One of the biggest problems in our new science of the mind is terminology. This is true of any new science: There are no words to explain what we have found. Freud surely found this when he invented psychology, and he invented terms like the subconscious to help him explain what he found. He re-defined other words, and created new words, like ego, superego, and id, to help him explain his system. Those words don’t mean anything unless you understand his system. If you accept his ideas, then those terms make sense.
Other pioneers in psychology and related fields created their own words and terms to represent what they were doing. That’s why we have words and phrases such as: peak experiences, the collective unconscious, akashic records, nirvana, heaven, and all sorts of other terms. They define what somebody felt was important. Even a simple word like meditation has many different meanings.
What is Meditation?
One person’s meditation is another person’s concentration. Some people say that Silva Method graduates are not meditating when we go to level to work on a project. But, they say, if we will calm our mind, perhaps we’ll go into meditation.
What’s that again?
Well, that’s alright, because we call what we do “dynamic meditation.” If somebody starts talking to you about meditation, you might want to ask them to define the term for you. Then you will have a better idea of what they are talking about.
You can meditate on anything.
- When you meditate on a picture, or on symbols. Calm your mind by concentrating on a picture and you are meditating.
- When you meditate on music. Calm your mind while listening to great classical music and you are meditating.
- If you concentrate on a project at your level, you are meditating on that project.
What Does Concentrate Mean?
Of course concentration can be tricky too. Comedian Jeff Foxworthy said you may be a “redneck” — a term embraced by working people who are more comfortable in overalls than a tuxedo — he said you may be a redneck if you sit and stare at a can of frozen orange juice because the label says “concentrate.” “Concentrate” is defined differently when you are speaking of orange juice: it means to reduce the volume by removing water.
What we mean by concentrate is to direct your thoughts and attention towards one thing only. This will calm your mind and help you achieve an altered state of consciousness and a lower brain frequency.
And there are many different kinds of meditation, determined by the process used, the goals sought, and what happens when you do it. For instance, you can concentrate on a picture, or concentrate on your breath, or concentrate on a word or phrase and repeat it over and over either mentally or verbally. These are techniques that are taught in yoga.
Meditating to Correct Problems
That’s different from what we do in the Silva Method, and while it can bring about an altered state of consciousness, it is not necessarily the same state of consciousness as you achieve when you use our 3 to 1, 10 to 1 method to enter your level. We use physical and mental relaxation, and countdowns, to enter a state of dynamic meditation. Then, you learn how to maintain a light level of meditation even after you activate your mind so that you can go to work to correct problems. This is active meditation, because you can take action to correct problems.
If you prefer, of course, you can use the deepening exercises — countdowns, physical and mental relaxation, visualizing tranquil and passive scenes — to achieve a deep state of passive meditation. Do this for 15 minutes a day and it will strengthen your immune mechanism and help you in many other ways.
What is Prayer?
There are other terms that are not always clearly defined, such as prayer. There are many different definitions, and methods, for prayer. Here’s how I see the process of prayer: It is the process of making your needs known to higher intelligence, on the “other side,” as I like to say. It is also giving thanks when you receive guidance and help from higher intelligence. We pray by concentrating on our needs and on making higher intelligence aware of our needs.
Solving Problems
The first thing you want to do when working on a project is to concentrate on the project yourself, to meditate on it so that you can solve your own problems. When you have concentrated and meditated on your project, then it is important to go out and take action. It is important to use your body as well as your mind. We want to use both dimensions to correct problems.
When you reach a sticking point and do not know what to do next, then you concentrate on making your needs known to higher intelligence. By doing that, at the correct level, you will receive guidance from the other side to help you continue on with your project. That guidance might come in the form of an idea, so that you will know what to do next. Again, you must act on that idea to determine if it was actually information from the other side, or only a fantasy that you created with your imagination.
Verifying Information
How do you determine whether the idea came from higher intelligence, or from your own imagination? Simple: by the results that you get.
If the information helps you to correct the problem, then you can take it for granted that it came from higher intelligence. If it doesn’t help you to correct the problem, then it was probably your own idea. In that case, try again. Do some more deepening, work some health cases, check with your Silva Method lecturer for guidance — do whatever is necessary for you to learn to get to the correct level where you can communicate successfully with the other side.
On the other hand, the guidance from higher intelligence might come in the form of a “coincidence” in the physical world. This is a sign to guide you as to which way to proceed. Perhaps someone comes and offers you some help. Maybe you read an article that helps you determine what to do next. Maybe your way is suddenly blocked, and you cannot proceed as you had hoped to. As the lyrics to an old song say, sometimes you ask if you can have something or do something and the answer is No.
How to Proceed
Keep in mind that we first attempt to correct problems ourselves. That’s what we were sent here to do. Concentrate on correcting the problem yourself first. And when you successfully correct a problem yourself, remember to express your gratitude to higher intelligence for having the ability to correct problems.
When you get stuck, pray for guidance and help in solving the problem. You don’t tell higher intelligence to solve it for you; you concentrate on asking for guidance so that you can go ahead and finish the job yourself.
When you have completed the project, pray again to give thanks for the help that you received. Concentrate on the completed project, and concentrate on conveying your appreciation to higher intelligence for the help that you received.
Our Obligation
We have been assigned to do a job here on planet earth, and those who assigned us are there to back us up and help us when we need help. They are willing to help us when we need it. That’s their assignment. They are not there to do our work for us. They are not there to give us things just for the sake of having things.
They give us help based on our performance, on what we have done in the past. If you have a solid record of correcting problems — not just for yourself and your family, but any problems that are given to you — then the other side will provide you with a lot of help. Promises to help out in the future don’t mean much to our helpers on the other side. Anybody can promise anything. They go by your record of what you’ve been doing with what you already have. If you have demonstrated by your actions that you meet your obligation to help correct problems whenever you encounter them — even if you do not receive any kind of compensation for doing so — then the other side is eager to help you so that you can continue to fulfill your mission on earth.
People Who Prosper
During my 82 years on this planet, I have observed that the people who prosper the most are the people who correct the most problems. But they don’t correct problems in order to prosper, they correct problems because that’s what human beings were sent here to do. They are not foolish about it — they have enough common sense to know that they need resources to work with if they are going to correct a lot of problems, so they make their needs known to the other side and get what they need. Then they use what they get to continue to correct problems.
If you mediate on that, at a deep enough level, you will understand. When you understand, you will take action and become a better problem solver.
love science of mind !makes so much sense.