By Aryeh Kaplan
Kaplan, Orthodox rabbi and writer of Meditation and the Bible (Weiser, 1978) and Meditation and Kabbalah (Weiser, 1981), indicates that meditation is in line with conventional Jewish concept and perform. He then offers a advisor to a number of meditative thoughts: mantra meditation (with urged words and Bible verses to exploit as mantras); contemplation;
visualization;
experiencing nothingness (which he doesn't suggest for beginners);
conversing with God;
and prayer.
His directions are transparent and specific, and his recommendation is educated and sound, advocating easy 20-minute-a-day application can certainly assist in making the practitioner a greater individual and a greater Jew, and advance a better dating to God and issues non secular.
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Additional info for Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide
Sample text
T h e s e two examples may seem far removed from the usual discussion of the higher states of consciousness associated with meditation. However, t h e r e are important links. First, there are intellectual modes of meditation. In some traditions, they are associated with "the way of the intellect. ' S o m e States of Consciousness 32 types of meditation appear to be designed to produce precisely the states of consciousness in which problem-solving ability is enhanced. T h e r e is also a direct relationship to the better-known forms of meditation.
A final focus of meditation can be one's own emotions. Thus, for example, one can focus on the emotion of love in exactly the same way that one can focus on a flower or a candle flame. O n e can ponder the love one feels for another person and enhance the emotion, experiencing it totally without any outside interfere n c e . O n e can also take this intensified love and direct it toward God or toward one's fellow man. Indeed, the commandments "Love God your Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might" (Deut.
Visualizing "black fire" would be a very similar experience. W h e n a person has learned to control his visualization experience, negative energy b e c o m e s a simple thing to visualize. It is also possible for a person to intensify his perception of beauty in an image in his mind's eye. This is beyond the enhanced perception that we have discussed earlier, in which one removes the static and focuses the entire mind on a beautiful object. Rather, one would be turning up the "beauty" dial in the mind, to make the mind particularly sensitive and appreciative of beauty.