7^th February, 2024 • Søren Aas

Chapter IV - Meditation and Recollection

Recollection is to control our attention by will, something that not many do. Regular meditation practice will strengthen our will and lead us to realize that we as observers are not the same as that which we observe.

Meditation is a workout for our will, and we exercise it by sitting quietly and focus on one thing, when our attentions slips we again and again turn our attention back to what we set out to observe. Armed with our newfound skill we can learn to keep the worldly at an arms-length allowing us to separate appearances (thoughts, senses, emotions etc) from Reality.

Through our meditation we will at last discover that there is something within, and this something is our own soul.

Commentary

Recollection, as we discussed in chapter III, is being able to focus your attention on what you want it to focus on, and to stay focused. Underhill posits that most of us do not take control of our attention allowing ourselves to be directed by external circumstances. Developing will is part taking an active role in our lives.

For a variety of reasons, Underhill suggests that the mystic is our best source for discovering Recollection for ourselves. She proceeds to give us an example from St Teresa's teachings. Firstly we must be aware that learning Recollection is a slow and gradual process. The method we should use is regular meditation practice. St Teresa insists that meditation is not complicated, it requires only that you observe. Of course, simple is not the same as easy.

Just observe, got it. But what should we observe? For the beginner it is enough to observe what is going on in our minds. Are you thinking about last nights argument, fine, observe what emotions and thoughts that produces. Or maybe try to focus on the tightness in your neck, is it stress, how does it feel. The point is to observe what goes on, you are a spectator to your inner processes, let them happen and sit back and watch. The key is to not let your attention drift, if you first are thinking about last nights argument, then observe that. If your attention slides off and focuses on the stiff neck that is OK, just gently let it go and refocus on the argument. This losing focus will happen all the time, and you must continually refocus your attention back to what you where meditating on. After some time, you will be able to stay focused for longer before drifting off.

Of course, we need not only meditate on the mundane, we can also choose to contemplate concepts like Time or Being itself. The same method is applied, hold the concept in focus and observe, and when you lose focus gently return to the concept. The text gives several examples. As beginners a daily meditation of 10-15 minutes is adequate. Simply sit in a comfortable chair where you sit upright and can rest your feet on the floor. No fancy cushions or postures are required.

Therefore even though meditation is actually very simple, it is something that can only be mastered through regular practice. But practice contains potential to level up your consciousness to a longer, slower rhythm. To illustrate using a practical example, we could imagine ourselves going on a long haul flight to the other side of the globe. Many of us get by being sat in a seat for that long by distracting ourselves. We watch videos, listen to audio books, read, knit, anything to pass the time. With that in mind consider the person who sits down and is only armed with a single paper cup of black coffee. It is coffee from a vending machine too, no barista involved. Then the person just sits there and relaxes the whole flight. That is a far cry from how most of us would cope with our promiscuous attention running wild. And when your will gets stronger still, you realize that you could do the return flight without even the support of the coffee cup as support. And somehow your perception of things has changed.

Focusing our attention on something, be it a thought, idea, feeling or what not, will make our attention fuller and more tangible the more we unite with it, instead of it hurtling around like a crazy person with too many things to get done at once. We get to know it on a deeper level and will soon experience how it can increase in depth, power and beauty the longer we can keep it focused.

A word of caution is due here, we have talked a lot about attention and keeping it focused. But it is important that we do not strain ourselves in so doing. Rather like a guitar string, our observation must be focused with the right degree of tension, too little or too much and it will sound off. Be gentle when focus is lost and just refocus again, it is perfectly normal and not something to try and avoid or get upset about, through practice it will get better.

As our meditation practice deepens we will come to know that within us, where we observe from, there is peace, and that in this space we are free to be. We in effect create a safe haven we can return to at will and that allows us to put some distance between us and our worldly experiences. We become aware that we who observe are apart from that which what we observe. We are not someone in pain, but someone who is experiencing pain and are able to observe it. By our act of concentration we step towards realizing unity. We have you have to some extent withdrawn yourself from that union with unreality's, with notions and concepts, which has hitherto contented you. Underwood explains that this disconnection of ourselves from unreality's (ideas, emotions etc) is made possible by denying these very unreality's total dominion of our attention. We stand firm and choose to observe what arises, and we do not let what arises engulf us, thus making possible a contact between our consciousness and Reality.

Having realized that the observer is different from what is observed, through our meditation practice, we the initial stage of contemplation has been achieved. We have power to withdraw ourselves by separating appearance and reality.

Final thoughts

A daily meditation practice is valuable to develop our will and capacity to calmly observe what is actually going on, instead of getting entangled in and engulfed by what is going on. Being able to return to the silence we have within is where we can realize we are apart from what we experience and from this stillness recollect ourselves and new things emerge.