Re Meditation, Disciple, and Focus

Meditation, Aryeh Kaplan informs us, is thinking in a controlled manner. It is controlled thought, controlled imagination -- thought directed by will. By meditation one learns to use the conscious mind to control the mental processes that are usually under the control of the unconscious, and by this how to turn off interferring thoughts and concentrate, enhance awareness, focus perception. One stops thinking as a child, and begins to think like an adult (pg. 3-10). And, I might add, to become natural in thought.

Natural. The way it's supposed to be. I once practiced occult meditation, and in that state I encountered a spirit. Not a good one. But I was on its ground. When I have been mentally concentrated, my awareness enhanced and my perception focused, God has spoken to me. As He apparently speaks to many people. Because I was on His ground. I did not meditate to get there; it was just the natural course of being a Christian, and in being a Christian at those moments I happened to become disciplined and focused. I was in our natural state, disciplined and focused, and there it was: His Voice. I was on His ground.

Meditation, no matter how you do it, is a FOCUSED DISCIPLINE you practice to become "on His ground." Keep your mind open toward God. In your church service, in your shower, tending your children, or in the Silence, keep your mind toward God and be ready to hear. Do not be surprised if what you "hear" is something that comes to you in your mind's eye).