An edited talk, by David Spero
Meditation is the descent of the mind as it sinks into Being. Once it has sunk into that Infinite Depth, there’s no longer the feeling of meditating. That means: meditation “ceases.” One has retired into Silence or the Witness-Consciousness; or one comes awake into one’s Self. One has perfected meditation when this sense of sinking has been miraculously transformed into a state of permanent residing in Consciousness.
The body-mind can only put up with so much successful, self-transcending meditation. After this, the mind and that which is beyond the mind become realized or enlightened spontaneously. In enlightenment, meditation “ceases.”
To become meditation is the goal of every genuine spiritual path. Neither mere faith nor belief can deliver an individual into the state of Liberation or Self-Awakening. After this Cosmic Awakening, there is no longer a journey of the individual soul. That means that one has retired permanently into one’s inner dwelling place and there is no longer desire to search and seek for more spiritual experiences.
But, as it turns out this apparent finality too is just a phase and detachment opens the door of longing, which is the painful urge to love and be loved. One door closes and another door opens. The mind has reached its fullness on the path of meditation and subsequently the dormant heart begins to awaken.
The process of desire then begins to take on cosmic proportions! Just as the mind went from being limited and finite to being unlimited and infinite, so too the heart travels a burning path within its own boundless hunger.
In the togetherness that is generated during our Meditation, one can feel the fire of Awakening, this phenomenon of the mind having introverted into its source forever and the heart having extroverted its longing back toward matter. You can feel both of these movements. One can be defined as an ascending movement and the other a descending one.
The completion and perfection of meditation are only half the fullness of awakening. The depths of feeling must ultimately be stimulated, activated, in this most discomforting and aggravated condition of wanting without limit. The relative wants to have its grip on the Absolute. The heart desires irrationally and absolutely. Where are “you” left in all this? Was there ever a “you?” It is very difficult to answer these questions.
Having passed into the ascending and descending forms of spiritual activation, one is mysteriously led back into some kind of seemingly ordinary existence. To the undiscerning eye, it appears to be a very normal kind of existence. To the awakened and discerning eye, it is miraculous. It is an ecstatic movement of the Infinite that has not and cannot be described adequately in any religious or spiritual text. Such an Awakened Being offers himself as a Divine Offering to those who wish to feed on Bliss-Food, a living food to be digested by the wise.
Truly, there is no other, no sense of otherness, in this finally felt and understood condition of Limitless Consciousness and Feeling. It is more than merely being “That” or mere Consciousness. One has actually become the Fullness of Total Reality, Bliss-Consciousness Itself immortal and shining, desiring and devastated.
Don’t get caught in the gilded trap of being “That.” That is also This. This is also That. You are everything. You are suffering, too.
Come into the Divine now and feel the living fire of Pure Reality.
