Mind, Meditation and Maya (illusion)
In this blog post I’m going to discuss meditation in general as well as our own “Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation” (more below). With more than 32 years of daily meditation under my belt and an extremely unique perspective, I certainly qualify as an expert.
Seven of those 32 years were spent doing Yoga Asanas early every morning, followed by meditation that was eastern religious in nature. What I mean by “eastern religious in nature” is that I believed in eastern religious concepts like karma, reincarnation, Maya and its attendant requirement to subdue the flesh. These concepts colored and directed my meditations, leading me in directions I now understand to be false and therefore potentially dangerous. To prevent a misunderstanding of the terms of this discussion, I’ll share their definitions:
Maya is defined in the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, as follows:
“Maya, is the principal deity who creates, perpetuates and governs the phantasmagoria, illusion and dream of duality in the phenomenal Universe. For some mystics this manifestation is real, but it is a fleeting reality; it is a mistake, although a natural one, to believe that Maya represents a fundamental reality or Truth. [1] Each person, each physical object, from the perspective of eternity is like a brief, disturbed drop of water from an unbounded ocean. The goal of enlightenment is to understand this — more precisely, to experience this: to see intuitively that the distinction between the self and the Universe is a false dichotomy.”.
The New Age movement has it’s own form of meditation, borrowed from various eastern religious traditions. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about this form of meditation:
New Age meditations are often influenced by Eastern philosophy and mysticism such as Yoga, Hinduism and Buddhism, yet may contain some degree of Western influence. In the west meditation found its mainstream roots through the hippie- counterculture social revolution of the 1960s and 1970s when many of the youth of the day rebelled against traditional belief systems as a reaction against what some perceived as the failure of Christianity and the failure of Secular Humanism to provide spiritual and ethical guidance. New Age meditation as practiced by the early hippies is regarded for its techniques of blanking out the mind and releasing oneself from conscious thinking. This is often aided by repetitive chanting of a mantra, or focusing on an object.
As can be seen from the definition above, if one adopts the eastern religious view of Maya the mind becomes the enemy of understanding and spiritual awareness. The teachings of Jesus Christ however, assert that the mind is God’s gift to man, enabling spiritual discernment between good and evil, helping us to make wise choices that protect us, our family and our community.
These two philosophical/religious views are polar opposites. It is vitally important to determine which view is right. Eastern religious philosophy maintains that personal enlightenment is mankind’s ultimate goal. Christ taught that healing the brokenhearted, helping the widows and orphans, visiting those in prison – in other words, helping our fellow man – is mankind’s ultimate goal. Because the eastern view of our physical reality maintains that what we see is not real, it inevitably leads to lessening the value of each individual life because the individual and their actions are seen as having little consequence. Furthermore, their belief in reincarnation insures that everyone gets endless changes to “get it right”, to finally achieve the ultimate goal of personal enlightenment.
Compare that to Christ’s teachings, wherein each individual is created in God’s “image”, not as God, but like God in terms of sovereign free will, creative abilities, capacity to communicate and ability to transform and care for our environment. All religions have a history that includes men abusing the rights of others but common sense reveals that the eastern religious point of view led to a society with far less individual freedom and prosperity, whereas our society was founded on individual liberty, equality and philanthropy for the less fortunate among us, all principles derived from the teachings of Jesus Christ.
My remaining 25 years of daily meditation, up to the present, have been spent in developing a Christ-centered type of meditation I call “Abiding in God’s WORD and Glory”. This is part of the “Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation” method. Once I invited the spirit of Jesus Christ into my heart, I began to see my mind and body as God’s gift to me, tools that should be nurtured and developed as allies on my quest for greater spiritual knowledge and understanding. More importantly, the spirit of God within me, now awakened by my rebirth in Christ, began teaching me the ultimate purpose of meditation, which was not a personal state of euphoria but rather an energizing, clarifying, love-building, community-minded state of being that prepares the meditator for becoming a servant-priest like Jesus.
