Mindfulness

“ Concentrate your mind on the one whom you wish to heal, then build a mental vision of him; see him in consciousness just as whole and perfect as if he was really radiant with health. Make believe that he is standing before you a perfect picture of physical perfection, work on your vision until you can produce and hold the most beautiful idealized picture of human beauty of flesh, form and character. Never forget to illumine your perfect thought-patient with a divine light of spiritual radiance. ”

“ Thus meditating, you will be ceaselessly fortifying yourself against your only real enemy, your selfish, perishable self, and will be establishing yourself more and more firmly in the divine and imperishable self that is inseparable from Truth. The direct outcome of your meditations will be a calm, spiritual strength which will be your stay and resting-place in the struggle of life. Great is the overcoming power of holy thought, and the strength and knowledge gained in the hour of silent meditation will enrich the soul with saving remembrance in the hour of strife, of sorrow, or of temptation. ”

“ One must have perceptions, and thought’s severest wrestlings—cogitatio and meditatio—before reaching that first stage of wide and sure intelligence, which relates [Pg 364] to the creature world, and affords a broad basis of assurance, whence at last the soul shall spring to God. Intellectual perceptions and rational knowledge, and all the mind’s puttings together of its data in inductions and deductions and constructions, form a basis for contemplation, and yield material upon which the emotional side of human nature may exercise itself in yearning and devotion. ”

“ Now the great light by which we can clearly see the motives for which we act is meditation.
In the peaceful calm of solitude, and in the silent slumber of the passions, meditation puts us in presence of ourselves, before our own eyes, by which we see ourselves as in a true mirror. Meditation teaches us to judge without prejudice what we have done and to determine with propriety what we should do, by making the experience of the past our lamp for the future, and by converting past mistakes into practical lessons for the present. ”

“ Send out the desire for your supply to the Universal Mind and then rest—feeling that it has been acquired. Of course, the stronger you concentrate, without stress and strain (as outlined in "Practical Psychology and Sex Life," by the author, under the chapter "How to get what you want," and chapters on "Concentration") , and the more positive and courageous your concentration, the stronger will be your mental thought currents and consequently the quicker your demonstration.
Omnipotence has provided for me and mine, I raise the shade of my faith and let in the Sunlight of Abundance. ”

“ As, by the power of meditation, you grow in wisdom, you will relinquish, more and more, your selfish desires which are fickle, impermanent, and productive of sorrow and pain; and will take your stand, with increasing steadfastness and trust, upon unchangeable principles, and will realize heavenly rest. ”

“ That process of meditation is the way in which the unfolding consciousness may be definitely stimulated, and there is no other healthy and sane way. By a daily practice of that sort, the fixing of your mind either on the ideal Self or on some ideal of virtue that you desire to reproduce within yourself—as you follow that practice of meditation, the higher consciousness develops, and you change your contact with the world. Let me take a case. You come across a man who is very untruthful. ”

“ Let your quiet endeavour be to draw yourself into affections of the heart, rather than into reflections of the mind. Reflection is the means only, affection the end. Not only commence your meditation with recollection and peace, but without anxiety or superfluous fears of distraction. ”

“ Some will be richer in honey for you — such honey as suits your present condition; other thoughts, good in themselves, will seem to afford you less. Receive the little gratefully, and pass on to the next flower to make another effort. It is the endeavour to be industrious that God will take delight in.”
The subject of meditation should generally be calculated to awaken us to a confidence in, and love of, God. Let your meditation on the eternal truths themselves be of such a nature as to lead you gently to love and glorify God, and confide in him. ”

“ In your meditations, therefore, let your heart grow and expand with ever-broadening love, until, freed from all hatred, and passion, and condemnation, it embraces the whole universe with thoughtful tenderness. ”

“ So believing, so aspiring, so meditating, divinely sweet and beautiful will be your spiritual experiences, and glorious the revelations that will enrapture your inward vision. As you realize the divine Love, the divine Justice, the divine Purity, the Perfect Law of Good, or God, great will be your bliss and deep your peace. ”

“ You can gain happiness, health, peace of mind, and long life. By thought and meditation you can make for yourself a world of harmony, a consciousness which excludes everything that is ugly and painful and jarring. ”

“ If there were not such variety and vicissitude, how should the evenness and constancy of the spirit be known? Where should contentment and tranquillity of mind have place? For it is a calm in a storm properly, not a calm in a calm,—that is no virtue. ”

“ As a preliminary training towards the satisfactory achievement of such meditation, he will find it desirable to make a practice of concentration in the affairs of daily life—even in the smallest of them. ”

“ For the soul is redeemed from its vices, and even in adversity refreshed with sweet and wondrous cheer, when the mind is intended upon reading or writing what is profitable. Thou shalt find in human life no more pleasing or more useful employment; unless perchance when, with heart dilated through prayer and divine love, the mind perceives and arranges within itself, as with the hand of meditation, the great things of God. ”

“ At the outset, meditation must be distinguished from idle reverie. There is nothing dreamy and unpractical about it. It is a process of searching and uncompromising thought which allows nothing to remain but the simple and naked truth. Thus meditating you will no longer strive to build yourself up in your prejudices, but, forgetting self, you will remember only that you are seeking the Truth. ”

“ The cure must come by and through the individual possessing the nerves, and by and through the individual's power of will and mastery of the mind.
Get the mental equipment right. Let the mind master the body. Let the nerve sufferer get hold [Pg 36] of himself and fill his brain with faith-thought instead of fear-thought, with courage instead of cowardice, with strength instead of weakness, with hope instead of despair, with smiles instead of frowns, with occupation instead of sluggishness, and wonders will appear. ”

