It has become difficult for many believers to believe that there is a great ladder with angels ascending and descending as Jacob saw. Such Biblical accounts are placed into the realm of allegory, symbolism, or dream. Modern humanity in general has lost its understanding and appreciation of those middle beings and realms, all that lies between the Transcendent God of Heaven and a mortal human.
Yet, the ancient priests and prophets of the Most High God knew this reality. They knew it because they had an intimate link to that realm. This relationship was encouraged and developed through the use and practice of various techniques that would alter one’s state of awareness. They engaged in techniques that were designed to give them access to the Heavenly Realms and knowledge of the things of God.
Long ago, when I first began a meditation practice, one of the biggest obstacles to meditation that I needed to deal with was fear. I had been told by various sects of the Christian faith that meditation opened one’s soul to demonic influence. Never was it explained to me that there were Judeo-Christian practices that were in many ways similar to the meditation practices found in various Eastern and Shamanic traditions. Some individuals limit Christian meditation to contemplation or prayer. However, there are many forms of meditation and spiritual experience pointed towards in scripture and ancient Hebrew texts. For instance, we know that scripture mentions various forms of mystical experience. Among those mentioned are what we call trances (Acts 11:5), open visions (I Sam. 3:1), visions of the night (Job 33:15), visions of spirit, tongues, and discernment (I Cor 12).
Down through the centuries, there have been individuals who possessed spiritually focused souls. We may think of them as those kissed or gifted by Divine impression, which allowed them to hear parts of the constant dialogue between spirit and Spirit. The awakened soul, enabled to step into proper position within the encompassing of Spirit, may remain for periods in the presence of God. However, these souls are not born into this fallen world fully capable of maintaining constant and direct contact with God. The awakened soul must learn, grow, develop, transform, struggle, and climb upwards.
The means to achieve this spiritual growth is a gift given freely by Christ to His brethren, when they step into right relationship with God. Christ is the door to higher spiritual realities. As Christ touches the soul by means of Spirit that a human soul may step beyond the beyond, while having rightful authority to ascend and descend. Those who have engaged in a process of self-examination, which leads the believer into a transformative process initiated by the cleansing blood of Christ, filled with the Spirit, are allowed acess to the Heavenly Realm.
While there are similarities between Judeo-Christian meditation and spiritual practices such as those observed by Buddhists, there are some important and distinct differences. The primary goals of many forms of meditation include self awareness, detachment, the removal of suffering, and freeing one’s self from the recurring process of reincarnation.
This is quite different from meditation done with the goal of proper attachment to the Most High God, His Word, and His Will. When a believer approaches meditation from a position of right relationship to God, through Jesus the Messiah, the result is a closer relationship to God.
Some schools of meditation teach that the world is an illusion or something that should be cast-off. The idea is that one should not be attached to the world because it is nothing. There is also a generally shared belief among many meditative practices that an enlightened individual has little or no desire and no lasting attachments.
According to many Jewish scholars, the Torah tells us that everything that exists came from nothing. The physical realm was formed within a space inside of God by God. While the world may have been formed out of this space, it is now something.
The Father has given His sons the responsibility to uphold, renew, and regenerate the world. From this perspective, meditation becomes a tool used by believers to transform and elevate both the soul(s) and the world, by operating upon the physical realm from the spiritual realm. The objective is not to remove desires; but to direct human desire towards that which is good. As the soul’s desires come into alignment with the Will of God, the believer is equipped and enabled to fulfill God’s ordained purpose. In this way, the Judeo-Christian mystic does not seek to remove the world, but to uphold and transform it.
Believers have at their disposal an arsenal of techniques and tools, designed by God to enable them to fulfill their purpose on Earth. Among these tools are meditative practices. Biblically based meditation focuses on properly positioning the soul under the spirit. The practitioner purposely extends the spirit outward so that it envelopes soul, and then the body, forming a tent of meeting out of which the individual may ascend into the heavenly realms.
In a similar manner, a Jewish priest might participate in the formation of an altar. An arc between heaven and earth/Creator and man begins with establishing right relationship and properly positioning soul. Then the spiritual structure takes proper form through the priest's breathing or speaking into the altar/arc.