Historical Roots of Christian Meditation
In Christianity the scriptures give evidence that meditation was at one time central to the Christian religion, as can be seen in scriptural passages like these:
“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” (Joshua 1:8);
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1:2);
“When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.” (Psalm 63:6);
“I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.” (Psalm 77:12);
“I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.” (Psalm 119:15);
“that I might meditate in thy word.” (Psalm 119:48);
“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.” (Psalm 143:5);
“And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” (Luke 21:8-17);
“Neglect not the gift that is in thee… Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.” (I Timothy 4:14-15).
The Catholic and Eastern Orthodox monastic traditions have continued the use of daily meditation as an essential element of Christianity. However, from what I’ve read, their meditations are focused either on objects such as the rosary or Eucharist, or on specific prayers. The Eastern Orthodox Church and some Bzyantine Rite, Eastern Churches maintain an ancient tradition of monastic prayer called Hesychasm. The word is greek in origin and means stillness, quiet, silence and rest. The idea is to achieve an experential knowledge of God during which experience the mind no longer registers what the senses percieve.
Those within the Hesychasm monastic tradition believe that monks can obtain a state known as Theoria (greek for contemplation), a state of being that is a gift from God available only to those who practice the ascetic tradition of denying the passions and senses. They believe this state of being is the purpose and goal of Christianity, that it is a moral faculty developed through the process of Theosis. There are three stages of Theosis: purification, illumination and finally, deification.
It could be argued that Hesychasic monks have been influenced by traditional eastern meditation techniques, in that the final goal of both is to be deified (the dictionary definition of deify is: “To make a God of; to worship or revere as a God”). As you’ll read below, my sojourn in heaven taught me the utter folly of thinking anything created by God could in fact become God the creator.
In 1975 the Benedictine Monk, John Main introduced the world to the Jesus Prayer, a form of meditation based on repetitive recitation of the prayer-phrase “Maranatha” an aramaic phrase that means “Come, oh Lord”. The World Community for Christian Meditation was founded in 1991 to continue his work, having the mission to, “teach Christian meditation as part of the great work of our time of restoring the contemplative dimension of Christian faith in the life of the church”. I’m all for “restoring the contemplative dimension of Christian faith”, but that does not mean endlessly repeating specific phrases or prayers. They might as well join the Hare Krishna devotees on some street corner and chant “blissfully” for the remainder of their life. The mind is indeed a terrible thing to waste, especially since God created it for the purpose of using it.
It’s interesting to note that in Islam, meditation is considered central to their religion, even to this day:
A Muslim is obligated to pray five times a day (before dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and night). During those times of prayer, the Muslim is expected to focus and meditate on Allah through the recitation of Qur’an and dhikr in order to establish and strengthen the connection between Creator and creation. This, in turn, is meant to guide the soul to truth. This meditation is intended to help Muslims maintain spiritual peace in spite of challenges they may experience in their work, social and family life. In this manner, the five daily times of peaceful prayer are meant to serve as a model for the Muslim’s conduct during the whole day, transforming it into a single, sustained meditation. Even sleep is but another phase of that sustained meditation (3 Al Emran verses 189-194) (6 Al Anaam verses 160 to 163).
Meditative quiescence is believed to have a quality of healing and creativity.[23] The Muslim prophet Muhammad, whose deeds devout Muslims follow, spent long periods in meditation and contemplation.
After decades of bible study it’s now obvious that Jesus meditated and lived within the community of disciples he gathered. He frequently went off alone into the wilderness; it is recorded that he prayed for hours in the Garden of Gethsemene; he told us he is the vine and we are the branches, that we must learn to abide in him so we can receive God’s glory; and just before Jesus left this earth he said he was leaving behind, as a gift to every believer, the Holy Spirit, whose purpose would be to teach each believer the things of God and guide them into all truth. As the old testament tells us, there can be no direct knowledge (WORD) received from God apart from first being still (“Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10). Being still is a necessity for meditation because unless we still our mind and thoughts we cannot hope to hear God’s “still, small voice”, cannot hope to receive God’s thoughts, God’s WORD.
History makes it abundantly clear that the Catholic Church determined they, and they alone, were the keepers of “truth”. By the early 4th century they were determined in their quest to usurp the power and authority of all competing Christian doctrines. To accomplish this they understood the necessity of having the full legal authority and power of the state behind them, so they developed government alliances wherever possible. And as luck would have it, the Roman Emperor, Constantine, became their first of many benefactors. Constantine declared that the entire Roman empire was now a Christian empire; he subsidized the building of many new cathedrals and closed down pagan temples; he gave those Pagan temples and other spoils to the Catholic/Orthodox Church.
Any true Christian who dared oppose this Catholic/Orthodox religion (whose teachings bore little resemblance to what Jesus Christ taught) was excommunicated, tortured, drowned, beheaded or burned at the stake. For at least a thousand years Christians were forbidden by the Catholic Church from reading the Bible (the Catholic Church taught that only trained and educated priests, bishops, etc., could understand what they read).
But what was lost to mankind was even more egregious than a loss of access to the Bible. Mankind lost knowledge of the possibility of direct access to the Spirit of God, to “the mysteries of the Kingdom of God” (Luke 8:10). Jesus told his disciples that not everyone was ready to receive this knowledge so he spoke to the masses in parables and explained their deeper meaning to those in his inner circle. The Catholic Church set up a special Priest class and their monasteries carried on with the ancient Christian tradition of meditation. But the laity was never told about the importance of meditation to their personal spiritual growth. The Catholic Church wasn’t about empowering believers, it was about controlling them and building their religious empire through tithes and offerings.
Unbeknownst to the Catholic Church, they were now the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, which declared that, “Perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters… unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers… despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF, from such turn away”.
Many did turn away from the Catholic Church during the Reformation because they began to read for themselves that the power of godliness was Love and spiritual liberty. The last part of that quote in II Timothy 3:5, “from such turn away”, makes it clear what a true believer’s response should be when we meet those who are religious, having little or no spiritual understanding.
This Catholic rule over mankind was maintained, unbroken, for approximately 1,300 years, up until the Reformation. Contrary to Catholic theology, the new testament teaches that all believers are members of God’s royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9), therefore every believer has the power to forgive sins, to receive and interpret God’s WORD. The Protestants rightly opposed the Catholic’s Priest class and left the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, most Protestants who turned away from the errors of the Catholic Church simply substituted new errors for old, being likewise spiritually blind to the mysteries that Jesus taught to his chosen disciples. Most Protestants replaced Priests with Pastors instead of teaching what Peter declared, that we were all members of the Royal Priesthood. Same institutionally empowered and blessed class, different name.
However, there were some spiritual movements that emphasized the priesthood of each believer. They also taught that believers should gather into communities, that living together in community is part of what it means to be a follower of Christ, that it was not an option. These included the Anabaptists, Mennonites, Hutterites and Amish, Inspirationists and Quakers. During their early years of these movements it was common practice to dispense with any formal leader such as a Pastor, relying instead on the active participation of the congregation, to do as the bible instructed: “when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying” (I Corinthians 14:26).
A few, especially the Quakers, emphasized the light of God within and the WORD of God as the Living Spirit of Christ. They believed the Bible was the word about the WORD, that the Word of God is Spirit and Truth, and still given directly to those who seek God through quietness and a listening heart. George Fox famously argued with a group of priests that it made no sense to call the Bible the word of God since it is not possible for man to buy and sell God’s spirit word. You can visit my blog to read more detail, in a four-part series I wrote, “What is the Word of God?”.
Clarification On The Unique Aspects Of Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation
The purpose of Christianity, if we are to be true to our founder’s teachings, is NOT a heightened state of endless reverie brought about by contemplation or chanting. Our purpose is “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1) becoming in the process “Priests of the Lord” (Isaiah 61:6). And our goal in meditation, which facilitates this purpose of becoming Christ-like (i.e. a servant-priest who delivers the WORD of God) is to abide in Christ and in God. This abiding, as described by Jesus Christ, is a type of oneness:
And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:13-23)
But this abiding oneness, contrary to the oneness sought after by meditators trained in the Eastern religious tradition, is not a merging type of oneness wherein we lose our identity. Rather, it is a oneness in experiencing the same heavenly peace and joy, here on earth, that we’ll experience on the other side, in heaven (I was taken to heaven and know what it is like); it is a oneness in accepting our God-given purpose (once we have taken the time to listen and discover our own personal God-given purpose); it is a oneness in chosing to do God’s will, in harmony with that purpose; and it is a oneness in that we discipline ourselves to hear with our spiritual ears, so we can hear God’s “still, small voice” and receive God’s Living WORD as it is being written on our heart and mind and soul. These periodic states of abiding oneness equip the servant-priest to endure whatever may come their way, with a thankful heart and a positive attitude that KNOWS, “All things work together for good, for those who love God, for the called according to God’s purposes” (Romans 8:28).
