In December 2020 I was invited to write contributions for the Newsletter of the SNUi on the subject of Meditation within Spiritualism. Quite a challenge and I intend to post them here on this Blog for you to enjoy.
They will be published under the title "Meditation Corner".
Most people have an idea of what meditating is. It is often seen as something exalted, not meant for everybody or something you may want to try when life feels difficult. I like to think meditation should be simple, down to earth, natural and for daily use like a retreat from our busy life. Therefore, I like to present it as accessible for everyone, as a possibility to learn to relax in the hectic of daily life, where two feet on the ground are very important.
Moreover, I discovered that within Spiritualism meditation is a good way to attune to the Spirit world.
“Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life, perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody. That is the beauty of it. It has no technique and therefore no authority. When you learn about yourself, watch yourself, watch the way you walk, how you eat, what you say, the gossip, the hate, the jealousy, if you are aware of all that in yourself, without any choice, that is part of meditation. Meditation can take place when you are sitting on a bus or walking in the woods full of light and shadows, or listening to the singing of birds or looking at the face of your wife, husband or child.
Meditation cannot be learned from another. You must begin without knowing anything about it, and move from innocence to innocence. The soil in which the meditative mind can begin is the soil of everyday life, the strife, the pain and the fleeting joy. It must begin there and bring order, and from there, move endlessly. But if you are concerned only with making order, then that very order will bring about its own limitation, and the mind will be its prisoner. In all this movement, you must somehow begin from the other end, from the other shore, and not always be concerned with this shore or how to cross the river. You must take a plunge into the water, not knowing how to swim. And the beauty of meditation is that you never know where you are, where you are going, or what the end is.
Meditate alone. Get lost. And don’t try to remember where you have been. If you try to remember it, it will be something dead. If you hold on to the memory of it, you will never be alone again. So meditate in that endless solitude, in the beauty of that love, in that innocency, in the new. Then there is imperishable bliss.”
(Extracts from Krishnamurti’s book Meditations)
Wish for February:
Breathe slowly in .. Breathe slowly out
Slowly in .. slowly out
Feel the wave of calmness envelop you
With love,
Juliet Joan
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