4.1.4.1 What is the real nature of mind in its still and natural state? The real nature of mind is extension through space. That is to say, space and the objects it contains are products of mind.

The paragraph above is the object of your meditation. More precisely, the question in bold print is to be the focus of your one-pointed awareness. When you have completed this meditation you will know, with the clarity and certainty of direct intuitive experience, that the answer provided reflects the nature of reality.

This meditation is the first of a graded series of exercises designed to awaken your mind’s inherent ability to experience the transcendental nature of reality. The simple truth is that all you are now learning by direct intuitive experience was once known to you without any obscuring ignorance. Through time and the accumulated weight of experience across lifetimes, you lost sight of the inherent unity of this, and in your growing ignorance fell into the illusion that reality consists of objective, material phenomena. Now you are ready to work at the conscious process of recollecting your true nature, which transcends space, time, karma and all the other conditions which limit and determine the events of your life.

Begin this meditation by focusing your awareness one-pointedly on the question printed above in bold type. You will find that quite spontaneously your mind keeps repeating the question, over and over and over. After a time, you will find it requires relatively little effort to sustain awareness of this constant repetition.

In the first stage of absorption in one-pointed meditation, several processes occur simultaneously. These processes include both inner and outer activities. Your task is to engage in all activities required of you, while repeating one-pointedly the question printed in bold.

The inner activities are based on the thoughts generated by your one-pointed concentration on the object of meditation. A host of questions and observations will arise in your mind. You will attempt to understand your meditation in terms of the contents of your thought process.

All this activity is fruitless, and cannot take you further along the path of understanding the nature of reality through direct intuitive experience. Instead of putting your energy into thinking, practise whatever skills you have developed in performing the meditations from chapter 3 to still the thought process. Your real task is to focus one-pointedly on the bold question, and simultaneously to detach your awareness from absorption in the rising and falling away of your mind’s impressions.

The outer activities are the events of your day, configured by karma. You still have to get up, brush your teeth, eat, talk to other people and engage in whatever activities the day presents you with. In this secular Implicate Technology teaching, one-pointed meditation is conducted in the midst of ordinary, everyday conditions.

After a time, it should become clear to you that although one-pointed meditation is a new experience, the ability to detach your mind from responding to stimuli, both inner and outer, is familiar. You are able to practise one-pointed meditation because your efforts in the meditations of chapter 3 produced a still mind. The first stage of one-pointed absorption comes to a close when you are able to focus on the object of meditation exclusively and your mind becomes still and serene through detachment from stimuli.

The second stage of one-pointed meditation is characterised by the mind becoming quiet enough to be absorbed in the object of attention. Your mind will be serene and still, observing the constant repetition of the bold question and not responding to whatever thoughts may arise from inner nd outer stimuli. From this serene, one-pointed concentration comes understanding based on direct experience of the object of meditation.

When the mind is absorbed in the object of attention, experience of the object’s true nature arises and unfolds from pure, direct, clear intuition. The end result of your sustained effort will be surprisingly simple and obvious. You will just understand that the answer given reflects the nature of reality.

Of course, this understanding is not possible through a mere intellectual appreciation. In this particular meditation, you will know, with the unshakeable certainty of direct intuitive experience, that the nature of mind in its natural state is extension through space. When this happens, don’t waste your time trying to make logical sense of the experience –  eat a satisfying meal, have a relaxing bath and a good night’s rest, and then start on the following meditation.