The nature of our mind and body

The Nature of Our Mind and Body.

What We can Find ...

When we begin to practice meditation we discover a whole world in ourselves. Although that world is familiar in some aspects, it also contains gifts, treasures, talents and other things difficult to imagine. Few things are more useful and offer more incentive than exploring that inner world. The practice of meditation guides us on a path of growth and discovery. We grow by developing our creative potential and discover in ourselves an unsuspected strength and magic.

Symbolically visualizing that inner world helps to start the journey. One can imagine, for example, a vast plain, the plain of reflections, the inner world of the mind. In that plain there are great universities and libraries, brimming with wisdom and knowledge. There are well-equipped laboratories in which to discover new things. There is also an ivory tower, from which you can explore the environment, built on the border of unknown lands.

There are forests in which we can get lost and confused, or animals, mythical and real, that can scare us. There are deserts in which we feel isolated and alone, and deep canyons into which we can fall, with metal dragons lurking from the bottom. These narrow valleys divide the plain of reflections into hundreds of small kingdoms, many of them isolated from others. In those realms, people do the things that people usually do, animated and apathetic, honest and dishonest, creative and destructive. Some of these people wear masks from people we know, although underneath everyone has their secret face.

The plain of the reflections has a tasty soil. And in that inner world of the mind wonderful crops can be obtained. There are hidden treasures and unknown roads that bring adventures. Although in life we ​​did not do anything else that to explore the plain of reflections, that is, our mental resources and our wisdom. We would not waste time. Anyway, our inner world is something more than that.

Imagine that in the center of that plain there is an immense expanse of water, as big as an inland sea. They are the waters of emotion, the sea of changes. It is a somewhat magical sea, which can be saved and bitter as tears, now versa shaken by a violent storm, now clear and shine with a cheerful wave in the sunlight. In its depths live primitive creatures of the origin of life, which during the storms emerge to the surface to frighten the unwary.

Storms sometimes leave the sea, inland, sweeping through where they pass. The sun can drag the mists that rise over the waters, and let them fall like rain, feeding what grows in the plain. The condition of that sea governs the time of the inner world. Sometimes the sea of change is plunged into a deep calm, its calm waters reflect the stars, and in the midst of that peace, the irresistibly sweet song of the sirens rises to the sky.

In the center of the sea of ​​changes rises a mountain of steep slopes, the impregnable and unexplored core of our being. For most of us it is really the unknowable land, the unknown land. From the distant shore of the plain of the reflections it seems difficult to access the mountain, impossible to ascend it. The summit is hidden behind the clouds and its roots go deep into the earth.

When the sea curls, the mountain is completely separated from the plain. When it subsides, it is possible to approach, and in complete calmness, disembark on the mountain and start the ascent of its steep slope towards the hidden top. Those marine calm, which are infrequent, should last as long as we climb the mountain, because the slightest alteration of its surface will splash the mountain, it will make us lose balance and we will fall down to the water.

But there is another path, magical, up the mountain, in the center of being. All the people and things that we find on this earth constitute an image, another face of us: people, dragons, mirages, abysses, mountains, towers, climate, boil, roads, obstacles, mountains. Everything is a reflection of our secret face. Imagine that each of those images has a bell that rings. Some play softly, others strong, some sound discordant, others with melodious harmony. We propose to match them as we walk through this world, so that they sound unison with clarity.

When that happens, when the discords disappear, when our whole being is one, the note changes and raises the normal auditory spectrum to an intense and full silence. At that moment the plain calms down, the sea completely calms down, the clouds disappear, and the moon rises in the sky, on the mountain. At that moment, from the silent bank, we see a soft path of light shining on the water, an illumination of the spirit, which leads directly to the unknown peak of the mountain. If we venture along the way, we will quickly and effortlessly reach the summit, the place of light. From there you can appreciate the plain of reflections, the sea of changes, the stars of the sky and the depths behind. At that moment we feel the roots of the mountain in the heart, the song of the stars, and we know that we are one with the whole.

Meditation is a way to make the way through that inner world, to discover its true nature and its properties, and to tune the bells so that its unique note changes this world. As a first step of that trip, let's try a simple exercise.

First, make sure that no one will interrupt you in the next five minutes. Then, sitting in a comfortable position, close your eyes and pay attention to the breathing. Do not notice anything except breathing. Ignore completely all the sounds you hear, the thoughts that come to mind, or any other type of feeling or bodily sensation. For five minutes, focus all your attention on breathing.