The Stages of Meditation

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As you can see from the meditation, relaxing the body, the heart and the mind, that consciousness is very dynamic. It is the ability to perceive. The purpose of these studies precisely is to expand that perception of active watchfulness in our daily life. But more importantly, we seek to understand. These are two faculties of consciousness: observation and comprehension.
 
Without a thorough understanding of these two qualities, it is impossible to really know ourselves in the full depth of our potential. Meditation is a state of being. What we want is to awaken the ability to perceive ourselves in a deep way, and more importantly, to understand why we suffer. Everything we do is to comprehend the roots of pain, so that by understanding them, by working practically on these roots, we change our life. Our circumstances heal. Problems are resolved. Conflicts are ended.

​Buddha Nature

​Meditation is the way to understand and experience our true nature. As we see here, the Buddha is looking at a horizon, a galaxy in the Milky Way. Buddhadhatu means, “the seed of the Buddha.” Buddha means, “awakened one.” To perceive, from the Sanskrit word, “budh” signifying “cognizance, awareness, perception.” Our true nature is very beautiful, very profound, and very wise.
 
However, our buddha nature is trapped. Our ability to see life clearly as it is, is conditioned. We have elements like pride, anger, fear, lust, hatred, gluttony. Whatever sins or defects that religions speak of, we have that in abundance. These elements trap the beauty of what we are and what we can become.
 
We want to understand these blockages in the psyche because egotism and hatred keep us trapped, keep us in hate. By directly looking at our own mind, activating the consciousness, which some religions call soul, we are going to understand the cage. By understanding our cage of pride and how it works, or how our fear works, we can break it.

​Serenity: The Prerequisite of Meditation

​Meditation is a state of being. Meditation is precisely the quality of looking, and we are going to talk about the discipline itself, how to attain it according to the writings of Samael Aun Weor, the founder of modern Gnostic tradition, but also Blavatsky’s The Voice of the Silence.

​We see here an image of a man whose mind is clouded, and this directly represents our state of being. Our mind, our thoughts are like clouds. If you have watched in the meditation practice, at the state of the mind, we have associative thoughts, memories, daydreams and fantasies. These emerge on the screen of our mind; they sustain and then they pass.
 
The consciousness, or free part of us that can truly change and produce great transformation, has to be activated. The consciousness has to be able to watch and look at the process. If we are not watching, then we just think that we are thinking, we feel what we feel, and we do what we do. We do not see that there is a constant flux, a pattern of reactions, states which are constantly changing in accordance with the circumstances.
 
The traditional practice of meditation is essential because we can shut down the senses and just look at the contents of the mind, without being distracted.
 
But obviously, there is a problem we all face as we attempt this type of exercise. We see that we think too much. The mind chatters. The mind wanders. We are never present, looking at what we are doing, where we are or how we got here. This obscures the knowledge that we need to change. The mind is obscured. We cannot see the heavens of potential, the higher states of consciousness that we can access when we meditate. When we put thought aside, we no longer think. This is why Samael Aun Weor explained in his book, The Perfect Matrimony:

The Gnostic must first attain the ability to stop the course of his thoughts, the capacity to not think. Indeed, only the one who achieves that capacity will hear the voice of the silence. When the mind is put aside, the heart awakens. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony

Then we can hear the intuition, the voice of God, the Being, divinity speaking through us and telling us “this is right, or this is wrong.” We can receive hunches, inclinations and inquietudes. In synthesis, when the mind is calm, we learn to focus.
 
Consciousness has many aspects. It is one thing to watch or observe, to focus on one thing. It is also another state to be aware. So, our awareness is of our surroundings but also the awareness of the self. When we learn not to think so much, to put the mind aside, to watch it, to look at it as a separate entity, we learn to focus attention.
 
Attention is self-directed. We focus on one thing. It is like a flashlight as you focus on one thing and all of your attention goes to that. Awareness is more spatial like in our surroundings or our environment. We need both qualities. We have to be aware of our surroundings in life or we get into an accident, get hurt or get into situations that we should not get into. Attention is the ability to look at one thing without wavering, without getting distracted or without losing your focus. That only occurs when the mind settles, when thoughts are not so predominant.
 
The mind is like a jar that is filled with water, sediment, stones, and dirt. If we constantly shake the contents, we do not see. But if you are at peace, or you watch and let the mind calm, you can see the layers. That is when you can see the structure of your psyche so that you can interpret what is going on. Then you can get the stones out, get the dirt out, clean the water, make it pure, make it unsullied.

​Concentration

So, concentration is attention. Focus on one thing. Do not forget. We need this to access the real state of meditation. Concentration is not meditation. It is the ability to focus on one thing so that without being distracted, we can see and get the information we want on whatever we are meditating on, whether it is the mind or the meaning of a scripture or an event in our day.

When the Gnostic disciple attains the quality to not think, then he must learn to concentrate his thoughts on only one thing. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony

​We included an image of a lamp because this perfectly represents the state of consciousness that we need to develop. The fire is lit, and fire produces light. Light is perception. It is the ability to see. But if there is no protection, if there is not a hermetic seal around the light, then wind will distract and snuff out the flame. It will make it waver and make it unclear.
 
