Concentration-Meditation-Sleep

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

by “Billy’ Eduard Albert Meier

December 4th 2013

Concentration is a state of consciousness in which the human being consciously gathers himself in a mental and feeling-related manner, and precisely directs his perception and attention towards a certain and the interest serving fulfilment. The normal state of consciousness is not concentrated, but anchors in an absent-mindedness and fleetingness by which no real concentration is effective. The usual state of consciousness is far too uncontrolled, too weak, and too volatile to be able to understand the nature of reality, or to be able to understand the reality in its true existence.

Therefore, if something is meant to be comprehended and understood, then an intentional concentration towards the predetermined factor is required, which is envisaged as a meritorious fulfilment, or on which the concentration and interest is directed. In order to comprehend and understand the nature of reality, it is absolutely necessary to comprehend reality in its complete extensiveness. Therefore, if the human being wants to free himself or his fellow human beings from lack of understanding, then he must direct himself to it in a concentrative way.

Thus, it is necessary to train the consciousness in such a way that it becomes a useful tool with which everything can be clearly recognized, comprehended, and understood. The consciousness must be made into a weapon which is used like a sharp sword to separate all that is absent-minded and fleeting. To use the consciousness for deliberate and firm concentration must be learned, because this is the exercise by which everything is switched off that causes the uncontrolledness, the fleeting and the absent-mindedness.
Through concentration, the consciousness has to be trained in such a way that it becomes powerful and effective, that it works in a concentrated, precise and effortless way towards a fulfilment and remains with it until it is reached. The foundation for the necessary concentration exercise is an appropriate motivation, as well as the necessary will and perseverance. Since the beginning of time, the human being has been given free will, and with it also a consciousness that the human being can form and use according to his own will, in fact both for the negative as well as for the positive, or for the bad as well as the good.

Through the influences of the environment, as well as his own illogical thoughts and feelings etc., from time immemorial, however, the human being tends to turn more towards the bad and negative rather than to the good and positive. Bad and negative characteristics, hatred, jealousy, strife, discords, greed and stinginess, as well as unpeace, unfreedom and disharmony, joylessness, worries and sorrow etc. are results that have led to war, destruction and ruin since primeval times. All of which, are unvalues that are grouped in the term blindness, namely in the sense that they represent blindness towards the effective creational principles and the innermost human nature. Therefore, it is important to eradicate these blindnesses in order to grant the true creational and human nature its fundamentally true place, from which being human in the real and true sense and real humanity evolves.

This can only be reached through concentration, which is also a form of a valuable meditation. The importance of concentration lies in winning a comprehensive control over the entire consciousness, by which any desired fulfilment can be perceived, approached and reached. To reach this, however, it must be learned, because from nothing there comes nothing. Truthfully, the human being stands under the influence of his consciousness, which is formed by fleetingness and absentmindedness, which in turn lead an unconcentrated existence under the influence of blindnesses. This leads to the fact that the human being surrenders himself to bad and negative thoughts and feelings, from which, in turn, bad and negative actions arise.

Therefore, the human being must endure his own insufficiencies and blindnesses and must accept these unintentionally, which continues until these evils are dissolved in a concentrated and conscious way and sent into oblivion. The whole issue is the blindnesses generate suffering and pain for the human being, as well as disadvantages and joylessness, together with all other bad and negative factors, which must be seen as a self-created mean act against oneself. In order to break through this vicious cycle of mean acts of self-created pain and suffering, the consciousness must be changed and control over it must be won.

The consciousness must be freed from blindnesses and non-virtues and be directed to a path which leads to the true virtues and to true love, to internal and external peace, as well as to the internal and external freedom and to effective harmony. The human being must never allow his consciousness to uncontrollably do as it likes and let it be directed by blindnesses; consequently, he also may never randomly stumble into virtuous thoughts, feelings and actions. Truthfully, he must turn deliberately to the true virtues and work consciously in a concentrated manner towards them. Concentration is also a form of meditation, and to do this successfully, a clear control is to be carried-out, which must be approached systematically and maintained until the attainment of the fulfilment.

