There is sometimes a hesitancy to accept that if we are aspiring to grow and to extend our knowledge and our personal experience we are each embarking upon an inner adventure that will lead inevitably to new experiences.
Depending upon our attitude we approach these with trepidation or with some anticipation of excitement in new discoveries.
A philosophy that looks to spiritual development as a path to greater love, clarity and truth can only lead us to experiences of love, greater comprehension and insight.
A gentle approach to meditation naturally brings simple, wholesome and helpful inner experiences but never through deliberate seeking for sensation.
The following personal accounts may not mean much to you if you have not already had any unusual experiences of this type.
Although the descriptions may be more meaningful to those who can relate to having had similar sensations whilst meditating, to hear of the examples of others will prepare you and familiarize you with some of the variety of psychic sensations you may anticipate may accompany your own unique spiritual realization experiences.
"One night I decided to sit down and relax and see how far I could get in meditation.
Firstly I let all the muscles in my body relax.
Then I started concentrating on my breathing taking deep but rhythmical breaths.
When I was sure my breathing was correct, I tried to make my mind relax but I couldn't, then when I stopped trying to slow my brain down, it did slow down.
My body then became very light except in the joints (knees and elbows) where it was still heavy.
Then to my surprise, I began to feel smaller and smaller until I felt only 1 cm square.
After this, I felt like I was being blown up like a balloon and became very huge and round.
It was the most fantastic sensation I have ever felt.
" Teenage student "Quietly reading after dinner I came across a photo of the remains of the great Egyptian temple at Karnak.
I was not prepared for meditation, or seated appropriately but felt compelled to shut my eyes and imagine how huge and powerful the structure and imagined the immensity of the great pillars.
This only took a few seconds and I had closed my eyes and recreated the picture only to experience a force so strong, so powerful and so overwhelmingly and yet I identified it with my own being.
I have never before or since experienced anything like it.
However it has left me with the conviction that I have an inherent ability, should I choose to use my imagination well, to identify and become as powerful, strong, upright and purposeful as I choose, as long as I select the right focus to help tune in.
As far as I am aware, the others in the room were unaware of this extremely potent experience I had had.
This is the first time I have tried to explain it - and yet it feels so inadequate.
It felt so real.
" "In meditation class we were practicing as we usually do, just sitting quietly with the teacher suggesting the we count our breathing rhythm to give something for our mind to do.
He then suggested that we quietly thought about our heart as the centre of our being, and where our love is anchored.
To help us grow in our loving feeling we should think individually of all the people we have affection for and then expand gradually to the love we have of city, country, the whole earth and beyond.
At some point I can't recall, I felt my heart growing stronger with the most peaceful, gentle feeling like warm water flowing out from me to the whole group, even to the whole world.
It was wonderful but it didn't last very long but I felt good afterward.
" Young children will sometimes be able to express their thoughts and feelings stripped of any contrived or preconceived thought.
Spontaneous expressions from child students are cherished in my memory affection and appreciation of their innocence and honesty.
I only wish that I had a way to present their sayings at this time and in a way that conveyed the beautiful, natural responses all the children were inclined to express, given the right quietude and conditions condusive to inner reflection.
However just one memory stands out when as the teacher of an infant class I placed a picture of Jesus in such a way that all the students could see it clearly.
I was using it to help them to focus upon a single object to encourage their powers of observation and gave no instruction other than to gaze upon the picture without blinking.
It was no surprise that a range of differing concentration abilities was demonstrated as between the little ones and that the duration was not long.
But they were all eager to tell me what they saw - but the one I recall now is a little girl who explained that the picture grew hazy and then 'He' spoke to her and told her 'something important'.
This little evidence confirms the value of the classical use of a visual focus as preliminary to assist in creating stillness of mind and a meditative mood.
In teaching children it will be agreed that it is a mutual and rewarding learning experience! In whatever guise, meditation brings us realization of some kind.
It is accompanied with a sense of discovering a truth when we find or suddenly 'see' or understand a simple solution to a previous complexity or even gain a new perception of old ideas.
However, spiritual realizations, although accompanied by emotional and mental ingredients give rise to a totally new experience which is difficult to describe except in terms of heightened feelings of consciousness of which there seems no limit.
It would seem appropriate to believe that Meditation is best practised in order to help dreams become a reality and that the great Universal dream or blueprint may one day be built upon the earth for the betterment and happiness of all humankind.