That hermetic seal is watchfulness. It is watching our mind, observing our mind so that we do not lose the state of remembrance. It is the state of being attentive at all moments of life. The Voice of the Silence emphasizes that we must not be distracted. You must learn to pay attention to all moments of life, and that we have to protect the light. It is watchfulness.
 
We must not be invested in the senses. This means that you are watching, you are observing and being aware of your environment and you are observing your mind. You are observing yourself and you do not give your energy to this situation, to this problem, to this conflict, to this person. You have a sense of separation. You are sealed. You are like a hermit in solitude even among people. It is a psychological state. In that way, no matter how attractive life is or how pleasant it is, or how unpleasant it is, you maintain temperance. You are serene. You are calm.

Before the soul can hear, the image (man) has to become as deaf to roarings as to whispers, to cries of bellowing elephants as to the silvery buzzing of the golden firefly. ―The Voice of the Silence

​No matter how intense the impressions of life are, we have to be patient, watch and observe. No matter how subtle a distraction might be, or how obvious or intense, we watch. It is in this way that we remember our true nature, who is divinity. We call it the Being. We call it the Innermost. Some people call it God.
 
So, this scripture teaches remembrance of the divine, the sacred, the consciousness that knows how to look and to understand the depth of any phenomenon. Remembrance is a state in which we do not forget we are paying attention, that we are here and now. We are observing our body, our mind, our heart and our states. In this way, by that constant watchfulness, and in the remembrance of the state of different superior qualities like compassion, patience, and love, we remember the state of divinity. This is why Blavatsky wrote in The Voice of the Silence:

Before the soul can comprehend and may remember, she must unto the Silent Speaker be united, just as the form to which the clay is modeled, is first united to the potter’s mind. ―The Voice of the Silence

That Silent Speaker is the Being, the divine which speaks through intuition, through the heart about how to act in life or what to do. When we have a problem, we have to think it through. The mind plans, orchestrates, and debates, but it does not understand what to do. It is a different quality.
 
Intuition in the heart is knowing directly without having to think, is a superior quality. In fact, the heart can guide the mind in appropriate behavior so that we do not have conflicts, and we do not struggle. This is what it means “to be united with the potter’s mind,” because divinity, our true spiritual nature, guides us through hunches and inquietudes, the quality of our heart, but we have to learn to put the mind aside, as we have been saying. 

Meditation: The Perception and Reception of Images

​As we develop that state, we enter what is actual meditation. Meditation, we said, is a state of being. It is a state of perception, a way of knowing. As we sit first to silence the mind, we relax, we calm the heart, and concentrate on one thing without being distracted.
 
As we are entering a state of sleepiness, the threshold between waking and dreaming, then suddenly we have images. They emerge. We may see a scene like in a dream or a vision. You might see a landscape, people, situations, circumstances. It is a new state of consciousness, and the experience can end as quickly as it emerges. Suddenly it stops, and we wake up. We found that suddenly we entered the dreaming state in which we are perceiving with new senses. That sense is called imagination.
 
It does not mean fantasy or something that is not real. Obviously, fantasy, daydreams and negative thoughts are perceptions, but they are negative qualities of ourselves. They are not consciousness. Negative imagination just happens. You may have anger, or resentment and then you fantasize and daydream about getting revenge. Obviously, that is not what we are talking about.
 
Superior imagination is when the mind is still, and the heart is as still as water on the lake of the consciousness. Images of the divine can now enter, and we experience the truth. That is real meditation. But it is a different quality from our common states. That is why we train to develop that persistently. 

Contemplation, Comprehension, or Understanding

​Finally, the last step is contemplation.
 
It is one thing to perceive through our imagination, the superior states of experiences. Sometimes we call them astral projections or higher states of being, awakened dreams or lucid dreams.
 
The fourth state refers to when the consciousness is totally free of conditions and in turn, can reunite and experience divinity. This can only occur when there is no self, there is no fear, no pride, no anger, no lust, no vanity. You have to put the self at the door and leave it there, and the consciousness, stripped of all falsehood, can unite like a spark to a flame, the real state of truth.
 
People call that divinity God, the Being, the consciousness. We call it Samadhi. It means ecstasy. Ecstasy from the Latin “ecstatuo” which means “to stand outside yourself,” in which our old ways of being are gone and there is only the truth.
 
The fourth step is contemplation, ecstasy or Samadhi. This is a state of Turya, or perfect clairvoyance. So, the term clairvoyance comes from the French word, clair-voyance or “clear vision.” This is just a fancy term for imagination, looking, observing, and seeing nonphysical imagery. It is a type of seeing that is not clouded or obscured.
 
This is why we study meditation. We have to study not only just concentration, awareness, attention, watchfulness and mindfulness, we also have to understand the nature of the qualities of imagination, whether it is positive or negative.  

​To Imagine is to See

​Real, true imagination is the ability to focus on one thing, to see and identify an object, our quality of mind and to experience and see it for what it is, without any type of filter.
 