If this is done, then a clear inner-cognition opens up, which, however, must be suitably controlled, otherwise it will not be helpful. Fundamentally, the human being has developed the bad habit of letting his consciousness wander about uncontrollably and unconcentratedly to wherever the consciousness-orientation independently runs. However, if deliberate concentration is practiced, then real progress is quickly achieved, through which the ability develops, of quickly and consciously, as well as easily directing the consciousness-orientation on every desired fulfilment. Until this ability is reached, however, it is important to keep to the right sequence of the concentration exercise, because as it is with a lofty tower where a real foundation must be laid first in order to be able to raise the tower walls on it, a foundation must also be given to concentration.

This must consist of a distinctive motivation from the very beginning, interconnected with a sufficiently shaped will and enough perseverance, in which also a work schedule must be integrated, which consists of how far the concentration should lead. And as said before, concentration is a form of meditation, to which the ability must be created to also build up the necessary attentiveness, clear perception, clear-sightedness, and self-examination.

This is absolutely necessary, because this determines whether the consciousness will pursue the determined direction up to success, or whether it is distracted by other things and topics and the effort peters-out through it. To practice concentration does not mean that a subject or a fulfilment must be pursued for hours in a controlled manner, because at least initially it is better to practice shorter exercises. The reason for it lies in the fact that if exercises are prolonged or too long, the danger exists that an inner weariness or conflict occurs. If a concentration exercise lasts long, two or three hours etc., then time is spent with it, but if the consciousness falls under the influence of an inner weariness or conflict, the meditative concentration exercise becomes ineffective. It therefore does not gain the effectiveness as it fundamentally should.

Therefore, it is of importance to begin first of all with short exercises from which small results arise, which leads to the fact that in the meditation, also joy arises when it is practiced. However, if an exercise or a session is carried-out for too long a time, which has an uncomfortable effect, then the danger arises that everything appears daunting and the whole thing is thereby given up immediately. If this is the case immediately, then most likely unpleasant thoughts and feelings of aversion or reluctance arise during the next concentration or meditation endeavors, which is an extremely bad prerequisite and in the end leads to failure and abandonment of the endeavors. However, if short exercises or sessions are carried-out, then quickly small successes are achieved, whilst during the continuation of the concentration or meditation practice, real joy and even pleasure appears, and this, not least, because the success and feeling of the last exercise is still present and will not have faded away.

For the consciousness-related and concentrative practice, sleep also plays a weighty role. Of special importance is thereby, not to sleep into the late morning hours or during the day, as well as not only the last hours of the night. This should be held in such a way, unless a special reason exists, to keep to, other than normal bedtimes, which should be, as a rule, from the early evening up to the early morning. However, this does not apply to the so-called night owls, to whom the night serves as working time, who then retire to lie down and enjoy enough sleep in the early morning hours. For a certain time span the human being must come to rest in sleep, whereby the necessary bedtime varies from human being to human being.

However, human beings of industrialized countries have a particular morbid sickening and strange habit concerning this, because in the evening and at night they chase their pleasures and hence proceed very late to a night’s rest, in order to consequently get up either unrested, or not until the late morning or day hours. However, this corresponds not only to a very unhealthy and illness-supporting way of life, but it thereby also impairs the power of concentration in a manner that erratic thoughts, feelings, and actions arise.

Nevertheless, as has been said since time immemorial: “Sleep is a changeable factor of consciousness, and thoughts, feelings, and actions form accordingly.” If the consciousness is impaired by sleep disorders or sleep deprivation, then unconcentrated and uncontrolled, bad and negative thoughts and feelings arise, which have an effect on the dream world and have a disruptive influence. In this process, unsettled and unrestful sleep is the result, in which also confusion, psyche and consciousness overloading and often nightmarish dreams are not rare. The process is very different when a normal bedtime is kept and also a certain controlled activity of thought and feeling is practiced.

If on falling asleep, virtuous, good and positive thoughts and feelings are cultivated in a concentrated and controlled way, then the sleep is also balanced, while dreams express themselves in virtuous thoughts and feelings. Hence, it is necessary to cultivate concentrated and controlled virtuous thoughts and feelings in a meditative manner before falling asleep. Such thoughts and feelings, for example, can be directed towards the development of feelings for one’s fellow human beings, as well as for fauna and flora, etc.; however, the opportunities in this regard are boundless. Meditative concentration and control, concerning good and positive thoughts, feelings, and actions, strengthen on the one hand the consciousness, and the psyche on the other hand, also the personality and the character in all its variations. The entire mental block becomes an immense might which is in any respect of great benefit to the consciousness-related development in daily life within the personal framework, as well as in the environment and in dealing with the fellow humans and the fauna and flora.

