Awareness Meditation

Is meditation the sole domain of Kabbalists? The Lubavitcher Rebbe advocated the teaching of a simple meditation in order to help people alleviate stress and anxiety in a natural manner. The Rebbe further stated that passive meditations have the ability to heal illnesses. As Rabbi Yitzchok Ginsburgh goes on to explain:

Among the key methods of Kabbalah to heal the body and soul is the active engagement in meditation. Proper meditation will enable a person to forget himself, creating the sense of self-nullification or 'bitul' which will help either totally rid the body of disease or at least produce a state of remission.

The true objective of meditation is to realize the actual nature of the Self and thereby realize its role to creation and the Creator. Of course, you still get to keep the fringe benefits of a healthy mind and body.

Gutman Locks, a long time meditation teacher and author, has written extensively on this topic and has dubbed this kind of meditation "awareness meditation." The meditation that follows has been used by countless people, is easy to learn and provides beneficial results.

Awareness Meditation

Contemplate how G-d fills all worlds, how He encompasses all worlds, and how in His presence everything is considered as naught.

As Rabbi Levy of Berdichov taught, "the most important thing to remember is that G-d created All and He is All."

For the active part of the meditation, engage the mind to understand that G-d is All and fills All. You want to gain deeper understanding. It is not enough to give it lip service and "know it intellectually." You need to strain to internalize it, to live by its logical inferences, to breathe it.

Each time you meditate on this concept you should come away with deeper levels of understanding.

During the meditation the mind may get stuck or wander. If this happens, gently glide the mind back to your subject and just observe. Gaze at the One, the All, Creation, Place.

Place in hebrew is "Makom," one of the names of G-d. The Place of Creation with all its worlds and dimensions is nothing other than G-d Himself in the context of Makom. When we meditate on Place/Makom we are gazing onto G-d. The whole of creation is nothing other than G-d. "There is One and no second," to quote King Solomon. The absolute Divinity of G-d bituls (nullifies) all else. This is a truth found in the Kabbalah. This is also a truth that every Jew has imprinted on his lips the first minute he learns how to talk (the Shemah). When we focus on Makom we awaken the awareness of the absolute One within our self/mind. If you think about it or don't, if you realize it or not, it is true either way. We are not changing reality, rather we are just starting to live in it. When you meditate (which is focused thought) on Makom, you bitul yourself to G-d Himself. Lots of good stuff starts to happen, the least of which is a healthy, happy mind and body. This meditation requires you to think. Deeply. It can, and should, be done as you walk down the street, as you ride the bus and when you wait on line at the bank. Contemplate and think what this means as you look out all around you. All these people, all these things are G-d, are One, are in PLACE. How do you react now to the people around you, the shopping clerk or the bus driver?

When you get home you can do the passive side of the meditation. Get comfortable and prepare yourself. Gaze the mind on the Makom. Don't "grab" it with your mind too tight; it may cause headaches and tension. Just observe. Observe the infinite One of All. Endless light. Suchness, which is the opposite of nothingness. We may be nothing compared to the All encompassing One, but being that we are made by and from the All encompassing One means we are very real and worthwhile.

As the mind wanders, gently bring it back to the Makom. Rather than allowing your mind to concentrate on the Makom (active meditation), simply place it in the mind's eye. In a way you have to be one with the Makom because on a certain level you are the Makom (thinking about this is an active meditation). But while we are in the passive meditation mode, do not think about it. Just enjoy the passive, relaxing meditation of floating in the endless Makom and being warmed by its infinite light.

No Kabbalah required. Just some time and a desire to connect to the truth.