Guest Blog: Edward Viljoen on The Power of Meditation - An Ancient Technique to Access your Inner Power

What is meditation?

The term meditation is as broad in definition as the term ‘art’ is. Both include a wide range of practices, styles and purposes. For instance, art can be engaged in for therapeutic reasons, or for fun and recreation, or for many other reasons. Art has different disciplines, each with its distinct schools of thought, media and tools. Accomplished artists in one discipline, may not exhibit skillfulness in another, and may not even understand the methods of a different media.

In the same way, meditation is different things to different people. There are certain meditative practices that work better for me, practices I respond to and understand better. By “practice” I mean the daily method I use to meditate. If I were a water-color artist, I might say water-color was my preferred medium and I might not care to waste my time chiseling away at a marble block to reveal a hidden statue therein. As a water colorist, when I spoke about my art and the benefits, goals and methods of its practice, I would be talking in a language that other water colorists understood. Although there would be crossover points universal to all artists, I would have found my niche, my way and my art. I may have even dabbled with other forms of art in the journey to discover what fits best, or I might have been one of those duck-to-water artists that pick it up and simply know how to do it.

A Practice the Works for You

Similarly, when I talk about meditation, I’m talking about my best practice and I tend, sometimes, to talk as if it is the only way. I know this isn't the case, and I think what is coming through is my enthusiasm for what I have developed in my understanding of what meditation can be for me. I did dabble with all kinds of practices and a little of everything I encountered along the way has lingered in what has become my practice today. I have developed a multi-faceted approach in which three distinct tools form the meditative practice I use, and that I teach to others:

• Mindfulness practices: in which we become absorbed in a purposefully chosen activity
• Sitting practices: in which we reduce the use of mental and physical resources as much as possible by sitting still and silently
• Creative practices: in which we use some device such as journaling, observing, or focusing on an inspirational passage

Finding a practice that worked for me at first seemed like a battle with an unruly mind.   Every time I sat, I lost the battle.  That is, until I learned to stop fighting.  So, I didn't try to tame my mind, instead I made friends with it.  By that I mean I dropped my mental fight with what I discovered inside.

You can purchase The Power of Meditation

From Amazon

Kindle Edition

From Barnes and Noble

Nook Edition

From Indiebound

Guest Blog: Dr. Margaret Stortz "On More Patience"

On More Patience

In my last book, Essays on Everything, I wrote on Patience. I’m writing on it again. I’m haven’t made enough ground; I’m not at the still place I want to be, at least not often enough, and I’m still making spaces for my own thoughts to come to me. There is no doubt in my mind that patience is not a natural, soul quality. It must be learned and practiced over time, more so these days perhaps because there is so much information that clamors for our attention. It is easy to pull out the iPhone and be inundated by the world at our doorsteps, and perhaps we have really come to like this, to never be shut off from news, messages, entertainment…and irritation.

The Irritated Mind

The irritated mind cannot partake of the clarifying flow of patience; it does not think of one thing at a time and is always hurrying through an army of demands. If things are not occurring as we would wish, we are almost certain to be met with frustration, that quality of mind that fights with itself so that the mind takes to churning. No possibility for patience here. Irritation, frustration and patience simply cannot exist together in the same place at the same time. Let’s not fool ourselves either by thinking that if we do not respond to a frustrating situation, we are being patient. For lack of a better word, I call this “reactive impatience,” a silent appearance…perhaps well learned…that masks buried anger. Many of us just crush a rising inclination to boil into a response so that we can appear in control. It may indeed be some kind of control, but it is not patience. Real patience breeds health; the squelched response eventually breeds illness.

There really are just twenty four hours in a day. Are we pushing to fill them so full of stuff to do that we are grabbing for every breath? If we have come to this place, where the body can barely keep up, I think we’re in trouble. My sainted mother, farm girl that she was, kept a very simple perspective about the situations before her. If undue stress was piling up in her life, she would have another “think” about things. This was her way of backing off from a situation loaded with confusion and sometimes heat. People always felt better being around her because of her calm demeanor. She was not disconnected from what was going on; she was one step away from it mentally so that she could see more clearly what needed attention… and what did not.

The Opportunity to Take Another "Think"

 I think patience is borne of the opportunity to take another “think” about what is in front of us. Mentally we can do this; we can vacate the swirl in our minds and have a space for relief. It is difficult, especially if we are wired for impatience and worry. I cannot always find the patch of grace I need to take another “think,” but I…and my patience…are still a work in progress.


You can read more from Dr. Margaret Stortz at her blog here:
http://margaretstortz.blogspot.com/

You may also enjoy Dr. Edward Viljoen's guest post "A Fresh Look at Ancient Ideas"

You may also be interested in reading "Don't make that expression, your face will stay that way."

"Don't make that expression. Your face will stay that way."

Using Masks

Kids love masks. They relish in painting their faces, wearing costumes, and acting in ways they wouldn't usually. There is comfort in masks. There is freedom and fun, creativity and newness. As adults, many of us have chosen our "mask" and live within its limits. We have forgotten the fun of being someone else. More importantly, we have forgotten that we can be someone else.