Before I became a Christian I practiced a strict form of Yoga, doing asanas (specific Yoga exercises) and meditation early every morning. When I became as a little child, accepting Christ into my heart, the changes brought into my life were so profound that I willingly accepted the lack of emphasis on meditation by today’s western Christianity. Looking back I can see the importance of my 10 year hiatus from meditation, so I could unlearn the eastern philosophy, meditation methods and attendant techniques, so I could learn a better way and gain understanding as to their differences.
I have asked for guidance by God all along the way and am certain that the meditation techniques I’ve learned are God inspired. They do not follow the monastic tradition, which tends to focus on objects or specific prayers and is strictly structured. Neither do I use specific bodily positions or seek after specific spiritual experiences such as “enlightenment”. My meditation practice most closely resembles the practice among Quakers of old (known as the Religious Society of Friends). Here is the description given by Wikipedia, in the entry on Meditation:
The predominant form of worship among Quakers, or the Religious Society of Friends, has historically been communal silent prayer or meditation which consists of focusing on the Inner Light of Christ, listening for and awaiting the movement of the “still, small voice within,” which may or may not result in being moved to spoken ministry. This process would of course necessitate the quieting of the worldly mind and spiritual discernment as to what genuinely proceeds from the Light as opposed to one’s own thoughts and feelings.
My spiritual perspective is unique in that it was born out of both my rebirth in Christ and my heavenly sojourn. To my knowledge, every other spiritual leader, priest, pastor, guru or would be guru alive today speaks of heaven and the spirit realm based on what they’ve read, what has been experienced by others, or what they personally experience from a earthly perspective. I believe I was chosen and taken to heaven so I would have this unique perspective for the ministry I’ve been given. This heavenly experience was a gift from God… totally without any desire on my part to have such an experience. I was fully awake and in perfect health, so there was no near death trauma. I like to call it a “near life” experience. To this day I’ve never met or read of another living human being who was taken to heaven while fully awake. It was that experience, as well as my subsequent meditations blessed by Holy Spirit guidance, that have become the TRUTH filters through which all other knowledge is passed.
East And West Compared
What Jesus taught was reinforced by my heavenly sojourn. Some of the teachings of his Apostles recorded in the New Testament were not. After years of comparing what I learned as a practitioner of eastern forms of meditation (including New Age permutations), with what I learned in heaven and via subsequent meditations, I have had to conclude that it is of the utmost importance to understand their differences.
The following chart compares eastern religious concepts (Hinduism, Buddhism, Yoga, New Age) with my own interpretations of Christianity. My interpretations are unique in that they were primarily taught to me by the Holy Spirit during my meditations, not by other men. Since I have no experience and very little understanding of Islam, I make no comparisons with it.
