MEDITATION FOR BEGINNERS

Process:

1.   Focus your attention on the art object to the right, and try to turn off the left side of your brain (the part that functions to analyze things logically, verbally, rationally), and let the right side take over (the part that is governed by feelings, emotions, perce-ptions) for awhile.

2.   I like to have some music playing softly in the background. It isn't essential to the experience but it may help to blot out some 

     of the constant noise clutter that seems to be everywhere these days. The music should not be familiar in melody and, if there is anything vocal, it should not be recognizable English language. In short, nothing distracting, no matter how beautiful in its own right.

  

3.  I usually start with a "centering time" to let go of everything that I'm carrying around mentally and spiritually, and that's helped by a brief prayer inviting God's peace into my mind and heart.

4.  Unless I'm sharing this process with others, I do not verbalize or vocalize what comes to me as I look at the art piece. I let myself move in and with the experience of light, color, shape, mood, and seek to perceive and respond to God however God is revealed in that moment. The experience, for me, is one of “together," a sharing or communion in which I am led without any plan or effort on my part. What I am given to " see" or understand is not of my own initiative. It cannot be produced by an act of will. Sometimes it is very deep and involving; other times less so. Each occasion is unique.

5.  It is a "stream of consciousness of free-association" sort of experience that is guided only by my intention to seek God and, so, that is where God leads it and in which God participates. Experiment to see what works best for you. It does take a while to get comfortable with the whole concept and to discover how best to give yourself to it.