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	MEDITATION What we think about is what we are meditating about. That's pretty simple. However, it also includes body language, body chemistry, brain chemistry, speech patterns, interactions with other people, interactions with our environment, how we are affected by art, radio, television, advertisements, early childhood training, society, culture, peers, self-image, monetary status, and all that goes to make up who we are at any one time. We actually meditate all the time and are affected by all of the above and much, much more. Our brain functions never cease until death. The brain operates at many levels constantly. Even those in a coma have reported some level of awareness, often of their surroundings from an out-of-body view. Sleep brings a cycle of dreams and body movements, including sexual arousal in a regular cycle of brain-directed activity. You will not still your brain short of death and then, it seems some portion of aware activity will continue. It is likely you will never stop functioning as an aware, active individual (never is a big word and has been used by me twice in this paragraph which makes me suspicious of what is said so give it a grain of salt). Since our brains constantly run on and on, and since meditation only requires the awareness of the individual at some level, we are effectively in constant meditation whether conscious, subconscious, unconscious, or superconscious. Picture this: The person driving to work and cursing all the poor drivers on the road, driving to cut off other vehicles, pushing the limits of the conditions and vehicle, damning the traffic, and skirting legal punishment by pushing red lights, changing lanes, rolling stops, etc. Now, they reach work with an interesting meditational foundation, walk into work telling everyone how bad the traffic and people in other autos are, and encouraging others to support their attitude. They follow this with more anger at the boss, employees, fellow workers, outside contractors, inept secretaries, poor mail service, slow internet, etc., etc., etc. What an interesting meditation! And, it is important to note that this is a high energy meditation zone. The person depicted is using many supports to the meditation such as voicing, body posture and movement, environmental conditions, active aggression (on the highway at least), support group for reinforcement (fellow complainers), and much more. Their body and brain chemistry must be very interesting. Do you know someone who meditates like this? Unfortunately, we all have done this to some degree and it is a difficult meditation to stop. But, stop we must or we can never change to a new awareness. The meditation just described is typical of a cyclic meditation which we reinforce in a great many ways. Many of us start with a little righteous anger and gradually grow into rageaholics, addicted to the body and brain chemistry of anger. The same goes for fear, sadness, depression, and a great many of the emotional states which endanger our lives and the welfare of those around us. How do we stop? In a too real sense we don't stop. This style of meditation is a type of addiction and as in all known addictions, involves whole body chemistry and production of antibodies, immune suppressants, and many permanent body biochemical changes. The alcoholic can never go back to drinking because of the chemical imbalance permanently created during the drinking days. The cigarrette smoker has a similar problem. If you think the body forgets, give an ex-heroin addict a shot in the arm and see how long it takes the body to remember. Or take the alcoholic to the bar and buy them a few drinks. I think the common phrase is ---"I just had one drink and nursed it along for a few months." The body chemistry has been re-triggered and it will not forget. Once you have addicted to some body chemistry, your meditations will support that chemistry. You have no choice. If the person addicted to anger meditates for any length of time (say a few days) on being happy, they will begin to feel ill. They are entering withdrawal the same as any other addict. Now, just like the alcoholic, all that's needed is to keep away from alcohol until the body chemistry settles down and the person begins to feel functional again. But-----Wait------THIS bar is INSIDE the addict. All they need to do to get back to feeling good (or at least normal chemically) is to become angry (or depressed, or frightened, or whatever) and the addiction is reinforced by a new release of the chemistry of anger, fear, depression, sadness, or whatever the body chemistry addiction might be. I don't really think an hour of quiet mediatation or so each day is going to break a deeply set addiction to anger, fear, sadness, domination, or other chemically supported emotional addiction. As in computers, garbage in--- garbage out. In this case, enough energy to overcome the energy of the addiction is required. A small effort gets a small change. Breaking a deep habit requires strong energy, strong methodology, firm resolve, and, at least for long enough to get past the addiction, a strong commitment to whatever path is chosen. What path should you use? Each must choose for themselves. This writing is here to present you with the option of using Tantric methods, should they suit your circumstances. It is not always possible to use a method of healing even when it is what you want. If you live inland, say in Omaha, you will find it difficult to use surfing or salt-water fishing as your high energy replacement. Living in a large city might make it difficult to use wildlife, nature, or solitude as your meditational area no matter how desirable that may be. With that in mind, it can be said that the tantric methods will only work on those who have the ability to have sexual responses. Now, I know that's probably not everybody, but it just might be. I've not met anyone who did not have the ability to respond to sexual stimulus. Advertisers certainly know this. Using tantric methods does not involve some kind of overt sexual stimulus in every case. To me, and basically what I teach. is that Tantra is a method of awareness, a method of attainment. For many people, using the maithuna preparation, floating exercise, pranayama, and some of the other non-sexual oriented rituals given in these web pages will bring at least relief from much of the problems they have. This type of person wlll be fine with most spiritual paths and most paths will be effective for them. Strong tantric methods are available to those with strong addictions to emotional or cultural body chemistry. The stronger the addiction, the more powerful the path must be to overcome the addiction. Thus, a person with deep