When we meditate,
We are developing three essential qualities of the human mind,
Of the human spirit.
These three qualities together make up what we call our contemplative dimension.
First is silence.
Silence is not just the absence of noise.
Silence is the quality of full attention,
And we are really paying attention to something,
We are silent.
This silence has two aspects,
External silence,
So when we meditate,
We try to choose a quiet time,
A quiet place,
As much as possible.
We don't have to go into a soundproof room,
But we try to find a quiet time.
And that external silence then helps us to develop the interior work of silence.
Remember,
Silence is about attention,
And attention is work,
Because our mind is constantly wandering,
So we're recalling our attention.
So the inner work of meditation is of course saying the mantra,
As I was describing earlier.
To return to the mantra is the work,
Every time you return to the mantra,
You're taking another step on this journey from the mind to the heart.
That's silence,
The journey of silence into ever deeper silence,
And silence has a tremendously powerful healing quality to it.
People can be frightened of silence,
Because they've never known it before,
Or then frightened what they will find,
Or what might jump out at them in the silence.
Silence is friendly.
We need to overcome that initial cultural resistance or psychological fear of silence.
Then we discover,
As Meister Eckhart said,
There is nothing so much like God as silence.
If silence is pure attention,
God is pure attention.
The second quality of contemplation that we practice in meditation is stillness.
Be still and know that I am God,
Is one of the beautiful lines from the Psalms.
In that stillness,
The knowledge of God,
The knowledge that God has of us,
And the knowledge that we are able to have of God,
Because God knows us first,
Arises naturally.
It's not about thinking,
It's not a cerebral kind of knowledge.
It's deep,
Pure being knowledge.
So this stillness begins again externally by sitting still.
That's why sitting comfortably is important,
Because then you're easier to sit still.
And that in external stillness will then be the door for you to go into an inner stillness.
That means allowing the thoughts,
The memories,
The plans,
The analysis,
The old problems that you've had,
The old obsessive compulsive thinking that we had,
All of that gradually we let go of.
Then you think you let go of it and then it comes back.
But each time you let go of a thought,
You're a little more free for that journey into stillness.
So the stillness of mind is letting go of the thoughts.
And at times you will understand what that stillness,
Inner stillness really means.
And the more you understand it,
The more you will want to develop it.
The third element of meditation,
Of contemplation that we practice in meditation is simplicity.
Jesus said,
Unless you become like a child,
You cannot enter this experience of God,
This kingdom of heaven.
So simplicity doesn't mean that we are naive,
Doesn't mean that we're not interested or curious about life and knowledge.
Simplicity means that we are single minded,
That we are overcoming the obsessive duality and self-consciousness and self-observation that we have got into probably by this time in our lives.
So simplicity means returning at a higher level to that quality of childlike consciousness with which we were born,
To be open,
To be attentive,
To be receptive and to be fully able to receive the gift of our being,
Not analyzing ourselves,
Not playing games,
Not dramatizing ourselves,
Just being ourselves.
That's gift and one of the fruits of meditation too.
So the distractions that arise in the meditation are not really very important,
Although they seem to be blocking you all the time at first.
Later you'll get used to them and you'll just say,
Well,
That was a very distracted day.
I was less distracted yesterday.
But you won't worry about the distractions because you know that you are on the way.
So again,
Let's prepare for our meditation.
Again taking a time moment to sit upright with your back straight.
Relax your shoulders,
Relax the muscles of your face.
Maybe just take a moment to be aware of your breath,
That cycle of breath,
Your friend,
Your closest companion as you breathe in and breathe out.
You breathe in,
You're breathing in the gift of life.
Because it is a gift,
You cannot possess it.
You can't bottle it up.
You can't own it.
You have to let go.
That's a central teaching of meditation.
Accept the gift and let go.
And then gently begin to say your word.
The word again I recommend is Maranatha.
Maranatha,
Maranatha.
Say the word gently without force.
Say it patiently.
Say it without anxiety or trying to be perfect.
Say it as well as you can and say it faithfully.
Keep returning to it when you get distracted.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
Maranatha.
And to end the meditation now let's listen to the second,
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