About Meditation- By William Samuel

A Guide to Awareness and Tranquillity by William Samuel pp. 141 - 145

TAKE NO THOUGHT: BE STILL AND KNOW-ABOUT MEDITATION

Question: What is meant by meditation, "practicing the silence," and what is its importance?

Answer: Many things we read and study, many philosophies and the teachers of them, tell of the wonders of meditation and of the benefits to be reaped from "practicing the silence." Throughout history we have heard the many admonitions to "take no thought," to enter into the silence, to meditate in quietness and to "be still and know." Judging from the letters I receive and from the comments of those with whom I talk about this matter, many feel that they have failed and feel guilty because they find themselves unable to "exclude thoughts from consciousness." Many say to me, "To take no thought means that I am to become a mindless blank-a vacuum! How in the world can I stop thinking?"

Understand this: Even though to "stop thinking as a personal thinker" (as a possessor of Life) appears mandatory, nonetheless it is effortless! And it does not mean that we must become a mental blank. Not at all!

A story has been written that will make this clear. It is about a prince who was raised as a poor woodcutter, unmindful of his kingly identity. For many years, the prince labored and toiled, felling the huge oaks of the forest one after another, cutting them into kindling to sell at the market place. Despite the magnitude of the toil, he was barely able to provide for his family. The fervent prayers that came forth from his agony went unanswered. Then one day, in the midst of a great despair over his hopeless situation, the lost prince was found by his father, the king, who told him of his royal identity and kingly heritage. At first, the prince didn't believe it; it was simply beyond his comprehension. But then he was taken up into a high mountain by the king and shown the entire kingdom that was his very own. There, on the mountain top, his heart whispered, "It is so!" and finally the prince believed. With this, he received the mantle and scepter and was told to commence his reign. Then, in great relief, he threw down the heavy axe and shouted aloud:

"I have sought Truth all my life, but lo . . .
That that I seek, I am! Every tree in the forest is mine!
And every forest in the land is Thine, oh Mind that is Me!
The borrowed axe was borrowed from Myself;
The acres leased were rented from Myself;
The wood was cut for Me alone."

With some reflection, this story should serve to make clear that one does not have to stop thinking and "empty out his thoughts" before he is enabled to assume the rightful identity. Just as quickly as the prince recognized his honest identity and accepted it as his own, he instantly and effortlessly stopped thinking as a woodcutter. But he did not stop having thoughts! He did not become a blank! He thought consciously as the king, not as the woodcutter. His thoughts were effortlessly kingly. He stopped thinking limitedly, narrowly, impoverishedly, hungrily, greedily, angrily and desirously. Such woodcutter-thinking was let go without hesitation. Why? Because he was the prince and always had been, not a woodcutter. Furthermore, it was immediately apparent to the prince that thinking and acting as the misidentification had resulted in the misidentification's trials and tribulations!

So what do we do? We accept and assume our rightful heritage, our proper Identity. This is an effortless task because Identity is an already-fact. But we can assume this heritage only as we stop playing the role of the woodcutter. We cannot continue to keep consciousness full of woodcutter plans and calculations, woodcutter fears and phobias, woodcutter judgments and thoughts. How can we do that and simultaneously be the New Identity? We cannot serve both. We must "choose this day" one or the other. Really, there is no choice in the matter; Identity is established. It exists outside the influence of a phantom's personal choice.

So, the "silence" we practice is the silence of the woodcutter's thinking; a silence of worry and concern for what appears to be going on in the woodcutter's affairs; a silence from the plans and calculations the misidentification makes in order to establish peace where peace already exists. We practice silence from fault finding and judgment.

This is not to become a mental blank. This is not to sit in a chair and attempt to push out every thought, erase every image, silence every sound, negate every emotion. Not at all! Our silence is to sit loose and simply be the thoughts of Deity, the thinking of the One Mind, the Awareness of beauty and harmony, which assuredly includes more wonderful thoughts, ideas, sounds, images and emotions than the world has dreamed of!

ABOUT POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE THINKING

It is a well-known worldly fact that man sees what he looks for and confidently expects to see, whether it be "good" or "bad," "success" or "failure." We have seen the results of "positive" expectations and have watched the apparent failures that negativity brings. Within the human picture of things, those who look for certain "effects," confidently expecting to see them, generally get to see what they are looking for.

From out of this phenomenon has grown the cause-effect metaphysics of the Western world, generally an expansion of the Eastern idea of "karma." It teaches, in part, that one's personal experience will be greatly improved if he will turn his thinking from the negative into the more positive expectation of "good." There is an expanding assortment of books along this line of "positive thinking," as the Eastern idea gains in popularity around the world.

But, reader, listen carefully. Is this expectation and realization of "positive good" what one really wants? Undoubtedly, for a time it seems so to us all, but is there any lasting freedom in such action? None at all! On the contrary, this "positive thinking" is to take the weight of the entire world on one's shoulders, endlessly having to determine what is positive and what is negative, what is "good" and what is "evil," and then to make positive calculations and eliminate negative thoughts, expecting positive results and refusing to anticipate negative effects. This has us attempting to judge, heal and make over the universe to fit a personal judgment of positiveness.

This, of course, is what the world is doing, but such action is widening, not lessening the apparent dualisms of "good and evil," "real and unreal," "truth and error," etc.

"Positive thinking" is only the humanly judged "good" aspect of thinking, planning, calculating and evaluating. All personal thinking, every bit of it, positive or negative, glosses over the transcendent NOW and leaves us trying to manufacture a personal idea of another perfection; it places this Now-awareness in another time and in another place.

"Who by taking thought can add one inch to his stature?" Jesus asked. "Take no thought …" said He. We have done with all personal thinking, positive and negative alike!

How? The big question, how? Of himself, the personal thinker can never stop thinking. Thinking is his entire activity, his happiness and sadness from birth 'til death. Like Macbeth, thinking is his role on the stage and is all there is to him. "I can't stop thinking," says he. "Neither can you," he adds. "Thought goes on even while we are sleeping."

This is true; the personal thinker., the great possessor of mind, cannot concentrate himself out of thinking, cannot meditate or ponder himself out of thinking. Then how? Listen softly: One ceases thinking as a personal thinker just as quickly-and only-as he stops believing himself to BE a personal thinker. At that instant, in the twinkling of an eye, he is the thinking of the Divine Mind; he is Awareness itself, filled with joy-full thoughts-not the plans and calculations of the manipulator, but wonderful thoughts of a beautiful and complete NOW! Indeed, as thought-full Awareness itself, he becomes aware of thoughts that are a continuous surprise and delight, thoughts that are spontaneous, automatic, effortless-so wide, so all-inclusive as to astound the old judgmental sense of self. This is "the Mind by which the prophets spoke"; this is "the Mind which is in Christ"; this is the Mind being the Awareness I am-this Awareness right here, right now.

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