The Narrow Path

[olmate]

Sitting, watching the rain early this morning, a question came to mind - does meditation make you narrow minded?

Pondering this from a personal perspective, it does seem that meditation is a very narrow way. It is a way where I do reduce the focal point of my attention to one thing. In my practice that focus is to oneness, the mystery of this Love, the mystery of this Presence.

Reflecting, it seems that the beginning process of meditation is a narrowing down to one pointedness, to single mindedness and when I have reached that one-pointedness, that single-mindedness, I am propelled through.

It is then that I see everything with a divine perspective, whereas before meditation, life seemed to be diminishing, passing away, so often life seemed to be the expending of a diminishing amount of energy.

After the experience of narrowing my consciousness to the supreme fact of oneness and Love, my experience of life is not diminishing energy, but of an expanding energy: the energy of oneness of creative love.

And the rain continues to fall... its gentle harmony caressing my senses...

Olmate

[Ramai]

Your thread reminds me of a wonderful meditation experience I had recently with “Me Myself and the Universe”. Thanks

Yes, meditation seems to be the narrow way that leads to that quiet place in our soul where concepts expire and true peace reveals itself.

Love,
Ramai

[olmate]

Thanks Ramai.

And with this never ending rain, I sense I am about to experience a new meditation. One with webed feet tucked up under me.

Olmate

[GilesC]

Well, it does seem that meditation narrows one to something small in the self, but in truth going inwards is going with-out, and getting in touch with the Self is connecting with the Oneness that is everything, so in truth it is anything but narrow.

I'm reading a book at the minute called "The Happiness Hypothesis" by Jonathan Haidt, which is a scientific look at the mind and how it connects with ancient wisdom. I've only really just started with it, but it does recommend meditation as a good method of becoming happy and it does touch a lot on the concepts of mind (or should I say minds as there seem to be many) and may help in answering your original question (I can't say for sure, as I need to finish the book, but I think it'll head in that direction).

Hugs

Giles

[olmate]

Hi Giles,

Thanks for the pointer - as always.

This line of enquiry has been occupying my mind for a little while now. I guess to slightly elaborate on my first post a couple of additional contexts are probably relevant.

First up the context of time (even though the meditation practice itself is outside the realm of time). I was thinking about the narrowing of the mind as part of a lifelong practice rather than a single sitting. Each single sitting is just another step - sometimes forward, sometimes sideways, sometimes backwards.

So in that context I have been thinking of it in terms of a pilgrimage to one-pointedness, to single mindedness.

Thinking about the pilgrimage then, a possible analogy could be the breaking of the sound barrier. As you approach that point there can be a lot of turbulance and unfamiliar experiences. It is then that all of the practice and the discipline that has been learned by sitting in silence, saying my mantra faithfully on the pilgrimage that the door finally opens.

Approaching that point also requires courage and perserverance. But the point is only relevant in that it is a gateway to freedom and infinity.

I hope that makes sense. That is a paradox with this forum. Talk about meditation is almost impossible. Wasn't it one of the ancient philosophers who couched it in terms - "As soon as we begin to speak of the mysteries of Christ, we hear the gates of heaven closing".

Thanks again,

Olmate

[Bren2912]

Originally Posted by olmate

It is then that I see everything with a divine perspective, whereas before meditation, life seemed to be diminishing, passing away, so often life seemed to be the expending of a diminishing amount of energy.

After the experience of narrowing my consciousness to the supreme fact of oneness and Love, my experience of life is not diminishing energy, but of an expanding energy: the energy of oneness of creative love.

I have found that my recent personal medititive experiences are very similar. It is a expanding energy, the oneness, it seems to follow me around for days after the meditation. A feeling that my consciousness is not inside the head but hovering outside it. An incredible and often moving sense of awareness - it's as if I was blind, and now I can see, feel, hear and sense the world in a different way.

[GilesC]

Originally Posted by olmate

First up the context of time (even though the meditation practice itself is outside the realm of time). I was thinking about the narrowing of the mind as part of a lifelong practice rather than a single sitting. Each single sitting is just another step - sometimes forward, sometimes sideways, sometimes backwards.

Indeed, the understanding is still the same.

By "narrowing" the mind in time, you bring it from bouncing back and forth into the past and the future, and bring it to the single point of Now. But the Now is not limited by this narrowing of time, in fact it opens out to a whole awareness of everthing that exists, because all that exists is here in the Now and that which you perceive in the past or future does not exist (yet we often spend most of our time there).

So, training our mind to spend more of the Now actually in the Now as a lifelong practice, can only be a good thing. The mind (naughty thing that it is ) will look at this "narrowing of time" as something restrictive and negative, but it's just playing games with you.

It could be likened to zero and infinity in mathematics. These two are synonymous with each other. 0 multiplied by 0 is 0, but 1 divided by 0 is infinite, and also 0 mulitplied by 0 is 0, but 0 divided by 0 is infinite. Any other number divided by itself would give 1, but 0 is special. The closer you get to stillness (zero) the closer you get to Oneness (everything as one or Infinity).



Hugs

Giles