2000-11-02-The Stillness

Session

Opening

Welmek: Good evening, my friends. This is your friend, Welmek. Tonight I would like to continue our discourse on spiritual growth topics. This evening I plan to discuss what is stillness as part my ongoing program of instruction for you. I would like you to take a moment of quiet and to tell me briefly in one sentence or two what the concept of stillness means to you. Take a moment and go within and collect your thoughts. When you are ready share your thoughts if you are comfortable.

Dialogue

Student: I have been finding that when I go into meditation, which is not as frequently as I would like to, it takes me a good 10 minutes to start to settle down. I find that I need about 40 minutes to an hour to go really deep and into what I think stillness really is.

Student: Having just published a book on but subject……but my own personal deal fluctuates between stillness as a window to the Spirit Father and stillness as a way to improve my perception of ordinary things. They are two very different things and stillness allows me to see and hear and feel and think more clearly. But it also opens me to the Father which is beyond the senses. I do have questions about that issue, which is also addressed in this book here. I don't think you can read this book real fast. If you have comments on current mind science[1], I would be interested in that.

Stillness

Welmek: Well, we can discuss this and perhaps the lesson this evening will incorporate some components of these questions so you will have a deeper understanding of what it means to be still. What we are attempting to teach you, or to train you, when you are in this stillness state is to exchange your mind for your divine mind. By your mind, I mean your material mind, that strata of consciousness that has more to do with your experiences, your history of experiences, and the concepts you have come to understand throughout the belief systems you have constructed over the course of your lifetime.

The material mind, the ego mind, the mind of limitation, is very superficial. By that I mean it does not perceive into the depths of spirit reality. It does not see all the colors and all the shadings and all the angles of universe reality. So it is very surface and limited. When you take a few moments to relax, you are beginning to de-program yourself. When you de-program yourself, you are allowing another level of information to filter through these layers of your conscious mind so they can begin to penetrate into your belief systems, into your life experiences. They begin to seep through the soil of what you have experienced and try to pop up new flowers, new expressions of spiritual reality. I would like to pause here and ask if you are clear on what we are discussing so far.

Student: No, I'm not. I'm just trying to unwind from my day and following along as best I can.

Student: When you say when you relax and de-program, that's a very interesting equation to me. So when we're not relaxed, we're running on a program. When we relax in stillness we come out of the program - the program of the outer, physical world. So we get to a more subtle brain wave level. Did I get that right so far?

Welmek: Yes. But I would like to add to that you are never fully de-programmed because what you are doing is exchanging one program for a better program.

Student: The better program is the divine mind.

Welmek: The divine mind is a much better program.

Perception, Senses

Student: The divine mind is a much better mind to use in smelling the flowers, or hearing music, or anything. I'm concerned because I never hear very much from the teachers about improving our perception of the physical world, in being a better scientist, for example.

Welmek: Anytime you engage a higher level of your mind in perceiving your reality, whether it is your inner reality or the outer world that you see with your physical eyes, you will be engaging a higher sensing mechanism. You will have keener perceptions, a finer or more refined ability to sense all of the beauty and joy and the light that is surrounding you. You will be a better detector of the subtle fragrance of spirit that wafts in and out of your life. But when you perceive it only with the senses of the material, the subtle shadings are lost and you cannot sense those gentle fragrances that are of spirit. So anytime you engage this mind to perceive your reality, you are more fully engaging all of your senses. You are coordinating all of your senses. You are refining all of your senses so that you will be better able to enjoy this beautiful world that has been given to you for life. Does that answer your question?

Student: Yeah and it raises another question. You seem to imply that there are other senses, or are you saying that our material senses become more purified? I'm not aware of anything more than my five senses. When I smell a flower, I'm using my nose. How do I get the spirit aspect of that? Does the nose have a spiritual capacity?

Welmek: I am saying that your physical senses are being more fully refined. They are, in a sense, being tuned to hear, see, smell, touch, taste, intuit a greater appreciation of the beauty and grandeur of the physical environment that is presented for you. You also are developing a keener sense of the coordinated reality of the physical world with the spiritual world; to see more of the harmony that exists, to see more of the beauty, which is the coordination of truth and goodness. And, in this appreciation, you are developing another sensing mechanism. This is the capacity to appreciate true beauty. It is a refinement of your sense, or attuning or sensing true spiritual values. Do you see? You are adding to your sensing abilities. You are honing them. You are refining them. You are adding more deeply to your enjoyment of life, so that you are able to perceive with your physical senses and to intuit with your spiritual sensing mechanism now. These are more fully harmonized and coordinated when you are using more of your divine mind in place of your material mind.

