You are not your thoughts. You are not your emotions. You are sentience and energy. You (the person) and you (your soul) are part of a much larger whole. You are a conscious agent living in a field of compassionate and intelligent Consciousness. You are one with Source, the Universe, God—whatever you choose to call It.
The question is, “Do you experience this consciously?” I believe that when you (the person) dies, you will experience this directly. There will be no doubt that you are one with love, compassion, and intelligence. When you die, you will consciously re-connect with this Light. In a sense you will be back home—to the place your soul resides in-between lives.
Would you like to experience this love and joy now while you are here on Earth? You can. There are many ways to have this experience. One way that many spiritual teachers have told us about is meditation.
What is meditation? Meditation is allowing your awareness to focus on the present moment. It is a method to quiet your mind, and focus your undivided attention on the here and now. Meditation is a gateway for you to begin to hear the whispers of the Universe. In a sense, meditation will allow you to take in more of reality. You brain is continually filtering out reality. It is receiving a vast amount of Consciousness and filtering it down into digestible stories and experiences. But there is much more to reality than your normal waking consciousness. And meditation is a way to open that door to an expanded reality.
Contemporary research has mapped the brain during meditation. When a person meditates, they are likely entering into either an “alpha” brainwave state or a “theta” brainwave state. Experienced meditators are sometimes able to enter into a “gamma” brainwave state, which is experienced as bliss, ecstasy, or a feeling of oneness. You experience both alpha and theta brainwave states every day. You pass through these states every night when you go to sleep and every morning when you awaken. Meditation allows you to visit the alpha or theta state is a sustained and focused way.
Recent research has shown that when you meditate, a system in the brain is quieted. This system is called the Default Mode Network (DMN). Some researchers claim that the DMN is the hiding place for the ego. The DMN is responsible for executive functions—logical thinking and decision making.
However, an overactive DMN can lead to certain psychological disorders. An overcharged DMN can lead to addictions, depression, anxiety, PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and other negative pathologies. It’s interesting that meditation has been shown as a way to tune down the DMN. Interestingly, a very recent finding has shown that certain psychedelics also calm down the DMN. (This was a very unexpected result. And it’s also a topic for another day.)
So, meditation is a method for quieting the mind—for tuning down the DMN. Why is this important? It seems to me that the Universe is always whispering to us. However, if that little voice in your head is always prattling on, it can become difficult to hear those whispers.
Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation. – Rumi, 13th century Sufi mystic
And when you focus your attention on the present moment, you are inviting the Universe to lift the veil, if ever so slightly. You will be astonished at what can be revealed. By placing your attention on the present moment, you can have a direct and conscious experience of reality. There is healing in the present moment. There is wisdom in the present. There is joy. These can all be yours.
Always let your light shine!
Sean