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3CCC |
EAST |
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God created mind and body (which includes the brain and sex organs) “And it was good”. The mind is a union of body (emotions) and spirit. God gave man the gift of free will, so we could use our mind, body and spirit to determine what is true and what is false. God created the mind to be used, not denied, its function being to integrate bodily senses, reason and spiritual awareness. |
The mind and body (which includes the brain and sex organs) are seen as part of the illusion of duality (Samsara or Maya). Those born into societies where this religious view predominates are not free to determine their own destiny, since the parallel beliefs of karma and reincarnation give rise to a devolution, into fatalistic acceptance of one’s societal position, ergo a strict class structure. |
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The mind has limitations but through self-discipline, using both logical reason and spirit-centered meditation, focusing on God’s works, ways and word, those limitations can be overcome. |
The mind and body are seen as the enemy and must be denied. This inevitably leads to asceticism and an attempt to reach a state of enlightenment (Moksha , Nirvana or Samadhi). |
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Receive the light, be transformed by the light, give the light to others. |
Receive the light. Become the light. [Fatalistic acceptance and an eternity of opportunity means one can come back again and again until they get it right. This gives rise to the general lack of compassion for the suffering of others seen in India. This truth becomes self-evident for those who travel to India, experiencing for themselves the stark contrast between their society and ours]. |
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Man and man’s spirit can never merge with and become God. When I was taken to heaven I was given direct spiritual knowledge not obtainable here on earth, revealing conclusively that even to look upon the light of God in it’s fullness would mean the obliteration of the fleshly body. Furthermore, the holiness I experienced in God’s presence (protected from the fullness of God’s light by a wall of angels) gave me clear understanding that such holiness is beyond the ability of our fleshly body to manifest here on earth. Also, having once been a hippy who experienced the merging with the light and having knowledge of so-called enlightened gurus (over a 4 decade period) who were obviously far from perfect, I concluded that holiness, perfection and enlightenment are beyond the grasp of us mere mortals while still encased in our fleshly body. Once we are in heaven the full understanding of this is immediately apparent. |
The common experience among those who have attained a state of enlightenment is a merging of one’s “self” with God’s light. When this happens the person is believed to have become one with God… not just one in purpose but one in all aspects. However, as has been widely reported by those in the hippy movement, LSD provided experiences that exactly mimic this merging of the light described by eastern gurus. It must be concluded, therefore, that a sense of merging with the light and becoming God is not conclusive evidence that one has indeed become God. BODILY FUNCTION |
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Words have meaning and are important, despite their limitations. Those limitations are dramatically reduced when we discipline ourselves to HEAR the Living WORD spoken by God’s Spirit. As it is written, “In the beginning was the word”. |
Words are the enemy. They and their attendant thoughts are seen as unimportant because mankind is seen as insignificant and therefore unimportant. |
So, what do my charted research findings mean in terms of how one meditates? In my “Wisdom Blog: Transform Yourself” entry “Being Still is a Secret Weapon”, I quote from the first principle of my book, “$ecret$ - 12 Principles of Prosperity for Spiritual Entrepreneurs”. That principle is “Spend Glory to Glory Transformational Time with God”. Here is a very short excerpt:
I began to meditate/pray for one hour minimum, seeking to listen and understand what God would have me to do rather than just read off a mental list of requests. The results were nothing short of astounding. Each time, about three quarters of the way through my praying, the usual mental disturbances of thought would suddenly be quieted and I would feel this intense connection, this “peace that passes ALL understanding” (Php 4:7) and a joy like no other. What I had tapped into was nothing less than God’s glory, infusing me and empowering me in ways I could not have dreamed.
Beginning in 1983, when I revisited meditation after a 10 year hiatus from its eastern forms, God led me to embrace a new type of meditation:
· One that reflects the understandings I gained during my heavenly sojourn;
· One that integrates the Living WORD concept (God speaks his WORD into the hearts of those who will listen, even to this day);
· One that is energized by the principles I received, by the Living WORD (these were written down so others may meditate upon them and are under 50 in number).
After 25 years of experimentation and comparison with my previous eastern religious/New Age experiences, my insights will prove helpful to anyone who shares the mission, principles and core philosophy of 3Circles Church Communities (3CCC).
Meditatively Gleaned Insights Regarding Meditation
The essence of truth which I meditatively distill is added to daily, drop by drop. This elixir of life has born some wondrous new, pracitcal and mystical insights, which I share below. When we daily choose to meditatively listen and receive from God, we join the company of ancient mystics. Mysticism becomes a normal part of our interactions with God. As we see in the following scripture, Jesus talked to the masses in parables, but explained the “mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven” to his disciples.
“And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. ” (Matthew 13:10-17).
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Religion is idolatry and superstition and control of the masses by a Priest class.
On the Priesthood of every believer: Each person, male and female, can choose to accept their responsibility as priests, as members of the “Royal priesthood”: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”. (I Peter 2:9) In Isaiah we read this prophecy, that in the last days: “You shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” (Isaiah 61:6)
The goal of meditation is not Enlightenment/Nirvana/Samadhi (call it what you will), rather the goal is to hear God’s Living WORD and experience God’s peace and joy.
