Meditation and Perosnal/Spiritual progress

[Made O pHI]

Yes, I know there's been many threads started on meditation and saying that meditation isn't needed. I believe that this is a false truth that's not being explained on a deep enough level of understanding.

Note If your beginning this path and see your thoughts starting to manifest don't take this as a sign your progressing quicker then normal, this is only your HS showing you that your on the right path and trying to help strengthen your belief. This does not mean to make any dramatic changes to your life. Remember all things are made possible out of the strength of your belief.

Let's say your just beginning your spiritual journey and have just got into meditation and AP/OBE, and trying to find out who you (we) really are. I'd say probably 99% of us, give or take, dive right into changing our life style thinking it's something that needs to be done to progress. This is normal, we're human beings and we tend to like to speed up the process of things due to our patience and us wanting to reap the rewards in a shorter period of time. With the help of many personal/spiritual growth books that tell us that we should change our life style and begin meditating for 15+ minutes a day to see any real change. This is the BIGGEST false truth these books have put out, not out of negativity or trying to mislead us, but out of the authors spiritual progress being on a much higher level. They are explaining things on a higher level and we don't realize this at the time so we take everything word for word (or close to it), this to is natural for us humans so don't let this scare you. So with this said let me explain.

Just starting your spiritual journey doesn't call for any big, dramatic, lifestyle changes right away. Change occurs over time and you must have patience to really see the change. We must only set aside a short amount of time to quiet the mind and connect with our HS and enjoy the peace from within, 5 or 10 minutes is all that's needed. If we go about making these BIG instant changes (15+ min a day of meditating and whatever else people do thinking it will help them progress faster) to our lives, even if it's out of the greater good for all things, it will have a far more detrimental effect on us in the long run. We were created for the purpose of evolving by a different standard, free will. We need to enjoy our lives the way we were before we learned about the spiritual path, and need only to set a small amount of time aside to enjoy the peace that comes through silence. Once we realize this, this is when the real changes will begin to occur and you'll notice these starting from within yourself. You'll begin to actually feel like meditating longer, your taste budds will begin to change and the food you find appealing will change, etc.

Note When I say don't change your lifestyle dramatically I mean don't take out a large amount of time from your day to meditate or don't stop doing something you enjoyed because you think it will stunt your personal/spiritual growth. This doesn't mean don't read personal growth books or don't study spiritual leaders or whatever you begin doing, because I'm sure you feel like doing these things when you begin, it's the start of our spiritual journey and this is what shows our HS that we are committed to making a change and are trying to better ourselves and the universe. Just making this clear.

If we go about changing our life style dramatically on our own and don't actually feel like doing these things we begin to do and change, it will only increase stress and tension within ourselves. Creating the path of most resistance and making changes occur far slower then they normally would if we only slightly changed our life style. And sooner or later things may get a lot more stressful and may even cause you to lose hope with yourself and the higher power within us all. And as we all know, stress is the biggest killer.

So lets remember, one of the most important things to progressing personally and spiritually is to enjoy your life and do what you feel like doing. If you live by this, things within you will begin to change naturally on their own, not out of us forcing ourselves to change.

As for meditation helping to increase OBEs, I believe this to is false. We OBE every night in our dreams, we just aren't consciously aware of this. We know how to OBE, we have just forgotten how to stay conscious and aware during these OBEs and remember them when we return to our bodies, just as we know everything the universe has to offer but have only forgotten much of it. My tip to everyone beginning their spiritual path (and just starting to get interested in remembering how to induce and remain conscious during OBEs) begin using affirmations. They work a lot better (as long as you believe) to remember and induce OBEs.

Note If you remember your dreams, you can easily remember your OBEs. If you have many lucid dreams, you can easily induce a lucid OBE. If you don't have many, or no, lucid dreams don't let this strike fear within you, you can easily condition yourself to have lucid OBEs/dreams with the help of affirmations. Affirmations, when continued to be said within the mind for a period of time (2 weeks or so) and with a lot of emotion behind it will create a neuron in your brain with this thought so when said this neuron will fire and easily manifest your thought. This is how some thoughts are manifested easily and others you must work at.

This is all coming out of my own experience, trying to force change upon myself. Even from the beginning when I read that force is not the way to go and not to change my lifestyle, that it will change on its own. I still tried anyways to progress faster and it has only proven to me everything I have explained here. But I am thankful things have happened this way for me, for now I'm here to help others that might come across this same problem so I'm not complaining. In no way is this thread made to make you believe meditation is not needed or strike fear into you in any way. Nor is it made for all of you to believe, just to make you think and ponder on this idea. I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on this so don't be scared to post your thoughts, all comments and opinions are welcomed.

[Xanth]

Great post MOpHI.

Yes, I know there's been many threads started on meditation and saying that meditation isn't needed. I believe that this is a false truth that's not being explained on a deep enough level of understanding.

From my own perspective, I'd say that the truth is that you do not need anything for meditation and spiritual progress.  You already have everything you need.
You need no technique... no method... no ritual...

I'm a firm believer of the following statement: "Be the change you wish to see in the world"
That statement will lead you to spiritual progression for not only yourself, but for the world as well. 

[Made O pHI]

Thanks !

From my own perspective, I'd say that the truth is that you do not need anything for meditation and spiritual progress.  You already have everything you need.
You need no technique... no method... no ritual...

I'm a firm believer of the following statement: "Be the change you wish to see in the world"

Very true, I like that statement !

[personalreality]

Indeed.

My screen name is my philosophy, Personalreality.  You've got a unique reality experienced through a subjective perception and there is nothing outside of yourself that will "get you there".  All your answers are there if you look.

[Stookie_]

That was an excellent post Made O pHI.

I'm completely with you where you say you don't have to make any major changes in your life. As you progress, you naturally gravitate towards what you need and leave the rest behind. It's gradual and natural.

Steiner gave an example, say if you're a Christian and you attend church every Sunday and it's been an important part of your life, then you start a meditative/non-physical path, you don't have to stop doing what you were. As you progress you may find that church doesn't have for you what it once did, or you may gain a different perspective for it and have something to share with others there. In other words, their are no rules to spirituality, you have to do what is right for you at the moment.