Article:
What is Object Meditation?
by Rev. Sue Annabrooke Jones
Excerpted from an article appearing in the April-May 2005
issue of The Isis Scrolls. Copyrighted by the author.
Object meditation is simply meditation on a thing — concrete, like a flower;
or abstract, like a concept. Object meditation offers numerous benefits, one of which is that it teaches the
meditator to concentrate and to sustain focus. This is why, in some formal meditation practices, object meditation
is the first thing a student learns.
When the novice begins to meditate on an object, something interesting happens. She or he
quickly realizes that: (1) the mind wanders incessantly; (2) taming the mind is going to be no small
task; (3) disciplining the mind is necessary to achieve self-mastery; and (4) meditation offers the
solution. Early attempts at object meditation, then, tend to be at once inspiring and humbling.
In most cases, object meditation is not meant to elicit any particular type of experience.
Rather, the idea is to work with whatever presents itself. Anything can happen during object meditation: one may
encounter personal demons, become bored, experience some profound realization or enter worlds of light. Or a guide
may appear and offer some instruction. The meditator learns to let whatever comes up teach, heal or reveal, as the
case may be — all the while going ever deeper into the meditation.
The challenge of object meditation is to hold the focus without trying too hard or letting the
mind wander. When this happens, the focus is gently redirected to the object. When through sustained effort the meditator
is finally able to hold the mind steadily on the object, real progress can be made, and
magnificent breakthroughs in consciousness can occur.
Object meditation is just one of the more than 100 meditation
methods found in the Mental Yentl Database. To find out if object meditation is recommended for you,
order a Mental Yentl Reading.
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