We become one with Christ and with God, one in purpose, one with that abiding peace and joy within, but we do not merge with God or become God. Anyone who states that they have merged with or become God, yet still remains in their fleshly body is either deceived or a liar.
Guided imagery puts the focus on images and the person talking. We want the focus to be on God, because we want to go to the source and hear God’s voice. Spoken words bring with them the baggage of one’s limited perceptual framework, and the emotions attached to them. It is better that we should listen to hear God’s words.
“In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15)
“Be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God”. (Romans 12:2)
Become a Non-Conformist… Renew Your Mind by Meditating on God… This Transforms Your Life… Leading to a “Peace that passes all understanding”… And “Joy unspeakable”… “And full of [God’s Transformational] Glory”.
Meditation is not an absence of thought it is the presence of God’s thoughts.
Those who tell you to “stop thinking and there is nothing you will not know” (Baba Ram Dass in Be Here Now) have not been to heaven. In heaven thought is continuous, instantaneous, but without what we understand as the spoken word.
Reincarnation as it is presently presented is a lie. People who recite the times and deeds of people long dead have connected with the vibrations of other lives, as recorded in the Akashic Records or Book of Life (it matters not what you call it). The truth of this is readily apparent when one considers how many people claim to be the reincarnation of the same famous person. Each has simply tapped into the same eternal, vibrational record of that person’s life.
In heaven you are still an individual “self”, but your every thought is impregnated with, and interconnected with, God’s thoughts.
In God’s presence (here on earth) outside sounds should not be a disturbance – they are part of LIFE and can be stripped of their emotional vibrations as we continually re-focus on listening for God’s thoughts.
We become like a lighter-than-air balloon in a storm. We flow with God’s wind and it blows us where it will.
We seek only what God has commanded – to be STILL and KNOW; to abide in Christ and God through that stillness. We do not seek enlightenment in the sense of knowing all that God knows or being all that God is.
Our meditation is different because we allow for thought and “no-thought” (”no-thought” is the presence of God’s thoughts). One is not superior to the other. God created both the “silence” and the WORD (thought).
The Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation Method
It is important to establish at the outset that Glory2Glory Meditation is not just about the individual. The power of meditation is increased exponentially every time a new meditator is added to the group. Just as the life of every individual’s body is found in the effectual working together of all its parts, the life of our spiritual community is found in the effectual working together of all its individual members. Just as in the family, where we find a new kind of spiritual math, that one woman joined in marriage to one man does not equal two but rather yields ten times the effect of each living alone, so within the community we find this same spiritual math, especially when coming together to focus our attention meditatively upon God.
In keeping with this understanding, and adding to it the knowledge that the more we receive the more we should give, it should be the goal of every 3Circles Church Community member to spread this good news. For in so doing we are attracting to ourselves more blessings, more prosperity and more spiritual power, further enabling us to help more of the brokenhearted, the afflicted, and those bound by their own self-imposed limitations, “For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (II Corinthians 3:17).
The Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation method has three parts as outlined below. It has Building Blocks, it has Individual and Community Goals, and it has A Process for manifesting the creative, healing, renewing, transforming light of God. Each of those three parts are further divided to provide step-by-step clarity as to the What, Why, Where and How of the Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation method.
Spiritual DNA – The BUILDING BLOCKS of Our Spirit-Centered Life
Just as the physical body requires 4 nucleotides (organic compounds composed of phosphates and sugars) that combine in an endless combination of 3’s (i.e. ATG-ATC-GTA-GAT, etc.), creating coded templates for the formation and maintenance of every part and process in our body, so the Spiritual Body, both individual and corporate (community), requires 4 central concepts for the Spiritual Body to be formed and maintained.
The four nucleotides of DNA are identified as Adenosine (A), Thymine (T), Guanine (G), and Cytosine (C).
In order to make it easier to memorize, I have used the same A, T, G, and C as identifiers within our Spiritual DNA. These letters are identified as follows:
A – AWAKE; T – TRANSFORM; G – GIVE; C – COORDINATE
Jesus Christ said, “I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE”. He told us that it is only by these three that we can approach and KNOW the Father. On one level it is rightly interpreted as simply accepting Jesus into one’s heart and becoming his disciple. But over the course of 35 years I have observed what is now obvious to me, that those who stay at the level of the literal stop growing spiritually. Here is what the Holy Spirit revealed to me regarding their deeper meaning.
