Meditation is critical to
the practice of psi, and essential to
the
discovery of the self. Following is a sequence of simple candle
meditation
exercises which you should perform. These exercises are designed
to teach you basic techniques by the process of experiencing them.
You should perform each exercise in order, moving on to the following
exercise only when you feel comfortable with the one before it.
- Exercise
1 -- Clearing the
mind.
Take a
candle
into a dark quiet room where you can sit comfortably one or two meters
away from the candle. Light the candle, sit back, and
relax. Stare at the candle flame and relax your body and
mind. Clear your thoughts and focus them only on the
flame. Continue to focus on the candle flame for up to an hour if
necessary. When thoughts come to your mind, allow them to pass
over you and through you, but do not acknowledge them. Keep your
mind clear and focused only on the flame.
After meditating with complete
focus on the candle flame for a time, you will experience a tingling
and
buzzing sensation, perhaps accompanied by a feeling of
detachment. Accept this sensation and welcome it. Allow the
sensation to grow.
While you are in this state,
familiarize yourself with your soul. Your soul is the part of you
which is left when there is no thought. It is the you beneath the
brain.
Repeat this exercise many times
until you are comfortable with it. Come back to this exercise in
the future when you need to clear your mind.
- Exercise 2 -- Controlling the flame.
Begin as in Exercise 1 by clearing your mind with
the candle meditation. Focus on the candle as you did before, and
then become aware of your soul as in Exercise 1. When you are
focused on just being that part of you, you should reach out to the
candle flame with your soul and feel your center of perception and
awareness being at the same location as the flame. Practice just
this portion of the exercise until you are comfortable with it.
Next visualize the candle flame
stabilizing in a vertical position with no flickering, and expect it to
take and maintain this form. Feel your soul at the location of the
candle flame, forming the flame shape that you are visualizing, and expect
the flame to take this shape as you are forming it. The act of
"expectation" is critical. You must fully believe and expect it will
work at the precise moment that you are trying to make it work. Keep
the flame vertical and stable in this manner for a while.
After you have succeeded in
stabilizing the flame, you should visualize the candle flame tilting to
the left, form the shape with your soul, and expect it to work at that
very moment just as you did before. After a while make the candle
flame tilt to the right in the same manner. At first simply tilt
the flame a little in each direction, then as your confidence grows
tilt it farther and farther to the side you have chosen. When you
first attempt to tilt the flame it may flicker a bit, and you should
then attempt to stabilize it to a smooth controlled stable flame
tilting to the chosen side. Continue practicing this until you
are able to tilt the flame far to either chosen side and keep it stable
in that location.
Repeat this exercise many times
until you are comfortable with it. Come back to this exercise in
the future to stabilize your own mind, to get in touch with your soul,
and to refresh yourself on how to influence the world.
- Exercise 3 -- Clearing the self.
Do not underestimate the importance of this
exercise. Psi is performed by the soul, and the soul is the core
of your being. As such, it is essential that you understand the
core of yourself and learn to deal internally with deeply rooted
problems and stumbling blocks.
Perform Exercise 1, clearing the
mind as before. When you have entered the meditative state, relax
your focus and feel your awareness expand so that you are aware of the
entirety of yourself. Clear your thoughts completely so that you
are ready to receive answers. Begin asking yourself questions
like, "What is it that bothers me most about myself?", or "What is
preventing me from achieving what I want?" Don't accept the first
answer you give, but continue to ask yourself deeper and deeper
questions probing down to the root causes for the problem at hand.
Once you gain a deep
understanding of the problem you are attempting to address, conclude
this exercise by asking yourself, "What am I like?", and after you have
answered that, ask, "What do I want to be like?" You will get out
of this exercise only as much as your self-honesty.
Come back to this exercise in the
future to resolve internal issues and stumbling blocks, and to promote
your spiritual development.
- Exercise 4 -- Extinguishing the flame.
You should be comfortable with Exercise 2 before
proceeding to this exercise. Begin just as in Exercise 2, and
tilt the candle flame to the sides to make sure you are in the correct
state of mind and to gather your confidence.
In the same manner that you
tilted the candle flame to the side, reach out to the flame, visualize
the flame stretching taller, and feel it shaping into a taller
shape. Practice stretching the flame taller for a while, and then
reverse the visualization. Shrink the flame into a smaller and
smaller flame. Keep making the flame smaller until the flame
simply extinguishes and the candle is no longer lit.
When you have accomplished this,
congratulate yourself for demonstrating a clear and unmistakable
influence over the physical world. If you are having difficulty,
remember that there is no real difference between this exercise and
Exercise 2. The only difference is psychological in overcoming
your own expectations. This is an important part of the personal
journey of psi.
Repeat this exercise many times
until you are comfortable with it. Come back to this exercise in
the future to strengthen your influence of the physical world.
More exercises in this series may be
forthcoming. Please feel free to email me with any questions or
comments you have about these exercises.
