August 18, 2015   ancient technique , Boundless World Within , Edward Viljoen , inner power , the power of meditation

The Power of Meditation: A Boundless World Within

My Meditation Partner My point-of-view is to teach meditation as spiritual practice, as it has been used for centuries in all of the ...

My Meditation Partner

My point-of-view is to teach meditation as spiritual practice, as it has been used for centuries in all of the world’s wisdom traditions.  You can be of any (or no) spiritual or religious background to use my book, and the techniques I teach in it can be used with no spiritual motivation whatsoever.  However, this book can open you up to an awakening of what meditation is, why it is important, and some practical ways you can begin – immediately – to practice meditation here and now.  You don’t need a lofty spiritual goal, you only need to bring your desire to learn, and willingness to try.  My words in The Power of Meditation: An Ancient Technique to Access your Inner Power won’t take the place of you actually sitting, but hopefully this book can inspire you to do so.

You’ll notice throughout this book that I reference the Bhagavad Gita, which I’ve found to be one of the most beautiful spiritual texts ever written.  The Gita has been a guide for me in my journey of learning to meditate, and so I’ve included passages and points from the Gita for you as well.  (If you want to explore the Gita more, check out my e-book, called The Bhagavad Gita For Beginners, which is a simplified version of this ancient text.)  

A Simple Guide

 

The Power of Meditation is a simple guidebook for meditation, which can be used by anybody who seeks to begin the art of meditation, and discover the gifts that meditation can bring.  In addition to specific teaching on meditation, I share some of my personal journey of teaching what I most needed to learn and the sometimes surprising insights and unexpected revelations that came as a result. I think I studied meditation largely because I wanted so many things: wisdom, personal power, practical spiritual skills, and to finally, actually be—and appear to be—spiritual. In the process, and to my frustration and later to my joy, I achieved very little of my original goals—or at least not in the form I had in mind. 

Wisdom, I came to see, has less to do with knowing information and techniques, and more to do with a passionate interest in reality, which some say is utterly unknowable. Nevertheless, the interest in exploring what is real both inside and outside opened the doorway to an infinity of ideas and awarenesses without which I began to wonder how I had ever managed. The personal power and self-determination I was reaching for gave way to something less tangible, something that I can best describe as a felt sense of being at home in this life. Instead of gaining control over the world I discovered the power and beauty of what is happening right now and the sweet (and potent) options that became available to me to help and love the world, when I started to observe life with a little more honesty and accuracy. 

Bring Reality into Focus

 Observing life through meditation with less ‘unnecessary added meaning’ to what was happening inside and outside allowed reality to come in to clearer focus. 

It was in the practice of meditation that my initial goal became gently undone not so much in a flash of insight but more in gradual steps of accepting what is, who I am and the nature of things. My view of others softened and I began to appreciate the sincere desire I saw in them to learn something powerful to help their own lives. I began to notice my growing respect for the courage it took the average person to navigate their lives and I found myself falling in love with people in a new way.

Spiritual, for me, began to mean something more down to earth, and meditation was allowing me to see spirituality everywhere. I began to have a down-to-earth look at life and cultivated a what-you-see-is-what you get curiosity about people, events and things and this opened the doorway to seeing how truly magical everything and everyone is without my help. In Steven Greenblat’s The Swerve his summary of Lucrecian world view reminded me of a state of mind I came upon as a result of practicing meditation. I can describe it best as a kind of unhooking from cultural concepts, or as an openness to reality, or a willingness to question everything previously believed.

Meditation introduced me to a boundless world within.