THE LIFE is God’s light, the kingdom of God within you.
THE TRUTH is found by meditating to receive God’s Living Spirit-WORD.
THE WAY is living in an intentionally built, faith-based, loving community.
I. AWAKE
A. Awakening begins with acknowledgement of THE LIFE, our spirit-centered life within (“the Kingdom of God is within you” Luke 17:21).
B. Awakening continues thru humility & obedience to God’s will, as revealed by Jesus Christ.
1. Accept that Christ’s teachings bring joy (John 17:13).
2. If we love Jesus we believe and do as he teaches/commands (John 14:15; 15:10). Awakening commands include:
a) God helps us to keep from evil; we repent when we don’t (John 17:15; Luke 15:7).
b) Seek after purity/righteousness, good character (John 17:17).
c) Non-conformity to this world’s lifestyle/ways (John 17:14 and Romans 12:2).
II. TRANSFORM
A. Transformation begins with acknowledgement of THE TRUTH, God’s Living Spirit-WORD received through meditation, by the power of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus left as teacher/guide to all his disciples (John 7:37-39; 14:25-27; I John 2:27).
B. Transformation continues as our acceptance of the importance of non-conformity to the world leads us into renewal of our mind (Romans 12:2). This renewal has GOALS and involves a PROCESS which leads to a state of ABIDING (see below, “Abiding in God’s WORD & Glory – The Goals and Process”).
III. GIVE
A. True Giving (spirit-centered and spirit-led giving; not the same as giving to receive or giving out of obligation or giving just because it feels good) begins with acknowledgement of THE WAY, God’s love manifest more perfectly thru living in community with other believers. This allows us to serve/heal and teach/share what God teaches us by the Living WORD, which we receive and apply daily.
B. Giving continues and is sustained by love but not love as the world knows love. Jesus commands us to “Love one another as I have loved you”. The first act of his ministry was to gather his disciples into a community; they traveled together, prayed together, ministered together, ate together and pooled their money. Jesus gave his life out of love for us all, so living and loving as he did is a small price in comparison.
IV. COORDINATE
A. Coordination of the body of Christ, the church, begins within each individual, extends to the family, then to each 3Circles Church Community and finally between communities. What we coordinate is our actions, so that our individual goals and actions are compatible with our immediate family, and by extension, compatible with the community’s goals (and vice versa, making sure our community goals are compatible with the Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness of our individual members).
B. Coordination is sustained as long as love and unity prevail. When we consider the complexity of the human body with its myriad parts and functions, we get a glimpse of what is needed for coordinating the functions of our 3Circles Church Communities. Coordination means management and management means governance.
Abiding in God’s WORD and Glory – GOALS & PROCESS
This section could have been placed under “TRANSFORM” in the outline above, because Abiding is really part of the transformation process.
Those who read the bible without understanding its ability to kill the Spirit have no spiritual understanding. Even Paul, an apostle whom I believe preached a gospel different from the one delivered to him by Jesus (see My Blog entry, “Did The Apostle Paul Preach Another Gospel”) said, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (II Corinthians 3:6). The bible is like a map or guide book, leading one to a promised land, but it is not the promised land. It is man’s attempt to put into words what is essentially ineffable. As a record of what others believe they have received from God it is an invaluable tool. It shortens the learning curve and allows us to bring those ideas to God for direct confirmation. If one wants to know the real truth behind the words they must get beyond anyone else’s perceptual framework, beyond their interpretations, beyond what they have written and go directly to the source.
This is what Abiding is all about. Those who renew their mind through our Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation will come to understand what it means to “Abide in Christ”, to experience oneness with “The mind of Christ”, and to be transformed “from glory to glory… by the Spirit of the Lord”. These three, “Abiding in Christ”, having “The mind of Christ” and being transformed “from glory to glory” are a direct outcome of what I call, “Meditation’s Seven Stairs to Heavenly, Transformational Glory”. This is the PROCESS of meditation.
