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Thursday, August 2, 2012

The Human Need For Meditation

We humans are a pretentious lot; all the time, wanting and needing, while never realizing that that what we need and want is within us.  The need for food, clothing, shelter, and love are the true, basic needs for all men.  But sometimes we go crazy and turn our needs into very expensive wants:  like extravagant food, that $3,000.00 Armani suit, a summer chalet in the Alps, and a $5,000.00/night hooker (talk about buying "love"....when it's over, it's really over!).  But in varying degrees, we all fall victim to extreme wants driven by our desires.  A real need that often goes ignored by many is meditation.

This is a blog-post and as such, cannot eloquently deal with even the basic meditation techniques. There are many great books dealing with the "how to" of meditation.  For my pagan and heathen readers of the Indo-European and Far Eastern traditions, I suggest a quick Amazon or Internet search; your efforts will be abundantly rewarded.  If my Christian readers are uncomfortable with those pagan techniques, I think you will find Basil Pennington's work very satisfying.  Pennington, who passed on in 2005, was a Trappist monk and priest.  Pennington's work, what he referred to as 'centering prayer,' has many adherents.  The primal intent of this post is to write about the benefits of meditation; admittedly, it is a carrot and stick approach, in the hopes that people will at least give it a try.  However, there is one point that beginners must understand.

Meditation is a process that takes time, practice, and commitment.  If you expect instant results or gratification that is recognizable, you will be disappointed.  However, when meditation is practiced with consistency, the benefits really do begin with your first effort (just because you cannot see it or feel it does not make it a lost effort, waste of time, or non-reality).  Gradually, you will feel and see the results of your meditations in your life.  Ah yes, the benefits....the carrot on the stick.

Meditation calms and relaxes both mind and body.  And, a relaxed mind and body relieves stress and anxiety.  When stress and anxiety are relieved (and released) on a regular basis, a person has less chance of developing heart problems.  Since heart disease is a major cause of death, and you now have a non-drug method to help yourself, you should want to begin immediately; hey, it's free....no proscription needed.

Emotions, and the control of them, can be done with meditation.  A practitioner easily can handle negative situations so much better.  And, that practitioner becomes better focused on his tasks at hand. That sharper focus make a person more productive with less effort.  In time, a person who regularly meditates will garner inspiration through flashes of intuitive insight (A.K.A. Unverifiable Personal Gnosis).  

And gradually, meditation helps you control your desires.

For all of this and more to be yours, a commitment must be made that includes the time to meditate and the acceptance that results take time.  And yes, you do have the time; nobody is that busy.

                                                Copyright @2012 Terry Unger



                                                 




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