Preparations For Meditation

When you do sit down to meditate by all means focus your eyes on a candle or a picture, but unless you go beyond your awareness of the candle/picture it’s nothing more than a short concentration exercise. By all means put some relaxing music on in the background, but unless you go beyond the sound so that you no longer hear it, it’s likely to be nothing more than pleasant relaxation. By all means listen to a meditation commentary, but unless you, the self aware being or soul, actually goes where the commentary is pointing, assuming it’s pointing at your own being (soul), it’s not much more than hypnosis (a semi conscious stage). And by all means finding that special place, perhaps with special people, all sitting together in a special sitting arrangement in a special posture with thumbs touching forefingers in that ‘special’ way is important but not sufficient enough. However, while all of the above can be seen as good preparations for meditation, they should not be mistaken for meditation itself.