MEDITATION - THE ULTIMATE ESCAPE

By Paul Hourihan/ed. Anna Hourihan 
 

Going away on vacation is wonderful! There is only one fault with it—we bring ourselves along. We can get away from our jobs, but we can’t get away from ourselves—that is, the ego self, the compulsive self, the ordinary self. 

One reason we drink and take drugs is so that we can temporarily escape from the limited self we normally identify with. Sexual adventure serves the same purpose, since sexual excitement pushes the ordinary consciousness out of the central place in our life for a little while and we seem to become someone new. 

Hence, also, our constant need of novelty—new sensations, new things! 

But still we can’t escape ourselves! What is the solution to this? We should make ourselves such that we won’t want to escape! The spiritually evolved individual, for example, is absorbed in his or her own Presence and is quite content. A great deep opens up within and he or she discovers at last what the rest of us are foolishly seeking to uncover through novelty, travel, sex, addictions and losing ourselves in work. 

To reach this state we have to control, renew and transform the mind. How do we do this? Through the practice of meditation. With meditation we escape from the ego self; we push this aside because we’re seeking something else. We immobilize it for five minutes, ten minutes, half an hour, or whatever we can manage without strain. During this time we give the mind a respite from its usual restless, ego-driven self. We infuse the mind with different vibrations, such as peace, love, devotion, and acceptance, which are coming from a higher level of the mind. Otherwise it experiences its usual self … and thus is continually bored. 

Knowingly or unknowingly, we are aiming for the mystical state so that the mind will experience another consciousness than its own habitual consciousness: namely, the Self, the charisma of the Divine Presence within us.  
                                        Behold, the kingdom of heaven is within you. (Luke 18: 21)

The true vacation is meditation—we absent ourselves from the familiar limited self to reveal the Unlimited Self within.

See also Words of Wisdom: Meditation and Spiritual Life and Articles: IS MYSTICISM ESCAPISM?  and GOING BEYOND THE SURROGATES FOR THE SELF.