You've heard the admonition, "Don't make that expression. Your face will stay that way." Remember the Twilight Zone episode in which the family had to wear masks, only to find when they removed them, their faces had assumed the masks' expression? Taken in a different light, this story becomes a wonderful example of a spiritual principle.

Sometimes we reach a place where we feel stuck, bogged down by the mask we chose years ago. We long to change our lives, to be even more than we presently are. Spiritual principles teache that we inherently possess the power to change. Though it can be as easy simply deciding, there are times we could use some help to make the shift.

Affirmations can sound like lies. We announce ourselves as something that we not yet are. We claim "I am happy," even when we are in depression's grasp. Affirming, though, can be like putting on a mask. The more we wear the mask, the more we claim our truth, and the more our mind is open to becoming that which we desire.

Tammy Faye Messner said once, "People often as me why I wear so much makeup. I tell them my face is a canvas, ready to paint, always there." We are all divine canvases, created by Spirit, with the ability to be happy and fulfilled. Masks are fun, but sometimes they can even be life-changing.

Gender-neutral books about affirmations, metaphysics and affirmative prayer:

How To Use Your Power

Living A Life

These books have been updated to contemporary and gender neutral language.

Life Is What You Make It: A Fresh Look at Ancient Ideas

Guest Post by Edward Viljoen

This e-book, the publisher says, was revised and updated form a series of 24 lessons prepared by Ernest Holmes and Frederick Bailes, titled "An Introductory Course in the Science of Mind," and is in the public domain. At Newt List the focus is on updating the language for modern readers by preferring gender-neutral language, and up-to-date punctuation. With this approach Newt List books provides a fresh look at ideas from great inspirational authors.

Bursting With Powerful Statements
Life is What You Make It is bursting with powerful and bold statements such as, "The world is deluded, blind and shackled. And by what? By its own acceptance of negative thoughts. It lies bound in chains of its own forging." The lessons in Life is What You Make It are designed to un-chain the reader by introducing them to their real nature by means of practical ideas such as "Instead of allowing fear pictures to crowd in on your desires, you are going to bring forth faith pictures," and instructs the reader to sit quietly and think over all the reasons why they should have greater happiness and security for themselves and their family. There is an easy and encouraging tone throughout the book that left me feeling enthusiastic about rolling up my sleeves and imagining a greater future for myself and for the world.

Use Your Imagination
The authors point to the use of nothing more than our natural imagination, a skill that they believe has been downgraded into something that works against us by images of fear that crowd in on us relentlessly. They assert that we can go about the task of seriously, and gradually, flooding our imagination with different kinds of images, of pictures that work for us, and lead our efforts in right directions.

Self-Study Guide Provided
One of the features I loved in the book is the Meditation, Question and Answers provided in each chapter. The meditations are poetic personal devotional style prayers that relate to the content of the chapter. Following each meditation is a series of question that the reader can use to assess how much of the lesson was retained and answers are provided to confirm your understanding.
It is both an inspiring book of powerful ideas and a work book for self-study. The authors are relentless in pulling the reader back to the powerful possibilities that exists in a mind that is determined to be free of the conditioning of society.
Here is a link to the book.

http://www.edblogword.blogspot.com
Edward Viljoen is author of the Bhagavad-Gita for Beginners: The Song of God in Simplified Prose and The Science of Mind and Spirit for Beginners: Four Chapters in Simplified Prose. He co-authored (with Chris Michaels) The Prosperous Life Journal, and Practice the Presence, interactive journals available from Stepping Stones Bookstore. He is co-author (with Joyce Duffala) of Seeing Good At Work also available at http://tinyurl.com/c5w5sk9

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7681301

Reading Emerson was like drinking water to me... Ernest Holmes

Introduction to the new e-book from NewtList:

“Reading Emerson was like drinking water to me,” Ernest Holmes once said. “I have studied him all my life.”

Such endorsement from the originator of the Science of Mind philosophy carries great weight. Not that the work of Emerson has ever required such kudos! Since Emerson began disseminating his ideas through essays and lectures, he has influenced writers, poets and great thinkers around the world.

A Radical Spiritual Thinker

In the nineteenth century when he wrote, Emerson was considered quite radical in his spiritual ideas, believing as he did that all things are divine because everything is connected to God. This caused his detractors to feel that Emerson was removing God from theology as its central figure. Yet nothing, as it turned out, could have been further from the truth.

Emerson believed that every human being is an individualization of God, the sole originating force. He believed that each person is operated on by self-executing spiritual laws. It was his belief that God does not necessarily reveal truth, but that truth could be understood by observing nature and the world around us. Though these were radical ideas for nineteenth century minds, it was just this type of independent thinking that attracted a young Ernest Holmes.

At Age Twenty It  Began

When he was merely twenty years old, Holmes inadvertently pick up his brother Fenwicke’s copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essays. Later, his brother was quoted as saying, “It was at that moment that life really began for Ernest Holmes.

