Meditation – Door to the Unchanging

Discovering the unchanging in the field of change.

(Feature Article in FOYTspace – Federation of Ontario Yoga Teachers Newsletter – Fall 2007)

What is meditation?  It is not eating – it is not gardening – it is not bungee jumping.  It is the art of awakening – of opening up to the life of the spirit, which is in fact our true reality and identity, and is what we long for at our deepest level. 

Meditation develops inner awareness.  It allows us to connect with that canvas of unchanging reality on which the whole panorama of changing phenomena plays.  We crave that which is unchanging, because somewhere we know that is who we are; we crave the recognition of that.  Meditation is the door to the unchanging.

What is meditation?  It is not deep sleep – not dream – not the waking state.  It is the science of unfoldment – of being that which we are already, the turiya state of consciousness, and knowing it on every level of our being.

Meditation happens when we close the eyes, because any time we close the eyes, we see that space unchanging.  The mind can be liberated if it is immersed in this space. As long as we watch it, freedom from mind is there.  Slowly and slowly, mind’s thinking gets absorbed in it; when we open our eyes, we again become a body and mind, and get on with life’s activities.

But don’t just listen to me.  Experiment for yourself!

Begin by just watching.  You will see the movie of your day, your life play out before you on the screen before your eyes.

You will become aware of the transitory nature of events.  You will prove to yourself that you are not defined by your mind’s whims and desires, because you are the one who is watching them parade.  You have the capacity to watch – not act – to watch and breathe.

Let the thoughts and images come and go – as if you are watching children playing in the schoolyard. 

YOU are: be the one watching, aware of the transitory nature of the mind, and observing that the body, heart and mind are arising from the web of life where nothing is disconnected.  The constant is the YOU, at the center, at the heart.

The movie of life is an ever-changing, unpossessable and unstoppable process, but YOU are the one watching it all – YOU – the only constant - eternal, immortal and unchanging.

Susan Randall
October 8,2007

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