Skip to main content

Glorian averages 100 donors a month. Are you one of the few who keep Glorian going? Donate now.

  Sunday, 21 July 2013
  2 Replies
  2.2K Visits
Hello dear instructor,

We would like to discuss the implication of the following quote on how we conduct our day to day practice:
When we talk about meditation, what we really indicate is Samadhi.
- Gnosticteaching.org; How to Know the I (Parto Two); Q&A

*We are complete ignoramuses and have just begun our work*
Daily, we need to conduct the practices of retrospection, sexual transmutation (prana-yama), prayer, and favourably, the comprehension of our egos. However, as we have understood it, these practices need to be conducted in a state of meditation. And before we understood this as a state of tranquillity and serenity - in a relative sense - and we conducted our practices as so. Often times without any real success. After having read the aforementioned quote we got the impression of having conducted our practices through the wrong medium; through our ego. And that we never entered the meditate state but have just been fooling ourselves.

As a consequence of this we have been trying to enter the state of meditation as defined above but without success. Thus, we have been putting all our efforts into enter the prerequisite for these practices but as a consequence of failing in this quest our daily practices has come to a complete standstill.

Our question is: How are we to continue our work? Are we to persist in the development of our meditation practice (so that we eventually enter Samadhi at ease) through physiological judo and focused attention (light/breath) or are we to continue with daily practice through our faulty and thus quite ineffective state of ''meditation''?

Thank you for your time sir and may you rest in assurance that the enlightenment you offer here is very much appreciated by us. Bless you.
10 years ago
·
#4082
Accepted Answer
Keep practicing. No one is perfect in the beginning. It takes a lot of experimentation, trial and error in order to deepen one's meditative practice. Do not expect to do it right every time, or that you must fulfill the ideal of being "the perfect Gnostic student." When approaching meditation, throw that all out to the garbage.

What's important is an open mind, without expectations. Meditation is simply "to receive new information." It is nothing supra-spectacular; it is the comprehension of one's daily psychological states, or whatever object of meditation we seek to know more about.

In accordance with the Hindu schools of yoga, we find this model:
  • Yama and Niyama: ethical discipline
  • Pranayama: sexual transmutation
  • Pratyahara: silence of mind
  • Dharana: concentration
  • Dhyana: meditation
  • Samadhi: ecstasy / comprehension
It's important to note that samadhi is in fact the state of intuitive or creative comprehension: it is knowing without recourse to intellectual conceptualization. It is the objective knowledge and understanding of the soul. Samadhi can be an out of body experience, which is typically what people think of in the West when they hear the term. However, in truth it is something much more accessible and practical: understanding or knowledge of one's self, especially within psychoanalytic meditation on the ego.

The word ecstasy comes from the Latin ex-statuo: "to stand outside oneself." It means to stand outside one's ego. This can be through a mystical experience on the Tree of Life, or it can be here and now in relation to stepping out of our mistaken ways of perception in order to see the truth. There are always levels to comprehension.

Joyful in hope, suffering in tribulation, be thou constant in thy prayer.

Benedictis, qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis.

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!"

10 years ago
·
#4082
Accepted Answer
Keep practicing. No one is perfect in the beginning. It takes a lot of experimentation, trial and error in order to deepen one's meditative practice. Do not expect to do it right every time, or that you must fulfill the ideal of being "the perfect Gnostic student." When approaching meditation, throw that all out to the garbage.

What's important is an open mind, without expectations. Meditation is simply "to receive new information." It is nothing supra-spectacular; it is the comprehension of one's daily psychological states, or whatever object of meditation we seek to know more about.

In accordance with the Hindu schools of yoga, we find this model:
  • Yama and Niyama: ethical discipline
  • Pranayama: sexual transmutation
  • Pratyahara: silence of mind
  • Dharana: concentration
  • Dhyana: meditation
  • Samadhi: ecstasy / comprehension
It's important to note that samadhi is in fact the state of intuitive or creative comprehension: it is knowing without recourse to intellectual conceptualization. It is the objective knowledge and understanding of the soul. Samadhi can be an out of body experience, which is typically what people think of in the West when they hear the term. However, in truth it is something much more accessible and practical: understanding or knowledge of one's self, especially within psychoanalytic meditation on the ego.

The word ecstasy comes from the Latin ex-statuo: "to stand outside oneself." It means to stand outside one's ego. This can be through a mystical experience on the Tree of Life, or it can be here and now in relation to stepping out of our mistaken ways of perception in order to see the truth. There are always levels to comprehension.

Joyful in hope, suffering in tribulation, be thou constant in thy prayer.

Benedictis, qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis.

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!"

10 years ago
·
#4091
Thank you for your reply Benedictus.
We now understand that we are not to rely on you for answers; solely for guidance.
Thus we found the answers naturally in our intuition: do as best as you can and always work to deepen your state of mediation.
We are sorry that we did not recognize this from the beginning. Thank you for staying silent.
May God bless you and keep you.
  • Page :
  • 1
There are no replies made for this post yet.