Tibetan Yoga and Christian Heart Meditation

In Tibetan Yoga, once concentration and the ability to meditate were obtained, one found oneself in a position to acquire virtues or live certain spiritual experiences. In Yoga, to explore metaphysical consciousness, one started from knowledge and concentration on points of the physical body that, through resonance and analogy, allowed one to have metaphysical experiences. We will discuss this topic in more detail in the next conference on centers of force, but the fundamental concept is that from every point of the physical body, through a certain type of meditation, it is possible to ascend to a particular state of consciousness and a particular metaphysical experience by virtue of the individual's soul structure.

Therefore, each physical organ corresponds to a metaphysical center of consciousness, a spiritual experience, and a virtue that can be acquired. A series of aspects in resonance or correspondence with each other. Christianity placed emphasis on a type of meditation that is that on Wisdom located in the region of the heart, that is, a meditation carried out with the intention of penetrating into the Wisdom of Christ and helping oneself with continued concentration with attention on the heart region.

The purpose of this meditation is to transfer the I and in particular the spirit to the heart region and thus become capable of understanding Wisdom in a way different from analytical rational understanding or even intuitive lightning-fast understanding of the frontal center. This meditation was aided through the use of what is indicated as CONTINUOUS PRAYER. Continuous prayer is a technique particularly widespread in the East whose purpose is to help the transfer of the I, the sense of self from the brain to the heart to thus facilitate the subsequent process of cardio-gnosis or knowledge of the heart.

In practice, it consists in the repetition of a brief formula but uninterruptedly, focusing in the heart region and associated with the name of Jesus Christ. This technique used in antiquity and by the great Eastern mystics facilitates the descent of the spirit into the heart and thus facilitates meditation or cardio-gnosis. This type of meditation is ultimately what led to all the great mystics of Christianity both East and West, so much so that for a long time it was believed that in the end it was the only important asceticism as it is the one that leads to contemplation of the inner light and possibly also to mystical ecstasies.

Ecstasy, rapture, are, in fact, the sign of an elevated mystical life; but far from signifying its apogee, they translate man's incapacity to live in the fullness of divine life without losing contact with his particular individual life: Ecstasy, says Saint Simeon the New Theologian, is not of the perfect, but of novices.

CARDIO-GNOSIS

How is it performed? Saint Gregory of Sinai: "Sit on a low seat, make the intelligence descend from the head into the heart and maintain it in this place; then, cry out with heart and spirit: Lord Jesus Christ, may your Kingdom come! While doing this, hold your breath, do not breathe too eagerly, as this can dissipate thought. If thoughts arise, do not pay attention to them even if they were simple and good, and not only vain and impure. By holding your breath as much as you can, imprisoning your intelligence in the heart and patiently multiplying your appeals to Lord Jesus, you will quickly break and annihilate these thoughts with the invisible blows that the Divine Name inflicts on them."

Saint Nicephorus the Abstinent tells us: "First of all, let your life be free from all agitation, from all preoccupation, be at peace with everyone. Then, withdraw into your cell, 'close the door behind you; sit in some corner and do what I will tell you. Concentrate your spirit and make it follow, to reach the heart, the path that the air follows, and force it to descend into the heart with the air you breathe in. Get it used to not abandoning this place too soon, because at first it suffers greatly from being so enclosed and confined, but when it gets used to it, it no longer wants to wander outside."

This state and the fixation of prolonged thought leads to contemplation of the Inner Light. However, it is not simple because at the beginning thoughts distract and one has instead a sensation of darkness. To facilitate this exercise, one therefore proceeds with another exercise that together with that of meditation on the heart or cardio-gnosis is considered crucial for all ascetic work and which is the exercise of meditation on nothingness or emptying of thoughts.

MEDITATION TODAY

It is important to play it safe
Be wary of quick and last-minute methods: meditation is not daydreaming, nor a state of imaginative exaltation, it is not about producing forms or images
Be wary of guided meditation type methods, they are useful for relaxation but little more and are harmful because they lead to a state of passivity contrary to meditation, pleasant but one ends up in subconsciousness not superconsciousness.

Before being able to move on to these meditations (which are all treated in the various Archeosophy notebooks in practical and operational details) it is important to be able to become familiar with the various phases of meditation. To proceed in these meditations presupposes already a certain facility in obtaining and controlling certain States of Consciousness. So let us try to see and trace a program of what can be the first operations to do following more or less the program outlined by this notebook (then I know you have a meditation course that will allow you to make everything clearer).

DEVELOPMENT OF WILL

It is necessary for various reasons. The first because without the will brought to any program nothing is done, not even a gymnastic program
The second because all the faculties of the mind are connected to the will, so by developing the will all the faculties of the mind such as attention, concentration, memory and many others are developed in parallel

PHASES OF MEDITATION

External: physical symbols, icons, etc...
Internal: