Her vision intersects with Goodall’s who writes,
And now, if I am
sad, or filled
With sudden rage, I
find some quiet place
With grass and leaves
and earth, and sit there
Silently, and hope
that they will come
And call me, with
their silvery voices,
And make me clean
again, those
Little angels, of
the trees and flowers.
Poem courtesy of the Utne magazine May-June issue - Nina Utne article
Healing
Stories.
To
learn more about the Spirit of Gombe painting and the Jane Goodall Institute - go
to:
www.janegoodall.net/news.
We are grateful to Joan Solomon for
generously sharing her art with us for this month's issue.
To see this art at
it's best please go to Joan Solomon's website and browse through its
magical pages.
www.joansolomon.com
Introduction
Join us in an exploration of
meditation, the means that humans have used to access that still,
peaceful, knowing place within ourselves for many thousands of
years. Whether you do it according to some complex form with the
hope of gaining enlightenment, or practice it while walking to
school in the early morning, in order to ease your stress, the
results are much the same. The reasons that bring people to
meditation are many, what keeps them meditating is the deep peace
that the experience brings. You need no special clothing or
equipment, and once you have learned to do it, it is yours forever.
You can take it with you wherever you go and it is probably the most
profoundly positive thing you will ever do for yourself and the
planet.
The person should look for
peace within and not depend on it in any other place. There are no waves in the
depths of the ocean, it is still and unbroken.
Sutta
Nipata, Lord Buddha
The
Physical and Psychological
Effects of Meditation
http://www.noetic.org/ions/medbiblio/ch_intro1.htm
Meditation—that great and mysterious
subject which in the past has always conjured up the image of
the solitary Asian ascetic sitting in deep trance—is fast
appearing in unexpected places throughout modern American
culture. Secretaries are doing it as part of their daily noon
yoga classes. Preadolescent teenagers dropped off at the YMCA
by their mothers on a Saturday morning are learning it as part
of their karate training. Truck drivers and housewives in the
Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts
Medical Center are practicing a combination of Hindu yoga and
Buddhist insight meditation to control hypertension. Star
athletes prepare themselves for a demanding basketball game
with centering techniques they learned in Zen.
Dhyana is the generic Sanskrit
term for meditation, which in the Yoga Sutras refers to
both the act of inward contemplation in the broadest sense and
more technically to the intermediate state between mere
attention to an object (dharana) and complete
absorption in it (samadhi).
The earliest known reference to such practice on the Indian
subcontinent occurs on one of the seals, a figure seated in
the lotus posture, found in the ruins of the pre-Aryan
civilizations at Harappa and Mohenjodaro which existed prior
to 1500 BCE. Most of the orthodox Hindu schools of philosophy
derive their meditation techniques from yoga, but superimpose
their own theoretical understanding of consciousness onto the
results of the practice.
Read more of this fascinating study on the Institute of Noetic
Science website...
“Here’s what I'm
encouraging you to try: not to be the perfect meditator, but just to be
any kind of meditator - to be the meditator that you need to be.
Because the best piece of advice I ever got about meditating is that you can't
do it wrong.
Peggy Northrup
Courtesy of the
Arcana Workshops -
Meditation Training for the New Age
http://www.meditationtraining.org/meditation/MeaningValueCertainMed.htm
The Meaning And Value Of
A Certain Kind Of Meditation
by Marguerite
Rompage
All members of
Arcana value meditation as a door through which the trained
meditator can enter into levels of awareness not accessible by
other means, thereby gaining deeper understanding of life's
workings, thereby developing capacities latent in their own
nature that cannot be developed by attending lectures or by
reading books...
To clear the
air, to brush out of our thinking with one sweeping motion a
lot of irrelevant notions that tend to clutter and confuse the
public mind these days whenever meditation is mentioned, when
we say meditation we do not mean anything
related to or resembling any of the following:
Clairvoyance
Hearing voices unheard by others
Communication with dead people
Strange mysterious ceremonies
Interpretation of dreams
Health foods and health fads
Sex and non-sex
Records of the past, printed or unprinted
Exposing the subconscious
Drug experiments
Escape from family duty
Escape from civic duty
Unidentified flying objects
Retreat from the outer everyday world
Self hypnosis
Dominating other people
It is not my
intention to imply or hint at any appraisal or opinion upon
the items of interest listed above. I am merely saying that
meditation as we use the term is not related to any of the
above. Meditation is related to another area of interest,
another level of concern entirely.
