₦airaland Forum

ifenes:
Your reality is your creation, no one can set that up for you. I know religion created a different God to control the lives of the many. But that's totally up to individuals to accept whether they are their own God or to accept another God created by the few in control. God as known by religion is the God of the matrix......the matrix isn't real, you are. You are God and the universe is inside of you.

Exactly. Man has set up a being somewhere in the Heavens as God.
That is why majority would be deceived when they start seeing illusions

ifenes:
God itself means "power" and it is You and I. God is the hidden part of us that dwells in every possible dimensions. Knowing God is knowing yourself, knowing that you are powerful.

Worshiping God is an act of self appreciation we have misunderstood as worshiping a man in the sky. We will continue to go in cycle until we realise that we are all God experiencing existence from unlimited/ trillions of eyes

Man know thyself
The Kingdom of God is within you - Seek first the Kingdom of God - Seek yourself first

olayinkaboss11:
lol
Everybody is hearing from holy ghost but we have millions of doctrine and dogma.
And if u talk now they will say u need Holy ghost to understand.
why can't the holy ghost be more crystal clear and constitent instead of having more denominations

Excitement of the ego has been confused for holy spirit.
The holy spirit can only tell you of love , peace , joy , patience and other fruits of the spirit.

Today , though you hear people saying the Holy spirit told them of their enemy , told them to pray for their enemies destruction, told them of the person doing them and all other such B.S.

AnonyNymous:
I don't. I used to try but I realised I was deluded. Extreme excitement of my senses should not be confused with the supernatural. Currently I'm trying to redefine my idea of 'God'. Maybe I'll eventually find out. Maybe there is no God and I'm wasting my time. But thats not of utmost importance to me. What's really important is being the best version of myself I can be- a moral, compassionate, loving human being.

Read a topic, Religion of silence on Religion section

The lords prayer or the prayer advocated by Jesus in verses 9-13 of Matthew 6 is complete the way it is.
Jesus says , Ok oh , for those who still feel the need to say something , say this prayer with meaning in your heart.

INSTRUCTION no. 5
31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Straightforward. Is your prayer for food , money or health? What is the motivation behind that prayer?
If you were to get the answer to that prayer , would you be satisfied forever?

If not , then that prayer is not the Ultimate prayer or the "Seek first" prayer.
Prayer is not about asking for material things BUT rather about listening for the impartation of spiritual jewels to the soul.

The art of prayer or thoughtless awareness as observed from my perception is divided into 3 steps

- Awareness or Entering the Room of the heart
- Concentration or Closing the doors of the senses
- Surrender or loving God with all thy heart

AWARENESS
This is that feeling you experience immediately you close your eyes.

CONCENTRATION
To close the 5 doors of the senses , awareness needs to be kept in the body

SURRENDER
Comes naturally after concentration has been established

Practicing pure prayer
- Sit comfortably and close your eyes

- This immediately closes the doors of visual perception or Sight.

- Steady yourself with a couple of breaths and just watch yourself.

- For the religious minds , a simple prayer offering yourself to the divine also works.

- As you watch yourself , notice everything that passes through, be it sensations of the body , sound , or thoughts.

- Now , if what you notice is related to the 5 senses, just take note of the sense door that sensation came from and return to watching or listening.

- If it is a sound , note that it came through the ear
If it is a sensation of feeling , note that it came through the subtle body

- If the sensation is a thought , critically and passively look at the thought and ask yourself;
- What is this thought trying to teach me? What is the root of this thought?
- If the thought is of fear , then it is teaching you to have courage.
- If the thought is of anger , then it is teaching you forgiveness.
- If the thought is of hate , then it is teaching you love

- After understanding what the thought was trying to bring to your attention , go back to watching

- If this is kept at , then 5-10 minutes is enough.

- Practice makes perfect. The better you get at watching yourself[or becoming STILL] , the more open your consciousness gets to the Glory of God that exists within you.

- After sometime , surrender comes on its own like a thief in the night. You suddenly realise that the senses are no longer bothering you. An inner calm or confidence in the the nature of love arises. This is the rest or peace that Jesus spoke about.

Be STILL and Know I am God
He leads me beside the STILL Waters, he RESTORETH my soul
They that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most high . . .
God is a Spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth

Selah

trigonometry:
i don't do alcohol, i don't pop pills, no syrup, no crack, no meth, no heroine but please.......................... leave my marijuana alone
damn! i love weed.

you dey mind africans. The same Governments that say marijuana is illegal , legalized slavery.
Marijuana is more than just a plant. it is a trigger for the soul

INSTRUCTION No. 4
8 Do not be like them, for your FATHER KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED BEFORE YOU ASK HIM.