I. Meditation’s Seven Stairs to Heavenly, Transformational Glory
A. HUMBLE THOUGHTS
B. THANKFUL THOUGHTS
C. LOVING THOUGHTS
D. LETTING GO OF YOUR THOUGHTS
E. SPIRIT-CENTERED THOUGHTS
F. WEAVING A TAPESTRY OF THOUGHTS
G. ABIDING IN CHRIST BRINGS GOD’S PEACE, JOY AND GLORY
The first three steps, 1) Humble Thoughts; 2) Thankful Thoughts; and 3) Loving Thoughts, all relate to self and others. They primarily involve your thoughts.
The second three steps, 4) Letting Go of Your Thoughts; 5) Spirit-Centered Thoughts; and 6) Weaving a Tapestry of Thoughts, all relate to God’s WORKS, WAYS, and WORD. These stages of meditation are primarily involved with God’s thoughts; which means receiving God’s Living WORD. This leads to the sense of Abiding oneness. I know when I’ve reached the state of Abiding because I am overwhelmed by God’s presence, which is always accompanied by that “Peace that passes all understanding” and a “Joy unspeakable and full of glory”.
The goal of meditation in Eastern religions and in New Age circles is individual enlightenment therefore it is primarily focused on one’s self and the denial of everyday life through asceticism. Any emphasis on community is purely for the enhancement of each monk’s individual enlightenment journey.
By contrast, within a 3Circles Church Community, although we’ll provide periodic weekend retreats for individual reflection and Spirit-centering, there will be no such focus on asceticism or withdrawing from life. Rather, our individual meditations will provide the underpinnings of peace, joy, love and guided purpose that can sustain our communities indefinitely, regardless of the challenges faced. And it is this daily bond to the Spirit world that gives rise to a positive overcoming attitude, reducing stress, energizing our community and helping us find solutions to every problem.
A 3Circles Church Community member’s life will be punctuated by the laughter (and cries) of the communities children, challenged by the necessity of compromise on community-wide decisions, and given opportunities found no where else, like access to the personnel, equipment and facilities of our community based Business Incubator. For these and other reasons the goals of our Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation are focused on the community as well as the individual.
I. Five Goals of The Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation Method
A. PURPOSE: Know God’s will for your life and bear spiritual fruit (John 15:14; Galatians 5:22; Ephesian 5:9).
B. PURIFY: Be sanctified by the Truth/Word (John 17:17-19).
C. PROTECT: Love one another (John 13:34-35); Be like the sheep, gathered together for mutual protection (Matthew 9:36); Allow Jesus to gather us as a hen gathers her chicks (Matthew 23:37).
D. PROMOTE: Share the light and Be the salt (Matthew 5:13-16; John 17:18).
E. PROSPER: Ask and it shall be done (John 15:7); But we most often do not know what it is we should ask and pray for (Romans 8:26-28); Therefore we ask within the context of God’s will, which means our asking and receiving is dependent on our bearing spiritual fruit first (John 15:16).
The first two goals above, Purpose and Purify, are primarily individual goals. The last two goals, Promote and Prosper, are primarily community goals. The middle goal, Protect, bridges both. This gathering type of love prevents predators from destroying the sheep because they are together and watching each other’s back at all times. When any predator is nearby the sheep close ranks and are as one body, moving this way or that in order to avoid danger. This is why Jesus said he was the shepard and we are the sheep. The protection of each individual believer guarantees the protection of the entire community.
Those who join with us will have to love celebration and play as well as work and self-discipline. Without celebration and play, life is pretty dull. With them we maintain a balanced outlook and that special “Joie de vivre” that adds zest to everyday living!
Many years ago, when walking with my 8 year old daughter, she asked me one of those questions that only a child can ask, “Daddy, why am I like you, always bubbly, but mommy is sad”? I told my daughter what I understood to be true at the time, that she had inherited our Grey spunk and enthusiasm for life, that it was our natural disposition. However, as science has progressed we’ve come to understand it’s not as simple as nature vs. nurture, that not only can genes be altered and corrupted by disease, they can also be altered, healed and made whole by the power of prayer and meditation.
Those who learn and practice our Glory2Glory Transformation Meditation are learning to use the power of the supernatural to transform the natural, not only for their own healing, edification and empowerment, but also for all their new found friends and neighbors, both online and off, within the larger family of the 3Circles Church Communities.
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