Imagine you're preparing to climb to the top. How are you going to climb it? For example, you can take a few climbing lessons, buy the right equipment, and start climbing on one of the most impregnable and dangerous slopes. You can choose one of the well-trodden paths along the gentle slope of the mountain and set off on the road without putting your life at unnecessary risk. (Of course, you could have been tricky and taken to the top by car - if there was a more or less tolerable road there - but that approach wouldn't have left a stone on the rock of my metaphor!)
Although all of these routes lead to the top, each has its own unique characteristics: one route runs on a gentle slope, through groves and valleys, and the other on a steep and rocky slope. One route can offer a breathtaking view of the lush valleys, while the other offers nothing but pastures or naked, lifeless cliffs.
Climbing to the top, you can make a long stay (from a few hours to several days) to relax and enjoy nature. What's more, you may enjoy your holiday so much that you decide not to go on climbing and continue to enjoy yourself at a place of your choice. Perhaps you should have chosen some other, more accessible peak for climbing at all. Or maybe you'll decide to climb to the highest peak without wasting time on the hills and admiring the beauty of the surrounding scenery.
Journey to the world of meditation has much in common with the ascent to the top. You can set a task, at all costs to get to the highest peak, but, having overcome half of the way, decide to choose not so high and more accessible. Moreover, from the very beginning you can limit yourself to climbing a low, but picturesque hill. Whatever your final destination, you'll enjoy your journey as such, because it will give you the opportunity to breathe in the fresh air and train your muscles, many of which you didn't even know about, because you never had to let them in.
For many thousands of years, people from all over the world have been starting their ascent to the top of meditation. As a result, the world has accumulated apparently invisibly directories and manuals, each of which in its own way sets out the way to the top, gives advice on the methods of ascent and equipment used. (If you want to get an idea of the amount of meditation material currently available, explore the shelves of your nearest bookstore or search the Internet for "meditation" resources.)
Traditionally, these textbooks describe a spiritual path based on certain notions and methods that have been passed down from one generation to the next for centuries (see box "Spiritual roots of meditation"). However, in recent decades, Western scholars have separated meditation from its spiritual foundations and now offer it as a tool from a number of ailments typical of the XXI century.
Although these books may describe the apex in different ways - some of them focus on the magnificent panorama from the top, others pay more attention to the serenity or joy of each climber, while others even say that once you reach the top, you will see not one, but several peaks.
Spiritual roots of meditation
Despite the fact that a lot of "ordinary" people (including your acquaintances) are engaged in meditation these days, it was not always possible to do it freely. For centuries, monks, mystics, and wandering ascetics have been meditating in secret from the rest of the world, using this art to enter higher spheres of self-awareness and, ultimately, to reach the peak of the spiritual path.
Ordinary people who want to learn to meditate and have free time could always learn a couple or three methods of meditation. However, meditation itself remained a sacred occupation, accessible to only a few, ready to give up the mortal world and devote itself entirely to it.
Now everything is different! From the Beat Zen of the 1950s and the invasion of Indian yogis in the 1960s to the current widespread fascination with Buddhism, meditation has undoubtedly become one of the most fashionable trends of our time, and the practical benefits of meditation are greatly appreciated in almost all media, print and electronic media. (Have you already visited websites dedicated to meditation?)
Meditation is widely studied in psychology institutes and even reduced to formulas like the notorious "relaxation" (simple method to relieve stress). However, meditation has never completely lost its spiritual roots. In fact, the reason why meditation is so effective is because it connects you to a spiritual dimension that different commentators call differently, but I simply call it being.
Here are just a few of the many methods of meditation that have been developed over the centuries:
- Repetition of any expressive word or phrase known as mantra
- Maximum involvement in the current situation
- Tracking your breath
- Concentration on the flow of sensations
- Cultivating love and goodwill, empathy, forgiveness and other positive and healing emotions
- Concentration on a geometric figure or other simple visual object.
- Contemplation of a quiet and peaceful place or a healing energy or object
- Reading spiritual literature and reflecting on what has been read
- Contemplation of a pictorial image of a sacred object or a saint.
- Contemplation of nature.
- Ascension of prayer to God.