Finding Your Self Through Meditation
It may be difficult to believe that you have always been free and perfect. But you do not need to believe. You need to know, and that happens by getting quiet, very quiet, as often as you possibly can.
How to get the most out of these Wisdom Quotes:
Put aside everything you think you already know.
Open your mind and heart to receive something new.
Take your time going through each point.
Return to any points that particularly touch you.
In the coming days, listen carefully to the wisdom within you.
* All quotes are from Happiness Is Free by Lester Levenson
1. Holding One Thought With Interest
"The prime purpose of meditation is to quiet the mind. When we hold one thought with interest, as we hold it, other thoughts keep dropping away.
Thoughts of the day, what he did to me, what she did, what I should have done, etc., all these thoughts are active on a subconscious level. As we hold to one thought, these subconscious thoughts quiet; they become still. They drop into the background and that quiets the mind.
Now, the most important thing in quieting the mind is interest. When you are very interested in something, you'll override all other thoughts. Likewise, if, with intense interest, you want to know, "What am I? What is this world? What is my relationship to it?"
If there's a real burning desire to get the answer, then all other thoughts drop away, and the mind becomes extremely concentrated. Then the answer shows itself.
It comes from within. The answer is there all the time. The quieting of the thoughts allows us to see it, to see the answer that was there all the time, in the realm of knowingness, in the Self.
The starting point should be a strong desire for the answer. When that desire is strong, we get the answer."
COACHING NOTES:
Here, we are presented with a very simple way of meditation. First, we ask a question that we have a strong desire to find the answer to. Then we hold that thought with concentration and allow all the other thoughts to drop away. Eventually, as the mind becomes quiet, the answer comes from within.
Of all the questions, the highest one to ask yourself is, "What am I?"
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2. Doing It as Much as We Possibly Can
"Meditate to get into the practice and habit of meditation. We should meditate as much as we possibly can.
Meditation is getting the mind one-pointed in the direction of who and what we are. It's taking the mind away from the worldly things and focusing it on the direction that we're in.
The more we do it, the more we like it. And the more we like it, the more we do it, until it becomes a thing that goes on effortlessly all the time.
No matter what you're doing, that meditation continues in the background. Then you are really moving. Until then, you're not moving very rapidly, because most of the time you're in the world and the in the direction of limitation.
Once you like it, the main obstacle to the practice of meditation is eliminated. But you should never stop until you reach the place where meditation is delightful. Then you will go on with ease."
COACHING NOTES:
Lester encourages us to meditate simply to get into the practice and habit of meditating. The more we do it, the more we want to do it, until it becomes easy and delightful.
When we're not meditating, we're "in the world and in the direction of limitation." When we're meditating, we're going inward, in the limitless direction of our true Self.
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3. Dropping the Non-Self, the Ego
"Meditation really should be communing with your Self.
You'll see your Self to the proportion that your mind is quiet.
The way to get rid of the ego is to get the mind so quiet that you can see what you are. Then you know that you are not the ego, and you drop it.
Seeing that you're not the ego, you're letting go of big chunks of ego.
A way to dominate the mind is to drop into the Self. You reach a place where it's so delightful you just don't want to do anything but remain in it. It gets to be very easy. Once you get to the point where it's easy, then just continue it. Stay with it until you go all the way.
By the constancy of it, each day, you get quieter and quieter, and then the Self, as you see it, keeps scorching the ego, which further quiets the mind."
COACHING NOTES:
The quieter your mind, the more you'll see your Self. The more you see your Self, the quicker you drop your non-self, the ego. The more you drop the ego, the quieter your mind becomes.
It all begins with a quiet mind, and the way to a quiet mind is meditation.
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4. Dropping All the Noise
"We get to see the pefection by looking in the direction where the perfection is. Now, the perfection isn't out there; we know that. The perfection is in here where we are, where the "I" of us is.
So, first we have to direct our attention inwardly. We should pose a question and hold it until the answer comes. When the answer does come, you know, and you know you know.
To get the answer to, "What am i?" it is necessary to still the noise of the mind, to still the thoughts. The thoughts are the noise. The thoughts are concepts of limitation, and there are so many of them that they're constantly bombarding us, one after another all the time.
Keep on dropping them until the perfection is obvious.
All these extraneous thoughts wouldn't come in if we weren't interested in them."
COACHING NOTES:
We turn our attention inwardly and pose a question. Lester asked himself: "What is happiness? What is life? What do I want?" among other things. He experienced extraordinary insights when the answers revealed themselves to him.
Many of us never ask ourselves deep questions in a serious way because we think that they can't be answered. And if we do ask, we don't wait very long for the answer or even expect one.
What we don't realize, is that we really do have the answers within us and they will come in their own time, if we inquire with a seeking heart and listen with a quiet mind.
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5. Seeing the Infinite Self
"The mind is the only thing that keeps us from seeing our Infinity. The mind is nothing but a collection of thoughts of limitation, and, in meditation, we try to quiet that mind so we can see this infinite Being that we are.
Meditation should never be passive. We should never try to force the mind to go blank. Meditation should always be with a question for the best results.
The more we practice meditation, the easier it is to do.
To get the real deep insights requires momentum.
When meditation gets to be more enjoyable than the things of the world, then we go at it with enthusiasm and desire for it. And then we just can't wait until we get back into it.
When we get that momentum going, the mind gets quieter and quieter until this infinite Self is self-obvious and just glares at us, and we laugh."
COACHING NOTES:
The more we understand that our thoughts are of a limited self, the more we will see our true Self.
Meditation is so much more than taking some quiet time to help get through the day or a technique to manage our stress. Consider your current view of meditation and what is being presented here.
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6. Always Free and Perfect
"Meditation is wonderful. Things happen in meditation that never could happen while you are talking or active.
You can make the mind quiet by the desire to discover what you are. When the interest in knowing what you are becomes stronger than the interest in this world and body, then you discover You.
You'll reach a point where you'll like meditation better than anything else, because you'll reach a point where you're being very much your real Self.
The answer won't come from reasoning. It will come from quiet meditation. Someday, sometime, it will come. It will just present itself to you, so simple, and you'll say, "Oh!"
The quieter we are, the more we are the Self.
The mature seeker of the Self starts with, "The reality is that I was never bound. I was always free and perfect," and takes off from there.
Just look at what you are instead of what you are not. When you discover what you are, you simultaneously discover what you are not and drop it.
With complete concentration, dwell upon your Self. Turn the mind back upon the mind to discover what the mind is, and then go beyond the mind and dwell in your Self."
COACHING NOTES:
For most of us it may be difficult to believe that we have always been free and perfect. But we do not need to believe. We need to know, and we come to know by getting quiet, very quiet, as often as we possibly can.
It may seem difficult at first if we are used to being busy doing things every day, if we are easily distracted by our devices, or if we feel we don't have any time to ourselves because of our responsibilities.
But we can find moments here and there throughout our days, moments to practise meditating, to touch the stillness within, to discover joy and peace beyond our understanding, and to find our true Self.
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