Meditation On A Passage

[Afonso]

Quote

The secret of meditation is simple: we become what we meditate on. When you use the Prayer of Saint Francis every day in meditation, you are driving the words deep into your consciousness. Eventually they become an integral part of your personality, which means they will find constant expression in what you do, what you say, and what you think.

Currently my meditation consists of focusing my attention on the present experience. I don't try to control anything, nor think anything in particular. I just focus on being aware and not distracted and sucked in by thought.

Is Meditation on a Passage equally beneficial and useful for all the long term gains and also to dissolve the ego and experience all the amazing stuff from standard meditation? If so, wouldn't it be more useful to meditate on a passage because it would affect more deeply the core parts of our personality? Is this even true?

 

[Christian]

Meditation's core function is to grow your awareness. This means becoming aware of how reality functions at a being-level. In achieving that, I am a bit skeptical about whether meditating on a passage could work. Because when you meditate on a passage, you are essentially saying a phrase and that phrase contains words. Words are symbols with meaning, but that meaning is an illusion that simply adds to your structure of beliefs. So it does not really get you closer to awareness over reality, but more intrenched or locked in with a perspective. 

The best approach for that is to drop all beliefs, passages and ideas and just sit. Just sit and be aware. From that approach, you can become aware of  what reality actually IS at the existential/being level. You don't get that by repeating a bunch of stories, but more by being the truth itself. So I would say you should simply keep using the technique you're using currently and expect to see some extraordinary results down the line if you stay consistent.

The bigger problem that technique is discipline and consistency. How often you meditate matters more than any technique ever will. 

 

[Andres]

Alfonso, I agree with Christian. I think, the meditation that you are doing is one of the best.

Something that help me to stay in the present moment (in pure awareness) is to keep my attention in the fact that I am the witness, just the observer of all that is going on around me; and, that in my private universe, I am the only consciousness there is.

[Afonso]

1 minute ago, Andres said:

Alfonso, I agree with Christian. I think, the meditation that you are doing is one of the best.

Something that help me to stay in the present moment (in pure awareness) is to keep my attention in the fact that I am the witness, just the observer of all that is going on around me; and, that in my private universe, I am the only consciousness there is.

Hey, it's Afonso, not Alfonso.

I wonder what @Leo Gura has to say about the subject. The quote is from a book that he recommends.

[Toby]

This is contemplation. You pick a phrase or "passage" that resonates and you contemplate it. Can be very helpful. A book where different approaches (meditation, contemplation, inquiry) are described is The Way of Liberation by Adyashanti.

[Afonso]

2 minutes ago, Toby said:

This is contemplation. You pick a phrase or "passage" that resonates and you contemplate it. Can be very helpful. A book where different approaches (meditation, contemplation, inquiry) are described is The Way of Liberation by Adyashanti.

I've read the book also, but this is not contemplation. Contemplation has a goal, to discover something or to gain some insight. This here is different, I think. It's really about Meditation... on a Passage. Comes from a book called Conquest Of Mind.

Edited March 15, 2017 by Afonso

[Toby]

? Doesn't make sense. You pick something, anything. This evokes a certain quality that is inherent in you already and you "meditate" on it. Why wouldn't that be contemplation? Doesn't matter if it is just one sentence or one page or a picture of a master or anything.

[Afonso]

I'd love to hear other perspectives on this topic