Chapter 4: Heart Awakening

Introduction

It's time for the fourth expansion - that of opening your heart to accepting your own self, just as you are. And in this light it's time to consider the meditative teachings of Jesus, the spiritual master of the Christian tradition.

As I hope is evident thusfar in this course, the aim of this meditative method is to bring the world's great religious traditions together into a greater whole, rather than arguing theology from one religion to the other. From my understanding, when we quiet our minds and tune into our spiritual core of being, we all encounter the same ultimate Creator and spiritual reality.

• Meditation is all about discovering the true spiritual reality that underlies our various human beliefs and theologies. And certainly, in meditation, the heart is the center, and love is the driving force of all religions.

So this chapter, and this fourth meditative focus, brings us to the heart of our own being. We are now going to focus step by step deeper into the heart, and the primal connection we attain in meditation through looking to our hearts, and inward to our source.

Jesus certainly placed the heart, and love, at the center of his meditative teachings. And I want to be very clear here - the meditation process I'm teaching you is empowered by love..

• Without the dynamic of love pervading the universe, and igniting this meditation, the focus phrases I'm teaching you would have no power at all.

In the Bible it is stated clearly that "God is Love." This equation for me is as powerful and all-inclusive as E=MCsquared.

Love is the power of the Creator continually present and active in the present moment.

It has been taught in all meditation traditions that the power of love exists in reality only in the eternal present moment, right here right now. Love inflows into our hearts as a real power, a genuine experience that isn't a past reflection or a future imagination.

Love is real in our lives right in the middle of our breathing experience, and as we're learning in this fourth expansion, right in the middle of our hearts..

• Clearly, the main reason we learn to focus our attention here and now, so that we can more fully receive and share love.

In most Eastern meditative traditions there is no talk of a personal God or a living Spirit that inflows into people's lives during meditation. Only in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the tradition of Islam, is there a strong focus on a personal God, and such things as a future heaven or an evil force in the universe.

I say this because I know that most of you taking this course come from the general Judeo-Christian tradition, and wonder (especially in this chapter about Jesus) how the Holy Spirit fits into the picture. Also, there arises the question of whether you're going to contact a personal God the Father in your meditation.

• My answer is clear - this meditation process in no way influences what or who you encounter spiritaully in your meditation experience.

Most people in meditation have spiritual experiences related to the religious background they hold close to their hearts. Christians tend to experience the Holy Spirit and even the presence of Jesus during meditation - or a personal God the father. Buddhists almost always experience Buddha rather than Jesus.

And of course very often in meditation there is no sense of a religious overtone to the experience. As in Zen Buddhism, the experience is very often simply the deep encounter with one's own core of being, beyond any theological or religious dimension.

So when we talk about experiences happening in the heart during meditation, you will discover for yourself how you experience the inflow of love and insight and guidance into your consciousness.

• One thing is certain - most people do experience the inflow of love into their hearts, during meditation. And this happens only when they stop judging themselves, and open their hearts to love.

Furthermore, Jesus seems to have loved people unconditionally, with zero judgment and total acceptance. So that's how we're supposed to love each other (and ourselves), according to the teachings of Jesus.

So the challenge is clear, and the focus phrase also:

• "I love myself, just as I am."

Are you ready for this leap? Again this is a choice you make - and a leap of faith into an expanded state of consciousness beyond all judgment. And the only way as I see it, to successfully make this leap - is just to do it!

Let's look a bit deeper into seven key teachings of Jesus, that shed more light on his understanding of meditation. (For those of you who want a much more indepth exploration of Jesus and meditation, I've also written a full book called Jesus for the Rest Of Us.)