Deep concentration, self-knowledge and self-control are the prerequisites to practice successful white magic. These skills can be learned by meditation. For us, learning white magic starts with meditation training.
In Pali, the language in which Buddha taught, there is apparently no word, that corresponds with our definition of “meditation”, although meditation in ancient Indian culture was undoubtedly of central importance. A word used for this spiritual practice was “bhavana”. It meant “developing through spiritual training”. In my opinion, that hits the mark. Meditation is about humans development. It is a natural sequence of events such as when a baby borns, a child starts teething, then becomes an adult, the adult joins the workforce, creates and produces things in the world, starts a family, creates karmic bounds and then gets insight while being old and at last passes away. Sooner or later you will be forced to sit down and reflect on your life and ask yourself who you are and what is the meaning of your life journey.
The Ego is a temporary individuality of our spiritual self, the soul. Everything, you feel that you are, concerning your character, abilities, values and desires, is your ego. The Ego is created and influenced by everything, what we have experienced and achieved in this present life, but also during our previous life. The ego is this feeling of being individual and separated from the rest of the world.
We cannot experience, what is ego without being able to step aside and see it as something, what we possess, but what is not really our essence. When we go deeper inside of us, we realise, that our reactions and behaviour is mostly (maybe completely) the same as the reactions of our close relatives, friends or idols. We had simply learned and adapt them from these groups of people or society. They are so automatic, that we perceive them as our natural behaviour. When we say :“I am like this.“, this is our ego. The Ego is, when we also say "I have this ability, quality, emotion, opinion, problem, duty or responsibility." The Ego is also, when we say: "I want that thing, person or situation…and also, I like, I prefer, I fear, I don't wan't, I don't like or I avoid."
Ego can help us to live our normal lives, but it cannot control for example regulation and complicated processes in body like breathing or digestion or outer circumstances we live in. It can just react. So, it cannot be that part of us, which is in charge of everything. It cannot even rule the thoughts. Are you able, if you want, to stop your thinking for lets say 5 minutes? ….. Most people cannot. If we have a closer look on our thoughts and emotions, we can realise, that hey have simply taken control over our life and actions. We live, follow and obey, what we currently think and feel. We allow our thoughts and emotions to influence the course of our life: in a positive but also in a negative way. We don't want to say, that ego is our enemy. But do you like the idea, that you are programmed and just follow programmes, which were installed into your mind by society? Ego is a good servant, but it is not good master! Therefore, learning to control our emotions and thinking could have very positive impact on our life and also on our personal freedom. How to do this? By continual observation of ourselves. This activity is called meditation and introspection. Two perfect tools for increasing personal freedom and power! Read now further about meditation...
For many people the practice of mediation is like a fitness training. For example, if you go to the gym you do not apply fitness training to all aspects of your life. Instead of walking, you take the car, even when where you are going is within walking distance. You prefer to take the elevator or the escalators instead of the stairs. You spend hours sitting at a desk and only get up once to get some coffee. In this way, exercise becomes something you have “to do” twice a week in a gym. People with this attitude are still better than those who do not do any exercise at all. But still it is very far removed from living in such a way that integrates exercise naturally into your everyday life.
Those who treat meditation as something “to do”, still of course count as awakened persons. However, they still fall short of what is possible. Finally, it is not just about meditating in a small room but about being mindful in your day to day life.
Instead of switching your mind to autopilot most of the time, and being tangled up in fantasies about the past or the future, carrying out imaginary conversations in your mind, poring over your worries, among other things, you could direct your attention to the present task. A short story may enlighten you on what meditation is about: two students of a famous master meet.
One says to the other: “My master can perform miracles. He can float on air and walk through fire. What can your master do?” The other replies, “He is also capable of wonderful things. When he sleeps, he sleeps. When he eats he eats. When he works, he works.”
I don’t know if you experience such daily miracles. The fact is when many people are working, their thoughts are elsewhere, whilst they are eating, they are working at the same time, and whilst they are sleeping, they are completely ill at ease, poring over their worries, again and again.
Mediation as a lifestyle means, that you don't just meditate two times a day, but you include meditation into your normal life. It means being mindful to what is going on in the present moment, and so not letting your attention wander. Incidentally this is not a contradiction of an open and focused awareness. At the same time it is mostly about not losing sight of the main objective of your attention. It is natural that the mind may also drift to other things. Think of the example mentioned above about following a conversation and paying attention to what is said, even when other things infringe upon your scope of perception. If you, however, allow your mind to wander, then you only get parts of what was said. This is very different from open focus. Do exactly what you are supposed to be doing. Or in other words: Give your attention only to the present task, which occurs here and now. That would be my advice for uninterrupted mediation in your daily life.
The people who keep their attention on the present, (see Satipatthana above) practices meditation in their daily lives. Contrary to common beliefs, meditation is not about “mental dismissal”. The opposite is quite true. It is about being alert, awake in a relaxed state. When you give your attention to the present, you do not lose yourself in daydreaming.
You do not go through life half asleep as others do, who are too tired to really understand what is happening around them. On the other hand you do not excessively concentrate, in the same way as during emergencies. Move, behave, work and speak in open focus in a more relaxed and mindful way. Those who manage to live this way in their daily lives are the ones who mediate like a Budda.
We stated above many times, that meditation should be the state of thoughtless awareness. For most people is very hard to be thoughtless. Some of us cannot even imagine, what does it mean to be without thoughts, because it became our habit to think without stopping. There are several reasons for this situation. First reason is, that we we taught from the small age to be with our attention outside and this attention therefore became dominant state in our life. It is quite unusual in this society to pay attention to your inner state, your thoughts, emotions and observe them. The second reason is the way of life we have today. Compare the way of life today and in the past. In the past, life was more simple, interactions with other people were not so intense. Today, our mind is irritated with many stimuli during the day: mobiles, jobs, TV, social media. In fact, it is so overloaded, that cannot stop…
When we start the meditation, we can observe that thoughts of all kinds are constantly coming: job, family, things to do, dreams, past situations… Here are some tips that will help you to be more focused and stay longer in meditative state:
- Be aware, that not all thoughts in your head are yours; you can absorb them during the day from people around you, radio, internet, TV… Don’t try to fight with them, to stop them by force. You cannot this battle by force! Rather allow them to come and let them go. Don’t develop them further. Observe them like when you’re watching the movie.
- Our awareness focuses automatically to our thoughts, because we suppose that our process of thinking is something important and if we don’t pay attention on that, we can miss something… This is not true; our thinking is mostly just a buzz of our mind.
- Decrease the importance of your thoughts, your opinions and attitudes. Look at them, as if they are strangers to you.That helps you to move from active position to the witness position.
Do you need a help or have a problem, which you cannot solve alone? Get in touch with us.
Read also:
Instructions for meditationThis Song will help you to find joy, balance and inspiration for your day!
This Meditation will lead you to inner peace and place above time and space. Enjoy your life!
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