If we go back to the analogy, like seeing through the jar, when the jar of our mind with the sediment and rocks is settled, you can see the layers through the calm. Real imagination is like pure water. It reflects. It has no substance or coloration of its own. It just reflects the heavens, the truth. This is why Samael Aun Weor stated in his book, Sexology, The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology:

For the wise, the imagination is to see. Imagination is the translucence of the soul. ―Samael Aun Weor

​Translucence is the key word―no dirt, no mud, no impurity. The mind, the consciousness is clean. No anger. No hatred. No fear. It is awake and it is brilliant. It has a luminous character. It is patient. It is kind. It is forbearing. It knows how to look at any distressful situation and not be identified or overwhelmed by it. You can see without being disturbed, without being frustrated. This is the clearness of the soul which we develop through the exercises of imagination.
 
In the beginning, obviously, to use our imagination and take an image and see it in our mind is difficult. So, with imagination exercises we want to be able to see in our mind. If I tell you to imagine an apple, you can see it, right? But it may not have color and depth. You may not be able to sustain it or to hold onto it or to focus.
 
But that can develop with practice. We take an object, we imagine it, we try to see it, and sustain it. With concentration, we focus on that object we want to see and develop that in our imagination. Try to perceive it in your mind. Hold it there. That ability to focus and to see it is what expands consciousness.
 
Concentration and imagination open the doorway to knowing the heights of divinity, as we see in the Tree of Life, the study of kabbalah, a map of our multidimensional being.

​Dispassion: The Foundation for Following Intuitive Insights

​So, The Voice of the Silence that Blavatsky explains emphasizes these points. We want to understand our true nature, our inner spirit, what we call God, the Being. But to do that, as we emphasize, we have to be calm of mind, have a passive intellect, not be thinking all of the time, worrying in the heart or agitated in the body. This is why it states:

The pupil must regain the child-state that he has lost ‘ere the first sound can fall upon his ear. ―The Voice of the Silence

​That state of watchfulness, of observation, of remembrance of self, is a state of innocence, and purity of mind. We are watching ourselves. We are mindful, and we do not assume anything. We just look. We do not have to think that “I am this person with this appearance, this name, this culture, these tastes, this race, or this religion.” We put that aside. We watch like we do not know. That active looking gives you new information about who we really are. It is a state of innocence, purity, novelty.
 
By activating that, by remembering that state of remembrance, patience, and observation, we get insights from our inner master. Our inner divinity is our true master, the real guru, the real teacher, who can guide us in meditation or in dreams about how to live our lives more effectively.

The light from the One Master, the one unfading golden light of Spirit, shoots its effulgent beams on the disciple from the very first. Its rays thread through the thick dark clouds of matter. ―The Voice of the Silence

That matter is our mind. It is the density of the intellect. It is the heaviness of negative emotion. That jar with its contents of sediment and impurity, keeps us in darkness, not knowing why we suffer and not knowing how to change, or what we can do. The mind is a form of matter, but not physical matter. It is a form of energy, a form of perception, but not physical. It is related to what we call the Tree of Life.

This is a map of the universe, of the outside of us and also the universe inside of us, and these ten spheres represent vertically, the states of matter, energy and perception, from the most spiritual and divine above, the most rare, subtle and pure, to the most dense. We are in the bottom sphere of Malkuth, which in Hebrew means “kingdom.” It is our body.
 
But likewise, these higher states can relate to our emotions and our mind, which are a form of matter, which we experience when we dream. They are different states of dimensionality and experience. So, that light from divinity seeks to awaken us from the higher regions. It goes down into our psyche, but becomes obscured when our mind, our heart and our body are not suitable vehicles. We have many elements, as we have said, that are contrary. The way that we experience and receive that direct reception is by paying attention.

Now here, now there, these rays illumine it, like sun-sparks light the earth through the thick foliage of the jungle growth. But, O disciple, unless the flesh is passive, head cool, the soul as firm and pure as a flaming diamond, the radiance will not reach the chamber, its sunlight will not warm the heart, nor will the mystic sounds of the Akasic heights reach the ear, however eager, at the initial stage. ―The Voice of the Silence

​The mind must be calm. The consciousness must be strong, must be elaborated, and strengthened, and in that way, we can have mystical experiences, visions and dreams, and visions in meditation. We can hear mystical sounds in our meditation, see and perceive things, but not with physical senses, but with spiritual senses. 

​But we have to prepare our heart as we see here in this sacred image of Jesus who, with the thorns of his will and enduring the pain of hardship in life, awakens the flame of compassion and divine love.

​1. Restraint and 2. Observances

​So, what are the stages of meditation according to The Voice of the Silence? Yama and Niyama, which is “restraint” and “observance,” or “restraint” and “precept.”
 
Yama and niyama relate to how we conduct our consciousness in daily life, in our jobs, in our careers, with our families, and our loved ones.
 
How do we behave?
 
What do we do in relation to our co-workers, our friends?
 
Do we give into anger, hatred, passion?
 
Are we filled with fear, or resentment?
 
