When we meditate we use our will to connect our conscious mind with Universal consciousness, our higher mind with our Higher Self, our personality vehicle with our Soul and the intuitive messages that come to us come directly from our Buddhic nature, the vehicle of our Soul. We come to realise we are not separate but unified with all consciousness and open to its infinite wisdom.
Deep in meditation we experience a stillness and peace that is our true nature and cannot be found in the material world of form. Our Soul infuses our energetic or etheric body with healing energies that calm and nourish our physical body, and quiet our mind and emotions so as to realise deep insights and truth.
Our mind has two aspects, the perceiver or the personality which is woven into our emotional nature and reacts habitually to life and events. It relies on reason and logic to measure truth and reality. Our thoughts are our responses to our perception. These are the conditioned responses of our personality, the lens through which we view reality. Our ego seeks to protect this view of our self and reality. It is often referred to as the lower mind or the logical rational mind and is the background state of the mind where our thoughts are born.
However when we meditate we increase the power of the mind and we disengage our mind from our usual thoughts and quieten our ego. In this stillness we become aware of another state of mind called the observer, or the silent witness. This observer has no self-identity to protect and is not actively engaged in the emotions so can view things as they are and accept what is. The silent observer thinks in abstract concepts and universal truths and is immune to bias and conditioning so can see things as they truly are, can see truth. The mind as observer can register experiences that are totally unknown, movements of energy, ideas that the personality would reject are accepted easily. This is connection with the higher mind an aspect of our Higher Self or our Soul.
In choosing to meditate we bring our personality into a beautiful alignment, enabling a natural coherence with the vibrational frequency of our Soul. Like two cogs that often spin at different rates, our personality and Soul join in a cohesive pattern spinning in unison and we experience our true Self as whole and complete. This manifests as profound inner peace or stillness and a detachment from our usual thoughts or the chatter of the mind. We can simply observe thoughts passing through the palette of our mind. As our awareness rests with the silent observer (our Soul/divine consciousness) these thoughts lose their prominence in our perception, creating space in our mind and in this space we open to a connection with universal wisdom or intuitive insights. This takes time and perseverance as we discipline our mind through a regular practice of meditation.
All meditation practices begin with an object of meditation, that which we focus on. This might be a mantra, the breath or a visual image or meaningful phrase. By maintaining a focus on this object and returning to this focus when the mind is distracted by thought we discipline our mind and move into the higher aspect of our mind in which we observe or witness our thoughts.
If we can witness our thoughts we realise that in truth we are not our thoughts. We are the silent observer in our mind detached from thoughts, connected to Soul awareness. This is the beginning of a profound change in our mind as we realise this detachment gives choice as to which thoughts we hold in our mind and which we let go, recognising they no longer serve our highest good. We shine the light of conscious awareness on aspects of our unconscious mind. Like weeding the garden of our mind we can give attention and nourishment to the positive empowering thoughts or buds enabling them to bloom into beautiful flowers, whilst allowing the negative thoughts or weeds to wither and lose their power over us. We take control of our mind and are no longer at the mercy of our unconsciously driven thoughts. This is of immense benefit for those who suffer with fears, doubts, anxiety, depression and overwhelming thoughts that disturb their peace of mind.
As we establish a regular practice of meditation we observe the changes this creates in our life and come to see that our thoughts shape our experience of reality not the other way round. We realise the creative potential of our mind.
Through meditation we help to build what the Ageless Wisdom describes as the Antakarana, 'the rainbow bridge' between our personality and our Soul. This is a gateway that enables intuitive wisdom to flow more freely. We open this bridge, clearing the obstacles of mind that block the flow of true wisdom. These obstacles are often hidden in the depths of our unconscious mind and constitute our beliefs, values, past traumas, conditionings and perspectives on life based on our past experience and often past lives. Most of our everyday thoughts arise from our unconscious mind (which records every aspect of our lives), especially if we are not present with full awareness in the moment. For example we often drive our car unconsciously and find we cannot recall the journey unless we are suddenly jolted back into conscious awareness in the present moment by an unexpected obstacle on the road.
