Meditation Reveals Truths

We access the truths of our existence through meditation when we enter the very centre of consciousness and discover Om: that centre of love that vibrates throughout the whole Universe. Only those who meditate deeply can discover the truth: we are more than physical bodies. If Buddhism has taught us anything, it is that by denying the Ego and becoming 'no-one' we discover that inner core that we call Atum or Om.

 

Modern Christian theologians call it 'the Ground of Our Being' a phrase coined by Bultmann and applied by John Robinson, the then Bishop of Woolwich in his 'Honest to God' book in the early 60s that had such a profound influence on me. Many people have this thought at some time in their lives: 'there must be more to life than this' or reach their death beds and lament, 'Is that all that there is? Is that it?'

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Well, it's time to wake up. 

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Dr Alexander's Near Death Experience

Dr Eben Alexander, an academic neurosurgeon in America was attacked by a pernicious form of E coli bacterial meningitis which put him into a coma for seven days. He should have died but didn't but the experience of what happened to him during those seven days changed his life forever. His was a Near Death Experience (NDE). The prolonged coma badly damaged the neocortex: his brain effectively died. Yet he woke up, a miracle in itself, but he related an experience that in itself was a miracle: he had been guided into 'the realms of super-physical existence and encountered the Divine source of the universe itself. Before this coma he was unable to reconcile any notion of an afterlife with his knowledge of neuroscience. Today he believes that the soul is real and that death is only a transitional stage in a journey.  Quite something, eh? But has he got it right?

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Er's Near Death Experience 500BC

There are many people who have had such experiences right back to the earliest recorded instance in The Republic, a philosophical work by Plato: he describes the experience of Er, a Sumerian soldier killed in a battle. Just after having been placed on the funeral pyre and before it was set alight, he woke up. His fellow soldiers were amazed. He tells them that he discovered that the most important thing he found out was that love is all-important and it is by the quality and quantity of the love we have manifested on earth that we will be held to account.

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Good Vibrations and Quantum Physics

The Universe vibrates: it is buzzing with energy. (For a Blog, later)  We are discovering that the human mind is something separate from the brain: it is the 'me' at the centre of our existence.  Arjun Waka in 'The Collective Evolution describes the astonishing link between Quantum Physics and the human mind:

    

           Fast forward to today and we have strong empirical; evidence that the

           mind does indeed influence matter, both the subatomic quantum scale

           and at scales consistent with classical physics.

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This is highly significant. It endorses what scientists believe about the placebo effect: that the mind can alter states of being. It explains the effectiveness of Reiki which draws upon the life energy of the universe for healing. It explains why nothing can happen unless the mind will it  With training, the Mind can control our phobias, anxieties and suffering. 

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Meditation

To live a balanced life we have to be prepared to take time out and engage in meditation. Given that getting the balance right begins with looking at ourselves: our innermost selves. It includes setting boundaries and balancing the inner self and the Chakras so that all the elements of our lives are in order. Until the Mind takes control, there is no control in any aspect of our lives.

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Meditation, Buddhism and Gnosticism 

The early Christian Gnostics were on to something when they taught that we must die to self and waken to the love that is God. The dying and rising Son of God story prevalent in different forms throughout the known world BCE is an allegory of our own experience of spiritual awakening! The Buddhist emphasis on meditation to reach the presence of Om is relevant at all times and now especially. Reincarnation may well be part of the journey to perfection. The writing of Peter Gandy and Timothy Freke have been influential in shedding light on this journey and they have much to say about 'Waking Up' to the reality of life in a way that explains the experiences of those ancient Gnostics, so many years ago.

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Gongs, Bells and Resonance in the Universe

The Ancients knew more than we previously understood.  By the use of binaural beats used in conjunction with deep meditation, we can experience Om after much practice. Since the beginning, Buddhists have been using gongs and musical bowls to create resonances that affect the Mind and bring us to a closer relationship with the inner self.

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The Ancients Knew Love Was At The Heart of the Universe

Love and compassion are the bedrock of our existence. We live in a world that is full of anger. Seneca wrote that 'anger is an acid which can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured'. Our lives must be dictated by love. Pericles said that what you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments but what is woven into the lives of others. Love comes from the heart. Aristotle, who educated Alexander the Great, wrote that educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.

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We end with Heraclitus who lived around 500BCE. He wrote:

          Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what

          you do is who you become.

So there is a need to be mindful. There is a need to be balanced in our lives.

There's much else can the ancients tell us.

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