Guest Contribution from Ed Bellemore

21 June 2008 08:03 PM

Hello Andre,

I have been reading from The School of Truth web site, for a year. I love and believe the teachings. I have donated money and have tried - most times unsuccessfully - to solicit advice. I realize the important work they do and that time is a factor, so I try to find the answers to my questions on my own. However, one problem I cannot seem to overcome is how to meditate. I have read books on the subject but they all differ and sometimes get to confusing. I have searched the Bible but it does not give instructions. It mentions Jesus meditating but was he, or was he contemplating? The parables he told seemed to be for contemplating. How should a person go about quieting the mind?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Ed Bellemore


Dear Ed,

Thank you for writing to me and sharing some of the challenges you are facing on The Path.

Perhaps one reason you are having difficulties in getting direct advice about meditation lies in the fact that raising one’s consciousness is not a "paint-by-numbers" process. It is internal and it comes by having your Being more and more in God, and doing it by living in His world. However, if you are looking for a detailed "how to" manual on meditation from me, you will be disappointed.

One’s ability to meditate is governed by many factors such as where one is on the Path, one’s personal circumstances and so forth. There are many popular books and "teachers" who will offer to give you the Keys to the Kingdom, through courses on meditation and other practices. But I cannot give you a ready-made guide to meditation. I can only share with you my own experience about this on the Path.

I tell you that your real, and only, teacher lies closer to you than your hands and feet. It is the real you, the Spirit of the Creator that animates you, guides and teaches you, and that leads you across all the obstacles. It is an infallible guide that leads you further and further on your journey along the Path you are committed to travel, as we all must travel, and have travelled for eons.

"Prayer is speaking to God. Meditation is listening to God". Spirit speaks within you as a gentle knowing, a revealing of knowledge you did not realize you already have. Such insights are often quite surprising and they fill you with wonder and with energy. That is my experience of meditation. The good news is that there is no trick to it. No striving, no straining. It is as simple and natural in your Spiritual life as breathing is in your material life. And the bible does tell you how to go about it:

The word "meditate" occurs 14 times in the bible and you are right, the direct connotation is almost always that of "ponder on", and "think about". That is, if you read the references literally. However, if you see these injunctions from the perspective of clothing, or arming, oneself in the Law, according to the Word of God, it means that Law has already shaped both your understanding and your spiritual perspectives to such an extent that when you meditate you no longer need to explore "meanings". You have already done that in contemplation.

So, yes, there is a third element here to be aware of: 1) prayer, 2) contemplation and 3) meditation are indivisibly stages, or parts, of the process of coming into tune with your true self. For example: Psalm 1:2 "But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." (I read this as "within" His law).

Here are some more examples from the bible that have a special spiritual, not literal, meaning for me:

Psa 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. (See, it does not say commune with your mind where your thoughts are, but your heart, where your feelings lie)

Psa 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: (This kind of "know" is to know absolutely and for your whole life – it is something you no longer have to "understand" or "explore". It is the very backbone of your spirituality)

Mat 6:6 …. enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray (I like to add "and listen") to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Surely, effective communication is a two way street. One speaks and listens – i.e. one prays and meditates)

1Ti 4:15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. (I personally interpret the meaning of the word "upon" in this quote as "within". I.e. "Meditate within these things… ") The literal translation of the word "upon" is amongst others: Upon, Μελετάω (meletaō): to take care of. So having taken care of, having internalized, the meaning it now provides a basis from which I meditate.

The common denominator is the command to "be still".

There are a number of passages from scripture and other writings that I know by heart and I usually recite them quietly to myself to calm my mind as I become still for my meditation – for example, Psalms 91, 23 and the Joseph Benner Prayer that I have posted on my blog)

I am personally not able to completely blank out my human mind at will. And I don’t think this is necessary. The trick to quiet the mind is to let go and let God. During meditation I simply let my thoughts come and go. I don’t hang onto, or try to understand, them. I try to observe passing thoughts in an objective way. I affirm gently that they are not "My" thoughts. They are the thoughts, images and impulses that arise from my human, material brain. Often I seem to reach a place where thoughts no longer pop up willy-nilly and that is when I know that I am listening to God, who speaks to me then not in words or thoughts, but in a kind of gentle, but exhilarating, knowing.

Jesus no longer needed to "contemplate" – He was God made flesh (with complete Oneness between his human mind and His God mind). All the secret or hidden meanings were already part of his spiritual mindset. He lived every waking and sleeping moment in meditation. (Joh 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.)

This therefore means that He was in a complete state of Grace – as we must all grow to be, for we must become like Him, as he assured us we can.

I pray that God Blesses your journey on the Path.

andre