Meditation
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Peace be upon you,
Salaat = Process. It is the process of ENLIGHTENMENT. It is achieved by the well known science of MEDItation. I highlited MEDI to point out the "middle/balanced" idea which is given to us by the description of WUSTA. Also, salaat times are dawn and dusk, times when day(consciousness) and night(subconsciousness) come together. DU'a is calling on the God, Salaat (the process of enlightenment through meditation) brings us the answer. The Stroy of Zachariah is an example of this equation.
I welcome all comments.
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Peace be with you kyle,
I see you finally got to this subject
It is the process of ENLIGHTENMENT. It is achieved by the well known science of MEDItation.
The way I understand it, is the process is meditation. The 'end result' is enlightenment.I think meditation makes a person aware within (what goes on inside your mind/self) and without (the surroundings/enviroment/others). Meditation tends to kill the ego and the self that we created through conditioning. At the beginning the process is a little more difficult, because we need to quiet the mind to bring about awareness. The mind has too much going on there, even without trying. The process is unique to the individual. We can only be taught the basics of how to go about it, but the rest is up to person doing it.
I've been out of touch myself for a while... need to get back to the center (middle/balance).
Peace
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The way I understand it, is the process is meditation. The 'end result' is enlightenment.
Yes, that is correct.
I think meditation makes a person aware within (what goes on inside your mind/self) and without (the surroundings/enviroment/others). Meditation tends to kill the ego and the self that we created through conditioning.
You have very advanced understanding of meditation Zenje! It is the Ego and self that are the biggest obstacles.
At the beginning the process is a little more difficult, because we need to quiet the mind to bring about awareness. The mind has too much going on there, even without trying. The process is unique to the individual. We can only be taught the basics of how to go about it, but the rest is up to person doing it.
Again execellent grasp of meditation!
I've been out of touch myself for a while... need to get back to the center (middle/balance). )
PeaceThis seems always the problem. Making meditation as part of your daily routine is very hard. But the idea is not to give up but keep trying... -)
Regards,
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Peace be upon you,
Salaat = Process. It is the process of ENLIGHTENMENT. It is achieved by the well known science of MEDItation. I highlited MEDI to point out the "middle/balanced" idea which is given to us by the description of WUSTA. Also, salaat times are dawn and dusk, times when day(consciousness) and night(subconsciousness) come together. DU'a is calling on the God, Salaat (the process of enlightenment through meditation) brings us the answer. The Stroy of Zachariah is an example of this equation.I welcome all comments.
I would like to add that it is often said Prayer is asking God (i.e calling on God as Idolfree says) whilst Meditation is listening to what God is saying. And I think that is why Meditation is more important than Prayer.
Regards,
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Idolfree,
you said >>Salaat (the process of enlightenment through meditation)<<
How does that fit into the way the Quran uses the word salat?
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Peace be upon you Silentsalaam,
you said >>Salaat (the process of enlightenment through meditation)<<
How does that fit into the way the Quran uses the word salat?
Salaat, according to my understanding, means "process". And the implication is that it is the process of meditation, which is "talking" to the God. Dua (prayer) is the calling on the God, Al salaat(the process of meditataion) is how we get the answers.
Now, when we have the understanding that that we are RECIEVING SOMETHING through salaat, namely the God's HELP (seek help through patience and salaat), we have to look at receptivity. There are different states of receptivity. Also you must understand your DUAL nature. For there to be a NAFS(spirit/soul) that "you" are responsible for, then who is the real "you"? So the real "you" I will call consciousness, and the Nafs is the other part of you. The consciousness WILLS and the Nafs carries it out.
So , in the daytime your will is up front and the nafs takes a back seat, at night the nafs is up front and the will takes a back seat. It is when we give both parts EQUAL SHARE , BALANCE, that we can be most receptive. Hence MEDI-tate. The God describes salaat in this term when it is stated that "Al salaat Al Wusta" The balanced process.
The timing is told to us in order to confirm this understanding, DAWN and DUSK are the times when day and night MERGE. They have EQUAL SHARE at this time.
I have more to say about receptivity in my next post.