Do we create suffering in our life or in our interactions with people?
 
Do we bind communities? Do we join people together. Do we inspire others? Do we help them?
 
These rules, restraints and observances refer to psychological ways of being. Restraint means you are in a difficult situation; maybe at work, you feel anger as you are watching yourself, observing yourself, and you look to the source. You try to find and examine, “why I am angry at this person? Why do I have resentment toward this individual?” Restraint is, while looking at it, you do not feed that anger. You do not give it what it wants.
 
Physically, restraint is to not speak words of aggression, but more importantly, it is a state of mind. Even if we do not say anything, we may have resentments in our heart and in our thoughts. We have to restrain even that in the most subtle depths of our being.
 
It is good obviously, that religions teach, “Do not lie. Do not steal. Do not kill. Do not take intoxicants. Do not lust,” and “do not covet.” These things on a physical level help to keep societies bound together and functioning, but more importantly, these are mental precepts. These are psychological states of being, restraining our mind and not wishing harm on anyone, not stealing people’s time, their energy, or their attention, and not harboring resentment.
 
Niyama means “precept,” to be compassionate, to “love thy neighbor,” understand others, sacrifice, and generosity. The Voice of the Silence hints at these two.

Unless thou hearest, thou canst not see. Unless thou seest, thou canst not hear. To hear and see, this is the second stage. ―The Voice of the Silence

​So, at the beginning of any meditative study, we hear about the need to work on our pride, anger, our negative emotions of fear, and the elements which create suffering for ourselves and for others, the behaviors which are harmful. We hear this knowledge and receive it so that by practicing it, we can see in ourselves the truth of this. But also, if we do not see from our practical life how these precepts, these ethical stipulations are necessary, you will not understand the teaching of any religion.
 
We call this ethical discipline. Ethics help to settle the mind, so that by seeing in ourselves what compassion is, what patience is, we learn to hear the voice of the silence, the heart of divinity.
 
These are probably the most difficult aspects of meditation to master. Having ethics and being a good person is important, because if we are filled with all sorts of negativity, we cannot focus and meditate. We are too agitated. We are in too much pain. We feel remorse when we have hurt someone or ourselves. We feel shame. We cannot see clearly to understand the root of our problem if we invest all of our energy in conditions of the mind.
 
But once we learn to settle the psyche, we begin to learn to prepare for actual meditation.

​3. Posture and 4. Energy Control

​So, if we are calm of mind and heart and if we act with strong ethical discipline in our life, we learn to calm the body. The body becomes a receptive vehicle, to sit still for an hour or two hours or however long we need, so that we can shut the senses down and become more aware of our mind.
 
Asana is posture, how we sit. We do not need to enter meditation in a full lotus or half lotus. Instead, you can adopt any posture. You can even be lying down as long as you are able to maintain your attention, your awareness, but be able to relax.
 
When your body is calm, you can sit in the style of Maitreya Buddha in an upright chair if you are again able to relax the body, put it in its place and forget about it. You want to forget the body. We need a posture that is conducive to our practice. You can get drowsy but also pay attention. You do not forget what you are doing. If you fall asleep, you are too comfortable. Choose another posture.
 
When the body is calm and settled, the spine is relaxed, and when you have no tension in yourself, you can begin to work with energy. Now, the important thing with pranayama, with energy work, is that the consciousness needs fuel. So, going back to the image of the lantern, the lamp and the fire, the light cannot exist without fire. If we do not have energy in our mind, our heart, or in our body, because we wasted it in negative ways of being, we will not be able to have the strength of consciousness to work. If there is no fuel in the car, no light, we cannot see.
 
Now, that is why ethics are essential. Do not give energy to the mind, the ego, or selfishness, because that energy needs to be restrained and be given to our real conscious nature.
 
Pranayama means “to yoke energy, to harness energy.” Prana, which is the life force of the body, is in the air that we breathe, but also in our physical body in our creative energies. Yama means to “restrain.” Pranayama is traditionally known as breath work. You can use interchangeable nostril breathing. 

​You can visualize energy circulation from the base of the spine to the mind and then to the heart. You work with these energetic channels in the body, but also our spiritual, internal psyche as well, so that when those energies are circulating in you, you have a connection. You have power. You are able to pay attention and concentrate, to focus and not get distracted. This is why The Voice of the Silence states:

When the disciple sees and hears, and when he smells and tastes, eyes closed, ears shut, with mouth and nostrils stopped; when the four senses blend and ready are to pass into the fifth, that of the inner touch―then into the fourth he hath passed on. ―The Voice of the Silence

​So, what does it mean to see and hear, smell and taste with eyes closed and ears shut? These are psychological senses. They refer to sensations in the body. It refers to subtle energies which flow through us as we relax. That is why we have to be calm of body. When the body is calm, you can start to sense energy. You can direct it willingly to your purpose.
 
Therefore, the four senses blend, meaning your inner psyche, your senses of the spirit are integrated. You are not distracted. Everything is together. It is focusing on one thing. You are disciplined. That inner touch is, again, the sense of energy in the body, the inner experience. We want to harness those winds in ourselves as vital forces, the air in our lungs, so that we empower the consciousness. 

