This practice consists of several meditations and/or prayers, offered as potential supplements to any established practice you may already have.

 

As a prelude, I'd like to mention that the process of "clearing with one's life experience," which I describe in the introductory episodes for the Own Our Judgments and Reactions as Reflections of Our Selves and Understand Our Life Circumstances as Spiritual "Effects" practices can be thought of and approached as a meditation, and of all the ways we can use our meditation time, that is the most useful, especially in the earlier stages of our work. Additionally, the following meditations and prayer practices can support us both in exploring the lower self and in absorbing and integrating the energies of the higher self:

"Passive" Meditation

 

The first is basically passive meditation – that is, clearing the mind and opening to higher/divine connection and inspiration.  The focus can be, for example, on the breath; on a mantra; on letting energy flow into or through one’s system; and/or on connecting to the live center within us, which is our most vulnerable place, and also the source of our greatest creativity and wisdom. This type of meditation helps to quiet the mind and strengthen the inner "observer." At times, it can also lead to unexpected messages or insights which are conducive to spiritual and emotional growth.

Active Prayer for Evolutionary Support

 

The second is active prayer, although it’s not about praying for wealth, or for healing, or for success in overcoming an external obstacle.  It’s about prayer in support of the process of personal evolution, as in prayer for:

 

• The willpower to attend to one’s spiritual path on a daily basis.

• The humility and the honesty to see one’s self as one truly is.

• The courage to experience unpleasant feelings.

A basic premise of The Way of the Higher Self is that there is a supreme intelligence undergirding the Universe, that it wants spiritual evolution for every sentient being, and that it will actively respond to our requests for support in walking our spiritual path.  That support may come in ways we don't expect, don't understand, and/or don't completely welcome, but it will come.  To anyone uncomfortable with this concept, I would simply say, give it a try and see what happens.  If you’re more comfortable with visualizing yourself with these qualities (see the "Visualize The Self We Are Evolving Towards" practice), or with expressing an intention to have these qualities, by all means tailor the practice to make it authentic for you.

 

Meditation with the Intention to Create

 

The idea of expressing intention brings us to another type of meditation, namely meditation with the intention to create. A spiritual premise of The Way of the Higher Self is that we are creating reality all the time, albeit most of the time unconsciously. Because our most important creative task as human beings is the infusion of our entire being with the energy and consciousness of the higher self, the focal point of this creative meditation is not about directly changing our life circumstances, as by attracting a mate or creating a pile of cash.  Instead, it’s about creating attitudes and behaviors which will enhance the self and contribute positive energy to life, which in turn will attract positive life circumstances – including perhaps relationships and material abundance.  (As a matter of fact, the higher  self will generally not cooperate with creative meditation aimed at more spiritually trivial goals.)

An important aspect of this kind of meditation is that any internal resistance one feels to an intended positive change is investigated and unpacked, rather than battled with by the will.  This is because the lower self responds to being educated, not to being wrestled with and suppressed. 

Incidentally, there is a lot of conceptual overlap here between this sort of meditation and the "Visualize The Self We Are Evolving Towards" practice.

"Meditation for Three Voices"

A sort of hybrid meditation which is also useful – referred to in the Pathwork Lectures as the “meditation for three voices” – consists of the ego inviting the lower, more infantile self to express itself freely, and then enlisting the help of the higher self in contextualizing and making sense of what the lower self has to say, in order to make integration of the entire self possible.  For instance, the lower self might express a cruel impulse to dominate others, in one way or another.  The ego would hold space for that, without judgment and with the help of the higher self, and then ask the higher self for help in understanding the healthy roots of this distorted impulse.  It might be that the urge to dominate is based on a desire for control, in order to satisfy the legitimate need for safety, albeit it in a misguided way.  In such a case, the work would become about allowing one’s self to feel the sense of non-safety, i.e., the fear, and to remain present with it (see the “Feel All Our Feelings” practice.)  It would also be important to understand the effect that the impulse to be in control has on the self, on others, and on relationships.

Plunging into Negativity and Pain

 

Finally, there is a form of meditation which involves directly plunging into our fear, trauma, pride, shame, excessive desire to control, and so on.  For instance, one might revisit a traumatic moment and let the body shed some stored energy related to it, or revisit a moment in which one did mean and/or destructive things, and allow one’s self to feel remorse.  Depending on what one is comfortable with, one might focus on sensing the presence of spirit guides, and allowing them offer support in such an endeavor.  While it’s generally hard to predict which practices will speak most to whom, it would seem that this form of meditation is more suited for people experienced with or at least comfortable with emotional processing work.  For less experienced individuals, it might be unwise to attempt this without professional support.

 

You're in Charge

Please remember that if you have a practice of your own which isn’t quite described here, all of these are meant as supplementary options, for you to experiment with or not, as you see fit.  You're the captain of your own spiritual ship, and I'm not a "meditation expert" by any stretch of the imagination.  I'm simply sharing with you techniques:

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   • which are compatible with the overall understanding of personal evolution in The Way of the Higher Self.

   • some of which (especially the last practice) I have found powerfully rewarding.