Meditate | State-Shifting
Chelsea Rose Odhner | Monday, June 13, 2011 “We are the ones who turn away from the Lord’s mercy; the Lord never turns away from us” (Secrets of Heaven 588).
“The innermost recesses are where heavenly joy comes from. I also perceived that joy and pleasure seemed to come from my heart, gently permeating all the inmost fibers of my body and thus all the bundles of fibers. The sensation of this joy at the deepest levels made it seem as though each fiber was composed of nothing but joy and pleasure and all the perceptiveness and sensitivity that comes with joy and pleasure. The fibers seemed alive with happiness” (Secrets of Heaven 545[2]).
A regular beginning pattern to my meditation is that I focus on the breath and get physically restful and relaxed, then for a long time my natural focus is mental or thought-based: repeating words or thinking of ideas. Then today this led me to think of a friend of mine with love and how much I want to call her and see how she is doing. This thought reminded me that love brings union and my whole state shifted—I became focused on the love I have for my friend, but it expanded to love I have for lots of things—my marriage, my children, my life. And this shift brought with it a deepening of my whole being.
Wondering about the inspiration for this article? Look up the New Church, which is based on the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.