Open Mind Meditation
The crowning method of the Workbook, taught in: Review V, Lesson 189, Review VI, introduction to Part II, introduction to Final Lessons.
- Repeat the idea for the day as an invitation to God to come to you. Have a sense of placing the practice period in His Hands.
- (Optional) You may want to follow this with an induction in which you consciously let go of all that you think you know and understand. A suggestion:
I do not know what I am.
I do not know what my attributes are.
I do not know what God is.
I do not know what the world is.
I do not know what is true and what is false.
I do not know what will make me happy.
I will forget my body, its comfort and its needs,
I will forget the past and future, and come with wholly empty hands unto my God.
- Then go into the silence. In this silence, hold your mind in a state like a vacuum, which is empty yet draws fullness to itself, desires to be filled. Holding both negative and positives sides of the vacuum in place is the essence of the technique.
3a. Negative: Let your mind be empty of normal content
– Our mind is empty of words—you don’t repeat words. Words, being symbols, stand in the way of direct, unmediated knowing.
– Your mind is empty of thoughts.
– Your mind is empty of all you think you know and understand. It is not true, and so stands in the way of knowing the real truth.
3b. Positive: Wait for a fullness to come from God.
– Instead of dwelling on what you think you know, open your mind to a completely different knowing. Open your mind to God.
– In this open state, wait in silent expectancy for God (or truth, or peace, etc.). Hold your mind still and inactive, filled with expectancy, readiness, eagerness. Wait for God as one would wait for the sunrise.
– In this open, expectant waiting, be sure to be at rest; do not strain. “Open your mind to Him. Be still and rest” (W-pI.128.6-7).
In other words, you must stand totally open: in your openness of concepts, ready to know something new; in your openness of words, ready for a new, more direct, kind of knowing.
- When the mind wanders, use words again to draw it back to silent, nonverbal waiting. You might repeat a single word, the idea for the day, or “This thought I do not want. I choose instead [the idea for the day].”
- Realize that the practice period is in the Holy Spirit’s hands. Be open to Him stepping in and helping your practice in some way, perhaps by giving you a word or thought to focus on, or just giving you a peaceful, open mind. Or He may step in and give you guidance, or a vision, or an experience. Because this introduces a wild card into this technique, you must be willing to distinguish between His activity and your wandering thoughts.
- Conclude by repeating the idea for the day.
[Please note: ACIM passages quoted in this article reference the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) Edition.]