Meditation 17

 An Exercise for the Creative Imagination

(Volume 1 - Page 385)

Look not so much into the future with speculation or with foreboding, nor even with hope, which is but a form of optimistic speculation. Live today as your soul dictates and the future will round out itself in fruitful service. You are stronger than you anticipate and have reserves upon which you can draw. These reserves will not fail you when you call upon them, nor will I, your brother and friend, nor will your group brothers. Forget not this, but relax and rest back on the strength which is in you and which surrounds you.

I seek not to change your meditation, except to substitute a different visualisation exercise for the one now being followed.

a. Visualise yourself as standing to one side of a vast field of closed lotus buds which rest on their broad green leaves. Above you is the blue of heaven and ahead of you—across the field of buds and leaves and on the far horizon—is a golden gate, with the two halves of its door closed.

b. Then picture yourself as watching the slow opening of the buds, until little by little, the field changes from green to gold, and all that can be seen is a mass of golden flowers, wide open in the sun.

c. Then imagine yourself, my brother, putting a foot upon the field and finding, instead of the mud and water which had been anticipated, a firm Path which appears before you as you advance, dividing the field into two halves, and leading straight to the golden gates.

d. As you advance along this path, imagine the two halves of the gate slowly opening as you go forward in confidence, looking at the gate and not at your feet.

What you see within that portal and what interpretation you give to this symbolic work is for you to discover.

You may ask: Of what use is this particular type of meditation to me? Two main uses, my brother.

First, it trains you in the use of the creative imagination (which is an aspect of the intuition) and, secondly, it lifts you out of the rut of heavy mundane work with which you are of necessity so constantly occupied and brings to you refreshment and realisation of the subjective world.

Leave care and worry behind you as you walk through your field of lotuses and for a few minutes each morning, center your consciousness outside your personality life. The effect upon your daily life and service if you can really accomplish this exercise will be far more potent than you can possibly anticipate.