Inula Austin Soul Growth

Many people find traditional meditation to be almost impossible.

I tend to agree with the ancient Zen saying;

“You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day. Unless you’re too busy, then you should sit for an hour.” 

However, I do believe that there are many good reasons why this may not be possible for some. For instance, we all know about the long term benefits of learning to sit in the silence, in becoming mindful, but it is also now accepted that advising people with anxiety disorders and other emotional imbalances to do this whilst in the midst of their difficulties may be counter productive to their recovery.

I would always advise that a meditation practice be set in motion before a crisis point emerges, in a time of peacefulness, that way it may act as a suitable and sustainable therapeutic tonic. Make meditation a part of your everyday life if you can and you will indeed, reap the long term benefits.

Contemplation as a Replacement

I love to contemplate. It’s what I spend a great deal of my day doing and it has definitely led me to an understanding of my rich inner life, an understanding that a wonderful cosmos does indeed, lie within.

When teachers such as the Master Jesus talked about the Kingdom of Heaven being within, I believe that this is what he was referring to. Put another way, we may say that ‘The only way out, is in.’

When we spend time in contemplation our connection to the actual reality of our existence comes into brilliant, vibrant focus as our perceived reality receeds.

We are able to become wholly aware of our ever expanding state of consciousness and our connectedness to everything. That isn’t to say that these same revelations can’t be achieved through meditation, a state of Samadhi (Unity Consciousness) in the Hindu tradition is the greater goal of meditation practice. I simply find that contemplation can unlock the same wonderful insights without the self induced pressure that sitting in meditation may create for some.

You may choose to contemplate anything. A thought, a word, a person, an action, a feeling, a flower, nature, the universe, the great mysteries…. the list really is endless and only limited by your own creativity.

In a world where imagination, creativity and critical thinking has been side lined by scientific thought, structure, technology and left-brainedness, to contemplate is almost an act of rebellion!

Whatever you wish to think about, try to unlock the positive potential and aspects of the object of contemplation. Choosing negative or worry producing subjects will quickly become tiresome or worse still, lead to increased levels of anxiety. Go for a sense of wonderment, rediscover a sense of awe, be childlike in your appreciation of the subject of your contemplation. Seek to ‘see’ every microscopic detail of the flower or the cloud, every single cell or water droplet. How are you similar in nature to ‘it’? Is there an innate intelligence or consciousness that belies the scientific definition of that ‘thing’?

Give yourself permission to think about the larger questions, the bigger picture of life and let a freedom of awareness abound. Let yourself traverse avenues that may not be familiar as you journey in your thought processes.

An opening up and expansion of conscious awareness doesn’t have to include psychodelics, heightened states of ecstacy or the developed depths of trance. You have an entire universe of information and ideas all around you, just waiting to be perceived.

The ‘Akasha’ is the traditional vedic word for the substance of the Universe, the Ether (or ‘5th Element’ as Hermetics knew it) is the stuff from which all other stuff emerges. With a consciousness of its own, it stores every impression that is made upon it and may be read by anybody who wishes, through reaching out their own consciousness and interlinking with it.

More latterly termed ‘The Akashic Records’ and perceived as many as the Book of Life spoken of in the Bible, this term became popularised by the works of Edgar Cayce (aka ‘The Sleeping Prophet’), a naturally gifted American psychic living in the early 20th Century, Cayce gave people Life Readings based upon the information he accessed from the Akasha whilst in a deep state of trance.

All of these possibilities open up through merely relaxing and allowing oneself to go beyond the purely physical realm, using thought processes alone.

Contemplation is NOT Rumination

It is worth remembering that if you have a tendency towards anxious or disordered thinking, contemplation differs greatly from rumination. Rumination is an obsessive thought pattern which holds it’s sufferer in a vice like repetitive pattern of (usually) distressing or intrusive thoughts. Ruminating seeks to find certainty as an absolute, 100% quantifiable answer. Contemplation on the other hand is a relaxing activity, a positive stream of consciousness, an enjoyable thought activity. You should feel rested and well at ease after contemplating something, never anxious, depressed or overwrought in any way.

You may wish to journal where your little mind journies and adventures in consciousness take you and map the expansion of your conscious awareness as it unfolds like a flower.

Enjoy the freedom that this type of mind-travel brings. It is an act of self liberation and self care to allow yourself these moments or hours of contemplation. You can decide the parameters, the wheres or whens or let yourself drift gently, as a leaf on a wide, slow moving river.

Leave your preconceptions behind and dive deep into the wonderment of the Universe as you allow your physical self, time and space to melt away and become pure conscious energy, a seeker of Ultimate Truth.