Chapter 1

editation is a privilege that everyone can enjoy.  Regardless of one’s purpose for using it, there are benefits and rewards that are unique to meditation.  Only those who have not used it on a regular basis would ever say that it is not productive or not worth the time or effort that it requires. Only those who are afraid of the power of their God-given intelligence would dare to say that meditation is not a spiritual activity.  Half an hour daily given to meditation vastly increases the productivity of the other 23½ hours. Only those who have not tested it, to make the discovery for themselves, will say they are too busy to meditate. My objective is to inspire you to curiosity about the different methods of meditation and to share with you the discoveries I have made in following my own interest in meditation techniques and a lifetime of practice.

To meditate upon a thing, or upon no thing, merely means to concentrate the entire attention upon it until absorption occurs.  In other words, that which the mind has been fully concentrated upon absorbs the energy of the mind, while at the same moment the mind absorbs that which it has been concentrating upon. The mind then “reads” or perceives the contents of that which it has absorbed and is impacted, or influenced to thought or feeling, by experiencing the qualities of that which has been absorbed by it.

Meditation is an activity, an experience, a form and an art.

The activity of meditation is to concentrate the entire attention upon a single point.  The experience of meditation is the result of having focused the entire attention upon a single activity to the point of mental absorption. The form of meditation is in the method used to produce the experience. The art of meditation is the intentional application of the most effective method of meditation to use for producing the desired result. Although there are literally hundreds of adaptations and names given to various types of meditation or combinations of methods, my research showed that there are only seven different forms of meditation from which all meditation techniques are derived.  You might liken it to the numerical system of a zero plus 9 basic numbers, but from those 9 an infinite number of combinations can be created. This book will describe the seven basic types of meditation and the process related to each. 

There are numerous benefits to be gained from meditating just a few minutes every day and each type of meditation provides its own potential benefits. Does the meditator wish to dip into his or her own subconscious memory, to sharpen sensitivity to psychic phenomenon, to commune with a guardian angel, to receive knowledge from the “Master Teacher Within,” or better yet, to experience the presence of God?  Does the meditator seek improved health, greater creativity, increased ability to learn, deeper understanding of spiritual truth, peace of mind, stress reduction, spiritual strength, tolerance, answers to questions large and small, or increased awareness of the presence of God?

These benefits and more can be claimed through the process of meditation, but each benefit requires a specific technique of meditation.  Only two methods of meditation can suffice for all purposes, but even they must be used in different ways to accommodate different purposes.

An artist of meditation, having learned the many techniques and having practiced until they are habits of the mind, instinctively applies the method that meets the intent of his or her meditation. 

If the artist of meditation has meditated upon the qualities, attributes and powers of the Divinity Within, such as love, wisdom, consciousness, patience, tolerance, adaptation, stability, flexibility, harmony, spiritual understanding, forgiveness, etc,  there will be a steady increase of development in three areas of spiritual growth.  Those would be spiritual awareness, spiritual understanding, and spiritual character.  As awareness, understanding and character expand, the artist will become a living expression of spiritual qualities, attributes and powers.