Any attainment toward a more perfect meditation is first determined by the attributes of consciousness.

These attributes comprise our highest emotions and sentiments, our so-called moral sense, and those distinctive attitudes and dispositions which clearly indicate cosmic endowments.

These qualities are innate, implanted within as an intangible part of our nature, existing as an unseparated segment of the Cosmic and amenable to our capacity to receive and express them.

To realise these qualities, to enlarge our capacity, they must be brought forward to a conscious level.

We are the product—the representation of our life experiences, the aggregation of our expressions and realisations through many incarnations, our imprints left over from the sands of time.

Our collective being is a synthesis or composite whole of these imprints engraved on our soul personality. Meditation is involved with this inner part of being.

We meditate to gain unlimited knowledge and the wisdom of the ages, drawing on this knowledge and experience accumulated in our life journeys and on the soul memory of humanity. In a figurative sense, we emerge in consciousness a microcosmic image of the Cosmic.

Our penetration through the psychic doors will yield a limitless wealth of impressions in gradations or degrees commensurate with our psychic development and in proportion to the prevailing harmony of self and soul.

A state of equilibrium must exist for a near-perfect meditation. But equilibrium is a rare achievement.

To even reach the boundaries of a state approaching equilibrium, one must prepare for a change in consciousness. This involves a concerted effort toward awakening slumbering and quiescent psychic powers and developing the ability to listen to the inner self. This in turn demands the psychic requirement of personal discipline.

If we do not already possess this or cannot make the effort to encourage its growth, we cannot hope for the required change.

A mere intellectual comprehension, in itself, does not promote this alteration in consciousness. Neither do words, many books, or apprehension of some universal truths. Words and books can, however, help to change our viewpoint.

They have the power to stimulate our imagination and desire and may prove to be the mainspring toward our migration to the higher dimensions of mind.

The Alchemical Process

Desire always comes first. If our desire translates into harmony or conformity to the impulses from within, the alchemical process has already begun its powerful and subtle transmutation of mind.

This change, though gradual, is seldom regressive but continues its spontaneous progress in ascending waves proportional to our degree of psychic capabilities and personal discipline.

To be aware of the psychic world and its impressions, the exercises and varied techniques geared toward developing them must be practiced.

Throughout our studies we undergo step-by-step training in the ways and means of unfolding our inner powers. We are guided and imperceptibly led to the bridge that spans the inner and outer worlds. Whether it is ever crossed, or whether we become conversant and attuned to the cosmic messages whispering in silent voice, depends on this unfoldment and our temporary ascendency over conscious objective mind.

To attain this higher level of consciousness is to reach a state of tranquil and transcendental meditation.

In meditation it is our desire to let go of our physical faculties, transcending the conditioned world of form, and entering the unconditioned levels of consciousness—to the world of pure, unformed ideas and infinite wisdom. On these elevated planes we try to become sympathetically attuned to cosmic impressions—to realise self on another level of consciousness.

This is true meditation, a passive, non-resistant sublime condition of mind. It stands alone, distinct and clearly defined, and is not to be confused with the lower phases of consciousness—concentration which is objective and contemplation which is subjective.

It is to be acknowledged, however, that in the preliminary advances into meditation, a degree of concentration and most of the subjective phases, reasoning, contemplation, recollection, etc., are used. These are essential tools aiding in our ascending the stairway to higher levels of cosmic communion.

These tools serve in an integrated process toward attaining a higher state of consciousness.

Inner Radiance

However, true meditation is considered a transcending of these powers. It can begin by using the subjective process, which is a kind of watchful, alert passivity.

For a brief time we may center on some spiritual idea or an inspiring thought, enriching and advancing it with beauty and grace. When our emotions and sentiments respond and are in accord, they are gradually released from mind.

In this process the radiance of our inner self is slowly awakened, providing a correspondence between our idea and a higher level of consciousness.

When this transference occurs is not immediately known. If it were, we would not have reached the deeper stages of meditation. We would still be in the outer, not the inner consciousness. Since consciousness is integrated—levels merging in a continuous vibratory motion—the transition from one particular level to another is barely perceptible, if at all.

It is understood that on the objective and subjective levels the alternation of consciousness is so commonplace, so normal, that its passage is hardly noted. It is part of our everyday reality. However, if the deeper levels are reached wherein a more extensive reality is uncovered, we become aware of it only after objective existence is re-entered. Consciousness is recognised as a stream of sensitivity permeating and flowing through all living things.

We live, move, and have our being in this unceasing, pulsating vibratory stream of Cosmic Consciousness—at different levels.

The term “levels of consciousness” is used in a figurative sense only, in that it is easier to visualise a stepping up or down process of mind. There are no gaps or hiatus in consciousness, hence no levels.

As stated, it is our privilege to draw upon in meditation an eternal flow of impressions and intelligence. Depending on our need and purpose, we contact and merge at different degrees or levels, gaining wisdom and experience and a greater understanding of our relationship to the Cosmic.

Any experience in this stream of consciousness gives fresh new directions and the guidance to carry out the impressions received.

The impressions emanating from these higher levels are of a much more subtle vibration than those in our more familiar thought world. They are infallible, but we are yet unskilled in receiving these impressions in their perfect fullness.

In meditation we absorb their essence, extracting the vital elements and parts of these impressions relative to our psychic development and need. Bringing them forward on the conscious level, they are coloured and clothed according to our interpretation.

One of the reasons the Rosicrucian Order attempts to instruct and advance students in knowledge of the varied aspects of consciousness is to help us make our interpretations conform more nearly to the truth of our inner vision.

As mystics in the making, we are assuming this psychic journey toward the inner vision.

We have progressed around the sacred triangle many times, meditating at each point for a moment to light our candles of Life, Light, and Love (the foundation of our Order), and bringing to the mundane world an approximation of the true light.

This comes about with the emergence of the Rose soul, unfolding its garment of petals one at a time.

As we assimilate the rarefied dew essence gathered on each petal and draw it unto self, the thorns of error eventually become absorbed through the process of spiritual alchemy.

And so with perfect vision we see inscribed in singular letters our name written on the white stone. Once we have read the name, and memory affirms the translations, it fades before our inner sight.

From this initiatic experience, we know we have been chosen to make the mystical journey.

In the nameless silence of our meditation, Rosicrucians at last come to know and understand the true significance of Life, Light, and Love-and the greater meaning of Peace Profound.

Adaptation of ASCENDING INTO MEDITATION by Georgette De Moulin from the Rosicrucian Digest, November 1979