Adventure in Being

Meditation – Discovering Divinity
 

             Who does not long for the exhilaration of adventure or dream of making a great discovery?  

            I was a farm boy, an honor student, a river boatman, an army engineer, and a school counselor.  I interrupted graduate school to hobo around the world.  I was awarded a Ph.D., wrote a book, am a cancer survivor, and serve as a volunteer in the State prison system.  I celebrated my seventieth birthday with seventy pushups and my first skydive.

            But, through the years, another adventure has eclipsed those just listed.  For more than thirty years, with backpack and tent, I have climbed alone the steep and rocky mountain past trail and marker to the lake I call my own.  Each climb has brought me to my sanctuary-near-heaven to be nourished in nature's cradle.  Each trek has been four days to abandon distraction and reclaim Soul.  Each journey has been a continuation of the cosmic game of hide-and-seek with God.  And each time I have discovered His hiding place – deep within my soul.

            But the appeals of the soul came more frequently and with greater urgency.  Though there were prayers, there was too much asking and not enough listening.  And then I discovered I did not need to be on my mountain retreat to find the stillness.  I could find the peace, the renewal, the healing wherever I was.  I found I was experimenting with a form of meditation which became essential to my soul. 

            I developed a passion to learn more of this inner peace and awakening and so I read dozens of books and experimented with a variety of traditions.  I found the various approaches had much in common.  I examined research for meditation benefits and found significant evidence for extraordinary emotional, mental, and physical benefits.  My task was to select the best and most common meditation practices and try them out.  Then the challenge became to transform diversity into unity and complexity into simplicity.  I arrived at Adventure in Being.

            The meditation process doesn't require days in the mountains and it doesn't take thirty years.  Rather, it takes a feeling within that there is more, that there is untapped potential and growth.  It takes a hunger for adventure and eagerness for discovery.  It takes an acknowledgement that there is room for greater peace and there are untapped possibilities

            How long does it take?  It takes a minimum of ten minutes a day, but as you feel the effect, you will want twenty minutes.  How long does it take to realize a benefit?  Is the first time soon enough?

            My purpose is to give you my best gift.  As you ponder its acceptance, I invite you to consult with others you may consider helpful advisors.  Please turn to Appendix A and ponder, "Meditation: Invitation from Advocates," and "Meditation: Invitation from Old & New Testament Writers."  Then, should you decide to accept my invitation, meet me on the next page for an Adventure in Being!