, feeling, and will? In other words, (ordinary) thoughts, feeling, and will are condensed manifestations of imagination, inspiration, and intuition.

Yes, the bold is a good way to put it.

I hope that I'm not sounding contradictory here. There are, of course, distinguishable levels of consciousness. For example, the fuller vision of the Imaginative world is achieved through a very characteristic transformation of experience. It can be compared to falling asleep (or rather dreaming sleep) without losing our cognitive acuity and awareness of the physical body. Nevertheless, there's a very distinct sensation of expanding buzzing feeling which overflows our ordinary bodily envelop of awareness. When this happens for the first time we may feel like we're loosing our body, in fact we may think that we are dying (because we become immediately aware that this is already similar to what will happen in the actual moment of death).

The fact that we remain in harmonic attunement to the sensory spectrum (even if the latter now feels much more expanded) is of the utmost importance. Otherwise, we already know this state from every night we dream, where however, we don't have the mentioned awareness of the physical body. We only dream in the etheric.

As a side note, it is a good exercise that each night when we lay to sleep, we relax and try to observe the actual process of falling to sleep. It's like saying to us "I'll be quiet and see what happens when I'm falling to sleep." Isn't it strange? We've been falling to sleep all our life, every night, and somehow we have never been conscious how we transition from wakefulness into sleeping or dreaming. The other transition is more common. When we're abruptly woken up while dreaming we may experience 'mini psychedelic trip' while our expanded dream consciousness is sucked into our bodily sensations. This however happens almost instantaneously and rarely much can be captured in clear concepts.

With all this said, it is obvious that there are great differences in the forms of experience. So we can still speak of stages. But at the same time it is important to realize that, for example, the dreaming man is present even now in our waking state. Surely we can't that easily experience a full blown dream state on demand but we certainly can remember quite a lot of what it is to be dreaming. We can approximately reconstruct the dream state from our memory fragments. And not only that we remember but we can very clearly sense how we are there with our "I". We're not simply reconstructing a story from second hand reports, we're experiencing memory fragments of our first-person dream states.

The experiences in the higher orders of existence can be compared to this. In a way, by thinking about these things, by wrestling with the descriptions of such experiences and trying to make them our own, it is as if we try to remember a first-person experience of something that has not yet happened. Just as there's qualitative difference between dreaming and reconstructing our dreams within our waking state, so there's difference between intuitive thinking within our waking state and the experiences within the higher flow of reality. But think about it: when you remember a dream you don't say that the memory fragments have nothing to do with what the actual dream state felt like. In many ways they are precisely what the dream state felt like, it's only that now the holistic state has broken down into memory fragments that we manipulate in our waking cognition. We're in the quite the same situation with respect to the higher stages of consciousness. When we exercise our intuitive thinking, when we try to imagine these higher states, it's not that these fragments have nothing to do with the higher experiences. In fact, they have everything to do with them, except that they are still fragmentary future-memory pictures. When gradually we reach the higher states in their characteristic holistic nature, then we can say to ourselves: "Everything that I effortfully tried to intuitively imagine has been like fragmented memory images of what I know experience in a much more coherent way. In many aspects, these fragmentary future-memory pictures felt the same as the state that I now inhabit much more fully." This is why we can fully justifiably speak of our ordinary cognition as condensed Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition. Everything in our present waking consciousness is like fragmented (condensed) future-memory experiences of far richer states of existence. For an example how we can build such future-memory pictures, this recent post may be interesting, if you haven't looked at it already.

[Güney27]

Hello everyone.
I wish you a wonderful Christmas.

I realized that I have a problem whit sitting straight while meditating.
I feel like when I lay on my back I can go deeper into focusing my spiritual activity in visuals or thought images.
I also have orthopedic problems which can make it hard to stay straight whit my back sometimes.

Is it a crucial thing to sit straight, in order to have fruitful meditation, or can we still do it while laying down?

[Federica]

Hello everyone.
I wish you a wonderful Christmas.

I realized that I have a problem whit sitting straight while meditating.
I feel like when I lay on my back I can go deeper into focusing my spiritual activity in visuals or thought images.
I also have orthopedic problems which can make it hard to stay straight whit my back sometimes.

Is it a crucial thing to sit straight, in order to have fruitful meditation, or can we still do it while laying down?

Merry Christmas to you and everyone else reading.

Your question reminds me of this post.

[Güney27]

Hello everyone.
I wish you a wonderful Christmas.