​5. Withdrawal and 6. Concentration 

​This is what leads to Pratyahara, to “withdraw the senses” and then Dharana, which is real concentration.
 
Pratyahara means “withdrawal” or “suspension of senses.” So, as we are doing pranayama, or as you work with a mantra, a sacred sound, to activate energies in the body, to circulate them, you also take your attention away from the senses. You withdraw them. Your senses suspend. They become calm, and you devote all of your energy and attention to your practice, to not be distracted by what is going on at the neighbor’s property, or across the hall, or someone out on the street yelling. In Chicago, we have a lot of distractions, a lot of things that can pull us away. 

​Pratyahara is taking everything in your consciousness and pulling it in, like a turtle in a shell. You forget everything except the practice. The body is suspended. It is calm. If your senses and your mind are thinking about what is going on outside, to that distraction or disturbance across the hall, we are not meditating. We are not even in Pratyahara because the mind is going elsewhere. Bring it all in. Be situated. Be anchored. Be calm.
 
In this fifth stage, it is describing in The Voice of the Silence, like you are slaying your thoughts. It does not mean literally that you become violent with the mind, like you are aggressive or exerting force. Instead, it means to put aside the external world, to bring it all in. It is a kind of spiritual war, but not of mental force and violence.

And in the fifth, O slayer of thy thoughts, all these again have to be killed beyond reanimation. ―The Voice of the Silence

​Again, if the thoughts are elsewhere, we cannot concentrate. In this way, your thoughts do not get reanimated. You won’t get distracted again if you are really focused within. Especially, if you are doing the pranayama, that energy can help you withdraw from the senses. You go completely inside, like you are going into a temple. That temple is your heart, your psychology, and we want divinity to officiate. This is how we get there.

Withhold thy mind from all external objects, all external sights. Withhold internal images, lest on thy Soul-light a dark shadow they should cast. Thou art now in DHARANA, the sixth stage. ―The Voice of the Silence

Concentration. This is very interesting. “Withhold thy mind from all external objects.” We explained this―all external sights.
 
The scripture also states to “withhold internal images.” So, you may notice as you are going inside of yourself, suddenly you see images from your own mind. It could be a memory from the day, could be something negative like a distressful image, a disturbing thought, or something profoundly conditioned and harmful. We have to withhold those types of images, again, which is our negative imagination. It is the perception of our defects, and these types of images are not controlled.
 
We do not have control over them in the beginning, but you learn to not be distracted by those. We withhold those negative images. Do not let those shadows, that false type of light cloud your vision. Put them aside. If you start to wander in those types of perceptions, just bring yourself back, relax, remember your breath and focus within again. Let it subside and it will pass. In this way, we enter concentration. When we cannot be distracted by anything, then we can now give our full attention to whatever we want to meditate on. 

7. Meditation

​This is where real meditation begins.
 
Real meditation is when you are so concentrated that you do not forget what you are doing. There are stages of this. As you see on this poster in the back, which is available as a poster, but it is also visible in every single Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the world. It is called the Nine Stages of Meditative Concentration. It is a very beautiful graphic. It is deep and very profound. It depicts stages of concentration from the most basic below, from the very beginnings of a wild mind to the top, which is a fully liberated mind. 

​We see an elephant running away from a monk. That elephant is the mind: our thoughts, our distractions, the pains in the body, the body that wants to shift and move when we are sitting to practice. These are all instigated by the density of the psyche, our conditions. But as you learn again and again to concentrate, you get better. In the beginning of this glyph, you see this monk doesn’t have control of the elephant.
 
But with the fire of his energy, his enthusiasm, his zeal, his inspiration, he finally manages up this winding path to get control of the elephant and to lead it. That represents a mind that is fully under control and is no longer impure. The dark color is the density of negative emotion and thought.

But at the top of perfect concentration, the elephant obeys. The body obeys. We are no longer shifting in our chairs, and our mind obeys us and we have perfect control. It is not exertion. It is a state of serenity. But we develop it with patience. When you are able to, like in the Buddhist glyph, to calm the mind in its perfect state of equipoise, suddenly you see that this monk is flying across the rainbow bridge. He is entering higher states of consciousness, which is real meditation.

8. Divine Experience

​In this way, as The Voice of the Silence teaches, we enter into the experience of the divine. This is where we can really know ourselves. Everything else is preliminary.
 
The language here is very dense. There are some abstract symbols in which we are going to connect to the kabbalah, the Tree of Life, the Jewish mystical tradition, because it can dovetail the understanding of the scripture. 

When thou has passed into the Seventh, O happy one, thou shalt perceive no more the sacred Three, for thou shalt have become that three in thyself. Thyself and mind, like twins upon the line, the star which is thy goal, burns overhead. The three that dwell in glory and in bliss ineffable, now in the world of Maya have lost their names. They have become one star, the fire that burns but scorches not, that fire which is the Upadhi of the Flame. And this, O Yogi of success, is what men call dhyana, the right precursor of Samadhi. ―The Voice of the Silence

Numerology is sacred. The Jewish mystical tradition, the kabbalistic Tree of Life, represents states of being and dimensions. It also relates to numerology because we have ten spheres. Kabbalah means in Hebrew, “tradition” and can also mean knowledge that we receive in meditation. These are mystical experiences.
 