Also physical cleanliness is of significance concerning sleep:
If one follows the guidelines of the ”Spiritual Teaching”, then before going to bed a little body washing just with water should be a duty, whereby it does not matter whether the water is cold or warm. If the concentration and control is directed towards this little cleaning, then it has an effect on the welfare of the body, because it gains an advantage in the form that the body settles down sooner and more restfully.

However, the real great advantage lies in the fact that the body does not excessively relax and therefore does not physically exhaust itself, which leads to a restful sleep and to a refreshed awakening. Furthermore, it leads to the fact that no abysmal faint-like sleep occurs, from which on awakening a feeling of being “wiped-out” arises, as well as no bad dreams are making sleep a torment. A good method as not to be exposed to the torment and the darkness of unknowledge during sleep is a short meditative concentration:

Meditative Light-Concentration:
On going to bed, the meditative concentration is directed at visualizing a light-appearance, which can be created in entirely personally-desired colors. The important thing here is that the thoughts and feelings are affecting the consciousness in a way that it creates – with closed eyes – the desired light-appearance through the concentrated and controlled power of imagination. Once the light-appearance manifests itself in the consciousness then one can go over to the next step:

Falling-Asleep Meditation:
The falling-asleep meditation consists of two steps, whereby the first one is the so-called active step and does not correspond to meditation yet. This phase consists of being actively concentrated in the manner that all thoughts and feelings are deliberately switched off. Once the state of total thoughtlessness and unfeelingness has arisen, then the real meditation state of the falling-asleep meditation is reached, namely, the so-called non-active state and the passive state of the consciousness. This state is maintained, after which in the shortest time the consciousness drifts off into a dozy state and completely closes off all external and internal influences, by which sleep sets in. During sleep, the meditation continues to be effective, whereby the consciousness connects itself with the data of the unconscious and subconscious, through which dream events then arise. If no meditative light-concentration and no falling-asleep meditation are practiced, then dreams form according to the thought- and feeling-concentration in good and positive or in bad and negative form, always according to what happened before falling asleep.

The human being should always enjoy only the necessary measure of sleep and not lazily stay in bed for hours needlessly. Attentiveness and self-regulation, as well as the wish and the action to get up after a sleep and to dedicate oneself to a useful day’s work must always be in the foreground. As a rule, eight hours is the highest measure of all things concerning sleeping and lying in bed. More than that fosters laziness, aggression, moodiness, neglect of duty and disinterest etc. and moreover, it testifies to a weakness of character and virtuelessness. Before falling asleep and before a useful meditative concentration, a special attention should be directed towards the activities of the day gone by, in order to let pass in review everything that mattered. Another possibility is also to go through the intended meditation in thoughts and feelings. If one or the other is done successfully, then, as a rule, control is not lost during sleep, consequently, sleep and dreams will be virtuous. Furthermore, it is also possible to be virtuous during sleep and whilst dreaming, and thus to care for virtuous thoughts and feelings in a concentrated and controlled manner.

Thereby the ability is given to direct the dreams during sleep, or to give them a desired direction in a meditative concentrative way, which they will also follow. Another success resulting from it is that on waking, a clear mental truth is given; consequently, a very clear state of consciousness prevails, even if the levels of the sensory consciousness have not attained their might yet again. If a clear state of consciousness is then required to carry out analytical observations and experiences etc., then an effectiveness is given to a high degree. It is necessary that a decisive mental attitude is formed towards the exact time at which to awaken from sleep. Thereby, sleep should always be light and not heavy in order to also keep full control during sleep, just as it is also inherent to the animals. Thereto, only a motivation as well as a decision and the will to really turn it into reality is required.