Meditation
solves problems of all sizes at all levels: personal,
interpersonal, neighborhood, national and global. Meditation
solves problems, not by magic, but by improving perspective
and permeating consciousness with understanding and wisdom. To
recognize a problem, to understand its cause, to envision the
remedy, to initiate appropriate action, add up to
problem-solving of very high order.
Meditation in
the early stages of training encourages self-control of one's
own personality equipment. Control of one's own speech,
control of one's own emotional reactions, plus a detached view
of what is going on close at hand, tend to ease interpersonal
tensions and solve many personal and daily problems.
Meditation
focuses the mind, clears the mind, trains the mind, and
expands one's range of consciousness. The ability to think
clearly in an expanding field of awareness continuously
transforms and illumines one's whole life.
Eventually
expert meditation enables one to deal with causes rather than
with effects. Then each day sees creative accomplishment and
every moment, every motion holds great value, great benefit
for related lives, great power for good. For the sake of
evolution of the world, such gifts are too valuable to be put
into the hands of selfish people of narrow interests.
Therefore, for the sake of the world, the fruits of advanced
meditation are not attainable to the selfish person of narrow
interests. To preserve the balance of right motive and power,
meditation training must include cultivation of service
incentives, and it does.
I hesitate to
use the word "scientific" to describe meditation because that
word is over-used and falsely used in those very areas of
pseudo-science where the use of mind is both inhibited and
frowned upon. Nevertheless, I must use it since our language
offers no appropriate synonym.
Meditation is a
scientific method of putting the waking physical brain
consciousness in touch with the consciousness of the soul on
its own plane. It is scientific because the process is
systematic, based upon known and tested principles. Meditation
is fully conscious and self-controlled, and its base of
operation is the plane of mind. Its reach into consciousness
is limited only by the experience of the meditator and by the
fitness of his three bodies (physical, emotional and mental).
Its provision for control and safeguarding are equal to its
scope at each stage of development.
The nature of
the soul (omniscient, loving, sacrificial), its abode
(formless levels of awareness), its function (to confer
consciousness), its purpose (to serve the evolution of
Life within any and all forms) designates quite
clearly and distinctly what may be expected as results of
meditation. A man who loves people enough to
sacrifice his comfort and daydreams to serve the
public good, who knows what will serve the public
good, may not be as interesting nor amusing as a snake
charmer, but he is much better to have around during an
interracial crisis.
The soul of man
is concerned with the common good, the welfare of the whole.
As a personality, man is totally concerned with
himself. The other part of him, his soul, forgets itself in
loving regard for other lives. A meditator whose whole
consciousness is illumined by the soul's awareness, no
longer serves himself. He serves others; he
serves the highest interest of others; he serves the highest
good of the greatest number.
Study:
Meditation Cuts School Stress
Mar. 10, 2004
Ed Yeates Reporting
A University of Michigan study shows two ten-minute meditation sessions per
day in a public school setting reduces stress in children and teens.
In a Salt Lake City home neighborhood adults and teens practice a widely
accepted technique for meditation - the same used in the randomized pilot
study at a Detroit middle school.
There, researchers from the University of Michigan found that two ten
minute sessions per day not only reduced stress, but promoted emotional
stability. Within the study group was found less verbal aggression, anxiety,
even loneliness.
Some young people in the Salt Lake gathering who have been doing this for
several years with their own parents and friends, say the practice does make a
difference.
Jamie Shields, High School Student: "Wake up in the morning and go home at
night and just meditate. And you just forget about everything, and stress just
rolls off and I'm able to focus more what I'm working on - homework, studying
in school. I can stay more alert throughout the day."
Madison Stephens, Junior High School Student: “It helps us be a lot nicer
to each other and it helps me do a lot better with school.”
Ali Stephens, Junior High School Student: “I don’t get mad at my friends or
my family and stuff. And it just takes away all my stress.”
Based on the Detroit experiment, a small but growing partnership of
parents, teachers and physicians at a news conference today called for schools
around the country to offer transcendental meditation breaks each day.
