The principle of meditation is simple: You are what you think. By meditating on words that embody your highest ideals, you drive them deep into your consciousness. There they take root and begin to create wonderful changes in your life – changes you have wanted to make, but have not known how to bring about.
When I talk about meditation, I am referring to a specific interior discipline which is found in every major religion, though called by different names. (Catholic writers, for example, speak of contemplation or interior prayer.) This interior discipline is not a relaxation technique. It requires strenuous effort. It does dissolve tension, but in general, especially at the beginning, meditation is work, and if you expect to find it easy going, you’ll be disappointed.
Meditation in this sense is not a disciplined reflection on a spiritual theme. Focused reflection can yield valuable insights, but for the vast majority of us, reflection is an activity on the surface level of the mind. To transform personality we need to go much, much deeper. We need a way to get eventually into the unconscious itself, where our deepest desires arise, and make changes there.
So what is meditation? It is the regular, systematic training of attention to turn inward and dwell continuously on a single focus within consciousness, until, after many years of daily practice, we become so absorbed in the object of our contemplation that while we are meditating, we forget ourselves completely. In that moment, when we are empty of ourselves, we are utterly full of what we are dwelling on. This is the central principle of meditation: we become what we meditate on. Here is a brief summary of the form of meditation I follow:
Choose a time for meditation when you can sit for half an hour in uninterrupted quiet. Early morning is best, before the activities of the day begin. If you want to meditate more, add half an hour in the evening, but please do not meditate for longer periods without personal guidance from an experienced teacher. Select a place that is cool, clean, and quiet. Sit with your back and head erect, on the floor or on a straight-backed chair.
Close your eyes and begin to go slowly, in your mind, through the words of a simple, positive, inspirational passage from one of the world’s great spiritual traditions. (Remember, you become what you meditate on.) I recommend beginning with the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
You will find it helpful to keep adding to your repertoire so that the passages you meditate on do not grow stale. My books God Makes the Rivers to Flow and Timeless Wisdom contain many other passages that I recommend, drawn from many traditions.
While you are meditating, do not follow any association of ideas or allow your mind to reflect on the meaning of the words. If you are giving your full attention to each word, the meaning cannot help sinking in.
When distractions come, do not resist them, but give more attention to the words of the passage. If your mind strays from the passage entirely, bring it back gently to the beginning and start again.
Resolve to have your meditation every day – however full your schedule, whatever interruptions threaten, whether you are sick or well.
Meditation is never practiced in a vacuum. Certain other disciplines always accompany and support it, varying somewhat according to the needs of a particular culture or audience. I have found these seven disciplines to be enormously helpful in supporting the practice of meditation in the modern world.
