What's the purpose of meditation?

[AnthroHeart]

I don't think "becoming more spiritual" can really be defined.
Maybe people want to become more peaceful.

Is meditation supposed to feel like anything?

I do it and I'm still anxious. After over a year an hour a day.

I don't have to worry about a job, but I still feel anxiety.

There are no real stressors in my life besides my mom,
but I don't feel anxiety from her. I just feel general anxiety.

And meditation's supposed to help with this?

[Cainite]

For me, meditation has never been the main thing that helped my consciuosness and general well being. deep bonds and inspiration has helped a lot though.

However, being anxious and uncomfortable is normal for sensitive STO individuals. others are getting all the goodies. and even if we get some of the things that brings them comfort, it's not the same with us. for example, a more polarized entity would instantly realize the emptiness of an offer that seems promising on the surface.

He will refuse to get fooled and obey nature. that is why the disobedient entities don't get rewarded by the slaver (nature) that seems to succeed at enslaving many others, and therefore keeping them satisfied.

[Patrick]

 
Just meditating for 5 minutes before bed feels like saving the game.  My eyes will twitch a bit and I become pseudo-conscious of data being moved (transferred), mostly images and concepts.  I remember Q'uo saying that meditation makes available your experiences up (or down) the tree of mind.  So I really see this as doing a backup of my incarnation in the Cloud (pun intended).

But more importantly it also downloads information to your current self.  It actualizes your states and helps a great deal to inform your intuition regarding the everyday happenings in your life for the next short while.
 

[AnthroHeart]

I don't know what you mean by "actualizes your states" and I've never been aware of "downloads".

[anagogy]

I don't have to worry about a job, but I still feel anxiety.

Usually, emotions arise based on what you are focusing on. Something is on your mind and yet, you haven't become wholly conscious of it yet.

When you feel anxiety next time during meditation, just watch. Where is your attention going? Your attention is inordinately upon something that is stressing you out, causing the anxiety to arise. Anxiety is basically focus on some potential negative thing happening to you. Future based.

No one can know what that is but yourself. Thought/attention can be infinitely subtle, so it may take some time to figure out precisely what it is. But with enough sincere desire to find out, it will made conscious for you. Just like a lock smith gets so sensitive with their fingers, through countless hours of practice, that they get to a point where they can feel each pin unlocking, so too can your awareness become so pristine and sensitive that you are able to feel that barrier which is stopping the free flow of undistorted intelligent energy, resulting in the anxious emotion.

At least, that is how it works with me.

Best of luck.

[Patrick]

I don't know what you mean by "actualizes your states" and I've never been aware of "downloads".

When we meditate, we unconsciously receive information from our higher-self as well as send information.  This then positively affects what happens to us while incarnated, mostly by affecting our perception of what happens.  Meditation silently brings us new opportunities to see things differently.  It's always a choice whether we make use of this new awareness or not.  But the impact on one's life can be great and can almost seem like magic.
 

[loostudent]

I just feel general anxiety.

And meditation's supposed to help with this?

I've read in several sources that it's common that negative emotions may arise in meditation ... I haven't experienced this side of meditation. I meditate only 5-10 minutes for now.

[Cainite]

I just feel general anxiety.

And meditation's supposed to help with this?

I've read in several sources that it's common that negative emotions may arise in meditation ... I haven't experienced this side of meditation. I meditate only 5-10 minutes for now.

I think these energies begin to surface so we can do the balancing. this should be expected of meditation.


I've heard that dark thoughts/emotions arise when someone spends time by himself. seems to be true.

[ada]

Just before I discovered The Law of One I had constant anxiety and fear, and it was very strong when I was in darkness. One time I got really tired of being afraid and not knowing what I was afraid of, that I entered the shower and closed the lights. The anxiety started raising up, but I was so done with it all that I didn't care and just closed my eyes and started dancing, dancing my thoughts and my body with joy, it was amazing, all the anxiety and fear of being in the dark vanished, for good. I don't know what exactly it is that I'm trying to say by this, but that very same thing that made me anxious was the cornerstone to my spiritual journey. Life is full of mysteries.

[rva_jeremy]

Meditation is supposed to feel like exactly what it does feel like. If it feels uncomfortable, then it's supposed to be like that. If it's exhilarating, then it's supposed to be like that.

The point is that meditation really isn't an activity per se, but more of a way of refraining from activity so you can notice basic things like what's actually happening, what you're actually feeling, etc. without using thinking to muddy it up, resolve it, wrestle with it, mutate it, etc. The more you see your experience as it actually is, rather than as a backdrop for the projection of your issues, the more you can notice your thinking and decide if those are the thoughts you want to have.

As Pema Chödrön says, we don't meditate to become good meditators. We meditate to become more awake in our lives. So the "goal" is something that you can't properly conceive of. If you could, you'd already be addressing it. Instead, meditation is designed to afford you the ability to address it.

[Tae]

I've never been aware of "downloads".

Ever intuitively know just what to do? Even though you've never really done the thing before? Have a skill you're just kind of naturally good with? That's a "download". It's just a way of describing something we don't have a good word for at this point in time, the way information enters into your mind unbeckoned. Except that I find I get "downloads" more if I actually ask for them. Lately, I have been asking for as much information as my higher self (heh high self) will let me have and OH BOY OH BOY have they let me have it.

The purpose of meditation is mindfulness. To become aware of how and why you think, to control what you think and when, visualization, to prime your mind to accept new depths of occasionally very challenging information.

There was a point in my life where my mind raced constantly, assailed with layers of information and thoughts. Certainly being there alone left me anxious. I maintained story-telling "subprocesses" to give me some company because I couldn't handle being alone with myself.

If meditating makes you anxious, don't back away, but observe the anxiety. Ask it questions. Figure out what it looks like, where it comes from, what it responds to. Investigate that anxiety, because this is what your mind is presenting as a puzzle for you to solve. It will not go away, only it may return later if you're not prepared to challenge it now. One thing you might like to consider is that your anxiety voice can lie to you, and if you begin to identify which is you speaking and which is your anxiety. This was a building block which led to me later being able to understand which was me speaking and which might have been outside contact. It was very critical for me to engage and unwravel my anxiety before I could start receiving contact, because then I had created the tools to identify the different voices in my mind.

Good luck with your meditation practice.

[isis]

For me it's about having fun. I love being left alone with my own thoughts. Sometimes I choose to silence them, sometimes I direct them, but most of the time I let them have their way and sit back and observe the show.