It wouldn't be difficult. It requires no expensive equipment, no special
outfits or footwear. In fact, you can do the two ten minute sessions in street
clothes. It doesn't take a lot of practice. Meditating is easy to begin, easy to quit.
Randall Tolpinrud, Meditation Group: "The individual experiences the
quieter state of the thinking process. A relaxed more settled state
of the mind until the mind experiences the deepest state of rest possible."
Since groups around the country claim meditation is not a religion or a
philosophy - nor does it require any change in lifestyle - it would be an
appropriate stress reliever in the schools.
http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=46&sid=80306
The natural world
is a spiritual house.
We walk there
through forests of
physical things that
are also spiritual things;
they watch us
with affectionate looks.
Charles Baudelaire
Experiencing
the Need for Meditation
"Man
at this time is engaged in many pursuits and through the force of circumstances
he is polarized entirely in the lower self, that polarization being in either
the emotional or mental body. One point of interest: as long as the polarization
is purely physical or purely emotional, no need for meditation is ever felt.
Even when the mental body is active, no urge arises until the man has run
through many changes and many lives, has tasted the cup of pleasure and of pain
through many incarnations, has sounded the depths of the life lived entirely for
the lower self and found it unsatisfying. Then he begins to turn his thought to
other things, to aspire to that which is unknown, to realize and sense within
himself the pairs of opposites, and to contact within his consciousness
possibilities and ideals undreamt of hitherto. He has come to a point where
success, popularity and diverse gifts are his, and yet from their use he derives
no contentment; always the urge within persists until the pain is so severe that
the desire to reach out and up, to ascertain something and someone beyond,
overcomes all obstacles. Then he begins to meditate, to ponder, to intensify
vibration until in process of time he garners the fruits of meditation."
From Letters on Occult
Meditation by Alice A Bailey
Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance.
Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and
choose the path that leads to wisdom.
The
Buddha
Meditation and the
Personal Life
by Tom
Carney
In this paper I
want to explore how meditation affects the relationship
structure of the personal life. The meditation I will be
referring to is of a certain kind. It involves a specific,
scientific technique developed over thousands of years by a
series of master meditators from Patanjali to Djwhal Khul, and
an essential rhythm. Rhythm as you all know is
characterized by the basically regular recurrence of an event,
or sound or movement...a basically regular recurrence. The
basically regular recurrence of a meditative effort is the
first thing needed in this system of meditation, and once
established, the rhythm of the effort will provide the space
in which meditation can occur.
We need to be
clear about that and to face facts. According to the teaching
of the master meditators who have - over the past ten to
fifteen thousand years - developed this system, the Soul
controls its instrument by imposing a rhythm on it. First the
rhythm, then gradually but certainly we learn to meditate our
way into the Real. I say gradually because gradually is how it
happens. In this system there are no quick fixes. There is a
gradual infusion of the personality by the Soul. Gradually one
ceases being part of the problem and becomes a potential part
of the solution.
...Rhythm
helps to create a stability in the life that enables one to
deal with the results of meditation. Occult meditation is a
technique for invoking deeply subjective spiritual centers,
and when the meditative effort is successful, it causes an
unavoidable stream of energy or fire to flow from these inner
spiritual centers of power into the outer world...
...Meditation
calls in light. Usually it will be some time, months, years in
some cases, before one realizes the level of light that has
been called in, and one may, some fine day, experience this
accumulation of light as a flash-like
phenomenon; however,
meditation is seldom if ever a single pole switch that
activates a ten thousand watt floodlight. One does not sit
down one time and flash into enlightenment. That only happens
in glamorous books. Meditation works much more, much much more
like a rheostat. Perseverance in meditation gradually but
steadily increases or turns up the light. The problems that
meditators encounter are not because the meditation isn't
working; they are encountered because the meditation is
working. It is the increasing light that causes the problems
or restructures one's life. Eventually this light will be all
pervasive. It will infuse every aspect of the personal life.
Every nook and cranny, every dark and secret recess will
eventually be irradiated by the light of the Soul.
...Courage and
perseverance are bottom line essentials in this kind of
meditation work.
Developments
which are the result of occult meditation occur from the
inside out or from the top down. A worked at and sustained
meditative effort will, over a period of years, quiet the
mental body and bring it more and more under the control of
the meditator. Gaining control over the mental apparatus is
like gaining control over the control room on a space ship.