imprints may need to practice the stronger sexual rituals or may need very powerful sexual rituals often for a long time. After all, most people have spent a lifetime practicing their addiction (anger, depression fear, etc.) and no magic bullet exists to make this recovery easy. It will take work to overcome the amount of work put into the addiction. You can't just walk out of this bar and not go back. This bar is inside of you. Getting rid of mood or emotional addictions is not easy. Noticing what you meditate about will help you understand your addiction. Begin to pay attention to what thoughts you are having all day. What do you think of while driving? What do you think about at work?...bosses, fellow employees, people in your section? What do you watch on T.V.? What kind of music do you prefer and what do the words acually say? Happy words, depressed words, or just what and how is your music supporting your attitude? If you find you don't recall what you are meditating on or doing to yourself from media interaction, begin to write down your moods and thoughts. Write down the words of music (or at least the general tone of the words), write down the general characters of the TV programs you watch and keep track of what the commercials are doing to you. Form this information into a larger picture to help you know what your meditations are. What do you think about as you go to sleep? What are you thinking about when you wake? What are your dreams and are they up, down, past, future, etc.? You are your meditations and/or you will become as your meditations direct and/or your meditations will reflect who you really are, and/or who you are is......etc. Who you are is a whole unit. Your body chemistry is not separate from you. Your arm is part of you. Your meditations are part of you. Your environment is part of you. It is all interconnected and your meditations running constantly are somewhat like a large instrument panel filled with gauges and dials. Pay attention and your meditations will tell you who you are. Second and third attentions (and sometimes even more than that) are common to everyone. All of us have experienced driving along a well-known route and thinking of many things so deeply we may have difficulty remembering what happened along the drive. We may have been thinking so much on a subject of importance (or not) that we miss our turn-off or suddenly look about and have no idea where we are. We often are capable of watching TV or listening to radio and doing something else while we are also thinking of a vacation and mowing the lawn and fixing the car, and where little Johny is, etc. Without realizing it, we use many attentions at the same time, nearly constantly. Most housekeepers (wives, husbands, significants, etc.) are actually uncomfortable unless the background is filled with TV or radio, kids, equipment, neighbors, etc. It is unusual and difficult for us to be "single-minded" for any length of time. We have the ability to use one of our attentions to keep a meditational focus. We do that anyway so we might as well use it to our advantage. To begin to make a change, keep records of your meditations (previously mentioned) and weed out the ones you don't want to have in your life. Write them down and keep the list handy or memorize it so you won't forget and then go back to them. Replace the ones you want to be rid of with new ways of meditating. If it is difficult at first, speak the new ways out loud. For example, if you find you are impatient and irritated driving to work because of all the idiots on the road (and yes, there are a lot of idiots on the road), talk out loud of your chosen meditation replacement. This is known as a mantra and has been known to be effective from long before people kept records. That may be more difficult to do at work but you may use reminders to help you. Inspirational sayings have been used for this from the time writing was invented. You can also use an action such as a small pinch or fingernail push, or even just pressing your toes together to remind you physically that you have gotten off the path you want. Keep a second attention filled with your chosen inspirational methods. Stamp out the old methods and meditations as strongly as you can. And, I do know the old Zen story about "thinking about not thinking about" but you must start some place and if you don't do something, nothing will come of nothing (thank you King Lear and Cordellia). Use flash cards with your meditations written out for your reinforcement. Put them on tape and listen to them rather than radio or television. Use any trick you can to get better. The option to getting better is not getting better. You are worth the effort! ENVIRONMENT. Your meditational environment includes all those things you have chosen to have in your life: music, entertainment, colors, lifestyle, artistic activities, job, people, etc. In fact, all the world about you, even the fact that you seem to have chosen this particular earth-type planet to be born into. You can change nearly all of your environment to a greater or lesser degree. It is not too likely you will get off this planet any time soon. You can, however, put up photographs of other worlds, other galaxies, even thoughtfully fictional other dimensions, if you wish. In this manner, you could modify the effects of the very planet and dimension you currently reside in. You could add "unearthly" art, science fiction books, tapes, and videos. Give your living space a science fiction decor, get powerful magnets and electromagnetic field generators to override the earth electromagnetic field locally and live in all of that as a way to mitigate the worse effects of earth life. This is not to say you actually should do as just described, it is given only as an example to show you that even earth effects can be dealt with. We all do this to some extent. Mostly we just let it happen without much guidance, and society, culture, job, or convenience does most of the environmental job for us. To change from our meditational old habits to new ways will likely involve changing all of our environment to some extent. The greater the habit change desired, the greater the environmental change will be required or will happen as a reflection of internal change. If you don't change your habits and therefore your environment, you will not have changed. No change equals no change. Changes will be obvious in new thought patterns, new patterns of actions, new environmental conditions. The more there is change internally, the more the outer conditions will change. You cannot continue to do the same old stuff in the same old way and expect to have anyone believe you have changed. Go through your environment and help that change. Find colors that help your