The Effortless Presence – Active Meditation vs. True Meditation

25th March 2015

By Frank M. Wanderer, Ph.D

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

The Nature of Active Meditation

Living in an  isolated state of consciousness, based upon your identification with your illusionary self, you may find that spatial consciousness is not present in your life, so you are unable to experience Consciousness free of forms. But you have read a lot about this subject, so you wish to bring things beyond forms and shapes under the control of your Ego, in order to stabilize the Ego and make it permanent.

You may have read or heard somewhere that meditation is the best method to that end, so you have begun to meditate diligently. But you are approaching meditation the way you do with other objects of the outside world. You believe that meditation is also an activity of the mind, a concentration on an objects (e. g. a burning candle), or your own respiration or a mantra.

Meditation is therefore something that you perform yourself. Through active meditation you wish to reach a higher state of the Mind, which is expected to give you happiness, satisfaction and enlightenment.

You start to practice meditation as an individual self, as an Ego. You make efforts to tranquilize your mind. This activity may be successful up to a certain level, when you suppress your thoughts and emotions with your willpower, reaching transitory peace within you. But you find that state will be lost immediately when you stop concentrating, meditating, and no longer sustain the effort, as your mind returns to its usual activities, the old pre-conditioned patterns.

Meditation therefore does  not bring you the lasting peace you have been longing for and  the peace independent of your mind that reinforces your existence in the world.

The Nature of Real Meditation

Your attempts at meditation are futile because real meditation is, by nature, effortless. It does not create an artificial quiet, but allows the deeper dimensions of Alertness to surface. This is the deep internal Silence that constitutes the real core of man.

The spatial awareness thus acquired remains with you after meditation, for longer and longer periods of time. You will eventually no longer need meditation, as the deeper dimensions of Alertness are there with you, so every moment in your life will be meditative.

Real meditation is always without object and is never the result of an activity, but Presence in the space of Consciousness. This natural, effortless Presence is meditation itself.

The deeper dimensions of Alertness, the awakened Consciousness, the world of Silence, are beyond the mind. This Silence is not forced upon us by some concentration technique but by the indescribable (but experienceable) living emptiness. Conscious existence in the space of Consciousness.

The Idea of Action

In our present state of consciousness it is almost unimaginable to experience the deeper dimensions of Alertness, as we  have been conditioned by your parents and teachers to become “somebody” since our early childhood. We  have been conditioned to look for and find happiness and the objective of our life in the outside world around us.

As an illusionary self, we  find the idea of “To be and to do nothing else” is one of the greatest mysteries. We  believe that if we  do not act, just sit in our place, mulling over things, we  will never find out who we are, and what our chances are in the world of shapes and forms. In order to consolidate our identity, we  have to be active.

It is very difficult not to do anything, because we  are used to always doing something. Our parents have brought us  up in the belief that our actions determine who we  are. Our personal identity is rooted in our actions and the results of those actions. Our personal history is the chronicle of our actions and achievements. The idea of being active is therefore a product of our conditioned mind, our Ego. Ambitions to acquire, to achieve something all work as motivations for action in the Ego-dominated mind. The desire to control, to manage are also powerful urges to act.

As you have seen, these very same forces are the ones that spur you to meditate. It is, nevertheless, not a bad phenomenon, as active meditation is the first step towards real meditation. Active meditation consolidates the outermost dimension of Alertness, that, is attention, in you.

To be, and to Do Nothing Else

What you can  do is the following: Allow the deeper dimensions of Alertness to surface in you, so that you are able to recognize yourself as the eternal light of Consciousness. Then all effort, desire and want of your Ego vanish, you give up the efforts to control things around you.

This is a perfectly relaxed moment, your submission to the moment, the Now.

Real meditation is natural, effortless Presence in the space of Consciousness. This is the easiest thing in the world, it does not require any effort and concentration, as this is the natural state of your existence. To be and to do nothing else.

Previous articles by Frank M. Wanderer:

• De-Conditioning the Conditioned Mind
• Identity and The Online Personality
• Are You Awake? The Dimensions Of Alertness
• The Unconscious Conditionings of the Mind

About the author:

Frank M. Wanderer,  Ph.D is a professor of psychology, a consciousness researcher and writer, and publisher of several books on consciousness. With a lifelong interest in the mystery of human existence and the work of the human mind, Frank’s work is to help others wake up from identification with our personal history and the illusory world of the forms and shapes, and to find our identity in what he calls “the Miracle”, the mystery of the Consciousness.

Connect with Frank at powerofconsciousness.blogspot.com

The Flames of Alertness

From the editor…

Frank M. Wanderer’s  book, The Flames of Alertness –  Discover the Power of Consciousness  presents the path from active meditation to true meditation.

This book will only reach you if a flame of Alertness is burning in you. The awakening of the Consciousness leads us from our own personal history to the pure space of Consciousness, breaking down the accustomed, isolated world around you and place you back into the Oneness, which is your natural state of existence.  The Flames of Alertness is a book to help you understand our identification with our personal history, so as to be able to find our identity in the Miracle.

The Flames of Alertness –  Discover the Power of Consciousness  is available here on Amazon.