Pure Meditation

Once upon a time, while at the bottom of a downhill slide in my life, I began to notice "something." Today, I notice that something as what I am.

With an endless stream of schools of thought, ancient and modern, it might seem almost pointless to offer another. One person in one school might suggest that this is only a small part of what they've been taught. Another might suggest an entirely different part as the relevant one, as part of their school of learning. Yet another may blast it with volumes of intellectual reasoning. All of these, including my own, are but words. So why bother?

I guess that is best answered by saying that most of what is taught and learned stands blocking awareness of that which cannot be taught, and that the learning one gains from teaching will all be undone at some point (also including learning from my teaching).

Self-empowerment through self-awareness obtains from meditating upon the reality of all, which could also be called the infinite self which cannot be contained by our limited views of it. Not a "higher self"...but the "only self."

All meditation that is employed to make something happen, whether in the illusory world of appearances or in dimensions lying beyond the mundane...is fundamentally metaphysical in nature (broad definition). This even includes ordinary physical acts that we perform daily, which acts are put into motion by this type of meditative "control" over our perceived immediate self and its environs.

Pure meditation or simplistic meditation is adopted, not as a life-style type way of life, but as an acknowledgement of and yielding to the very core essence which reality "is"...beyond any report of appearances or experience "about" it. One does not look at infinite self to accomplish a life change or spiritual progression, but to see it as it is. It may be that as one looks and as their awareness opens more to it, this will seem as a matter of spiritual progression, and surrounding experiential events may seem miraculous...but these are aside from the reality observed itself. Nevertheless, what seems as resultant outcome is typically the case in experience...but it is just good to notice that these are not the reality they "seem" to be about. Also, it is often enough that one does not experience these things, leaving them to believe that their meditation was ineffective (which is impossible).

When one focuses upon the appearances, experiences or other perceived phenomena which seems to equate to growth, etc., that attention is shunted away from observing self as it is (or simply denying reality)...for infinite self is not represented by symbols such as these at all.

Also, awareness of it is not and indeed cannot be a by-product of focus or concentration. By definition, these are a narrowing of vision, which excludes other vision. Narrowing of vision can never reveal the ultimate truth that observing the infinite self can and will reveal.

According to the conditioned habits imbedded in the psyche, a person endeavoring toward a perceived goal of enlightenment, etc., will look around themself in the world of appearances, and will look at their own thought processes, feelings and behavior...looking for changes as evidence of effectiveness of whatever method they are employing. If these seem to fall into line with what others have experienced, it is then believed that their efforts were effective. If these seem absent or less robust than the descriptions of others, it is then believed that their efforts were ineffective or inadequate. That is because they are attempting to find evidence within illusory imagery and such like, to prove something that is not within the domain of these illusions...and that approach is bound to failure, frustration and disappointment. This is seen to be the case even with those practicing in monasteries, shut off from the world, and experiencing visions, visitations, ecstacy and so on, for even though these experiences are deemed desirable and good, they are yet temporary. When this is realized in any way, an emptiness is perceived and the seeking resumes.

The only true proof of the reality of the infinite self, is its own report in awareness, for that report is not symbolic in nature, but is seeing the infinite self as it is...rather than in terms of meaningful symbols built out into experiences comprising one's self-view and world-view. Thus such evidence-seeking, even when it seems to be successfully the proof of what was believed to be being sought, blocks seeing clearly what would be noticed if one were not involved in that seeking.

Because infinite self is always and equally available and accessible to all, pure meditation upon that certain reality is always effective. While meditating upon anything else may seem to have its rewards, and even be advisable for some at some time, these meditations process thoughts (plural) and structure opinions or beliefs, which are then further structured into belief systems and a limited view of a seemingly limited world (regardless of how expansive that view may seem to be). Meditating upon infinite self, is meditating upon that which is infinitely whole and indivisible. Thus, one who observes it finds that it needs no such structuring and is in fact incapable of being structured by virtue of its non-separative indivisibility.

hello altarlight,
thanks for the lovely post
swetha