Taken from the book: Exploring Meditation
By Dr Susan G Shumsky.
Translated into French and enhanced by Frantz Rimpel with photos to illustrate some additions.
Here is:
MEDITATION
- Recharge your body, your mind and your spirit.
- Pick up a newspaper or turn on the television. What do you see? All sorts of misery: disease, violence, want, poverty, oppression, fanaticism, hatred, pollution, and other manifestations of fear. So much torture justified by self-satisfaction. Imposed philosophy, religion, or political opinions. Everywhere, people are suffering. Few seem happy. On that subject, I can tell you a lot.
- Isn’t meditation reserved for hippies, geeks, and eccentrics who sell flowers at the airport?
- Isn’t it a cult? Perhaps that’s what your rational mind is telling you.
- After all, this is not the most “normal” activity in the heart of the United States.
- Yet, surprisingly, meditation is practiced in a multitude of forms by millions of people around the world. A certain mystique has developed around meditation. Originating in the exotic East, it is not exactly synonymous with cornbread, hamburgers, mashed potatoes, chocolate cake, and Coca-Cola.
- Few people in the West have the slightest idea what meditation is.
- Many condemn it, even calling it satanic. Others may have tried it, but gave it up long ago, concluding that it didn’t work.
- Some have dipped their toes into the fire of meditation, but have been burned, either by a sect, a guru, or by ignorance, fear or misunderstanding.
- Meditation practiced without the guidance of a true Master can be harmful, as highlighted by…
- Psalm 23 verses 3 and 4:
- (3 He restores my soul, He leads me in the paths of righteousness, For his name’s sake.
- 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me .
- In the middle of the 20th century, the word “meditation” barely appeared in the dictionary.
- Today, it is commonplace.
- From Transcendental Meditation taught by the Beatles’ guru to Zen meditation taught by monks in Japan, from the New York subway to Native American sweat lodges, from churches to synagogues, from bedrooms to boardrooms, meditation is practiced in an astonishing variety of forms. Let’s examine some myths about meditation and clear up any confusion.
- Myth #1: Meditation is just for hippies. If you believe that, you probably still own a 1969 Chevrolet. That’s how outdated this idea is. In the 1960s, when meditation was introduced to the West by gurus such as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Swami Satchidananda, Yogi Bhajan, Bhagwan Rajneesh, and others, it was practiced by political radicals at the University of California, Berkeley, and street kids in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. But in the last few decades, meditation has spread from the streets of San Francisco to the living room of the average citizen, to the offices of high-tech companies, influencing all levels of society. A plethora of meditative practices can be found in every city, from the many martial arts and yoga to tai chi, hypnosis, and Christian centering prayer. Even the most conservative churches offer meditation during their spiritual retreats. Meditative practices are now commonplace in sales, business, and management training programs.
- According to statistics from *The Cultural Creatives—How 50 Million People Are Changing the World*, 25% of the American population (approximately 60 million people) places vital importance on meditation and spiritual activities and also acknowledge the possibility of psychic powers, such as telepathy, foresight, communication with spirits, and so on. A staggering 61% of the population is open to various ways of perceiving and experiencing the sacred in life, believes in psychic and spiritual phenomena, thinks the divine is both present in the world and transcendent, and believes in the development of greater consciousness.
- 1 This text continues: “While the overall growth rate of the American economy is 2 to 4 percent per year, many industries that serve the consciousness movement are growing at 10 to 20 percent per year. The size of the population they serve, and the sums invested, double every two or three years.”
- 2 Meditation and the expansion of consciousness are undeniably widespread. It’s commonplace. And it’s here to stay.
- Myth #2: You don’t have time to meditate. The question isn’t whether you have time to meditate, but whether you have time not to. In fact, your effectiveness and success at work, school, in sports, in social situations, and in your relationships will increase significantly when you meditate.
- Hundreds of studies have shown that meditation improves alertness, relaxation, coordination, health, and even IQ. It has even been shown to slow aging. With such amazing results, how can we afford not to take the time to meditate?
- I agree 100
Einstein said:
To access the source of imagination, we must master our logical mind in order to open the door where true imagination resides.
It would be too good to be true.
For this, we need the key, the secret code that will unlock this door.
This is what all the Holy Scriptures speak of: the NAME. Without it, the door will remain closed. Only the Good Shepherd of our time can grant it to those on whose foreheads He sees the mark.
Only then, by diligently practicing daily meditation, as He will teach us, will we succeed.
This text on Meditation will help us understand all that.
But before, Here is an important story
Mythe n° 3 :- One cannot meditate.
- Anyone can meditate.
- Do you have a mind? If so, you can meditate.
- Can you share a thought?
- If so, you can meditate.
- Are you alive, breathing, and able to understand simple instructions? Then you can meditate. You can prove it to yourself by using the simple meditation practices in this book.
- Mythe n° 4 :
- Meditation is contrary to your religion.
- Is there really a religion that opposes meditation?
- Hindu, Jain, Taoist, Sikh, Confucian, and Buddhist scriptures advocate meditation as a means of achieving a state of tranquility that reveals the true nature of oneself.
- The Roman Catholic Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and The Dark Night of the Soul of Saint John of the Cross recommend that Christians meditate on the events of the life of Jesus.
- Christian centering prayer, a form of meditation, is widely practiced today. Sufis meditate on the 99 most beautiful names of God from the Quran.
- 3 Jewish mystics meditate on a verse from the Torah to discover its true meaning.
- Shamanic seekers embark on a vision quest in isolation to help them overcome their limitations and find meaning in their lives.
- Religious doctrine abounds with examples of recommended meditation: King David said, “On your bed, speak to your heart and be silent.”
- 4 “Be at peace and know that I am God.”
- 5 Isaiah said: “In returning and resting you will be saved; in quietness and trust will be your strength.”
- 6 Jesus said, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
- 7 Mahomet said :
- “An hour of contemplation is better than sixty years of formal adoration.”
- 8 The Sufi Ali (Abu Talib) said: “Silence is the garden of meditation.”
- 9 The Lord Buddha said:
- “Truly, wisdom is born from meditation. Without meditation, wisdom declines.”
- 10 Lord Krishna said: “When meditation is mastered, the mind is unshakeable like the flame of a lamp in a quiet place.
- In a calm mind, in the depths of meditation, the eternal self is revealed.
- 11 Lao Tzu said: “Attain the most extreme emptiness; hold fast to tranquility.”
- 12 The Sikh Guru Granth Sahib said: “In the cool, dew-filled night the stars shine: at this hour the devotees, lovers of God, are awake, meditating daily on the Name – their hearts meditating on God’s lotus-like feet, which they do not abandon for a moment.”
- 13 The Jains pray: “As long as I sit in this meditation, I will patiently endure all the calamities that may befall me, whether caused by an animal, a human being, or a god.”
- 14 Confucius said:
- “Only after knowing what to reside in can one be calm. Only after being calm can one be tranquil. Only after attaining tranquility can one know peaceful rest. Only after knowing peaceful rest can one begin to deliberate. Only after deliberating can the goal be achieved.”
- Here is the book I imported onto my Kindle:
Very interesting.