Loremaster wrote:jwaneeta wrote:Loremaster wrote:How is this state achieved?
Are you asking me or Menolly's Paul quoted above?
You.
Okay. I was trained as a cloistered nun in the Roman Catholic tradition, you understand, so I have to use the vocabulary I'm most familiar with. But in my experience almost all major traditions of East and West hold these principles in common.
As Paul noted above, chemical means are quicker (though I can't witness to their efficacy as I've never tried them). To reach infused contemplation by spiritual methods alone takes longer. It varies according to the individual, but it's generally a labor of years.
First, one has to learn one's own nature -- a lot of people go from cradle to grave without understanding that their consciousness resides not in the mind, but in the will. It is as if a man spent his life within a thorn hedge he'd cultivated to protect him from wild beasts, but became so invested in the hedge that he started thinking he
was the hedge. The mind is a great machine, a brilliant organism, but it's not the true Self. And the mind is generally prey to transient stimulation, emotions and passions that cause a great deal of misery. A human being's true center is much deeper within, much stronger: the will.
I got a lot of help from practicing za-zen meditation, before I ever entered the monastery. The simplicity of the actual exercises is matched only by the near impossibily of mastering them, but in the struggle to do so one comes to clearly distingish the will from the phenomenal mind. It took me about two years to become proficient enough to experience the benefits of za-zen, but in the long run they were incalculable.
Following upon this comes a period of active purgation. Paul mentioned it above. It's often thought of as practices like corporal penance, fasting and whatnot, but these aren't in my opinion necessary. The point of active purgation is detachment from the phenomenal ego, and this can be achieved by practicing self surrender, or abandonment to divine providence. In practical terms it means deliberately releasing all self-oriented preoccupations such as fear, anxiety, pride, and obsessive control. There is an emphasis on simple, effortful living in one's own sphere of life, while practicing utter detachment from the results of those efforts.
In addition, one seeks to bring one's own will into union with the divine will, peacefully, repeatedly, until it becomes habitual. This requires submission and humility in difficult circumstances, and it's hell on the ego. It can be a painful struggle initially. But as the ego loses dominion, the empty spaces where it used to rule are filled with peace.
Simple contemplation follows, in which a person will begin to feel faint but beautiful periods of spiritual joy, called consolation. (The Buddhists have another word for it -- I think it's called satori but my memory may be faulty). This alternates with experiences of the Void, which is pretty horrible, to be honest. These fluctuations continue, each gaining in intensity, as the ego enters its throes. It's important for the individual to maintain the practice of interior detachment from these ups and downs, and to concentrate on such simple things as work, meditation on a regular schedule, and reading books by people who have gone through the same things.
As to meditation, the customary practice is to read a passage from a book that speaks to the individual, then to lay it aside and surrender the mind and will to God. At first the mind will be very active and noisy, but with time the activity ceases and one enters into a state of Quiet, where nothing exists but the will of the divine. This state of Quiet starts to come easier and easier, and soon the individual may find himself passing an hour without adverting to more than a few thoughts -- the rest is a sort of supension in peaceful observation, if not bliss.
As I mentioned above, for some people this state can become habitual, or infused. And the bliss can become so raptuous at times as to be physically painful at its peak -- yet curiously, it is a pain that has no power to frighten; it brings nothing but peace and joy. In fact, it's not so much like pain as a third sensation altogether: if joy were one metal, and pain were another, and they were melted and alloyed to form a third entirely new substance, that would be the nearest way to describe it. It's like nothing else in human experience.
This path does take a long time, certainly longer than availing oneself of chemical assistance. One the upside, it has the potential to become not a transitory experience but a lasting one. And to speak of all the joys that it entails would take another post entirely.
I will say this, though, and it is commonly reported by all who have enjoyed it: whatever you have suffered in this world, no matter how bitter and inexplicable it was, however long your misery, five minutes of this rapture pays for all of it.
And the bliss doesn't pass after five minutes -- it can last, literally, for years.
Interesting!
What's LCD (the REAL Liquid Crystal Display?), btw? 