This can be a difficult concept and transition to make. This is why I wished to address this topic of stillness from the standpoint of beginning to exchange the material mind for the divine mind, because in this exchange a whole method of concept exchange is allowed to unfold. In our last session, I used the illustration of going into a clothing store. Do you recall this when we talked about trying on clothes that were off the rack and then seeing how they fit or did not fit? How the color did not appear just right or the size was too small. And then, going into the custom tailor department, and having yourself be outfitted in the clothes that fit you like a glove and the color was well-suited to you.

Do you recall this? And so, the concepts that you have in your material mind, that you have been using, are like these clothes on the rack. They are the belief systems of your culture that you go in and buy. You like this one and take it home with you. But the concepts that your personal outfitter will give you will always be perfectly suited to you. This is what you are exchanging. You are taking your clothes that do not fit back to the store and saying, "I do not want these anymore. I would like to try something that is more personally tailored to my liking." And so when you are in stillness, this is the perfect time when you have begun to still your mind and de-program yourself of the hectic, chaotic pace of life, and the hectic chaotic thoughts of your culture, you can begin to de-program yourself. Say to the Father," I do not like these anymore, they do not fit me. I do not feel comfortable within them. Give me something I can wear, give me something I can use that will be better suited and will give me a greater sense of how I can live more successfully." Anytime you feel uncomfortable with what happens in your day, this is the opportunity to take it into stillness and to begin to talk to the Father and say, "Help me understand this issue. Help me see this problem in a new light." This is how you begin to exchange your mind.

Student: You mean by asking questions as well as stillness?

Welmek: Stillness is the state of relaxation and where the currents of your mental activity begin to be quieted. When you are quiet, when your thoughts have so tuned down to a quiet roar or hum, then you can begin to ask questions. When the racing thoughts, for the most part, have gone down to a low roar, then begin to think about what it is that you are unhappy about in your life. Begin to ask the questions of the Father to see the reality of what it is you are engaged in, to see what it is that God would like to reveal to you in this exchange. But you must ask, you must be very forthcoming in what it is that you want to see. Otherwise the Father cannot help you because He will not know that it is your free will choice to see these things. This is paramount in your understanding that you must willingly want to know the answer to these questions. Do you understand?

Student: I wonder just how literal that is. If, in the beginning of the week I say, "Father, show me how better to print a book." Does that hold for all time, does that hold for the week. How literal does one need to practice to ask questions?

Welmek: I would draw your attention to the elements of what it is you are asking. There is a hierarchy to your thinking. You have thoughts that occur at varying levels. You have thoughts of a material nature. You have your thoughts of a spiritual nature. These thoughts are all intermingled throughout the course of your day. It is difficult for you to fully separate which is a material thought, which is a spiritual thought. I would like to give you some parameters to help you identify when you are using more of your material mind and when you are engaging in more spiritual thinking.

The material level of reality is generally perceived as the environment in which you live. You generally look at it as the home you live in, the food you eat, the job you work, the car you drive, the money you make. These are all important for they are maintaining your physical existence. Would you agree with this? Then, you have your spiritual relationships, the quality of your life, how you get along with others, how you effectively solve problems, how you perceive the environment that you live in. It is primarily the attitude that you bring toward your life. Then you have the mindal level of thinking, and this is by and large the arena where the material and spiritual levels are coordinated. Your intellectual capacity is based on your experience, your beliefs, how you have been educated to think and effectively problem solve.

When you ask me about being literal in going to the Father, there is literally no question that you cannot ask Him. But you also must be very discerning in what the answer is going to be. Is the answer going to be an answer at the material level or at the spiritual level? For instance, to use this example of help in publishing your books - what is your question? What are trying to engage the Father in conversation to discern?

Student: That was a multi-level question that could concern anything from physical printing to how to treat people, what attitude to bring to the stressful work. So, that was not a useful question.

Welmek: But it is a useful question. Because you are beginning, now in your own mind, to break this idea down into the many facets of what it is you need to learn to better improve your life from all standpoints, not just the material, but at the spiritual level as well.

Student: So the Father could answer that one.

Welmek: I would suggest what you bring to bear in stillness is this: "Help me to discern the different levels of my needs. Help me to discern what it is that I need to understand from a material standpoint and spiritual standpoint in my daily work." You see, from our perspective you humans are far too general in your thinking and so broad in your perspective that you cannot always see that there are many facets, colors, and shadings to what it is that you are asking. This is why I say in exchanging your material mind, the mind that is more superficial, you begin to go to a deeper level where the light refracts and you see all the angles and components of what it is you are asking. You are using a deeper level of your mind, a level that is able to coordinate ideas; a level that is able to harmonize your concepts and to help you better understand the workings of the material mind at the material level and the spiritual level so you can more fully integrate them, more harmoniously into your daily life.

