Meditation is a process whereby the mind is reorientated to reality, and, rightly used, can lead a man into another kingdom, into another state of consciousness and being and into another dimension.
Intellect to Intuition
Alice Bailey

Meditation is primarily a self-initiated process of education, calling forth all the powers of the will, basing itself upon the equipment present, but producing at the end a new type, the soul type, with its own internal apparatus, and holding within itself again the seeds of still greater unfoldment.

From being something imposed from without, the new educational process wells up from within, and becomes that self- imposed mental discipline, which we cover by those much-misunderstood words – concentration, meditation, and contemplation. From being a process of memory training, and the development of a quick handling of the response apparatus which puts us in touch with the external world, the educational technique becomes a system of mind control, leading eventually to an inner awareness of a new state of being. It produces at length a rapid reaction and responsiveness to a world, intangible and unseen, and to a new series of instinctual recognitions, which have their seat in a subtler response apparatus. The soul type imposes itself upon the human type, as the human has done upon the animal, and just as the human type is the product of mass training and instinct and has been tremendously unfolded by our modern educational systems, so the soul type is the product of a new method of mental training, imposed on the individual by his soul, and called forth by the urgency of the quest and by the act of his will. This soul is always latent in the human form, but is drawn into demonstrated activity through the practice of meditation.

It might be stated that meditation is the science, which enables us to arrive at direct experience of God. That in which we live and move and have our being is no longer the object of aspiration, or a symbol to us of divine possibility. We know God as the Eternal Cause and the source of all that is, including ourselves. We recognise the whole. We become one with God by becoming one with our own immortal soul, and when that tremendous event takes place we find that the consciousness of the individual soul is the consciousness of the whole, and that seperativeness and division, divisions and the concepts of me and thee, of God and a child of God, have faded away in the knowledge and realization of unity.

Rene Guenon, in his book Man and His Becoming, makes the following interesting comments on the word “union” which have a place here.

“The realisation of this identity is effected by Yoga, that is, the intimate and essential union of being with the Divine Principle, or, if preferred, with the Universal. The proper meaning of this word Yoga is in fact “union” and nothing else… It should be noted that this realization ought not strictly to be regarded as an “achievement,” or as “the production of a non-pre-existent result,” for the union in question, although not actually realized in the sense in which we here intend it, exists non the less potentially, or rather virtually; what is involved is merely the effectual attainment by the individual being … of the consciousness of that which truly is from all eternity.”

Through the ordered stages of the meditation process, a relationship is gradually and steadily established between the soul and its instruments until the time comes when they are literally one. Then the sheaths serve simply to reveal the light of the indwelling Son of God.

The whole object of the science of meditation is, therefore, to enable man to become in outer manifestation what he is in his inner reality, and to make him identify himself with his soul aspect and not simply his lower characteristics. It is a quick process for the unfolding of the reasoning consciousness, but in this instance must be self-applied and self initiated. Through meditation, the mind is used as an instrument for observing the eternal states, and becomes in time and instrument for illumination, and through it the soul or Self transmits knowledge to the physical brain.

The heart of the world is light and in that light shall we see God. In that light we find ourselves. In that light all things are revealed. Patanjali tells us that “when the means to union have been steadily practised and when impurity has been overcome, enlightenment takes place, leading up to full illumination. The mind then tends towards increasing illumination as to the true nature of the Self.”

As a result of meditation comes the shining forth of the light. This “illumination” is gradual and is developed stage by stage.

Intellect to Intuition
Alice Bailey

Published by The Lucis Publishing Company
Available at www.sydneygoodwill.org.au