The Art of Meditation

Spiritual & Metaphysical Matters
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Hi everyone

I wanted to share a few books which might help some in their awakening.

If you only take one piece of advice from the Ra material, let it be the realization that meditation is key – ‘the’ key.

If you read the gospels of Jesus and the story of Buddha’s awakening, it points in the same direction.

Luke 5:16

But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

Mark 1:12

At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days…

Buddha meditated continuously for 49 days under the Bodhi tree until he awakened.

For other lesser known awakened sages whose existence here on earth didn’t lead to the formation of mainstream religions, the story is the same.

Ramana Maharsi, Dōgen Zenji, Nāgārjuna, Zhuangzi, Lao Tzu, Rumi, Hakuin Ekaku, Bô Yin Râ, Meister Eckart, Epictetus, Socrates, Saint Teresa of Avila…. and hundreds more, some known, some not.

What Christians refer to as “the grace of God”, Zen masters call “wu-wei”. It is an ease of living, and an inner peacefulness, which enters into the life experience of a meditator which has penetrated “the emptiness, the infinite invisible, the eternal present moment” or any other description which have been attempted to describe the ineffable.

Jesus simply said “I have meat to eat that ye know not of”.

Hope these books help you.

Joseph Benner – The Impersonal Life

Joel Goldsmith - The Art of Meditation (which Carla mentioned in book 5)

Joel Goldsmith – The Thunder of Silence

Eckart Tolle – Stillness Speaks

Michael Singer - The Untethered Soul

Dōgen Zenji – Shōbōgenzō (for those who prefer Eastern over Western philosophy)

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Thanks for the post, I started meditating first thing in the mornings for 35 minutes only a month and half ago and find it easier now to find that still point throughout the day.

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And for those who may have noticed similarities between the words of Zen masters and the words of Jesus, you may find this book a delight to read:

Jesus Christ, Zen Master: The top 116 sayings of an Enlightened Jesus - Matthew Barnes

Happy zazen everyone!

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If you like the Bible and Biblical Hebrew. A very sensible book “Meditation and the Bible” Aryeh Kaplan

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I regretfully have to be honest and just mention that I think the time has passed for people to believe that God is a vengeful, jealous God of wrath as the Hebrews believed (and still believe).

Joel Goldsmith, whose books I mentioned earlier in the thread, does a good job of addressing this very issue which has regretfully seeped into Christianity as well, despite Jesus repeatedly refuting such falsehoods found in Hebrew scriptures.

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This book is not about the faith of the Jews) It’s about Kabbalistic meditation. Ra mentioned Kabbalah as a subject for study. I was surprised when, thanks to this book, I compared the translation of (103) 104 psalms into Russian and in the original) Without knowing the specific Kabbalistic terms, it is difficult to understand what David is talking about. This is a wonderful image for meditation.

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I am unaware that Ra mentioned Kabbalah as a subject of study, would you point me to the session?

And I’m with you, Psalms have some wonderful meditations. Psalm 91 in particular has personal significance for me.

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As a side note, I was pretty thoughtful in choosing my selection of books in my first post, I chose books that really get to the heart of the matter, and open a clear path for an aspiring meditator, or even so-called seasoned meditators.

I feel that there is a sea of confusion surrounding this topic, and a lot of preconceived ideas.

The books I included are by people who “openened the gate” so to speak and shared the way with those who still seek.

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I meant this The Ra Contact: Session 76
Ra does not say specifically in which tradition the Tree of Life should be studied

In the ritual of the pentagram Ve Geburah there is a reference to W. Butler. But as you know, the Kabbalah of the Golden Dawn is not equal to the Kabbalah of Jewish rabbis and Hasidim, and so on

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Yes, and it’s not my intention to be contentious on this matter, but this is an area of great significance in the Ra material, and it’s quite a deviation from Ra’s endorsement of the Tree of Life, to… kabbalah, which is problematic, as the Hebrews attempted to integrate it with their already established belief systems found in the Talmud & Torah, which inevitably led to contamination and distortion.

The Tree of Life found its way into numerous cultures and religions across Eastern and Western Asia, but the attempt by the Hebrews to integrate it with Judaism was a particularly large departure from the spirit of the teaching.

