Self-Knowledge and Meditation

Do you know we live in a hypnotic world? We are delusional thinkers and live in a fantasy world of words. However, there is a world beyond words called reality that you see right before your eyes in the present, which is timeless and eternal, and people have no idea how they are related to it. To understand reality, one requires self-knowledge.

What is self-knowledge? When you stand in front of a mirror, you see an image of yourself that you recognize as “I” and associate with “me” and "mine.”. The “I” is your ego, the thinker in your mind, which is the self. Knowing how your ego operates in your mind will give you great insight into your mind and help you overcome heartbreaks and other emotional problems. It will allow you to become the master of your destiny. Anyone with an intelligent mind needs to acquire self-knowledge. Without self-knowledge, one keeps chasing their shadow for the rest of their lives.

The nature of the ego is to be possessive and territorial. It is a part of our mind with our survival instinct. It wants to control everything and considers itself the world’s centre. It is not interested in searching for the truth. It is only interested in self-satisfaction and self-gratification. It wants to live forever and never wants to die. It is a time-traveller and creates a fantasy world through the imaginative power of the mind.

As I see it, the ego in my mind is a product of self-hypnosis. It means the ego cannot appear in our conscious mind without words. The ego uses words for thinking without realizing that the words hypnotize us. So whenever we are thinking, we are hypnotizing ourselves. Words have a hypnotic power over us. The ego creates words to express thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Our words also make us travel in time: the past, the present, and the future. We live in a superficial world of words and time. It is why the ego cannot stop thinking. We are obsessed with thinking. Our thinking process goes on and on like a squirrel in a cage. The ego fears that it might disappear from the mind if it stops thinking. It is why the ego surrounds itself with endless chatter of words and music twenty-four hours a day on TV, radio, and other entertainment media.

This thinking process becomes so overwhelming and distressing that the clever ego has devised systems of meditation to calm the mind. It has developed meditation techniques to manage the mind without realizing it uses the same technique in its thinking process (the thinker and the thought). Thus, meditation, as taught by gurus and sages of the past and present in the thinker and the thought mode, is all self-hypnosis, which is what creates a world of delusions. However, meditation is not just to calm the mind. It is also a means of gaining insight into your mind and acquiring self-knowledge.

So, how does self-hypnosis create a world of delusions for us? For instance, we use the word “spirit” or “spiritual” to describe a world beyond the present in our imagination. It becomes a delusion if we start believing that such a world exists because we want to think about and believe in it. So, if anyone thinks spirituality exists, shouldn’t one also believe Santa Claus exists?

The (thinker and the thought) mode is our usual thinking mode. It hypnotizes us when we think. So, what is the right way to dehypnotize us so that we can hypnotize ourselves correctly without suffering delusions? It is the observer and the observed mode. When you stop thinking, you do not disappear from your mind. Your ego becomes an observer in the mind, a passive role it does not like. As an observer, you can become aware of what is happening inside and outside of you. You can watch your thoughts and emotions and how they affect you. Here, you can harmonize your inner and outer worlds. Meditation thus becomes a pathway to self-knowledge.

There is, therefore, only one right way to meditate: in the observer and the observed mode. Any other method becomes self-hypnosis, which leads to delusions. Wherever you are, please understand that there is a picture of a timeless dimension called reality before you. Your whole purpose is to understand your relationship to this picture in the present. Look into the distance, become aware of the present, and take in everything in your field of vision except the back of you without saying a single word in your mind. Now, you will see a panoramic view of the picture of the present moment, recognizing every single object without naming it. You are aware of the present and it has not disappeared from your mind. It is the mode you use for meditation or contemplation. In this mode, you can become aware and hypnotize yourself positively by rearranging the words. For instance, if you habitually say, “I hope I will be OK," you can replace it with “I am fine.”

So, when thoughts or emotions arise in your mind, as they will, become aware and do not try to control or reject them; accept them and see how words affect them. When you do not verbalize your thoughts and feelings, what happens to them? You will find they have no substance when you do not use words (verbalize). When you use words, you activate them. Thus, you can learn how to manipulate your feelings by using words correctly. For instance, when you find your thoughts have a lot of negative words, replace them with positive words and see how you feel. Our subconscious mind responds to words, not their meaning. Positive words create positive feelings, and negative words create negative emotions.

In this mode, you can also resolve the conflicts you carry from the past. Do not try to forget a person or anything from the past. Accept the person or situation as a part of your learning experience, and thank the person for giving you such an experience. You are a better and wiser person because of it. As you resolve the conflicts and contradictions within you, your perceptions will change, and your mind will automatically become peaceful.

You are mainly in the thinker and the thought (the thinker thinking) mode whenever you are awake. So, when you are praying, you are hypnotizing yourself. When you are singing, you are hypnotizing yourself. When you are reading, you are hypnotizing yourself. Whatever activities you are involved in, hypnotize you. Only the observer and the observed mode dehypnotize you. As you become enlightened, your mind will reset spontaneously into (the observer and the observed) mode, which will now become your normal thinking mode. There is nothing spiritual about enlightenment. It is merely a process of waking up from self-hypnosis and realizing that we live in a delusional world and must not take ourselves too seriously. When you experience the spontaneous phenomenon where the observer in your mind and what is being observed become one, you will understand that a timeless dimension exists in the present and that you are one with it. You will experience Nirvana while you are alive, not after you die.

Acquiring self-knowledge requires you to use your brain power: perception, insight, and awareness. Without self-knowledge, you are just a ship without an engine in the rough ocean of life, tossed around like flotsam and jetsam. With self-knowledge, you are a ship with an engine that can cut across the roughest seas anytime without hassle. Acquire a thirst for self-knowledge and become the master of your destiny. Nirvana is always here in the present. Life becomes an eternal meditation when one wakes up from self-hypnosis. One will never need to pray again. Please read my online articles to enlighten you further.