by Rebecca A. Nagy

A daily meditation practice is the key to all inner transformational work. Meditation, in one form or another, is an ever-evolving process for reaching total awareness. Ancient wisdom teachings regard meditation as both a basic and advanced training. A meditation practice develops the brain, the “muscle of the mind” as a superconductor of higher mind.

Carol Parrish-Harra, in her award-winning book series, Adventures in Meditation, tells us, “Meditation stands as the single most important discipline recommended to help attain self-realization and oneness with the Infinite. Other activities, such as study, right-living, appropriate utilization of the body and emotions, as well as procedures for concentration, are seen as preliminary and preparatory disciplines.”

Five Stages of Meditation

The wisdom teachings of the Himalayan masters outline methods of meditation that are designed to take us to the highest level of consciousness, where pure mind is reached. Building upon a basic meditation practice through layering in seed thought will develop real and permanent changes through five progressive stages of meditation: concentration, prolonged concentration, contemplation, illumination and inspiration.

Ideally, every meditation should contain each of these five practices, but generally, for the beginner, contemplation, illumination and inspiration are experienced only occasionally until the practice of concentration has been mastered. Accomplishment in these five stages is an ever-expanding process. Practice alone will bring results. These stages of meditation over time will build the muscle of the mind, the brain, as a superconductor, honed to align with infinite mind, also called the cloud of knowable things.

Seed Thought Meditation: Meditation for Transformation

The main process of building our superconductor is called “seed thought” meditation: a specific word, image, sentence, concept or even a geometric form is chosen to contemplate upon to gain a deeper understanding of the spiritual wisdom behind the form. This builds a bridge between the personality self and higher self. The meditator begins by sending out questions to the universal mind, or higher self, such as “What is the meaning of this triangle?” or “What is significant in the energy of this word to spirit?” As questions are sent out to higher mind, the meditator often receives droplets of insight, understanding and wisdom.

A daily meditation practice should take about 20 to 30 minutes, with most of the time spent on the seed thought and asking for guidance. During the seed thought reflection, we will practice the concentration, prolonged concentration and contemplation part of meditation. If all goes well, we will naturally move into illumination and inspiration.

Don't forget that this takes practice; don't look for any phenomenon or results, because they may not come at the time of the meditation, and we may not even recognize them at first. Just trust in the process and do it daily, so that we train our mind and body. After the meditation, write down any impressions or thoughts we have. This is where true spiritual guidance and intuition will reveal itself. This is the level of consciousness that will allow us to operate in the world as a soul-infused personality.

 

Reverend Rebecca Nagy is the spiritual leader of The Spiritual Light Center of Charlotte, a progressive, non-denominational spiritual community unique in its approach to providing universal truth teachings. She is author of a meditation CD, Instant Calm, with music by Richard Shulman. For more information, visit: slcofcharlotte.org.