So, what is that three that The Voice of the Silence mentions? It is this top trinity which some religions call Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and in Hebrew Kether, Chokmah, Binah―Osiris, Horus and Isis. Different religions can be mapped on this glyph. They represent forces, states of being, pure states of consciousness. If you are in real deep states of meditation, you learn to access higher regions of being, not merely our thoughts and feelings or energy or even our will. We go beyond to spirit, the heights of who we are.

​Beyond this top trinity is the origin of all things. Some people call it the Absolute. The Buddhists call it the illuminating void, the emptiness in which there is not self, and only pure divine being. There is no condition, no illusion. It is a state of happiness and liberation.
 
That star that shines overhead is what we call the Ain Soph in Hebrew. The Ain Soph is described in the Jewish mystical tradition as the synthesis of who we are, our real identity. It is like the star of light that shines in the void of abstract absolute potential, space. That star is our real being, and that Ain Soph is really the goal of meditation, to go to our root synthesis of who we really are, what we are in our depth.
 
These states of consciousness are a form of bliss. They are a form of happiness which is sacred and internal, the real identity of who we are, and we seek to access it through meditation to understand our true nature. In this way, we enter what is called Samadhi, divine experience, mystical experience. We put aside the terrestrial self and enter the spiritual self.

And now thy Self is lost in SELF, thyself unto THYSELF, merged in THAT SELF from which thou first didst radiate. Where is thy individuality, (Disciple) Lanoo, where the Lanoo himself? It is the spark lost in the fire, the drop within the ocean, the ever-present Ray become the all and the eternal radiance. And now, Lanoo, thou art the doer and the witness, the radiator and the radiation, light in the Sound, and the Sound in the Light. ―The Voice of the Silence

​This language is very abstract but very beautiful. 

​Again, we include this image of the Tree of Life because this is the map of the universe, states of consciousness and ways of being. This glyph with its spheres represents manifested existence. These are states of consciousness and ways of being. This glyph with its ten spheres represents manifested existence. These are states that are in our universe which are very profound and are qualities that we can access here and now.
 
But the source which is the Absolute is unmanifested reality. It is the cosmic space from which all existence and being emerges. It is like an ocean. It is a form of darkness to our senses, but it is real light to the spirit. It is light that was never created, but eternal, beyond the universe, beyond even gods.
 
With this type of mystical experience, the consciousness, like a spark, gets lost in the ocean or the flame of a bonfire, and so the drop becomes the ocean. We no longer have an individual identity, but the identity of being which is pure and eternal―no individual self, but the cosmic consciousness, which is totally radiant and pure. This is “light in the sound and sound in the light.” It is a form of perception, but also sound in the sense that it is the great Word which, according to the Bible, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” according to the Book of John (1:1). The Gnostics call this truth Christ, Chrestos, the fire of divinity, who is an energy in a state of being, that can manifest in any individual who is properly prepared.

​Resources

​If you want to learn more about meditation, we highly recommend visiting Glorian Publishing’s website, studying a course called Meditation Essentials. It will teach you all about this glyph and the stages of serenity. It will teach you how to concentrate, focus and begin meditative discipline.
 
We also have two courses on our website, Gnostic Meditation and Sufi Principals of Meditation which go into a lot more detail about each step.
 
So, today we spoke in synthesis, but if you study these courses, you will get a very practical guide into each stage in the way, in terms of meditating and understanding ourselves.
 
At this point, I would invite you to ask questions.

​Questions and Answers

​Question: At one point you mentioned that negative imagination or fantasy is just something that happens to us. I can see that maybe I get distracted and suddenly my mind goes towards things that I am worrying about which I didn’t willfully choose. But also, I can willingly choose to fantasize or imagine something negative as well. So, I feel like this effort can be voluntary and something that happens mechanically. Is this correct?
 
And also, I would like to ask about positive imagination. I think that when I enter higher states of meditation, it seems more that it just happens, not something where I am saying, “well, let me imagine a mystical place and I am choosing that,” but rather, that “I am opening up the inner senses and relaxing and, suddenly, I see something constructed.” How do you distinguish if this is negative imagination or positive imagination?
 
Instructor: It has to do with relativity, where we are at in our practice. As we begin initially to begin to develop concentration, and to imagine, we try to focus on a candle. Look at the flame. Look at the object. Close your eyes for however long you can. Try to imagine that image and sustain it. In the beginning of our practice, we find that it is difficult to project that image at will and sustain it, especially to see color and depth. Often times the mind will try to come in and correct or fantasize, “No, this is what the candle should look like. It should look like this or that.” That often happens to us involuntarily. In the beginning, especially, we see that it is involuntary, because as we are trying to establish initial degrees of imagination and concentration, we find that the mind interferes.
 
