Clearing the ground.

Traditionally, Masters and Mystery Schools have had particular requirements for taking students on. Buddha is said to have sent prospective bhikkus to the burning ghats (hindu burning place for corpses) for three months. He wanted to start the work with them once they had already noticed, deeply, that death was a certainty, and all worldly things end with it. Jesus rejected at least one disciple on account of his unwillingness to give up his attachment to his wealth. Osho rejected at least one prospective sannyasin on account of the fellow being too serious. George Gurgieff said "Until you've forgiven your mother and father, you can't even begin the work." The search for transcendence requires a certain willingness, and freedom from angers, resentments and preconceptions.

Forgiving parents and culture, releasing judgments and resentments, cathartic techniques, transcending reward and punishment. All these things help reduce the constant nonsense of the mind and enable, at first for short periods, an experience of silence.

Therapy groups are a great start to developing awareness of the depth of these issues. Assisting on groups, particularly when you need a deeper look at the issues highlighted than your experience in the group provided you is particularly useful. They come in many varieties, some providing an excellent experiential introduction to the mind, some concentrating on issues such as the inner male-female duality/polarity. Others focus on forgiving and healing resentments and angers formed in childhood.

The ladder. is that experiences in groups can greatly assist one's level of awareness of and openness to existence. The snake is the risk of addiction to the practice which is associated with the experience. "Take the group, feel this" is not so different from "Take the drug, feel that". So, when you've got the lesson, move on.

Many people report the group thing as a space where they open, share themselves, connect deeply with others and have life-altering realisations. The same many say that after a few weeks or months, they start to loose the clarity of the experience, and it's effect in their lives is largely unnoticeable after a year.

This trouble is on account of two factors. One is that many therapy groups are evangelistic, and reach people who may not be ready for the experience. My view is that not everyone is a seeker, not that they don't have the potential, just they aren't consciously on that trip at present. My view is lightly held, I acknowledge that those I'm calling non-seekers are sometimes propelled into seekerhood by groups. I believe the other factor is that graduates of therapy groups don't often follow it with cathartic techniques and active meditations, leading to silent meditations.

One technique that enables a experience of meditation very quickly is Osho's Mystic Rose Meditation. This technique is certainly a great extension of the clearing work of active meditations, and in some opinions it could replace them.