“Reading Emerson for the first time,” Holmes said, “the first half-dozen lectures or essays gave me a realization that in a certain sense every person has to interpret the universe in terms of their own thinking and personal relationships, and that in order to do it, we have to have faith and confidence in our own interpretation.” It is two of these essays, “History” and “Spiritual Laws,” that seem to have particularly influenced Ernest Holmes.

At some point in his career, Holmes wrote “responses” to Emerson’s essays on History and Spiritual Laws. It is unclear when he wrote this, but it appears to have been in the 1920s, after penning his landmark book The Science of Mind. His notes were transcribed (where legible) and numbered to correspond with the paragraphs of each Emerson essay, though whether due to faulty transcription of the original handwritten text or due to mistakes in the manuscript itself, these numbers did not always accurately correspond to the actual Emerson essay. Additionally, the original version of Holmes’ notes did not contain the original sections of the essay to which Holmes referred, hindering readers from easily correlating Emerson’s text to Holmes’ responses.

Side By Side Texts

This first edition of The Philosophy of Emerson incorporates the Emerson passages, followed directly by the corresponding comments of Ernest Holmes, offering itself as a conversation between these two great thinkers, and more strongly illuminating both the influence of Emerson on Holmes, and manner in which Holmes took Emerson’s ideas to an original place of personal power.

As Holmes once said, “You are an individualization of God. There is a depth and meaning to your own being. If you can discover it, it will answer your own questions.” 

Randall Friesen
www.Newt List.com

To purchase The Philosophy of Emerson click here.

Is Your Language Sexist?

By the mid-eighties the movement toward nonsexist usage had gained so much momentum that researchers who studied its impact by analyzing three recently published American dictionaries of new words were prepared to state, in the cautious phraseology of scholarship, that their results showed "a trend toward nonsexism" in written language.  The data, they said, "provided a judgement of the efficacy of feminists' efforts toward nonsexist vocabulary," and they ventured the opinion that the "importance and justice of the subject have been recognized."

The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing, 2nd Edition,
Casey Miller and Kate Swift, Harper, New York, 1988

Have you noticed a trend toward nonsexist language? 

Perhaps in the increase use of 'their' instead of 'his' as a grammatically flawed, but happily gender inclusive solution? Or perhaps in the appearance of such works as The Inclusive New Testament by Priests for Equality (March 19, 2004), or The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version  by Victor Roland Gold, Jr. Thomas L. Hoyt, Sharon H. Ringe and Susan Brooks Thistlewaite (September 7, 1995).  Or perhaps in the change from "...boldly goes where no man has gone before..." to "where no one has gone before..."

"Manning the event" is giving way to "staffing the event."  Spokesman, man-overboard, mankind, it's all changing.  And in the awkward moments between then and now language struggles to find elegant solutions.

It's an exciting time for our language and Newt List is about the business of producing updated, gender neutral versions of timeless classics.  Producing these versions takes time and mindfulness to maintain the style and voice of the writer while finding elegant solutions to old, and now outdated, language conventions.

You might also enjoy "Why Gender Neutral?"

Living A Life: The Message of New Thought, by Abel Leighton Allen

I read a lot of New Thought writers, but I had not yet come upon Abel Leighton Allen.  I'm glad I did. This little gem sets off right away outlining its goal of setting the record straight.

What is the difference between New Thought and orthodox religions, including Christian Science?

I guess that question is not merely a product of recent times, but has been asked since the beginning of New Thought's young history.

I love these lines from the book "New Thought is the result or creation of perpetually advancing mind.  The growing mind is not content with the past or its achievements."  Wow, what a great reminder to keep expanding and to avoid getting stuck in the rules and dogma of even our own beautiful system.

This is a great little e-book and it's on the 99c special list currently at www.newtlist.com, a good, easy read that I found helped me get back on track with an attitude of exploration, awe and wonder.

Edward Viljoen
www.edblogword.blogspot.com

The Bible In Light of Spiritual Philosophy by Ernest Holmes

The publisher, Newt List, says of The Bible In Light of Spiritual Philosophy, may offer the reader “a new look at the Bible that might surprise you.”  I say this new updated and gender-neutral version of the public domain work is not so much a surprise as it is a delight, a breath of fresh air, one that although written an age ago is coming to life anew through this contemporary rendition of its brilliant content.

I am certain that there is a large audience of readers who will be as relieved to read the authors words as I was when he wrote “The Bible was written by human beings whose thought was reaching toward ultimate reality, and if it is to be understood, it must be read with the same motive.  The mind that writes is the mind that reads, because there is only one mind in the universe, and all inquiry into truth is an inquiry into this mind.”  The relief comes from approaching the Bible as a product of humankind’s yearning to understand the spiritual universe around us and not as a strict inerrant handing down of rules by a sometimes petulant deity.

What follows in the book then is a delightful commentary by the author who took to explaining the inner meaning of the Bible in terms that made sense to what he was learning about the spiritual world and then sharing it with us along with an invitation for us to analyze what we read in the Bible to find direct significance to living our daily lives.

You may also enjoy:

The Mysteries of Genesis

The God In You