This is very difficult at first because your mind is not trained, not conditioned, not fully harnessed so you can begin to see these subtle shadings. So this is where, in going into stillness and exchanging your mind, is to begin to ask the Father to help me to see more deeply, more fully. I am getting a picture of the eye of a fly. The eye of the fly has many lenses to it and when the light filters through the lenses, it refracts into many angles. These are the different ideas that are all of a part of your general questions. You can see the components of what it is that you are asking. I will pause and ask if you need further clarification or if you are beginning to see the depths of where we are going or trying to reach when we go into stillness. I do not mean for this to be overly broad and so now if you have questions for further clarification, please allow me to address them for you.

Student: My question now would be, when I get into stillness, I get into a relaxed and blissful state. It doesn't occur to me to ask questions, that's the funny thing about it. I'm just sort of enjoying worship and that's why it's been hard for me to get into dialogue. Am I doing it wrong?

Welmek: There is no one way, but I would suggest to you, what is your intention in being in the stillness state. Is it to be blissed out, as you say? Is it to enjoy worship with the Father? For you can certainly do this and there is no reason why you cannot fully satiate yourself in this loving exchange with the Father. But, I would like to add another component to this. What is it that you are doing when you are enjoying these heightened feelings of communion with the Father? You are developing your trust, you are developing more of your faith, that this personality with whom you are communing is wonderful, is loving, is nurturing, is guiding, is counseling, is consoling, is understanding. And so, how could you not want to engage the intellect of the Father and ask him to show you, to teach you what He knows. If you feel connected to Him and feel that love exchange between you and He, then why would you not want to engage the Father's wisdom?

Student: Cause it would lift you out of that state of consciousness.

Welmek: It would not necessarily lift you out of that state of consciousness, for the feelings would still be there. But you would see a larger picture of reality so the Father can flash a new idea or a new way to look at things onto your mental screen. This is the state of mind when you are most fully receptive because you trust in the Father. This is the state where you are engaging both your intellect and your feelings of companionship with God. It is giving you a better use of your mindal capacity for intuition and insight.

Meditation

Student: In this book, they talk about spontaneous occurring insight. I've always wanted to ask about this. In the vipassana meditation is not a dialogue state. It is spontaneously occurring under the auspices of the Holy Spirit, perhaps, and process of insight occurs without you asking the question, without an active engagement. I don't know if you're familiar with what I mean. That's why I've had this difficulty.

Welmek: There are many techniques of meditation. The techniques of meditation are designed for several purposes. As we have come to understand the human techniques of meditation, I can see them categorized in several different groupings. One is to relax the body; to relax the physical processes to rejuvenate cellular activity. Some of these techniques are yoga and breathing.

There are techniques to relax the mind to allow for deeper penetration into some of the control of mindal activities. At this level, at high levels, you can see some of what you would consider to be supernatural feats. And there are techniques of meditation that are designed to harness the currents of mind for better control of thoughts.

And then there are those spiritual techniques - the techniques of true insight that lead to greater wisdom, that lead to greater appreciation of universal reality - of the Father and the universe He designed for you to participate in. These are the highest levels of meditation, and the stillness that we have been trying to teach you is aimed at this highest level for you to make conscious contact with your Adjuster.

From our observation of you humans, most of your techniques are hovering at the first and second, although there are some that actually do go to the third level. But what you are doing at the second level in controlling the mind is allowing for the spontaneous inlay of a spiritual thought onto the conscious mind, and that is why these sudden flashes of insight are able to be perceived. However, this is only one aspect of it, because you must then begin to change your behavior. To have a flash of insight does not serve you well if there is not a corresponding modification of behavior patterns that are more reflective of true spiritual goodness. I would say to you when you look at these techniques of meditation, that the techniques in and of themselves are only a means. They are not the end. The end is in what fruits of the spirit they produce. Is the individual growing more loving, tolerant, compassionate, merciful or understanding? This is how you can gauge whether or not these meditation techniques are truly producing at the spiritual level. Do you see?

Student: Well, I think the second level does that from my experience. But the third level is probably more effective. But insight meditation, Buddhist meditation does alter people, they do bear fruits. Obviously it doesn't key into the Father's personality, it doesn't have direct dialogue.

