The Results of Meditating from Your Heart

By now, you may be wondering what meditation will do for you.  The concept of sitting and doing nothing is about as foreign to the modern American consciousness as anything we might imagine.  For most of us, we have been exhorted since childhood to do do do.  Perform!  Produce!  And now produce even more!  These have been the Montrose mantras driven into our brains since childhood.  And while these exhortations may result in an abundance of material wealth, they are not likely to enhance our closest relationships, and they certainly do not help our search for God.

Our material success depends on our drivenness, and our drivenness depends on our ego.  As a result, we have created an internal structure that we call the “self”.  In its most basic terms, our “self” is a tool.  This tool has been refined by generations of our forebearers to garner success, however, you might measure success.  But every tool has its limitations.  The limitation of the ego is that it can start us on our journey to God, but it cannot take us to the goal of union with God.

Here is why.  The ego is about boundaries.  This is mine, and that stuff over there is not mine; it’s yours.  There is a very clear boundary between my stuff and everything else.  The ego defines the dimensions of success for us: getting into this favored school, obtaining this special job, advancing up the corporate ladder, and getting this particular partner.  The ego defines what it wants and then drives us to obtain the desired objects.  It is a highly effective tool that has been developed over many millennia.  Its roots are found deep in the animal kingdom, and those species with the strongest egos (also read, the strongest drive to success) are the ones that have survived.

So here’s the good part.  The ego was originally created by God, and it functioned to help creatures survive and thrive.  It is a fabulous tool for that purpose.  But all tools have their limits.  For example, I could use a hammer to chop down a tree.  If I hit the head of the hammer in the same spot, over and over again, for a very long period of time, I would eventually break all of the wood fibers and the tree would fall over.  It would be a very inefficient use of my time and a very poor use of the hammer.  The hammer is much more effective pounding nails, but it could be used to chop down a tree.

In the same way, the ego is a very effective tool for creating boundaries and pushing us toward success.  It is not at all effective in bringing us to God.  While it can start us on the journey, it cannot bring us Home.

For spiritual purposes, the ego is a tool that can be employed during the start in the middle of the journey.  It can set the goal and it can help us as we start.  For example, it can help us start a meditation practice.  Starting meditation goes against much of what we have learned as necessary for success in our culture.  I mean, really, sitting down with your eyes closed and doing “nothing” – what benefit could that possibly bring?

So, let us look at it now from the other side, the spiritual side.  While the ego is about setting boundaries, the spiritual journey is about transcending boundaries and entering into union with the Divine.  So you see, the ego can get you started, but it cannot take you to the end of the journey.  The ego sets boundaries, it doesn’t transcend or dissolve them.  It’s the wrong tool for the job.

The spiritual journey is about entering into successively deeper experiences of union.  For our journey to be successful, we need to find ways to overcome the very boundaries that our ego erects.

When stated this clearly, it’s likely to bring up fear for you.  Our egos are about maintaining control, and the spiritual journey is about giving control over to God.  In fact, I have heard some of my Christian friends rail against meditation for just this reason.  They fear that if you empty your mind, demonic forces might come in and take over.  Their fear is unfounded, and no one has ever shown any evidence that this sort of thing occurs.  As a matter of fact, the opposite occurs.  Abundant research verifies that those who have meditated for a long time show more significant levels of happiness and inner peace.  Besides, imagine how nice it would be to have that constant chatter in your head be still for a change!

Let me illustrate this by means of the poem.  This poem was written by the 13^th century Islamic mystic, Jelaluddin Rumi.  It is to my mind, one of the most lovely of poems, for it speaks of entering into the mystery that is God.  In the words of Rumi:

The clear bead at the center changes everything.

There are no edges to my loving now.

I’ve heard it said

there is a window

from one soul to another.

But if there is no wall,

there is no need for the window

Or the latch.

The clear bead of which Rumi speaks is the heart, that spiritual center in your chest.  He says poetically that when the heart is clear – when it has been purified from sin and is no longer cloudy or opaque – there is no need for our ego boundaries.  He speaks here of a heart that is united with the Unseen.  When our hearts are clarified and purified like this, when they are in union with God, our boundaries disappear.  And it’s not just the boundary between us and God that disappears; it’s the boundary between us and each other, and the boundaries between us and the natural world.  

In a word, it is freedom.  Freedom to live from our deepest nature which is and always has been in union with the Divine.

How different this is from our normal ego-driven state.  We have boundaries all over the place.  We like this one and that one and that one over there, but we don’t like these others.  And those strange ones over there, we don’t even see or acknowledge them.  They don’t exist for us.  And with all of these boundaries, we often find ourselves alone.  Utterly by ourselves.  And this state is so hideous that human beings cannot survive it.  They find ways to check out and end their lives.

Rumi goes on to say, “If there is no wall, there is no need for the window or the latch.”  There is no need to be alone.  When we find ourselves alone, it is because we have erected walls and closed the latches.  And our Lord tells us that all of this is a lie.  The gospel of Matthew tells us, just before Jesus ascends into heaven at the end of the book, “Know that I will be with you always, even to the end of time.”  This is the promise of Christianity and the promise of all of the major religions.  God is not some strange being, far, far away.  God is right here, with us, in our hearts, an abiding Presence.  And there is nothing that we can do that can possibly separate us from the love of God.

The spiritual journey is to realize and experience that holy Presence within us.  The most amazing thing about this journey, in my understanding, is that we have already succeeded.  We're just not aware of it yet!  The focus of our spiritual work is to remove the artificial boundaries that separate us, one from another, and from God.

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That’s all for this week.  I hope you spend some time thinking about how your ego functions.  Watch what you feel attracted to and repulsed by.  Notice when you feel you have to do something and delay the doing of it for just 30 seconds or so.  Instead of blindly doing what your ego directs, push back a little.  See what happens when you do.  Remember, it is just a tool, nothing more.  And like all tools, it has a proper function and use, and a much wider range of inappropriate uses.  And keep up your meditation practice.  Especially when it seems difficult.  (That’s when the ego is pushing back at you!  LOL)

Next week, we will continue exploring the nature of the mind.  In addition, we will show you a way to turbocharge your practice.  So stay tuned…

With deep affection,

P.S.  Several of you have expressed the desire for an online meditation class.  If there is enough interest, I will try to figure out how to hold a group class on the web.  If you have an interest, please write me at [email protected]. 

Humility as a Tool  → Letting go → Fear → Openness →  Acceptance & Growth

If you are finding this newsletter course helpful, you may want to consider Dr. Kaisch's latest book, Inside the Invisible:  The Universal Path to Spiritual Transcendence.👇

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