DK on Meditation Why is meditation so important to spiritual development?

As you all know, there are many books written on the value of meditation. In the East, people do not seem to question the value of meditation as folks in the Western world do. This is not to say it is easier for those in the Eastern countries, they just do not struggle with the issue in the same way. They may do it, or they may not do it, but they tend not to question it in quite the same way as do Westerners. Meditation aids one in many ways, and I will only touch on some of the basics in this answer. First of all, meditation helps you have a relationship with your mind. Minds, being as they are, tend to want to take complete control, and this is true whether you mind inputs to you more feelings or through thoughts. To most people, it does not arise in awareness that they need a relationship with their mind. In fact, most people completely identify with their minds, think the mind is who they are. As one begins to meditate, he/she begins to recognize how much he/she has been tyrannized by his/her own mind. For the most part, this is something that has to be experienced to be fully understood. One can sort of grasp the concept, but to actually "pierce the veil," or see through that tyranny, one must give some time and energy observing the antics of mind. You may care what you think about, but your mind does not. Indeed, it is capable of giving you the most annoying, the most negative thought right in the middle of your attempts to focus on peace and harmony. You may effort very strongly to keep your thoughts positive about losing those 15 pounds, but the moment you let your awareness slip, the mind gives you a highly charged thought that you cannot lose the weight. When through meditation, however, you simply learn to watch the thoughts the mind gives you. You learn that you do not have to go with them; you do not have to have feelings about those thoughts; you do not even have to believe them. With this recognition comes the first real chance of going free. It is quite a significant realization, really. Secondly, meditation gives one a break from their habituated mind state. When I look about humanity, particularly Westerners, I cannot help but notice the high numbers of people who are suffering from adrenal fatigue. Often these are people who are carrying chronic levels of stress. First there is the experience of stress. Then, there is the perception of stress and what such means. Along with this come the acquiescence to stress on the one hand, and the resistance to stress on the other hand. This internal push-pull often generates anger about stress, and that anger is most likely to be "shared." With the presence of these mental forces (which have arisen with the perceptions around and about stress), there is a literal attack on the physical body. The adrenals become overactive, and get depleted. The body gets used to running on adrenaline, and frequently such is substituted for a good diet, a good exercise program and sound, healthy sleep. Meditation is really helpful here. Practiced over time, one's body begins to respond in a very positive ways. In fact, in studies done on consistent meditators, it has been scientifically demonstrated over and over that the body's response is so positive as to reduce the actual age of the body. Now this has nothing to do with chronology, of course. In the blood, some 40 factors have been identified that are known as "age markers." Simply stated, these are factors that show the relative state of the body as a whole, and demonstrate the body age, which may or may not coincide with the chronological age. When blood tests are done, these factors can be counted and compared to the mean range of chronological age. Scientists have been baffled to note that meditators actually have the blood factors at levels from two to 12 years younger than their chronological age. Now where else can you get that kind of demonstration by your own body?!? Thirdly, it is through meditation that you can learn to see without your eyes, hear without your ears and know without thinking. Of course, this is not an immediate accomplishment. Rather, over time, particularly if you are doing certain tantric practices, you open the psychic centers in a way that is without ego, meaning, beneficial to yourself and others but without the trappings. You learn to become one with all that is, which is how you learn to see the Pure Land. What is enlightenment, after all, other than seeing all that is in a different way? You practice this kind of seeing in your meditation. Such is why meditation teachers give specific visualizations for you to master. Lastly, it is in meditation that you allow time and space to welcome your teacher, to further that relationship and open yourself to the potentiality that relationship holds for you. You open your heart to teachings that you may need, and you progress toward the perception of Emptiness. You confront your mind by addressing the ways in which you have seen things, and the possibility that the mind has made up its definitions of Reality from a faulty premise. For the most part, these levels of seeing and knowing are unavailable to you in your "normal" states of awareness. All in all, meditation is the primary doorway to your freedom. Why would anyone want to miss this direct approach? It is the only state of awareness where individuals are likely to confront their own minds, to grapple with old patterns and belief structures, and simply refuse to continue repeating old (possibly destructive), repetitive ways of being, seeing and doing. With so much at stake, why would anyone want to miss all the creative excitement that awaits one at the dawning of pure consciousness?