The retreat

         Another magic day. Getting advise about cleansing and appeasing the spirits of the home with love.  Long talk with my nephew about his book finding  God on Google.

Doing this with love for the kingdom of God is within. Reading some of the books that you gave me.  Sounds a lot like Maharaji stories. Getting closer and closer to lucid dreaming. Recognized while in the dream that too many people had emerged from one part of the dream to another. Not lucid but tantalizing close.

        Had friends over this evening for meditation very wonderful. During the meditation one of the ladies saw a being in front of her who had not been sent an email. When she spoke of it I then formally welcomed the being .
        I was at a 7 point mind training last week at the Santa Barbara Mission with Alan Wallace. THe experience allowed me to once again listen to my meditation teacher expound upon methods of meditation that give deeper and richer meaning to both the art of meditation and the art of life. Several things are key to the practice .
               One of which is Lojang. WHich is the ability to visualize a sentient being  who suffering , visualize that suffering as a dark cloud , visualize ones heart as a bright light and bring the dark cloud into the light and vaporize the suffering. Alan taught a very simple practice of this since the more complicated versions take much longer and need much practice with a good instructor before done without harm to the doer. The advanced forms have you become the being  who is  afflicted . So bringing, for instance, bringing  into your heart the suffering of someone with a psychotic affliction my not be wise if certain safeguards are not observed and they take some time to learn.
              A second is using the practice of SHamatha meditation . Shamatha translates as calm abiding. It is a very basic form of meditation. Sort of the grade school version of meditation practice. It allows for a gradual stage of development in practice which lead one from awareness of the body through several stages to awareness of awareness. In which the awareness ,the meditative quality, is brought back in upon itself.
              What I practiced this week was using the four immeasurables ; loving kindness, empathetic joy,compassion, and equanimity. When one is concentrating in meditation the easiest method is to use the appropriate quality of mind to be in to allow for the concentration to be drawn inward rather than trying to force oneself to concentrate which leads to exhaustion.
            It is an art to do this and I got to practice the art with a Picasso of the practice.
           Today I will have a bone scan in the morning and Vitamin C in the afternoon  might even lift weights , then back to meditation.