Welmek: I would say any type of meditation that produces the fruits of the spirit in outward behavior is producing at the spiritual levels. However, I would also add that when you are engaging in dialogue with the Father, this is your opportunity to be more fully participatory in the adventure of perfecting yourself. When you allow yourself to have insights, you are taking more of a backseat. You are not necessarily on the same wavelength as the Adjuster, and you are for lack of a better word, not giving the Adjuster full permission to pilot you in the course of your life that is the best for you. Your Adjuster and you are a cooperative team. You are in this together. This is the goal. It is to be fully conscious of the role of your inner spirit and how you can more fully participate with this wonderful gift from the Father. And I would say that there is a lack of this conscious participation with some of these other techniques. Does this help?

Student: Yes, absolutely. The second level produces fruits, but in an indirect way. The direct intercourse of the Father-- you are giving permission for the divine mind to address a particular thing that you have chosen. I can see that is much more powerful. Let me get clear, you're taking a backseat and passively receiving insight. You're not exercising your will. That's why Buddhists are wrong, they say take the will out of the equation. You're saying, put it back in.

Welmek: I would ask you to recall what the Master said. Did he say "I do not want to will at all." Or did he say, "It is my will that Your will be done." You have a will, you have this wonderful gift of choice from the Father. You have this wonderful capacity to live, to experience. You get to pick and choose which experiences you want to have. What greater gift, what greater joy is there in life but to be able to experience through your own discerning participation what you want to have! You do not fully appreciate this gift of will. You do not fully understand how to best use or to exchange your will for the Father's will. It is in this very high state of consciousness, where you feel the connection with the Father, you feel the presence, you feel the love, you engage your trust. The trust bond is strong; the faith connection is very solidified. When you are in that state, this is when you can begin to ask your questions because this is when you have the greatest tendency to trust that you are being led in the right direction. This is how you can more fully cooperate for you know that where you are going is down the right path.

Student: I find that when I go into meditation, I find I take the first 10 minutes to unwind and watch thoughts and occurrences come and go. Is it okay to go into a meditation with the intention of doing a healing technique for the higher good of myself or somebody else as well?

Welmek: Yes, yes. Again, what you want to do in your stillness is entirely up to you. You can use many different techniques to heal. My attempt this evening is to help you more fully appreciate what your divine mind can do for you, and how you can, through this process of stilling your mind, begin the exchange process. Begin to see those concepts or ideas that you have had in your life that have either helped you to become a better person or have held you back. The technique is not so important as what it is you are trying to achieve. You can certainly use healing techniques for yourself to wash away some of the garbled thoughts, the uprush of ideas that come in your mind the first few minutes when you try to still your mind. This is very normal for you to experience, for stilling the waters of your mind take time, take practice until they become a habit, and you become more comfortable with what a stilled mind feels like. But if you would like to use an image, perhaps you could see some of these thoughts of the day come in and imagine that a river of clear water is coming in and pushing all of these garbled thoughts out of your head. Ask for the thoughts to leave. You will always be able to go back to them when you come out of your stillness meditation. But if you can, try to push them or clear them out of your mental field and then begin to do the things you would like to in your healing meditation. Does this help?

Student: It does help, but my question is it okay to integrate a sitting meditation with a healing for oneself or another person in one sitting?

Welmek: Yes.

Student: Or if that is okay, is there an ending where I should go back to clearing when I finish? Because I'm combining two things.

Welmek: There are a number of things you can do while you are in your stillness state. There are no rules, there are no limits as to what you can do in this state. If you want to spend some time in effective problem solving for your life, say you want to spend 10 minutes in effective problem solving. You could spend a few moments asking your spirit to help you see when you are having a problem and to help you discern a higher answer. Then you could spend a few moments in healing your body and to see your body becoming well. Or, see another person becoming well, if you want to spend a few moments doing that. You can structure your time in a progression that is right for you so you will be able to make the most of this 10 or 15 or 45 minutes or however long you spend. What I would suggest is before you go into stillness to write down what it is you want to achieve. If you want to spend some time problem solving, write that down on your list. How long do you want to spend on this, 5 minutes? Write that down. How long do you want to spend on healing? 10 minutes? Write that down. How long do you want to spend enjoying a beautiful visual imagery? Write that down. Program yourself when you go into stillness. Say, "This is my progression. This is what I want to achieve. Help me move from level to level. Help me know when it is time to go on to the next thing." You are better organizing your mind so it will work more efficiently for you. Does this help?

Student: Yes, thank you. It helps. I've been finding that because of the healing technique I learned…I went into a healing meditation with one person and spent one hour. I could not come out because it was not finished until an hour. I'm think about all the people I know and love in my life, who I would love to do healings with. I can't spend 8 hours a day in sending healing energy. Is there a way I can be more efficient?

