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Meditations of the mind

 

Our minds are constantly moving. The flow of thoughts in our heads never ceases. Because you have always lived only in your mind, you have started to believe that your mind is everything you are. Yet your mind is actually very small and limited. We are much more than just our minds. Meditation can take us beyond the mind. Step out of your mind, and you will enter into the world without limits, into the world of infinite possibilities. At that moment, you have truly entered into the world of meditation.

That moment you can finally understand how much more you are than your limited mind. We can exist without the mind. We can experience this world, this reality, directly without distortions of our minds. We can know it all without constant filtering and interpretation. You will see the true nature of existence, without illusions. You will see, hear and experience everything as it truly is.



Silence of mind
Concentration
Nothingness
Beyond the mind
Recollection


Silence of mind

Let your mind settle into tranquility

Your mind is constantly moving and thinking. Your thoughts go on and on without pause, without stop. We cannot stop this river of thought with our willpower, except for a very short while. All your attempts will only make it stronger. Your mind is not in your control. However, there exists a simple method that can completely silence your mind. This can be done by doing nothing at all.

Imagine that you are holding a bowl filled with water in your hands. The bowl moves, and water splashes around. Now, how can you make water in that bowl to become still? You cannot stop water by your hands; it will only flow through your fingers. You also cannot make it still by moving the bowl, because your every move will just increase the motion of water.

Only solution is to become motionless and wait. When you stay still and hold the bowl without moving, it can only end in one way; the motion of water will eventually stop. It will settle down, and water will become perfectly calm.

You can do this with your own mind. Sit down comfortably, keep still, and wait. At the beginning, thoughts will seem to just increase, but just keep waiting patiently. Let thoughts flow on without interrupting them, without doing anything to them. Simply be motionless, and do nothing. Finally, your thoughts will start slow down. They will come slower and slower. You will keep getting flashes about true peace and clarity. When the mind becomes totally still, it will cease to be, and you have entered into meditation.

Practice this method every day as long as it feels comfortable. It can be difficult at the beginning, but when you persist with it, it will grow into beautiful experience. You can observe how your mind settles down, and disappears. You can experience true peace and tranquility beyond the mind.

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Concentration

Concentrate lovingly on single object

A deep concentration is one of the methods that can be used for meditation. You can find a way beyond the mind by concentrating deeply. Your mind will also become clearer and stronger, and you will learn the art of focusing your attention. When your ability to concentrate grows, practicing some methods will become easier, as well as living in the moment.

You can concentrate on either an inner or an outer object. Your object can be a candle light, some small item, an image, or something similar. Look at this object lovingly, and forget everything else. Feel that only your object exists. Concentrate on your object with loving attention.

Or you can close your eyes, and imagine some object, for example a beautiful flower. You can choose any object, but a flower will do well. Focus your whole attention into that flower lovingly. See it with the eyes of your mind. Experience its lightness, smell the fragrance. Hear the rustling of petals. Make this flower as real as possible. Use all your senses, and concentrate lovingly on it.

When your mind begins to wander, gently bring it back. Wandering is not important. Only the object of your concentration matters. Gather your whole mind like the rays of light, and direct it all to your object. Experience it with all your senses. Immerse yourself into it fully and lovingly. Let everything else disappear, forget yourself. Focus your whole being into your object, so that you will completely merge with it. Become one with your object.

You can transcend the mind by going through the mind. When you immerse yourself totally into your object, you will experience the conscious unity. You will become aware of your own mind and attention. Your whole awareness is concentrated into the single point. Within that point will be your whole being. At the center of the object you will meet yourself.

