Gnosis in a Hundred PagesPage 71 of 100 · Part V

Part V · The one who lives in you

What meditation is

Meditation is not relaxation and not thinking. It is the mind falling still, so that something truer can be known.

Read to me

0:00 / –:––
An empty cushion before a window, moonlight on the floor.

The word meditation is used for many things today: relaxing, breathing, visualizing a beach. All of those can help. None of them is what the tradition means.

In the tradition, meditation has two great uses. The first you already know from Part II: understanding a self, in stillness, so that it can be removed. The second is quieter. It is letting the mind fall so still that the Being can be known directly, without words.

It is not thinking about the Being. Thinking is the mind talking to itself. It is not forcing the mind quiet, either. Force is only another thought. It is more like water left alone until the mud settles and you can see to the bottom.

Most sittings are ordinary. The mind wanders, you return, it wanders again. That returning is the practice. Now and then the mind goes quiet by itself, and something opens that you cannot describe. Do not chase it. It comes when you stop chasing.

Meditation needs no belief and no special place. It needs a regular time, a still body and patience. Five minutes a day kept for a month is worth more than one long, heroic hour.

Try this

  1. Sit for five minutes today, with the Meditation Timer or a simple clock.
  2. Sit upright and close your eyes. Do not try to do anything.
  3. Each time you notice a thought, let it go and return to simply sitting.
  4. When the bell rings, sit one breath longer before you move.

Words on this page

Meditation
In the tradition, stillness of the mind that leads to understanding and to direct knowing.

In the old words

“Meditation is fundamental when we sincerely yearn for such a change.”

The Great RebellionSamael Aun Weor
On the next pageHere is how to sit, step by step.72. How to sit