The Experience of Meditation
By Remez Sasson

You are sitting alone in a quiet place practicing meditation. Slowly the rush of thoughts slows down. The silence gaps between one thought to the other get longer. You are beginning to experience relaxation and inner peace. There are a few itches, some pain or tension in your body, but as your concentration deepens, you become less conscious of the body and its sensations.

Now you feel calm and happy. Worries and cares disappear. You are still conscious of your surroundings, but as if transported into a new dimension. A few thoughts may still enter your mind, but they are weak now, and you can easily disregard them. As your meditation gets deeper, less and less thoughts claim your attention, until they cease. You feel bliss and peace now.

Though you are not thinking now, and you can completely ignore your surroundings, your consciousness is alive. You experience yourself now as pure essence, not as this or that. You forget about your physical life, family, work, status or economic condition. There is no identification with anything. You feel formless. Your consciousness is now free from the body, emotions and mind.

Are you asleep now? No!

Are you daydreaming? No!

You are existing in an altered state of consciousness, which is different from the ordinary and familiar consciousness.

Where are your thoughts, emotions and body? Only your consciousness exists now.

When the clouds of thoughts and emotions disappear during deep meditation, the Consciousness shines alone. You experience the “Great Emptiness”, which is full of happiness, consciousness, existence, life and power. You experience Reality as it is.

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