Berig     Created on Thursday, 19 January 2006 16:55  
  Meditation  
 
Meditation is a vehicle you can use to calm your mind and focus in on one task.  The more in touch you are with your deepest inner mind, the more you can discover your true self, and reveal yourself your faults. In turn, you know what to work for in the future.  In this peaceful state, you are free of self doubt, worries and discomfort.

If your mind is not at peace, you will not be happy in the most pleasant of conditions.  This disposition can be a barrier you have created to protect yourself from vulnerability.  It is possible to train your mind to become peaceful and happy even in the most adverse conditions.  This is not to be mistaken for a forced smile.

The first step in beginning meditation is to find a quiet area to meditate.  When you first begin meditating, it can be easy to break from your concentration because of distractions.  Meditation is not just an ordinary concentration, but a special type of internal concentration.  It is most effective to sit in a comfortable position and keep control of your posture and breath.  Begin withdrawing from the world by freeing your mind of everything around you, and begin seeing yourself through your mind's eye.
The two types of meditation are analytical meditation, and placement meditation.

Analytical meditation is a purposeful process of exploring every aspect of a subject and examining it in many viewpoints.  You can use your mental power of reasoning to discover a  special thought or feeling which is enlightenment; you found your answer and can break from your meditation.  A few reasons for using analytical meditation could be a logic problem, something you read about, or even the solution to an intriguing koan.

The objective of placement meditation is to center on a special thought or feeling that has been discovered during analytical meditation.  Meditating on this feeling will renew the enlightenment you have discovered by pondering what that insight means.  If the feeling of compassion overwhelms you during your analytical meditation on the subject of a beggar you have seen on the street, you will meditate on what compassion is, and what it means to you during placement meditation.  Each style used in conjunction with the other is used to discover and hold enlightenment.

-Berig