Or look at the object. Then slowly withdraw your sight from it.
Then slowly withdraw you thought from it

Use only your eyes in this method. Concentrate your sight into some object you have chosen, like a candle light. Look directy at the flame. When you become able to keep your eyes focused into the flame as long as you want, slowly withdraw your sight from it. Keep your eyes open and concentrated on the same spot; only change the focus of your eyes. You will lose sight of the flame, and only the thought of it will remain within your mind. Now slowly withdraw your thought from it. Then you are looking with deep concentration, but your eyes are not focused into any object – neither into the flame nor the thought of it. You are consciously looking, but there is no objects, inner or outer. Only pure, concentrated awareness remains. Then you will become aware of the watcher.

Or feel the presence of the object before you, and the absence of everything else. Then remove feeling of the object, and then remove feeling of absence


Concentrate on your object as in the previous methods. Feel the presence of your object, and feel that everything else is absent – only your object exists. When you succeed in that, remove the object and its presence from your mind. Only absence will remain. Now remove this feeling of absence. There will be nothing left – no objects and not even their absence. You will enter into the new reality. You will experience the one beyond existence and non-existence.

Or become aware of the both

You can also become aware both yourself and your object simultaneously. First concentrate at the object, and then become aware of yourself, while keeping your attention on the object. Return part of your concentration to yourself, so that you will exist between these two points; your object and yourself. The mind can normally be aware only at the one point at the same time. When you become aware at the both points simultaneusly, you will become something more. You will transcend the mind. You are something that is capable of being aware of both the watcher and the object. You will transcend both, and enter into the beyond.

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Nothingness

Concentrate into nothingness

Your consciousness is like clear, infinite space. Your thoughts are like clouds on the sky of your awareness. Vastness of your being is always hidden behind them. Your true inner sky exists beyond the thoughts flowing through your mind. When your awareness is only focused at the clouds, you are only aware of your thoughts. You can become aware of your inner space by simply changing the focus of your awareness into that space where everything moves.

Focus your attention into the clear sky behind thoughts. Use all of your senses, or choose only one. Look behind mental images in your mind. See the empty space between them, and stare into it. Keep your sight into the nothingness beyond thoughts. Behind inner noise of the mind, there exist quiet spaces and moments. Listen to those silences, listen to the lack of sound. There is an empty space between all sensations. Experience the emptiness beyond emotions and feelings. Feel the absence of all sensations, infinite nothingness.

Focus your awareness into the inner space. Notice thoughts floating by, sounds and sensations. Leave them all be. Concentrate your whole attention beyond them, and enter into the space behind them. You enter into the clear, infinite space. You will step out of your min. You will enter into the infinite existence. You have entered into meditation.

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Beyond the mental world

Enter beyond the world of mind

Your mind is your inner world. There is the world within you, one that your mind creates and believes in. However, that world is only the map of the reality, only your mental interpretation of this world. Your mind is very small, and so is the world it contains. You live your whole life contained inside these very limited boundaries, knowing nothing about the real world outside. You can experience the true world by crossing over the limits of your inner world.

Imagine the whole world in your mind.  You can imagine the world you see outside, or create the imaginary world. Imagine the world within your head, and expand it. Make it bigger and bigger in your imagination. When the world inside your mind grows, you will grow with it. Imagine the whole world at once, every detail simultaneously, and hold it inside of your head. Keep expanding it, until you meet the limits of your mind; you cannot make the world any bigger. Continue imagining it even bigger, and go beyond your mind, your limitations. You will step outside the boundaries of your small mind, and experience the true, unlimited world.

Or include unlimited space within your head

Imagine all the space within your head. Start with your room. Imagine that all the space in this room is included in your head. Your mind will expand together with the space. Make the space even bigger; include more and more space within. Include all the space in whole house, street, and whole world within your head. Expand that space, until you will enter beyond limitations of your mind. Enter the infinite space beyond your mind, and become liberated from your limitations.

Or imagine distances

You can also do this method by imagining distances. First imagine the distance you can easily see at once. For example, something you see from your window, or distance within your room. See the whole distance in your mind, in your head. Then imagine even longer distance compared to the one in your mind, using it as comparison. Imagine the distance that is ten times bigger than previous one. Imagine even greater relative distances using the distance you can understand, so that you will expand your mind along with distances. Imagine greater distances between cities and countries, and even incredible long distances to other planets and stars. You will eventually be beyond the limits of your mind, and experience the unlimited.