change, music that supports, TV that at least doesn't damage, art to focus your meditations, events to partake of in line with your goals. Rituals that support your change. Electromagnetic fields that aid and areas to visit that bring gladdness. Just a beginning of suggestions. You will need to change everything, even how you see your friends and relatives. ACTIVE MEDITATION. Well okay, what is "inactive" meditation? Actually, most directed meditations are pretty much inactive meditations. The most common meditation used in group sessions basically says, "stop moving, relax, stop thinking, relax." That's not active meditation. That's a method of sleep preparation. Again, nothing comes of nothing. Even examining the floating exercise, a tantric meditation in which you are allowed to go to sleep if you wish, will reveal that "floating" takes a lot of mental focus on something more than a single point of light. An active meditation is anything you do that increases your activity and combines the physical with the mental for heightened effectiveness. Some examples are, driving to work, going for a walk, working, fighting with someone, talking with someone, having sex, participating in a sport, etc. Yeah, I know, I like that last word, (etc.) It keeps me from making HUGE lists (and allows you to make your own list). One of the first things you can do to bring activity to your meditations is to say them aloud. Churches know how effective this is. Add inspirational art, colors, music, etc. (good word) and you can soon begin to be more effective. If you are still having problems keeping your focus, exercise while you meditate. Of course, you could use tantric rituals which are nearly all active, high energy, exercises which are enjoyable, very memorable, and repeatable. That's what this writing is about in a very great sense. There is a real focus here to help people gain their own direction, godhood, destiny, or whatever. If tantric methods can help, then use them. If you think tantra won't--don't. Meditation is a process just as with everything else. Not only that, we are up against the problem of definition. I say meditation is the sum total of all your brain and body activity and is happening constantly. You may have another definition. My meditations say that's OK. My meditations also say it's OK for me to see things as I do. All this is just fine as long as we don't begin to force each other to our way against the other's will. If you have a different way or path, great! If you decide I must see things your way or else, not great, and I'll take the "or else." All of which brings up the subject of shared meditations. Sharing meditations is far more common than most people would at first believe. Yet most everyone will share the meditations of their drive to work, or their meditations about anything which frustrates or irritates them. In fact, they (we) will share our pet peeves at such a level that others will begin to avoid us or at least tire of hearing about them. We less often share our gladness and when we do, it will be disguised as "great weather" or "had a great time last night" and so on. We don't often state how glad we are to be alive, to be functional, to be at work, at home, or any other common good situation. It is interesting how we take being OK for granted and meditate on what is not OK or what might not be OK, or what was not OK or might not be OK if it were not for the possibiity of what could have been except for--------! Wow, we are experts at finding downer meditations. These meditations of problems, real, unreal, potential, past, future, present, perfect future nominative, or by any other case, and the even more widely varying possibilities of the results of those problems, are not healthy. Sorry, I won't retract that. Meditating on downers all day only adds to illness, both mental and physical. Here is what I teach: As much as possible, meditate with glad, happy, connected thoughts, surround yourself with beauty, use your second attention to image actions of happiness, use rituals to change your body/brain chemistry to a base line of happiness, and avoid or get away from anything that works against those methods of happiness. If you can't get away, often the case in a job situation, wall the problem off to the maximum reasonable extent. You must take charge of your life. If you don't, others will. Right now, much of your life is being controlled by the government, churches, culture, society, peers, and expecially your parental training. As the Catholic church has bragged "give us the child and we'll own the man," how you grew is the way you still are. That can be changed and it is not difficult; start with changing your meditations and the rest may fall into place. If not, try the tantric rituals combined with the meditations. Increase the power of the rituals according to the strength of the difficulty you are trying to overcome. There is a problem. If you continue to practice the old thoughts and behavior patterns at the same time you try to break out, you may simply increase the strength of the old habits enough to counter the new methods or rituals. If you don't stop smoking, you won't stop smoking no matter how many methods you use. If you get drunk each day, neither AA nor any other method will cure your drinking. If you simply practice finding more fault and being more angry, or more fearful, you can walk or practice any path you want and your old stuff will win because you have raised the power of your disability to overcome any possible ability. If you're doing this and won't stop, people will soon find out and you will lose jobs, friends, spouses, finances, paths and yourself. If you're doing this, STOP!! Redo your meditations and stamp out the old ways, even the ones you think you'll die without. Find someone you can trust and be guided. Don't use your old methods to destroy your guide or you will have done two things: (1) gotten rid of someone who would have helped you, and (2) destroyed someone who had a good attitude toward the world, and that is all too rare nowadays. You share this world with everyone else. Your actions, your thoughts, your promise, your life is important to everyone here, now and in the future. When you smile at the world, you help. When you frown, you destroy. When you do good, good grows. When you do ill, illness grows. Choose. You choose anyway. Make a conscious choice. You will not have more effect on the world by knowing what you are doing than you do without knowing. The only difference is, you will then, at least, become aware of what the effects of your actions are and you will be able to make your actions count in the direction you choose, not as others push you into.

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