As you are learning to watch yourself and as we observe the state of mind in our daily life, and when we meditate, we find that a lot of things just happen to us. These are usually the contents of our own mind, our own psyche, which in trying to be kind and compassionate, we see anger and resentment. We see that it has its own forms of imagination, its own thoughts, its own desires and its own will. That is an initial state of conflict for us in the beginning, especially because we see that we are not in command of our kingdom, which is in Malkuth in the Tree of Life, the body. We are not even in control of our mind. That can be distressing, especially in the beginning, but with persistence we overcome that. We become fully rounded as we practice and gain more experience.
 
With experience, we begin to distinguish that there are superior states of consciousness which eventually come to us seemingly involuntarily. Now, there is a subtle nuance in order to develop the full capacity of our imagination. We have to know how to direct our will. Take an image and sustain it, project it. In a sense, it is almost a masculine trait, a masculine principle, a psychological state of will or assertiveness.
 
You are asserting in your mind, “I am going to imagine this image. I am going to dedicate fifteen minutes and hold this image in my mind.” You deal with involuntary distractions which always come and constantly try to besiege you. With enough development, to clearly see an image, you hold that in your mind, see it for what it is, and suddenly you reach a threshold. You are no longer caught within the intellect. You learn to see, suddenly, beyond daydreams, and fantasies. You start to experience higher visions that come to you also seemingly involuntarily. They just come into our consciousness without us expecting it.

​In one sense, it is involuntary, but in another way, we have to use our willpower to get there. It is like the merging of heaven with earth on the horizon of potential, which we see represented in the Tree of Life.
 
We calm the body, which is in Malkuth, and we work with the energy of the vital forces in Yesod. In Hod, we control our emotions and in Netzach the mind, we control the intellect.
 
As we are concentrating, we work with Tiphereth, which is willpower and the ability to focus on one thing.
 
At this point, when every part of ourselves is settled, new images emerge. The way we discriminate between the involuntary images of our own negativity and the real seemingly involuntary images of heaven, is learning to develop our intuition. Learn to discriminate and to be patient. You may have an experience when you meditate in which you see something, and you do not understand it. That is normal in the beginning when we are learning about ourselves. You may suddenly find that you are meditating, you are imagining something, and a new image emerges, or a new scene, something that seems out of the ordinary.
 
Going back to the quote in The Voice of the Silence, it is like you become both the witness and a participant of a cosmic drama. It can happen like a vision or a dream in which you are suddenly in a role where you are watching yourself, seeing yourself, and seeing other people, and these experiences come to you. In a sense they might seem involuntary, but to get to those higher visions, we have to stabilize the consciousness.
 
Question: So, when do we switch from that masculine, assertive projection of consciousness where we are trying to use willpower and sit to stabilize the consciousness? When do we switch then to a feminine state of consciousness where we are trying to receive images rather than project them?
 
Instructor: That threshold is when we are perfectly relaxed, fully concentrated. So, in a meditation, you might decide, “I’m going to focus on the meaning of each scripture.” You may read a verse from the Bible, the Qur’an, the Buddhist sutras or on one line from one of Samael Aun Weor’s writings. We want to try to understand its meaning. We try to project an image and imagine what that verse means, hold it for a time, and put the mind aside, as in, “don’t think.” When we are no longer thinking, when we are just waiting, when we do not expect it, and when the mind is not interfering, suddenly we receive insight―a new vision, something related to the meditation will teach us about what we are trying to see. But that only occurs when we do not get distracted, when we are fully relaxed, the energies are under control, the mind and heart are calm. That is the baseline.
 
Question: So, you are saying that it cannot happen unless we are calm and meditating?
 
Instructor: Like the higher visions?
 
Audience: Correct…
 
Instructor: Yes, there are levels, and they are mapped out in the Tree of Life. You can have a spiritual experience in this physical body, but there is more. There are levels, and to access the deeper states of higher visions like in dreams, the body has to be calm. But we can receive hunches, insight. You can even receive images in the mind while you are physically active.
 
So, to clarify my point, what I am talking about is states of being which are very high in the most profound levels of experience. Physically, you may be at work talking to someone and suddenly you get an image in the mind related to what the person is doing, what they are thinking, how they are reacting to you, or about how to behave properly with that person, and that gives a sense of orientation. We can see images by being physically awake. The problem is that we tend to have so much conditioning that we do not see most of the time unless we are in training. When we train, as the mind becomes more feminine and passive, the head cool, and the heart like a flaming diamond, you combine the receptivity of mind with the willpower of consciousness, concentration, and attention. The union of those two creates the third force which is synthesis; the harmonious union of soul and spirit, the divine. We can get images, of course, in human interaction and that is very beautiful, and we need that. Even more beautiful, as we train in meditation, we leave aside even more conditions of mind so that we can strip away the layers and see reality more and more as we access those states. So yes, there are levels, degrees.
 
Question: I have a question about pranayama energy. You spoke about control, and I am trying to wrap my head around the control aspect of it. From what I have experienced, it seems like the more I try to control it, the more out of hand it becomes. I am trying to understand… it seems more like surrender, and I need to know more about how to do that?
 