The Capitalized portion clearly infers that this "Father" of Jesus is also OMNISCIENT.
OMNISCIENT in the sense that he 'knows what you need before you ask him'

Now , try to imagine talking to someone who knows things you probably don't even know you need
[Remember, its this Awareness that keeps the heart of the body pumping].

Can you imagine any request you have that he doesn't know of already?
You immediately see the impossibility
Your only work is to just consciously wait with the aim of abiding in this awareness
You can also pray for patience , love , and every other gift that has a direct relation to the attainment of the kingdom.

The only thing is to BE STILL , and KNOW that the I in the midst of you is the I in the midst of i.

Following the path does not oblige you to obey any man made rules.
You are not trying to improve the Human self. Rather you are surrendering it , peeling the layers of the onion flesh to reveal the splendor that lays within.

At night , make it a habit to contemplate questions like these;

On a scale of 1-10 , what were the qualities of my thoughts.
Am I satisfied with it?
Do I now have the peace that passeth understanding?
Do I still have have fear or doubt?
Is it possible for the I that I AM to have fear and all those conflicting thoughts?
If No , then mark your progress and inch forward by staying more present to your thoughts the next day

Do you understand that you can spend a whole day without thinking a single thought? Can you imagine your life without that voice that is always in your head throughout the day?

The next article will deal with the practical aspects of this prayer. How to make religion , science and logic all unite by bringing the intellect to a standstill.
Continued

[3]

INSTRUCTION No. 3
7 And when you pray, DO NOT KEEP ON BABBLING like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.


DO NOT "KEEP" ON BABBLING
Babbling means to continuously keep on talking nonsense. Babbling means praying for one thing in 47 different ways.
This was Jesus way of telling his disciples that the real treasures were not physical things[money,power,health] that the Pharisees prayed for BUT that the real treasures were Spiritual attributes[peace, love , joy] that are stored in the KINGDOM of GOD WITHIN you.


If the Kingdom of GOD is WITHIN YOU , that means WITHIN YOU lies a kingdom that is bigger than the entire physical Universe!

Elsewhere the bible also says "but we know not how to pray and need the Spirit to make intercessions". Very apt

Man prays for health , wealth and protection. All these , while very much needed , are not the essentials of life.


Without money , man still survives.
Lacking in health , the sick are still alive.
People still survive in regions that are known to be very lax in security issues.
Even the crippled blind man, who is also deaf and dumb still survives

BUT take away AWARENESS or LIFE itself and man cannot last up to the next second.

But what exactly is this AWARENESS or LIFE?
To KNOW this LIFE , man has to be STILL.



If you LOVE something or someone , you'd try to know that thing or person AND this case is no different.


If man really loves God , then his prayer would always be STILLNESS aka TRYING TO BE CLOSE enough to HEAR
You are either TALKING [Gibberish most times] or SEEKING[Listening for the still small voice]. Every second of the day , you are faced with these two options



Psalms
Be STILL and KNOW I am God

Continued

[2]
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication.


This is according to Wikipedia , according to the human perspective.
But I am not here to talk about the human perspective. I am here to just give another perspective of the applications of Prayer as taught by the Great teacher himself.



To satisfactorily accomplish this goal , only the words directly spoken by Christ would be used. So , without much further ado ,



INSTRUCTION No. 1
Matt 6;5
5 “And when you pray, DO NOT BE LIKE THE HYPOCRITES, for they LOVE TO PRAY STANDING IN THE SYNAGOGUE and on the street corners to be SEEN BY OTHERS. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Simple and straight to the point. Replace synagogue with church.
Also, pay repetitive attention to the capitalized words.



INSTRUCTION No. 2
6 But when you pray, GO INTO YOUR ROOM, CLOSE THE DOOR and pray to your FATHER, WHO IS UNSEEN. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.


GO INTO YOUR ROOM
Which room does this great intellect speak of? Remember that Jesus said , pray without ceasing , so which room is readily available for use 24/7?
Which room if not that of the heart. The heart is the 6th sense or that Inner feeling of existence or that inner space you experience when you close your eyes and stop thinking of both the past and the future. It is that space that experiences the formations of thoughts. It is the 'I' part of the human.



CLOSE THE DOOR
Closing the door signifies that you don't want to be disturbed. What can disturb this inner room if not distractions from the 5 door senses of the body.



The 5 Doors and their functions are;
EYES - Sight and visual perception
NOSE - Smell
SUBTLE BODY [Includes the mind] - Touch or sensory feelings and thoughts
EARS - Sound and auditory perception
Effective ways of closing these doors would be dealt with later in the article.



FATHER, WHO IS UNSEEN
This points to a rather interesting fact. The Father cannot be seen through the faculties of the senses. The 5 senses have to be STILLED FOR THE 6th to arise. If the Father cannot be seen with the 5 senses , then it follows that the entire 5 senses cannot possibly form a MENTAL PICTURE OF GOD.
Ruminate

Continued

The first observation any keen investigator makes is that nobody actually knows what is going on.

