A Rosicrucian Speaks

Joseph J. Weed

Meditation II

1962

Recently the newspapers carried a story about a group of Hebrew scholars who had been studying the Ten Commandments of Moses and who had suggested certain changes in the presently accepted translations. Apparently, they had been troubled by the generally accepted interpretation of the Third Commandment and its translation as "Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord, thy God, in vain." The present understanding of this Commandment is that it is a warning against the use of profanity, of using the Name of the Lord to curse men, objects or circumstances, or to use it as a general expletive.

These scholars are of the opinion that profanity as we know it today did not then exist, but that people were wont to use the name of God when they wished to convince another of their sincerity. They would say, "I Swear by the name of God that this is true", or make some such statement and in fact we do the same thing today. Since in their readings of the original Masoretic texts, the meaning is not too clearly defined, these scholars of the Hebrew Union College and other Rabbinical Schools felt that their new interpretation was preferable and more likely to be accurate.

The original text, or as near to the original as can be found today, seems to warn against calling upon the Lord to participate in or assist in an unworthy or shallow purpose. When it was given, this warning apparently was clearly understood but today its full import is lost because times have changed and the abilities of men have altered.

At one time, long ago, most educated and trained men knew the secret of the control of material things by the mind. Sometimes for large projects an intermediary, such as sound, was introduced but seldom was any physical action required to accomplish the desired objective. Today, of course, physical action is necessary for material control, except in rare cases. However, there are many who carry in their consciousness a memory trace of this long-lost talent and endeavor, with varying degrees of success, to employ it. In fact, most successful men believe they have guided their destinies through thought.

At the time the Commandments were originally given, man had all but lost this ability due chiefly to his unwillingness, or inability, to exert himself to the necessary point of concentration. As a means to focus attention and aid in directing thought, certain short sentences and mantrams were used. These frequently included the name of the Lord. They were not prayers in the present day sense, although probably some of our modern ideas of prayer have come from them. They were rather requests for assistance from a powerful friend, assistance to accomplish a certain material objective which might very well be achieved without His assistance, but more quickly and easily with it. There was a knowledge and a confidence and a sureness of success which is today lacking in our attitude during prayer, a big difference.

Apparently, in his increasing laziness and inertia, man began to use his great mental ability for trivial objectives. This is what Moses, in His wisdom, warned against in the Third Commandment when He said, "Do not take the name of the Lord in vain." But now the time is rapidly approaching when men can and should reclaim this mental power which has been lost and forgotten for so many centuries. When God created humankind, he gave man dominion over this planet and at one time man, through his mind, exercised a much greater control of the material world than all modern science gives him today. Our science has become too complex and more simple controls must be sought. This simplicity lies in the use of nature's tools, the greatest of which is the human mind.

We, as Rosicrucians, are being instructed in the use of the mind. Many exercises and experiments in our monographs are designed to teach us mind control, but no one exercise can compare in effectiveness with the practice of daily meditation.

All mystical and esoteric teachings indicate the need for meditation on the part of the aspirant if he wishes to advance on the path of spiritual development. Our teaching puts considerable stress on the importance of regularity in all things, on the need to develop habitual rhythms in one's life, and recommends that daily meditation be included.

In spite of the great amount of written material on meditation which is presently available, and in the light of the many techniques that have been offered by competent Teachers, it is surprising that so few people really understand the meditative process or practice it properly. There are two general types of meditation. They may be described as passive meditation and active meditation.

Passive meditation is the first phase in the meditative process and, unfortunately, many do not progress very far beyond this elementary stage. The student is first taught how to focus attention on an object or an idea. When some degree of success is achieved and the surrounding physical and emotional distractions are beginning to fade into the background, a certain euphoria, or sense of well-being, steals over the aspirant. This is generated in part by the feeling of lightness which results when the attention moves away from the physical-emotional levels and in part by the flow of soul force into the personality which inevitably follows when the mind reaches upward. The normal tendency is to bathe in this sense of well-being, to enjoy it, and many never go beyond this level. Instead of seeking further, they passively submit to whatever energy flows come their way, and soon are lost in a dream state. Unfortunately, a great many meditations, which start out well, end in just this way, in dreamland.
Active meditation starts out the same way, but at a certain point changes direction. The chief difference is that the one meditating never relaxes his control, never lets his thoughts drift. Thus, he never falls into a dream state and the higher contacts he makes do not present themselves as stories or vague dreams, but as ideas and inspirations that come clear-cut into his consciousness. But more than this, he actually works to achieve certain worthwhile objectives and is well aware that he is so working.

Active meditation has three stages, each progressively higher and more difficult. These may be defined as:

Concentration
Visualization
Creative building

Concentration: is the foundation stone. It is basic to all successful meditation. Each aspirant must first be taught, must in fact teach himself, how to concentrate. Many young people have unusual powers of concentration particularly upon projects which interest them, but unfortunately lose them when exposed to the attractions and distractions of life today. Most students find they must learn all over again just how to concentrate and in learning find that it takes a great deal of energy and a great deal of control to concentrate properly. All meditation starts with concentration, but when the concentration begins to relax and the mind begins to wander, the student slips into passive meditation. Only when a high level of concentration is learned and maintained will the meditating one find it possible to pass on to the next and more difficult stage which is:
Visualization: Everyone, or at least everyone we come in contact with, can visualize to a degree – and does. But complete and coherent visualization is beyond the ability of most people. This is a skill which requires training and effort, more effort than the average man is willing or able to put forth. Yet the art of proper visualization is the clue to all successful esoteric work. Many students are of the opinion that meditation is just thinking about a thought or an object or an idea. It is this, yes, but it can also be a very urgent activity which involves not only thought but also other work like visualization and creative building. Visualization is the technique of casting a picture on the eye of the mind. This picture should be clear and it should be in as much detail as possible, the more the better. A clear, accurate and detailed picture maintained in the mind's eye for a minute or two has a very powerful tendency to project itself into a physical manifestation. Once a certain amount of skill in visualization is acquired, the student is then ready for the next step in the meditative process, which is :
Creative Building: Energy follows thought. We have been taught this and most of us have observed this law in action. All thought is by its nature creative. However, most thoughts are too fleeting and too indistinct to register even the faintest impression upon the sluggish elements of the physical world. In order to learn how to build creatively, we must first acquire the technique of arresting thought and holding it in a definite form long enough for it to make an impact upon the physical. This is accomplished by the process of visualization. But for real success in creative building, an additional sophistication is necessary. The would-be creator must understand that a good visualization is only a part of the process and since he is dealing with energies he must learn how to lay hold on these energies, manipulate them and direct them. For this thought is used, but skill is only acquired after a certain sensitivity to energy is developed along with a sense of mental direction.

All of us are being taught daily to react and respond to the impacts of energy. Gradually an awareness of energy as a cause of physical effects comes to us and we begin to see the true causes of the events that take place in our everyday lives. This is the beginning of a sensitivity which can be developed within us if we are conscious of it and work at learning about it. And once awareness comes, then training in the conscious manipulation of these energies, psychic energies, can be begun, a sense of psychic direction developed and successful creative effort accomplished. Creative workers in Hierarchy perform all three of these tasks simultaneously and proceed onward to higher forms of meditation.

But we must first learn these forms one by one, step by step. First to concentrate, then to visualize and finally to direct. This is the pattern for meditation. When we learn it and begin to achieve a skill in its practice, success will come and we may then qualify as an active co-worker with Hierarchy.

Joseph J. Weed

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A Rosicrucian Speaks
Joseph J. Weed