I realized that I have a problem whit sitting straight while meditating.
I feel like when I lay on my back I can go deeper into focusing my spiritual activity in visuals or thought images.
I also have orthopedic problems which can make it hard to stay straight whit my back sometimes.

Is it a crucial thing to sit straight, in order to have fruitful meditation, or can we still do it while laying down?

Merry Christmas to you and everyone else reading.

Your question reminds me of this post.

I came across to a new Book, in which the author gives meditation exercises.
It's more concentration on certain lights(visualization), than concentration on thought forms.

I don't tried these exercises from daskalos and the other Author, I don't know what there are really about.
But if one creates light-forms or even light-body's, is it the spirit which imprints the picture trough etheric "substance", or what is it that is that the Spirit uses to create these forms, and what is the potential effect on the pupil?

This exercise has a two fold nature. It first eliminates old and
undesirable reactions, and having freed you from these, it brings to your
hands a very important feeding substance in light.
After you have drawn the Light to your feet, hands, arms and throat
in the AH MER exercise, keep quietly relaxed, holding the feet in the same
position, but turn the hands over so that the palms lie upwards. Then as a
preparation for what you will receive, eject through your head to your feet,
on a short staccato sound of AH OO, AH OO, all the unwanted elements
of your being, clearing it as a ramrod clears a gun. Do this emphatically,
repeating the sound as often as you need, so that you feel it travelling
through your body and out through both feet into the Figure of Light.
Now visualise two shafts of white Light, the ends standing in your
hands, and the points stretching up to infinity. It is, as it were, the base
of a triangle that rests in your hands with the apex outside your range of
vision. When you have thought of these shafts of brilliant whiteness into
your hands, start your Conscious Breathing, seeing your inhaling breath go
to your feet, and your exhaling breath rise from your solar plexus between
the shafts. As your breath ascends, the softest petals of peach-coloured
light come down the shafts into the palms of your hands, and are at once
absorbed by them.

We have to realise the different substances of those two
lights; intense shining whiteness, and the softness, like a snow-flake, of the
peach light. The petals travel down the shafts at varying speeds, slowly with
some people, quickly with others. Do not worry if you do not see them at
all. Do not concentrate; you cannot make yourself see them. Just know
that by consciously thinking, your spirit is working through your mind, and
receiving its food and strength, and day by day, your awareness will grow
and our capacity to receive Divine instruction will increase.
Do this exercise as long or as short a time as you wish.
OO as in “zoo”

[Güney27]

Another exercise

In the middle of the human Throat lies the magnetic centre of the light body.
Its activity corresponds to that of the human brain, for it is the focussing
point for all the cosmic rays.
Physical food is taken through the mouth and spiritual food through
the Throat. To live in this world it is essential to draw air into the lungs and
circulate it through the body. To live in the spirit it is essential to draw light
into the soul and circulate it through the light body.
To develop our spiritual brain we must understand its form and
its functioning powers. Will you look at the diagram and realise that you
have a flower of living Light in the centre of your Throat? The nine petals
are of intense white light, and the centre is a flowing ruby light, which is
the magnetic point of Power. It draws into itself all attributes of Divine
Power, absorbs and transmits them into the blood, so that in time the very
substance and rhythm of our blood changes and we become aware in every
fibre of our being of a quickened condition of spiritual awareness. We must
learn to draw into our being the very substance of God.
Will you quite simply visualise this lovely flower in your Throat,
and know that when we are spiritually unconscious the nine petals are
folded over the ruby centre. We must quite consciously unfold them one
by one, rhythmically, until when they are all open the ruby centre receives,
according to the ego’s development, the cosmic rays of creative power, and
then instantly closes up again.
This exercise should be done at midday - though any time between
12 o’clock and 4 o’clock p.m. will do. We need to do it regularly as we eat
our midday meal. It should become as much a habit as washing our hands
before we eat.
Either stand or sit. Moisten the first finger of the right hand with
the saliva in your mouth. Outline the nine petals one by one, starting at
the centre, going up the inside of the petal, and ending in the centre. It is
done clockwise - that is to say from left to right on the following rhythm:
__ --- __ __, for each petal. Moisten the finger between each petal. Each
one stays open until all nine are done - then for a moment in time the ruby
centre is fully exposed, draws in all it can receive and then the petals close
instantly and remain closed until the ritual is repeated next day. Every day
increases the receptive power.