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Peace be upon you,
This is taken from an article I wrote in th thread "the human and the process of rememberance"
Receptivity
Since the Nafs/Soul is based on a cycle, lets see if we can confirm dawn and dusk as the proper times for impregnation. Scientist have discovered that the brain is more receptive at certain times of the day. The least receptive time for the human is the waking state which is called the Beta wave state. The brain wave in this state is 13 to 28 Hz. This wave state is not go for receptivity because it is this wakened state that is favors the Will (Consciusness). The Will is not your vehicle of receptivity, it is the Soul (Subconscius) that is your receptor. The ideal states of receptivity occur just above and just below the Beta wave state. Lets first talk about the state above the Beta Wave state. That is the Gamma wave state at 29 to 35 Hz. The brain enters this state in response to strong a strong emotion (anger, fear, ?love?, etc). This is the state that movie and television producers aim at when trying to program you. But this is not the state we want to plant our seeds by because we want to use intellect, not emotion. So lets talk about the brain state that is just below the waking state of Beta, that is the Alpha state 8 to 12 Hz. The brain enters this level in response to daydreaming or at the brief moment of passing from waking to sleep. This is the perfect time for what is called meditation, which means to reflect on or contemplate in the mind. The word Meditation comes from the root ?Medi? which means middle. We are balanced(wusta) between the wake state and dream state, or in other words, we are balance between the Consciousness(Will) and the subconscious(Soul). At this point let me bring a verse;
(223 (Everyone) Guard your process, the balance process, and maintain to The God devoutly.
To conclude this idea, we need to have access to both the Will and the Soul in order to unite them and for the Will to impregnate the Soul. We have explained how the waking state (Beta) is not conducive to receptivity, and how the emotional state above that (Gamma) leaves out reason/intellect. We have shown how the ideal state is the Alpha State (the word Alpha fits that perfectly) below the Beta state. Lets round this off with the brain state while sleep, the Delta state 4 to 7 Hz. This state is all receptive, but there is no Will involved in this state, so it is not beneficial for our purpose, the Process(salaat).
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The timing is told to us in order to confirm this understanding, DAWN and DUSK are the times when day and night MERGE. They have EQUAL SHARE at this time.
I got confused here. Are you saying the times to offer salat are dawn and dusk? I also am not sure about the brain waves.. I am not at all functioning at dawn, how can that be the best time to process things ?
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Peace be upon you Silent Salaam,
I got confused here. Are you saying the times to offer salat are dawn and dusk?
According to this reading(quran), the times that are given are dawn and dusk. There is a verse about times of privacy that states before dawn salaat and after dusk salaat. Since we are created from the earth and connected to the energies of the heavenly bodies just the same, I think there is something energy wise about these times, also it is symbolic of what we are to be doing at those times, "marrying" the will and the spirit, consciousness and subconsciousness (day and night).
I also am not sure about the brain waves
Let me know what your research finds.
.. I am not at all functioning at dawn, how can that be the best time to process things ?
When you say you are not functioning at dawn, what you are really saying is that your intellect is not fully awake, yet not totally sleep, and this is EXACTLY what we are looking for. We are not seeking the intellect, our own thinking faculty, we are seeking KNOWLEDGE, The God's faculty. Our goal is to SILENCE the thoughts(intellect) so that we can intuit divine wisdom. So what you have just bore witness to at dawn is exactly what we are looking for. After washing your face and the rest of abulution, you should be in perfect condition for meditation.
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After washing your face and the rest of abulution, you should be in perfect condition for meditation.
I remember when I used to perform the "fajr prayer", I would go wash up and pray half asleep and still manage to go back to bed and sleep like nothing happened. When I learnt a bit about meditation, if I had time, I meditated for like 10 minutes or less before "prayer" and I'd be totally focused!
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Peace be upon you Zenje,
It all seems to fit doesn't it? D I just need to apply this understanding on a more disciplined level so that I can be sure. Most of my understanding has come from studying meditation rather than the actual application, and thats what makes the difference, actual application. I am doing it now. D
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Most of my understanding has come from studying meditation rather than the actual application, and thats what makes the difference, actual application. I am doing it now.
Yes, this is the challenge. To be able to make meditation as part of your daily routine. It is the diligent application of meditation that will lead you to glimpse the great Truth behind it all.
Having practised meditation for two years I am convinced that Meditation is the key to understanding the great religious truth of this world. And I am also convinced that it is through meditation that the great seers, sages, mystics and all the Great Prophets in the bygone ages of this world obtained their insights of God and Divinity. It is through meditation that we can "experience" God like the Prophets...
Regards,
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Salaam Naxus,
There are different methods. Breathing meditation might be an easy start, such as Chi Kung, etc. Maybe you can do an internet search on this. Tai Chi practice is also another methodd of meditation that involves not only clarity and serenity of the mind, but the body as well.
Joe
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Peace be upon you Naxus,
how do we do meditation can u explain it to me peace
Well, there are different types of meditations that are taught, I do not have enough understanding yet to be able to say if one way is right or wrong, but I have found a method that seems to make the most sense, and I think some of those here who have practiced meditation for a while agree.
