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Thoughts, lessons, and theology from an eclectic witch from a varied background.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Godphone: Lesson One - Inner Silence.

In many ways, the exercises that one uses to develop their 'godphone' and mediumship related ability are the same ones used for meditation. Like meditation, the practitioner needs to learn to observe their thoughts and control them. Prior to engaging in meditation, especially if one is new to this practice, it is important to establish that they are in an environment that promotes the work they are doing. For many people, a quiet location that is free from distractions works well. It is also helpful for the practitioner to limit the distractions that are internal. Thus, before sitting down to engage in these exercises, it is important to be in a comfortable body position and not have things like hunger or thirst distracting you.

Some people may find the classic meditation position of sitting in lotus position is helpful. This, however, is not necessary. One can sit, stand, or kneel for their positioning. (And there are examples through out the history of meditation that demonstrate that one can be in these positions and engage in this type of work.) Yoga positions are also helpful for some people. Laying down, however, is not the best position to use for this type of exercise, at least in the beginning, because many people will fall asleep after they have become relaxed.

Once you have positioned yourself in a comfortable position that allows you to be relaxed yet alert in an environment that promotes focused attention, the next step is to establish your body awareness. This may seem overwhelming. In the beginnings of this practice, body awareness will be the primary focus until it is possible to ignore it (with the exception of remaining aware of indicators of pain or danger). It may require you to try out multiple positions until you find the one that is best suited for this type of mental work.

In the process of becoming aware of your body (counting and focusing on breaths is a good place to start), it is good to acknowledge the various streams of information coming to you. Once you have established awareness of your body and a state of attentive relaxation, begin to note what senses are informing you of what is happening. Categorize the input you receive and steadily compartmentalize that input as it comes to you. Thus, when you hear a noise, note that it is an external auditory input and put it into a mental box. As future noises come up during your session, put them into the same mental box. Do not focus on them beyond acknowledging them and setting them aside.

After a time of observing your sensory experiences, you will find yourself sitting with your thoughts. There will be an internal monologue where you express things like your concern if you paid the heat bill on time and remind yourself to feed the cat. Just as you identified and set aside the sensory input, you proceed to identify and put aside the internal monologue. When emotions rise up, identify them and set them aside. After some practice, you will build familiarity with your internal voice and the feelings associated with your innermost thoughts.

The ultimate goal of this practice, however, is more than just becoming familiar with your inner voice. It is also to filter out the various different stimuli and thoughts until you have reached a place of relative silence within yourself. It takes a great deal of diligent practice to do so. Some people are talented enough to achieve this in a few weeks of effort. Others may need months of effort until they can readily identify their internal voice, not necessarily achieving mental silence.

Achieving mental silence makes it easier to identify the psychic phenomena but it is not an absolute requirement. Indeed, with practice, a person will learn to identify the difference between their internal voice and psychic phenomena while not in a trance state. Next lesson, we will look at the process of working with one's inner voice and discerning it from psychic information.

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