Welmek: Yes, because it is not practical with the kind of lifestyle that you must have at this time to maintain your material existence. I would say, write down a list of all the people in your life that you want to heal. Spend a few moments in thinking about what it is that this person needs, not only from a physical standpoint, but from a spiritual standpoint as well. Write that down. Then, as you see some of these desires of your heart to heal these people, you can begin to plan when you want to spend some time in working with them. You may want to put in 10 minutes one day for this person, or 15 minutes a day for this next person. Begin to rotate and vary that. You do not have to do everyone all at once and you do not have to do one person in one day. You can rotate that over a period of time. You have many ways you can do this. But what you are trying to do in your stillness is to organize your thinking and to organize your intentions. There is no reason you cannot do this before you go into your stillness so your stillness time will be used to its maximum efficiency.

Student: So I can just be more efficient and faster.

Welmek: I would not say be faster. I would say to be more efficient that you do not waste your time in useless thoughts that come in. Because if you are unorganized then you have a higher tendency or there is a greater tendency for some of the more mundane thoughts to come in because you are not focused; because you are not moving in a logical sequence. So if you are more plan-ful in what it is you want to achieve in your state, then you will be able to move from one objective to another. Do you have any more questions?

Student: I think my problem is to focus enough to get myself to meditate. I'm extremely powerful when I focus, but I don't get there as often as I should, would like to.

Welmek: What do you think prevents you from focusing?

Student: Doing busy things…eating, organizing, being busy.

Welmek: I would say to you, do you spend any time in your meditation in allowing yourself to feel loved, to feel uplifted, to feel transported out of the busyness of your world into a world where there is sheer joy, utter peace? Do you do this at all?

Student: No, but I may integrate it, but I don't focus on it and I don't think about it as much as becoming in that space.

Welmek: I would suggest that what this might do for you is to offer more of an incentive. When you begin to connect more with those feelings of peace and love and joy, and you begin to associate them with this state of meditation, then you will have more willingness. It will have more of an appeal or attraction for you to go into this state because you will find yourself so happy and peaceful you do not want to leave.

Student: I absolutely find that.

Welmek: Then connect more with this feeling of love. Say, "This is my candy today. This is my reward for all of my busy life. I am going to fully enjoy myself and treat myself and luxuriate in these feelings of joy and love." Just fully immerse yourself into these wonderful, wonderful feelings that the Father wishes to bestow and lavish upon you.

Student: Okay. I have one more question. This involves the differences between the physical mind that you mentioned and the spiritual being and the integration of the two. The physical mind creates physical reality and maintains that. The spiritual maintains the spiritual. Is the ultimate the mindal mind?

Welmek: There is a concept of three components of reality. You have the spiritual realm, which is a realm of ideals, a perfected universe. This is a universe where everything is good and beautiful and truthful and loving. There is no disharmony or discordance. Then you have your realm of material nature, which is the realm of perfecting ideas. They are ideas of the evolutionary culture, which begins from its animal origins, through the very slow process of evolution, to transform itself from a world where accidents happen and evil can exist to a realm where there is only truth and goodness and love. Intervening in these levels is the level of the connection, the bridge. There must be something that brings these two polar opposite realms together.

In the human being, there is this evolutionary component; your physical mechanism lives on a physical world. You have a genetic inheritance from your ancestors of animal origin. Then you also have a piece of spirit in your mind. It is in the currents of your mind that are connected into your brain that acts as a bridge between these realms of what is perfect and ideal to what is perfecting and what is potentially good. In this mind, this realm of mind that is this bridge, this is where all of this information is coordinated and harmonized and sorted and discarded. This is why in the state of stillness you are exchanging your evolutionary mind and evolutionary ideas for the divine mind and the divine concepts, the concepts of what is perfect and true and good. And so in this mindal state this is the coordination, this is where you get to discard these ideas you no longer like or want or serve you well and to see a higher level of reality. The highest level of reality is the spiritual level. The mindal level is important because it is the coordinator and harmonizer and connecting bridge. Do you see?

Student: Yes. I hear the ultimate place to be is where the mind and the spirit are connected and integrated, but you said earlier most human beings aren't able to do that. But I feel like that's the ultimate place to exist and I relish being in that space.

Welmek: Then you are a very good student. You have learned the secret of where to go to find the answers so your life can become more fulfilling. But I do say to you, my sister, that most humans have not yet found this place. They are still struggling, they are still lost, and this place of great light and joy is something they have not found.

Student: I'm not saying I've mastered it, but I am enjoying it when I am there.

Closing

Welmek: And this is as it should be. For this place, this exchange, was meant to benefit you greatly for you to appreciate in the joy more fully. It is the place where you become more fully the beautiful person that God has created you to be. Good night.