Instructor: Control is a tricky thing. We often think of control as forceful, or aggressive. We try to control someone or something and that we need to dominate the body or control the body or the way the energies flow. Real control is with serenity, not exertion. It does not come about through force. Real willpower is perfectly calm, serene, and not disturbed. As we are trying to control the energy in the body, whether through pranayama, mantra recitation, you may find that you will start to have conflict, especially in the beginning as we are trying to conserve energy, elevate it up the spine to the mind and then to the heart. In a sense, as you activate the fire of that energy, in the beginning we tend to shake the contents of the jar because we are beginners, learning to understand how the body works with these teachings, with these energies.
 
How do you actually control them?
 
You will find with experience that you have more control when you are in perfect ease and not agitated. I know some people, when they try pranayama or sacred vocalizations or mantras, they become agitated. They try to do it forcefully. 

​There is an exercise like Ham Sah or pranayama in which you breathe deeply inward, you mentally pronounce the mantra, “Ham” which is prolonged, and then you exhale vocally, “Ssssssssah!” You are taking the energies from the coccyx to the mind and then to the heart.
 
Some people do it with rapidity, really quickly, really forcefully. Pranayama is calm. Real control is calm.
 
We find this reflected even in social situations, when we are surrounded by people who have a mob mentality or when we are surrounded by violence or aggression. Those situations cannot control us if we are at perfect ease, if we are serene. In a sense, we lose control when we have desire or we are clouded by desire, and attachment, or if we are not seeing things clearly or if we are agitated. Energy flows serenely like a river, not like a flood, and that is a difference between the purity of the energies and passion. It is a subtle distinction, but you will find that as you continue to practice. Just be patient, especially in adapting the body to pranayama exercise.
 
You will find those energetic currents in the spine start to get clean, calm. They get purer and then the energies flow more serenely and calmly, The way to do it is with a sense of devotion, perfectly calm, and with serenity. I know in the beginning it can be hard seeing a lot of lust, especially a lot of passion and desire because it is trying to take the energy and pull it to itself. But you don’t overcome the lion by becoming frustrated, skeptical, doubtful or fearful.

​There is an image in the Eternal Tarot which perfectly depicts this in the Tarot cards. It is Arcanum 11: Persuasion―a beautiful woman, the Divine Mother, or the sacred feminine Hindu Goddess, that we see on this chakra poster. In the card, She is holding open the jaws of a lion, which Samael Aun Weor says in his book, “with Olympian serenity.” Olympian, like a God. The llion calms. That lion is the energy. If you are perfectly at ease, you can control the most tempestuous force and make it settle, but it is going to take time, patience, and it does not come overnight.
 
Question: There is something that I have read a bunch of times, I have heard you say it and have read it on Glorian that after you raise the energy that you direct it to your heart. I am not sure of the flow to the heart. It doesn’t seem to have that direction. It seems to flow up and out? It seems like it is a different current that flows into the heart. I do feel this but not always…
 
Instructor: I know some people when they are practicing Ham-Sah pranayama especially, they may have different sensations, not merely just physical but also psychological, where you sense the energies in the beginning are not contained: like the elephant in the glyph of the Buddhist murals. That energy tends, in most people, to flow from inside to out. My recommendation is when you feel like you are stuck, as when you are trying to do this practice and you feel that your energies are not going from the mind to the heart as you are elevating it upward, I would suggest that you do not pay attention to whatever the thought is or the sensations of whatever the type. Do not get identified with sensations, because the mind in itself is a tricky thing.
 
We know in our current state, the mind is not objective. We may not be seeing or sensing things clearly. If you are doing Ham-Sah, I would pray. This practice is really effective if we pray to our inner Divine Mother, Divine Mother Kundalini. Ask Her if She would be the one to guide this energy. Do the breathing, inhale and mentally mantralize, “Haaaammmm,” and being relaxed, say “Sah” to the heart.
 
If you find that the sense of the energy is a little out of whack, or maybe not flowing in the way you want, do not be distracted by that. Just ignore it. Pray, “God, please help me send these energies.” Eventually, you will find that you will start to see more clearly what is actually going on because the mind and the body tend to be like the image of the jar that I mentioned, stirred up. The more you relax, the more effective the pranayama becomes. But it just takes patience.
 
You may feel that the energy may be going out of the head. Redirect your attention. Are you sensing or seeing the energies going out of the head? Ignore it. Just relax and do the mantra, and you will find that imagination clarifies with the work of energy, like cleaning off a pair of glasses that are muddy. Or like a mirror that is rusted. But eventually with time as you are polishing the mirror, you will see more, and the problem will go away, especially if you are not paying attention to it. Problems go away without trying to solve them. The energy is going out, but let it go. Ignore it. Pray. Do the mantra. Your Divine Mother knows how to handle the energies. She is the wisdom of God. She is the eternal feminine who can command the lion, the creative energy and with peace, from Mount Olympus. Again, this Tree of Life is like a mountain, symbolized in all religions. We can get help. We need Her, so rely on Her. Follow your intuition. Be patient with yourself, and invoke Her.