Today's "endless further"

http://theendlessfurther.com/?p=6955

The blog I just posted addresses a lot of the issues I've been working with lately.
Which is, in a way, to start with surrender, or to begin with emptiness -- rather than to start with some idea of a goal, an attainment and then do some practices with the intention of eventually, at some point later, getting to the goal.

I think that post has some good points about how a lot of meditators spend a lot of time trying to analyze and understand - as if they need to pass a final exam on Buddhist theology in order to "get anywhere" at the expense of just putting the concepts into practice as best they can and allowing that they don't understand everything.

The same thing happens in Magick, with the same result (and I know this tradition probably resonates less with you, Mike, than most others, but I'll throw it out there anyway!) I see a lot of people - both acquaintances and people on forums - spending a lot of time trying to figure out what the science is behind a spirit manifesting. They want to have an intellectual understanding of how it works and why. They want to read a hundred books and talk about which method is best, before they actually start sitting down and practicing. And because they get really hung up on that ("well if I don't have some scientific proof that a spirit can manifest, it can't happen" or "if I'm not certain this method is the absolute best method, I'm going to keep researching until I'm sure") they get very little result when they sit down and try to evoke a spirit, and then that reinforces their doubt. Doubt is a huge hindrance to mystical experience (and I would categorize much of what comes out of meditation as mystical experience, though you can use other words).

The fact is, whatever kind of meditation practice one does in whatever tradition, if it is done with a intention, focus, devotion, and commitment results happen. Why they happen really doesn't matter (to me) - thousands of years of historic accounts, personal journals, sacred texts and so on show person after person committing to devotion, meditation, surrender and meditation practice and having profound, life-changing mystical experiences.

At some point in all of those traditions one has to give up wanting to know why and how and what and just go on "faith" - accepting that not knowing anything, let alone everything, is perfectly fine. The open, unknowing mind is ripe for God's hand to get in there and work some magic.

Just my 2 cents. Other thoughts?

One -- that is true, isn't it?
That anytime one chooses a method and practices sincerely -- then good things will happen.

Sounds like a good place to start, Mike - no goal. Just "letting go" of all the concepts, analysis, etc.


- Tina