Basically, starting out you want to sit in a chair with your back straight, because breathing or RESPIRATION (like spirit/inspiration) is the key to it all. Breathing is a subconscious act that we can consciouslly control, so it allows us to find that balanced, peaceful place we are trying to get to. We want to be still and relaxed and take deep breaths from the lower abdomen, you don't want to breath from your chest because that is what you do when you are tense/emotional. When people get emotional, they take shallow breaths, so we want to breath deep from the lower abdomen.
I want to stop here and discuss that Qi Gong is not meditation, it is an exercise to stimulate what the Chinese call Qi(chee), or what the Hindus call "Kundalini", or the Kemetans call "Ra", and the Christians (holy spirit), and finally what this reading(quran) calls "Ruh Ul Qudus" (Divine Energy"
The root word for "Ruh" deals with wind and BREATH. It is through the respiratory system that we bring in Qi (bio kenetic energy). Qi Gong is an excercise that moves the "qi" around the body to get it to all of the cells. Qi energy comes from the Sun, which is why it was incorrectly thought that the ancient Kemetans(Egyptians) worshipped a "sun god" called RA. Ra was just an attribute of the One God to explain the Qi Energy that was "blow into man".
Remember that The God "BLEW" into Adam of His ENERGY.
(1529) "So when I straightened him, and I blew in him from My Energy, so fall to him prostrating."
Anyway, to keep it simple we want to breath deep and slowly, this is how we transcend our animal/emotional level so we can try to get to that level where we can "talk to God", or as lote Tree said "experience" the God, and I add, the God WITHIN, because that is important to remember. We are trying to get in touch with that God within who is the One who SEES, the human bodies are just the vehicle of the One CONSCIOUSNESS who Sees, hears, etc. as stated throughout this reading(quran).
(4134) Who is wanting the present world's reward/compensation , so at The God (is) the present world's and the end's reward/compensation , and The God is hearing, seeing.
We are ONE, and we get to understand that by meditation.
I once heard a talk where it was stated that they say the mark of the beast is "666" because we normally breath 18 breaths per second(6+6+6), which gives the emotional part of us the amount of oxygen it thrives on, just like how you must speed up your breathing to exercise and all types of ANIMATED movements. So when we slow the breath down, for example to 6 breaths per minute, we take the power away from the emotional part of us and we transcend to a higher part of us that we have forgotten about, we we are constantly aske to remember.
Musa took his shoes off because the journey to the God is WITHIN.
We are told that we should be STILL when we maintain the process(salaat). It is stated that when in danger we can do so riding or walking, which indicates that normally we are to be still. It is stillness that the Hindus understood when they described the state of Peace as "Nirvana" (Nir=not, Vana=moviing).
Lastly for now, it is important to stop all thoughts. Thoughts are what block your ability to "Hear God". So you can concentrate on your breathing as well as do what is called a "Mantra" based meditation, where there is a Sound chanted. I say "sound" rather that "word" because theses words have no meaning, to help us from trying to connect the word to some meaning. We must keep the left side of the brain (intellect side) busy while we use the right side of the brain(the metaphorical, imaginative, unifiying side) to ascend/climb.
So in conclusion, salaat is the process of meditation. Meditation is our means of getting help from God through direct experience of our True Self, the vehicle of the God's consciousness (We SERVE The God). This is how we LEARN, recieve guidance.
We must get to that WUSTA(balanced place) where Peace of the Garden resides.
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peace be upon you idolfree,
I once heard a talk where it was stated that they say the mark of the beast is "666" because we normally breath 18 breaths per second(6+6+6), which gives the emotional part of us the amount of oxygen it thrives on, just like how you must speed up your breathing to exercise and all types of ANIMATED movements. So when we slow the breath down, for example to 6 breaths per minute, we take the power away from the emotional part of us and we transcend to a higher part of us that we have forgotten about, we we are constantly aske to remember.
I think adults breath 18 breaths a minute and children 40 breaths, does that change anything in that idea?
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Peace be upon you Idris,
I think adults breath 18 breaths a minute and children 40 breaths, does that change anything in that idea?
No, if that understanding is true, then it was probably based on adults, but the main point is not counting the breaths, just the idea that one must slow down the breathing to transcend the animal nature.
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peace be upon you idolfree,
Lastly for now, it is important to stop all thoughts. Thoughts are what block your ability to "Hear God". So you can concentrate on your breathing as well as do what is called a "Mantra" based meditation, where there is a Sound chanted. I say "sound" rather that "word" because theses words have no meaning, to help us from trying to connect the word to some meaning. We must keep the left side of the brain (intellect side) busy while we use the right side of the brain(the metaphorical, imaginative, unifiying side) to ascend/climb.
i have another question regarding this part, I checked up on mantra and it was speaking about saying this wierd "sound" aloud, my basic question is does it matter whether u would say that particular meaningless sound or another meaningless sound, also how does that keep your intellect busy?