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Recollection

Remember the past with awareness

Remember some incident from the past, and observe it consciously. Become an impartial witness, and be aware of your memory without taking any part in it. Let the memory unfold in your mind, only watch, listen and feel. Observe the memory like you would watch a videotape, without controlling it any way. Begin with neutral memories, and then move into stronger and more difficult ones. When your awareness increases, you will experience less identification with memories. Your distance to your memories will grow, and you can let it go. You will come to realize that your memories are not you, they are separate from you. Then the past will no longer hinder you.

Become aware how the recollection is formed within your mind. You will come to realize that you yourself give life to your memories. When you remember, you recreate it in your mind again every time.  You breathe life into them, move the actors, and assign meaning and emotions to them. Everything originates from you. There is no past – only you are creating it again and again. When you understand this, you can be liberated from your whole past in that single moment.

Or become one with your memory

The previous method can also be done bit differently. Remember some memory from your past, and enter into it consciously. Enter into it fully, and slip into the character, but keep your awareness. Follow the story, become one with it, while staying completely alert. Live your past again, but this time do it with total awareness.

You can choose either of these methods according your inner feeling.  Being the conscious watcher or the participant with awareness will become slightly different experience, yet both of them will bring you to the same conclusion. When you have learned either of these methods, you can also apply them to the present, and everything you experience right now. You can be either the conscious watcher or the participant.

Or imagine the future with awareness

This same method can be also used when you imagine the future or daydream. When you realize than you are the creator of your imaginations, you will not forget yourself into the dramas you create. You will then become free of living in the future and within your imagination. The mind works same way when you remember the past or imagine the future, and both will take you away from the present moment. And this present moment is all that there is. Everything that exist is here at this very moment. This moment is always more beautiful, more glorious than any past memory or the dream of future.  You have always just lived in your mind, in the past or the future. Enter into this moment, and discover here now.

Or rewind your mind backwards

This is a little different method than previous ones. In this method, you will rewind your mind backwards, and remember the past from the end to the beginning. When you do that, your mind will stop. Mind works by telling stories from the beginning to the end, and you breathe life in to them by believing and identifying with them. The story of your past, or the story of yourself, they are all creations of the mind. When you turn flow of memories backwards, identifying will get broken. The mind works only in to one direction. When you rewind it backwards, you will step outside of it.  Then you will automatically become the impartial witness.

Practice this method at night just before you fall into sleep. Remember your whole day from this very moment all the way back to the morning.  Rewind your memories like a videotape, and stay aware. Just watch with neutral attitude, like an outsider. Go through whole day till the morning, and your sleep will become deep and peaceful. Many issues can be solved, worries and tensions will disappear when you have done this. When you wake up in the morning, rewind the past night and your dreams in your mind. You will learn to remember all your dreams.

When you follow your life from this moment to the beginning, you will come to understand better your life, your choices and their results. You will come to know things in your life are born and how they grow into what they are now, and how you actually use your time and your life. When you rewind your mind, it will get cleansed and renewed. The whole weight of your past will slowly disappear, and you can go through your life again, with understanding. Understanding will help you to become free, and grow up.

When you learn to do this method properly, you can apply it to your whole past. Rewind back your entire life, all your memories, from this moment back. Follow your memories into your childhood, into your first conscious memories. You will find out that you can go even deeper. You can return even beyond that, into the time of your birth, even back to the womb. You will discover that your memories go even beyond that, beyond you were conceived. You are far older than you think.  You can use this method to go into your past lives, and then it will not be just belief to you, but reality. You will realize that you are more than this one life, this current existence. Go deeper, until you arrive to the moment your memories end. At this moment you are absolute pure and true, and you will realize your true self, your original face.

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