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It seems to me that the conversation has left the original route) I just shared the title of the book, which seemed interesting to me, if we talk about meditation)

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I myself feel a bit bummed at the direction it has taken. Sorry for my straightforwardness, it was my desire with this thread to remove obstacles, not to get entangled in more complexity.

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A recent discovery of mine is a podcast called Wisdom of the Masters, which one can listen to if one wishes to wind down and get into a restful and relaxed meditative state. It helps with tuning, and there’s some precious gems contained in there.

Alan Watts also gave an excellent talk on the art of meditation, dispelling with many of the misconceptions surrounding the practice.

"Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. And therefore, if you meditate for an ulterior motive - that is to say, to improve your mind, to improve your character, to be more efficient in life - you’ve got your eye on the future and you are not meditating!”

Alan Watts

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Thank you so much for these recommendations. I downloaded all of the books you listed that were available on Audible (since I’m a mother of 5 and have little time to read anymore and have some credits on Audible). I’ve always loved the Untethered Soul by Singer. He is quite amazing in my opinion. I also already had Stillness Speaks. I’ve struggled with meditation for many years since I deal with rather severe ADHD but I still put time aside each day; however, since my children were born, I’ve really struggled with a daily regimen. The Art of Meditation has helped me to finally find a better understanding of meditation and also helped me to establish a daily practice, often twice a day. So, thank you so much! Over a month going strong!

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That’s great Yayaa! Sometimes one particular teacher’s teaching style just doesn’t light a student’s spark, and another one has just the perfect key for your particular and unique keyhole!

All the above are truly wonderful teachers indeed, so I’m really happy my post has helped you. :slight_smile:

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V. I often wondered about King David and his many references to meditation but no “how to meditate” Somewhere I recall RA saying that the contact with Egyptian Royalty and the original desire was to use the pyramids as a place for all to study and learn. So it
appears records have been lost or hidden from the masses by the elite. I am not very polished in my communication here but you get my point.

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I feel that this short little lecture by Alan Watts about religion sheds some light on this topic.

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I always write with the caveat that I may be wrong, but. But I see that Ra conveys the principles of Tantra, while slightly criticizing the Western method as artificial. As for Western meditation and David, Aryeh Kaplan writes well about this, almost all of his books are devoted to the topic of biblical meditation. If you read Psalm 103 (Bless the LORD, O my soul) in the original, you will see a listing of all Kabbalistic terms in their structural order of the Tree. I can’t tell you in more detail.

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I think I’m just going to add three more gems to this thread, and then I’ll be satisfied with my contribution.

These books will fuel the fire in your meditation practice. These meditators serve as wonderful inspiration since they’ve all reached the awakened state. The Gospel of Garab Dorje addresses all the misconceptions surrounding the practice.

Masters of Meditation and Miracles: Lives of the Great Buddhist Masters of India and Tibet

Gospel of Garab Dorje: The Highest, Secret Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism

The Precious Treasury of The Way of Abiding

The Western mind has come to rely heavily on the intellect, and since meditation is beyond the realm of the intellect, these books have a way…how shall I describe it…it’s almost as if it reaches your subconscious mind…or maybe your soul. It percolates through your system and reveals things over time. It is not my intent to sound elusive, I think I’ll just quote this little explanation from The Gospel of Garab Dorje:

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Oh yes, one last little thingy that I remembered this morning, which can be a hindrance to some.

Don’t call it “meditation” if the word meditation conjures up a myriad of concepts, ideas and images due to societal conditioning. Forget words like “prayer” and “contemplation”…“visualisation” and so on. Let go of any and all mental labeling.

Call it nothing. Stop naming. Or call it anything you wish…awareness…coming back to the now…being in the present moment…wonderful silence…eternal present moment…resting in the now…coming to myself…digging the “isness” (satchidananda)…

The moment you stop naming and labeling things, the intellectual/conceptual mind goes silent.

Even when spending time in nature, on the beach, the woods, etc… stop naming things, forget the words. Don’t say this is that type of tree, this is that type of bird, this is a blade of grass, this is such and such a flower, etc, as if you’re a baby seeing and experiencing everything for the first time. Just rest your eyes on things, smell, touch, listen and feel.

Forget the words…forget concepts…and after a while, the conditioned mind - the mind that has been trained to think in a certain way - goes silent and a hightened presence begins to arise.

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