We can however actively choose to think consciously or ponder on a particular subject in mind using our mind like a tool. This is using the Higher mind to work things out, using our intellect and not the same as intuitive insights that arise in the mind, whole, complete and irrefutable. This inner tuition does not arise like your usual thoughts but is often symbolic, or a feeling or sense something is right or wrong for us often without any rational understanding or perhaps presents as visual images, significant memories with new understanding or even the words of a song or poem. Dreams can bring intuitive insight.
Alice Bailey in “From Intellect to Intuition”, channelling the wisdom of the Master Djwal Khul, speaks of the importance of the right practice of meditation for the western aspirant on their spiritual path. She speaks of 'the mind as the slayer of the real' and that intellect can be a barrier to true understanding. Meditation acts as the bridge between the occult knower we typically find in the west who comes to know God through intellectual thought and study and the illuminated mystic more typically found in the eastern spiritual traditions who loves and experiences God. Through a practice of meditation we come to establish a perfect union of knowledge and experience that produces true inner wisdom. The western trained intellectual mind is opened up to an experience of God through meditation that enables him/her to develop from the educated intellectual into the intuitive knower, the perfect marriage of the head and the heart that enables true illumination to occur.
Bailey cites that this amalgamation is part of the remit for mankind as we move into the Age of Aquarius, and learn to come out of our intellectual minds and connect with our Buddhic heart centre through meditation. This connection with the heart naturally radiates out into our lives as loving kindness and compassion, as we come to a true understanding and experience of our own souls and the relationship of our soul to all others and to the Higher Soul of the Logos or Spirit, the Universal Soul that many call God.
With time, patience and perseverance our rainbow bridge opens and we learn to trust our inner guidance and live our life intuitively with messages from our Soul creating a flow in life that manifests in a graceful seemingly effortless way. We connect with the magic of creation. Life becomes a series of seemingly serendipitous synchronicities that we recognise as perfect for our spiritual growth and evolution. We start to see our life from the wisdom of our Soul rather than the perspective of our personality. Challenges become opportunities for growth and purification of the Antakarana.
This is the flow of the Tao spoken of in ancient Chinese Taoist Wisdom teachings, it is the flow of Prana or life force energy in Yogic philosophy, the flow of Chi that ensures vitality and health in Chinese medicine. It is the natural life force flow that we see in the symphony and beauty of nature and it is ours if we learn to reconnect with our body, be present in the moment and come out of our thinking mind to a place of inner stillness through meditation.
Intuitive guidance is experienced differently depending on which of the three centres of intelligence it emanates from. We have a physical body centre of intelligence in our gut, just below the navel where 'intuitive gut feelings' arise. These often give us a clear warning that can be quite visceral that something is not right for us. This is a survival mechanism.
Research on the neural network and intelligence of the Gut is on-going with an increasing awareness of its importance in our both our physical and psychological health. For example it has been found that brain neurotransmitters that affect our mood are produced in the gut. A healthy gut microbial population ensures a higher production of substances like dopamine and serotonin that produce feelings of calm clarity. I believe this is why it is important in meditation to breathe deeply into the gut connecting with our body centre of intelligence and nourishing the gut tissue with the life force energy of our deep breath. Deep breathing also stimulates the vagus nerve which relaxes the whole body and enhances healthy gut function. Physical relaxation enables a deeper experience in meditation.
We gleam intuitive understanding from our heart centre that often bring insights especially in our relations with others, an intuitive emotional intelligence. This can manifest as the capacity to read or sense the emotions of others, another capacity that develops with a regular practice of meditation.