Once in control of the controls, life can and does get more
manageable. One can suddenly do everything that one needs to
do. One is able to fit things in, partly because of an ability
to be more selective in how one uses one's time and energy and
also because of a growing ability to simply accomplish more in
a shorter period of time. Boredom is actually an indicator of
a lack of control over the mental equipment. So, instead of
flying blind, by which I mean having a self-centered
personality plotting the course and piloting the mechanism,
sustained meditation puts the direction the life will take
under the supervision of the Soul.
Meditation, a
certain kind of meditation that is, does not remove one from
the world; it does not make the personal life go away. It
changes the way we perceive that world from a place out of
which we draw our pleasure and from which we take our meaning
and measure, to the arena into which we can bring light, love,
joy and eventually even that mutual respect and understanding
between the people of the world which alone will lead to peace
on this planet.
To learn more about a "certain kind of
meditation" go to http://www.meditationtraining.org/
Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit.
Jeremy Taylor
Meditation
by
Judity Horstman
courtesy of the Arthritis Today magazine
Taken daily, it
can untangle tension, fight fatigue and even lower your blood
pressure. It can lift your spirits and help you find inner
peace. What's more, it costs nothing, has no side effects and
doesn't require medical help.
The "treatment" is
meditation, an ancient practice that has gained modern medical
approval in many quarters.
Research shows
meditation can help relieve many arthritis symptoms, such as
pain, anxiety, stress and depression, as well as ease the
fatigue and insomnia associated with fibromyalgia. It affects
many body processes connected with well being and relaxation.
Recent studies suggest meditation may balance the immune system
to help the body resist disease, and even heal.
"There is
significant data that meditation can enhance healing," says Saki
Santorelli, executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in
Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of
Massachusetts in Worchester, Mass. "It can improve the quality
of your life and may well reduce your medical and psychological
symptoms," he says.
In fact, your
doctor may have already recommended adding meditation to your
treatment regimen. These days, meditation is taught in many
clinics, hospitals and HMOs, and endorsed by universities as
prestigious as Harvard and Stanford. In just a few decades, it
has gone from a counter-culture oddity to an accepted therapy
for many chronic conditions. It is even being paid for by some
cost-conscious insurers because it requires no special equipment
or clothing, doesn't involve drugs, surgery or other pricey
treatment and, according to some studies, it cuts down on office
visits.
"Once you have
learned it, no one can take it away from you. You don't have to
come back and get another treatment," says Betsy B. Singh, PhD,
dean of research at the Southern California University of Health
Sciences in Whittier and author of studies on meditation and
fibromyalgia. "These skills can help people begin to control
their arthritis instead of having disease control them," Singh
explains.
Read
more at:
http://www.arthritis.org/resources/arthritistoday/2001_archives/2001_01_02_meditation.asp
"Meditation is an
effort in the beginning. Later on it becomes habitual and gives
bliss, joy and peace."
Swami Sivananda
For the first time
in human history, substantial numbers of men and women are
recognising the role of the human kingdom in the continuity of
life and consciousness on this planet. Humanity stands as a
bridging kingdom between the Kingdom of God and the lower
kingdoms–animal, vegetable and mineral–and as such fulfills the
task of divine mediator. The new group of world servers mediates
between the Hierarchy (the Kingdom of God) and humanity,
maintaining a vibrant and radiant channel through which
inspiration can flow. Members of the new group of world servers
consciously accept this responsibility for planetary redemption.
Members of the new
group of world servers may or may not be aware of the group as a
whole or their place within it. They are linked together by
their love of humanity and by their constant endeavour to
enhance the human condition, "thinking through" the ideas and
principles to be given worldwide application. Through the
creative use of the mind, or meditation, these men and women are
able to penetrate into the realm of the soul and bring forth
that divine energy for human use. They perceive and adapt the
Plan for humanity and aid, by their meditative thought, in
producing practical ideas that will serve the whole human race.
At the heart of
this serving group stand those individuals who use the technique
of occult meditation to align themselves consciously with the
Hierarchy and thereby reveal the Plan to a needy world. All men
and women of goodwill can take part in this great spiritual
transition. No matter where an individual may be, he or she can
assist in some way to create a better future and by so doing,
can become a part of the new group of world servers.
from the Lucis Trust website
http://www.lucistrust.org/meditation/scimed.shtml
"...the kingdom of
heaven is within" - Matthew (4:17)
From the Lucis Trust website
Occult
Meditation - What is it?