If this is done, then the ability is also created to wake up at the right time, as planned and desired. The whole thing is based on a power of the entire mental block, whereby everything can also be used to make proper use of the entire way of life and all aspects of life in general, and as a whole to direct all possible factors in a virtuous direction. Thereby, and this is another plus of the whole thing, very many bad and negative thoughts, feelings, actions, desires and wishes, etc. can be minimized or even averted. For the human being it is extremely important and of special value to always realize that there are both two forms of concentration and two forms of meditation. One form refers to Stabilization, which means that the object of concentration or meditation is fixed and is made permanent and unchanging. The second form is that of Analytics by which the consciousness carries out an investigation and analysis of what has been concentrated and meditated on in an observing and considering, researching, testing and investigating manner, in order to create from it a synthesis, that is a summary and union or rather a result.

This analysis is of importance, because first of all everything must be processed, worked on, and everything must be undertaken to be able to use the whole thing. Everything must be formed in the right way, that is why it is mainly important to think thoroughly about all destructive characters and about all shortcomings in order to recognize how and in what way negative thoughts, feelings and actions are released. Only in this way, bad and negative blindnesses can be switched off and be overcome. Everything must be fathomed and understood using the analytics in clear-sighted wisdom. Only if this is done, can it be expected that a firm determination evolves to carry out a true concentration or meditation. The process of the analytics is on the whole an introductory measure which prepares the consciousness to use the main power of the concentration or meditation and to gain results from it. Has the right foundation been laid and the consciousness been prepared by the analysis for its task, then every true concentration or meditation can be practiced and lead to success. Thereby it does not matter what the concentration or meditation is directed toward, consequently the fulfilment can be insight, cognition, perception, rest, as well as silence etc. For every concentration or meditation a fulfilment must always be envisioned, namely that the one like the other always requires big efforts. Without effort no success is given because the motto is: “From nothing comes nothing”. Nevertheless, effort is not simply effort, because even effort must be learned if it is to be developed.

The unfolding (evolution) takes place through the fact that a purpose of the whole thing is recognized and this purpose is also understood, namely that it serves for a certain matter of a concentration or meditation. However, also the purpose of the matter itself must be understood, whereby the practice of the accomplishment of concentration or meditation becomes all the easier, the greater the understanding for the purpose of the matter and the more comprehensive the commitment for everything is. The personal commitment to true concentration or meditation depends on the one hand fundamentally on whether the necessary facts can be recognized or not; on the other hand however also the motivation as well as that the will and the necessary perseverance is decisive. It must not be forgotten that it also is essential and of great importance that concerning the concentration and meditation both the Stabilization as well as the Analysis definitely has a decisive significance and must be included as an exercise.

Unfortunately, it is an extremely pitiful and sad fact that human beings in general are uninformed in all these things and are also deficient and completely unskilled in generally-knowing subjects, which usually comes from insufficient studies at school and in life. Even those who pursued or still pursue manifold studies are included therein, because their interests are usually purely occupational and not directed at a consciousness-related evolution, because the sheer mammon is much more important to them than the consciousness-related development and being human in the real and true sense as well as a completely mature and balanced, powerful mental-block. If human beings would seriously dedicate themselves to the “Spiritual Teaching” and the accompanying effective concentration as well as real meditation, then such a boost of consciousness-evolution would take place as has never been the case before within living memory.
Thereby true peace as well as true freedom on earth and in every single human being would unfold, while joy, happiness and harmony would smile at each individual. However, the fact that this is not done is extremely sad; and as long as individuals and the masses do not try to fathom and understand the analytics of the consciousness, in order to take concentrative and meditative advantage from it, so long the human being will commit himself in general only to the everyday and banal things of life. Because if he commits himself only to all the material things and not to the evolution of the consciousness, only keeps to what he can take with his hands and in his greed, then his real intelligence dwindles away more and more, whereas his understanding for the evolution of consciousness becomes weaker and weaker.

While withering away, he is neither able to create for himself knowledge nor wisdom; and clear insight, recognition and a differentiation between right and wrong are out of question. And this, human being of Earth, is dangerous and drives you into the deepest abyss into which you will ever fall. Admittedly, this time has not come yet, but it stands before the door, which is why it is recommended to you to step back quickly from the edge of the abyss, before you lose the last foothold and hopelessly plunge into the bottomless depth.

ORIGINAL GERMAN

von “Billy’ Eduard Albert Meier

4. Dezember 2013