The Heartmath Institute in America have studied this extensively and found our heart like the gut has neural tissue and can learn and remember. They found that information from the world is perceived first by the heart and then relayed to our brain for processing. Our heart emits its own vibrational frequency in a torsion field around our chest. This can be sensed by others. This vibration changes with our feelings, and affects every cell in our body. Positive emotions of joy, love, compassion and gratitude can actually switch on Dna in our cells that is conducive to our health and switch off Dna that is not. Negative emotions have an opposite effect. In this way meditation that brings feelings of peace and calm, and unity connection foster our physical and emotional well-being.
Esoterically it is recognised that many in humanity are opening the heart chakra and this will bring an increase in the intuitive emotional intelligence so needed in our relations with each other, enabling more love and compassion to flow out from this centre into the world of form bringing positive change.
We are familiar with the mind centre of intelligence and as we practice meditation we align the mind with the heart and body centres creating a pathway for intuitive impulses to arise within us. Through meditation combined with natural spiritual growth intuitive insights and understanding arise from the mind. For more information on this process and its ramifications see my YouTube video entitled 'The Spiritual Awakening of the Third Eye'.
There are many tools that can be used in conjunction with meditation that enable greater insight and understanding of intuitive messages, helping to develop a trust in this capacity that is present in all of us. The more we use our inherent intuitive capacity the stronger and clearer it gets. These keys to the intuition include dowsing, the tarot, runes, the IChing, astrology, numerology and stream of consciousness writing in a spiritual diary to name a few. Often they can be used to clarify or verify intuitive insights that arose in meditation or presented as themes in our dreams to gleam greater understanding.
So let meditation lead you gently by the hand into the realm of your higher mind and Higher Self. Your lower mind of thoughts doesn’t want to surrender so it will find reasons why you can’t go into stillness. Go into stillness anyway.
Spend time with your Soul daily and you will develop a trust in your inner wisdom and guidance. You learn to discriminate the messages from your rational logical lower mind of ego and attachment to the world and recognise the impulses, images and feelings from your higher mind connected to your Soul. The calm strong clear insights that arise deep in meditation come from this connection to your essence your true divine Self.
Intuitive guidance will not appear as your usual thoughts, but has a quality of knowing far surpassing mere thought or the intellectual process of working things out. Intuition comes whole and complete like a masterpiece appearing in your mind.
I find it often comes when I am relaxed feeling connected and walking in nature. An idea that is the perfect solution to a problem I have been pondering will arise in my mind and I feel joy at its perfection and awe at its intelligence and recognise the gift that it is.
Meditation is your daily appointment with Universal Consciousness. It will expand your consciousness, and awaken your awareness in your everyday life. Your sensitivity to realms and knowledge beyond the physical will develop naturally.
Through the practise of meditation and quietening the mind we disengage from the personality and the thoughts of the perceiver and allow the silent observer to wake up as a true vehicle of Self-Awareness and experience our spiritual Self. This often brings a sense of your life's purpose, what you are here to learn specifically in this lifetime and how you can contribute to make a difference in your own unique way in the world. Once you start to tread this path your life has great meaning with immense fulfilment even through the challenges that will naturally arise along the way. You come to welcome these challenges as opportunities for growth and evolution.
With regular practise of meditation our mind quietens even when we are not meditating, thoughts calm down and our everyday awareness becomes that of the observer. This is to be mindful, present in the here and now witnessing the play of life. There is always an awareness of that which is behind the thoughts, a Soul presence whose guidance can be sought at any moment when needed, ever present amongst the busyness and chaos of life.
In the space that is created we can choose to use our mind to think, and to ponder the greater mysteries of life and open to the infinite wisdom that is available.
As the Observer aspect of our mind takes the reins we start to see the world through the eyes of the Soul. Gradually the two aspects of the mind become one, the ego personality is no more and we become the Soul infused personality, a major step on the path to enlightenment.
We then come to realise that we don't meditate for our own spiritual advancement but for humanity as a whole. We come to know that our intuitive wisdom is always for the highest good of all.
Namaste
The following video explores Why we need to Meditate and How to establish a Meditation Practice….