There are
essentially two types of meditation–mystical and occult. And
both of these differentiate into various meditation
techniques.
Mystical forms
of meditation depend largely upon an active feeling nature and
an intense desire for spiritual union; or for some personal
spiritual experience. This type of meditation tends to be
introspective and self-centred. Occult meditation, on the
other hand, builds upon whatever mystical experience may have
occurred, taking the whole idea of meditation a step further.
The goal is no longer personal illumination and inspiration,
but the right use of the meditative technique to serve in the
upliftment and the transformation of the human kingdom and the
world in which we live. Occult meditation is a method of
cooperating with the process of planetary evolution and
planetary redemption.
Today, when so
much nonsense and inaccuracies are attributed to the term
"occult," it's useful to bear in mind one simple definition.
Occultism is the science of energy flow and energy
relationships. Occult meditation is a means of consciously
and purposefully directing energy from a recognised source to
the creation of some specific effect.
...Occult
meditation is a mental activity, requiring a condition of
alignment, or at-one-ment, between the three aspects of the
mind: the lower or concrete mind, the soul, and the higher or
abstract mind. This alignment integrates all three aspects of
the individual meditator, spirit, soul and body, making
available to him the spiritual resources of life,
consciousness and form.
By way of this
alignment the meditator is also united with the life
principle in all things within the planet, and with the
soul or consciousness of all manifestation. Thus,
alignment is dual; vertical and horizontal. And this creates
the basic form of all truly spiritual occult meditation.
See
A Sample form of
Occult Meditation
on page 2
Meditate daily, and soon your inner strength and mind power will
grow.
A
regular feature...
Personal Courage
Jane
Goodall: An Extraordinary Life
In
the summer of 1960, 26-year-old Jane Goodall arrived on the
shore of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa to study the area's
chimpanzee population.
Although it
was unheard of for a woman to venture into the wilds of the
African forest, the trip meant the fulfillment of Jane
Goodall's childhood dream. Jane’s work in Tanzania would prove
more successful than anyone had imagined.
Must We Redefine Man?
At first, the Gombe chimps fled whenever they saw
Jane. But she persisted, watching from a distance with
binoculars, and gradually the chimps allowed her closer. One
day in October 1960 she saw chimps David Graybeard and Goliath
strip leaves off twigs to fashion tools for fishing termites
from a nest. Scientists thought humans were the only species
to make tools, but here was evidence to the contrary. On
hearing of Jane's observation, her mentor Louis Leakey said:
"Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept
chimpanzees as humans."
A
Profound Effect on Primatology
In 1965, Jane earned her Ph.D in Ethology from
Cambridge University. Soon thereafter, she returned to
Tanzania to continue research and to establish the Gombe
Stream Research Centre.
It is hard to
overstate the degree to which Dr. Goodall changed and enriched
the field of primatology. She defied scientific convention by
giving the Gombe chimps names instead of numbers, and insisted
on the validity of her observations that animals have distinct
personalities, minds and emotions. She wrote of lasting
chimpanzee family relationships.
Through the
years her work continued to yield surprising insights...
The
Jane Goodall Institute
In 1977, Jane founded the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife
Research, Education and Conservation to provide ongoing
support for field research on wild chimpanzees. Today, the
mission of the Jane Goodall Institute is to advance the power
of individuals to take informed and compassionate action to
improve the environment for all living things. The Institute
is a leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their
habitats and is widely recognized for establishing innovative
community-centered conservation and development programs in
Africa and the Roots & Shoots education program in more than
70 countries.
In April 2002 Secretary-General Annan named Dr.
Goodall a United Nations “Messenger of Peace.” Messengers help
mobilize the public to become involved in work that makes the
world a better place. In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II named Dr.
Goodall a Dame of the British Empire, the equivalent of a
knighthood.
Today, Jane
spends much of her time lecturing, sharing her message of hope
for the future and encouraging young people to make a
difference in their world.
http://www.janegoodall.org/
A beginner needs a quiet place to
meditate.
Someone with a lot of practice can meditate everywhere and under all
circumstances.
Even masters had
to take the first step, so can you.