“ Meditation is the soul's perspective glass, whereby, in her long removes, she discerns God as if he were near at hand. It is thinking, not growth, that makes the perfect man or woman. Hence life may be said to have commenced when the mind learns to meditate upon its nature, its powers, and its possibilities. ”

“ Thus meditation is a certain inquisitive power of the mind, sagaciously striving to look into the obscure and unravel the perplexed. Contemplation is that acumen of intelligence which, keeping all things open to view, comprehends all with clear vision. ”

“ Meditation is the intense dwelling, in thought, upon an idea or theme, with the object of thoroughly comprehending it, and whatsoever you constantly meditate upon you will not only come to understand, but will grow more and more into its likeness, for it will become incorporated into your very being, will become, in fact, your very self. ”

“ To reduce inflammation, dissolve a tumor, or cure organic disease, I have found Mind more potent than all lower remedies. And why not, since Mind is the source and condition of all existence? Before deciding that stomach or head is disordered, one should consider, Who art thou that repliest to Spirit? Can matter speak for itself, or hold the issues of Life? Pain or pleasure has no partnership with what can neither suffer nor enjoy; but mortal belief has such a partnership.
“As a man thinketh, so is he.” Mind is all that feels, acts, or impedes action. ”

“ Here I am these thirty-one years in life, ignorant in all outward science, but having patient habits of meditation which never know disgust or weariness, and feeling a force of impulsive love toward all humanity which will not let me rest wholly mute, a force which grows against all resistance that I can muster against it. ”

“ Whatever the soul demands of itself it obtains.” But how are you to learn the secret of assiduous meditation, to acquire the habit of retaining difficulties in mind, to be considered and reconsidered, to be taken up at the leisure moment, and laid down as deferred but not abandoned? ”

“ And again, "If we carefully attend to profound thoughts, we shall find that when we draw breath, a host of ideas rush from beneath as through an open door into the sphere of thought, whereas when we hold the breath, and slowly let it out, we deeply keep the while in the tenor of our thought, and communicate as it were with the higher faculty of the soul—as I have observed in my own person times without number. ”

“ But meditation, to be fruitful, must go deeper than the mind; the heart, too, must be waked to action. The mind should minister to the heart as does a nurse to a little child, collecting and preparing food for meditation, and masticating it herself before feeding it to her charge. ”

“ Sympathy and Love for all.—Hitherto we have been dealing chiefly with forms which are the expression of emotion, or of such thought as is aroused within the mind by external circumstances. We have now to consider some of those caused by thoughts which arise from within—forms generated during meditation—each being the effect produced by a conscious effort on the part of the thinker to form a certain conception, or to put himself into a certain attitude. ”

“ In every life there is time to think, and the busiest, the most laborious is not shut out from aspiration and meditation.
Spiritual meditation and self-discipline are inseparable; you will, therefore, commence to meditate upon yourself so as to try and understand yourself, for, remember, the great object you will have in view will be the complete removal of all your errors in order that you may realize Truth. ”

“ So we must strive in meditation, that attention be moderate, diligently resisting evil thoughts, but not violent with anxiety.
We must note also, that these things we here speak of, attention, are chiefly to be taken heed of in the beginning of meditation; for it often happeneth, that those who are too violent in the beginning, do founder in the midst of meditation: as travellers making too much speed in their setting forth, are tired in the midst of their journey. ”

“ The disciplined and regular practice of meditation over a period of many months appears to lead to a sense of personal integration, a sense of being more firmly centered in yourself, {224} more confident and aware of your connection with all that is. Experienced practitioners of meditation claim to feel a greater degree of personal security; they feel more at ease with themselves. They claim to feel serenity, zest in living, and inner peace and joy in work, which they seem to be able to do more efficiently, with greater energy and interest. ”

“ Be assured, then, that you meditate more and meditate better when you are writing things like this letter that you are now addressing to yourself than when you shut yourself up in your room to devote yourself to what is called meditation and what is really only mind-wandering. The necessity of giving your thought transmissible expression is that which makes it a living and effective process. ”

“ All natural conditions will then be in your favor; the passions, after the long bodily fast of the night, will be subdued, the excitements and worries of the previous day will have died away, and the mind, strong and yet restful, will be receptive to spiritual instruction. Indeed, one of the first efforts you will be called upon to make will be to shake off lethargy and indulgence, and if you refuse you will be unable to advance, for the demands of the spirit are imperative. ”

“ Ráma, place yourself in the position of your thought or power of thinking, which lieth betwixt the thinker and thinkables; support your soul on the supportless soul of all, and remain steady in your meditation. ”

“ Changes in individuals; great mental changes, shall occur with many. It is necessary that each person who wishes to grow in understanding spend much time in developing his understanding. How do you do this? By being aware, becoming conscious of that higher consciousness which leads you into experiences, into paths that shall bring you understanding.
"Proper meditation is of the utmost importance, and I should like to dwell for a moment on this subject, for proper meditation is most important to your growth. ”

“ I perhaps to build on had some little gift of imagination I brought with me into the world, but I know others who had no natural vision who acquired this, and by sustained meditation and by focussing the will to a burning-point, were raised above the narrow life of the body. ”

“ If I could desist from the things with which I vex and worry myself, and study to be at rest in my God who dwells with me; if I could accustom my mind to spiritual tranquillity and cease to wander in a maze of thoughts, cares, and affections; if I could be at leisure from the external things and creatures of this world, and chiefly from myself ”

“ The use of meditation is the acquirement of a knowledge of eternal principles, and the power which results from meditation is the ability to rest upon and trust those principles, and so become one with the Eternal. The end of meditation is, therefore, direct knowledge of Truth, God, and the realization of divine and profound peace. ”