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Dear Dr. Bonnici:
I have done things in my life to myself and others that I am not proud of. I feel a deep spiritual need right now to know who I am, make amends, and find out why I am here. I really need to feel some peace, joy, and forgiveness in my life. I have recently read Deepok Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. Dr, Chopra stresses how meditation can help you experience the "field of pure potentiality". I have tried this meditation, but I can't seem to do it well enough to experience the spiritual transcendence and peace that I desperately need. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Way Seeker Dear Way Seeker:Meditation life practice is not about a field of pure potentiality. It is about practicing and embodying the truth of our life with integrity, compassion, forgiveness, and wisdom. Meditation encourages us to recognize, acknowledge, and face the truth of the harm we have inflicted on ourselves and others. It encourages us to arouse a genuine and sincere sense of sorrow for the wrong we have done while making a deep vow to move toward wholeness, self-forgiveness, and rectification. Meditation impels us to demonstrate with sincere speech and behavior our genuine caring and regret to those we have hurt or harmed. This means that a life of seated and engaged meditation draws us toward a deepening commitment to practice an upright spiritual posture in all our daily activities and relationships. This Way of Meditation is not a transcendental technique. It is not about transcending or avoiding uncomfortable feelings and emotions. Meditation is being in the body of truth and rectifying our heart, mind, and spirit right Now. The question is not about attaining a level of "pure potentiality". Rather, we should ask ourselves whether we want to live truth, wisdom, and compassion right Now or not? If the answer is yes then begin to practice self-honesty, uprightness, and integrity right Now----not tomorrow when you feel better about yourself or your condition. Don't put off your upright practice, no matter how difficult, until you realize some "field of pure potentiality, tranquility, and peace". Just begin right now in the midst of your life just as it is. When you practice the behavioral qualities of engaged meditation that I have mentioned, you will begin to find yourself and the meaning of why you are here. Remember that the Way of Meditation Life Practice is not a matter of self-judgment. It is a matter of complete honesty with our True Nature---the Spiritual Core of the Body of Truth within ourselves. It is a matter of Faith in the fundamental goodness of our True Nature. If we live the Present Moment with a sincere devotion and passion to do good for the benefit of both self and others, then we are moving in accord with meditation life practice. Our soil of inner suffering and the behavioral wrongs we have done to others becomes the spiritual field we cultivate in ourselves and in our lives. It is not a matter of dwelling on or clinging to our faults, our sorrow, our misery, or self-pity. We can redefine ourselves anew. This takes work--- the precious work of engaged meditation in this Only Moment. There is no more time left to wait. It is time to act and follow the wisdom of truth, honesty, tenderness, and integrity. You have been listening and waiting for the call. This is your Calling----to become the human being you truly are, the human being that has been waiting to be. Now is the time to nourish that blooming through your sincere correct action in the present moment. Now is the time to begin the journey without end. Just for its own sake. Just to know and deepen your own humanness--giving vision and hope to both yourself and your world.
Dr. Bonnici
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