Preliminary Note:
Practical and scientific people who are turned off by spirituality should ignore this posting. This is a specific response to Josh and others like him.
There is no need for "spiritual activities" such as those mentioned here in achieving greater inner peace, intelligence, creativity, and productivity in life. All that is necessary is to practice all four major states of consciousness with regularity (those states are waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and transcending). See
http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com/vedic-industry/research.html for some scientific evidence for the benefits of transcending.
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Dear Josh,
What you write makes a great deal of sense to me. I believe that blind faith is good only for those few to whom it appeals. There is no evidence that any great spiritual leaders or writings have ever recommended blind faith. To me, this would work as a placebo, apparently effective at first, but then losing its effectiveness with time. This loss of effectiveness is what happens with any made-up (or incorrectly practiced) techniques that have no logical or scientific basis.
Transcending is, as you have discovered for yourself, an experience and not an intellectual understanding. It is the experience of the systematic letting-go of thought, the elimination of stress, and the expansion of consciousness.
You are feeling the desire for more growth and you ask for my suggestions. Since you are already doing the best technique for spiritual growth (regular transcending), my suggestion is that you engage in lively and life-supporting activity. Such activity will stabilize the benefits of transcending. That means that the feeling of expansion begins to "leak out" of meditation into daily life. It is activity that makes this happen. Without activity, we would enjoy our meditation sessions, but our life would not improve much. It is both steps of progress, silence and activity, that support fulfillment in life.
Intellectual activities, such as reading your favorite scripture or reading books about spiritual growth, are fine. They can be a healthful entertainment. But they are not likely to satisfy the desires of a spiritual aspirant such as yourself. True satisfaction can come only through true growth, which results from the steps of rest and activity that eliminate the blocks to full use of the mind and body.
My specific suggestions would be that you attend NSR Residence Courses (we will hold them as soon as we can get enough participants to break even financially) and learn some Yoga Asanas and comfortable Pranayama. Asanas and Pranayama, when done with little effort either before or after NSR Meditation, along with a new NSR Advanced Technique each year or two, are ideal activities for stabilizing the expansion of consciousness.
Working to help others is just as important as your individual mind and body practices. The heart grows when we engage in opportunities to serve, to be empathic, to give, to rejoice, and to live in simplicity. The growth of the heart helps us to grow spiritually, and growing spiritually helps us to grow in love. As we dissolve stress, we realize more and more the importance of love in living a full and satisfying life.
David Spector
NSR Meditation/USA