Nobody knows much about the intelligence that supplies oxygen to the lungs and keeps the heart pumping.
The KNOWING OF THE TRUTH or SEEING THINGS FOR WHAT THEY REALLY ARE should be , therefore , the priority of every soul.


You can be blue collar or white collar , Muslim or Christian , criminal or saint, black or white ... in this meditation or prayer , your name ,history , age and gender does not matter. All your achievements and your failures do not count as well.
What matters is your DETERMINATION TO KNOW YOURSELF AS YOU REALLY ARE.


Jesus , the man of Nazareth fully embodied the Spirit of Christ as testified to , by all the religions of the world.


A lot of them though, have differed in relation to the meanings and applications of his words and this is the major cause of the stark hypocrisy prevalent in the church today.


Anything I also try to tell you regarding this application would equally be from my own experience and in this context, would still not be valid.


Luckily , there is a simple solution to this whole conundrum.
The life of every Saint [or Souls with great intellect] have all pointed to the fact that, beneath the flesh and blood parts of humans lies a vast reservoir of knowledge hidden deep in the center of every man.


So , the entire work which we would try to undertake , is to so open our consciousness or awareness in such a way that we can listen without interruption to the wisdom trickling from this source.


The entire work is about opening your own self , not praying for wealth or health BUT praying for the revelation of this ''Intelligence in You''

Continued

A baby is also human BUT a baby can never know his true identity consciously.
This is why we need to be Born of water [physical birth] , grow in the world , then go back to that childish state [pure awareness or Born again] so that we can know our true identity.

That is the beauty of duality. You have to ;
- know darkness to know light
- know failure to know success
- know sickness to know health
- know the ego to know God

In the entire creation , only man has the faculties [evolved culture , brain and body parts , space and time] to truly create an ego and transcend it.

God is every man's true identity and God says
- Be Still and know that 'I' am God

menxer:
Ego is not the word to use, try Consciousness.

Is the tree a living thing?
Does living things have consciousness?
Does the tree have consciousness at its level of existence?

It is the Ego that makes us think we are different or superior to the tree and other living things or beings. Yet when we look at our DNA and the tree's DNA it's the same.
How then are we different or superior, when we share the same DNA buildings blocks - nucleotides?

The Bible talks about Jacob's ladder that links to heaven, can you see any correlation between that and the DNA?

@bolded, that is exactly what I meant, I didn't misunderstood you.

@underlined, that is what is expected of the consciousness manifesting as manikal to attempt. Not just the word but the concept as presented by the Church.

Exactly. You just spoke the words right out out of my mind

The tree can never be SELF AWARE. That is the beauty of the awareness part of consciousness.
The tree and the 'physical body' of man share the same fundamental DNA on the conscious level but man possesses an extra aspect of consciousness called awareness.

This awareness can be used in 2 ways ;
- To be aware yourself as separate from nature or to eat of the tree of Good and Bad [This is the ego]
- OR to be aware of yourself as one with everything or return to eden [This is the Christ mind or At-one-ment]

You cannot serve two masters as Jesus said. Be ye like children , he also reiterated

menxer:
So it took you 13 weeks to see the point?
better late than never.

As you said, there is time for everything.

Some people are too myopic or scared to contemplate certain things, as it will scramble what they were made to accept as truth.

I put up an article about the monetization of social media, which was deleted. Why? Because it violated the accepted conventional norms by questioning what we hold sacrosanct.

Now that you have seen yourself in the chair and as the tree, Meditate on the Trinity and why there is no female gender there, yet we pray God's will be done on earth as in heaven.

As for the article, check my signature.

You must have misunderstood me. I was reviewing this topic and saw your comment in a new light.
The fundamental question is Who are You?
Who is this person seeing himself as a wood and a tree?
Who is this person that should meditate on the word trinity?

There has to be a separate I (ego) that feels distinct and needs to do things. I am not the ego (and neither are you) and can only BE.

MrPresident1:
You are confused

That is your opinion. My question still stands. Feel free to return when you ready

MrPresident1:
Some important points from the two precedents we have examined so far: Egypt and Babylon

1. They were both very powerful nations
2. They were both very oppressive nations
3. Both nations had very powerful yet recalcitrant leaders

One question. Was the Isrealite nation not also oppresive??
Why Israelites? Is it possible for the One God who loves everybody to select one nation from his children?
When the Israelites Killed all women and children of their enemies , who commanded them? Is it the same God of Jesus who preached forgiveness?
Can God change from a jealous and angry God to a loving God overnight??

The God of Jesus was clearly not the God of the Isrealites.

menxer:
Try that in "enhanced" mode, you will know better.

If you didn't see yourself as the chair (tree), your mind is not free yet to see the whole picture from inside.

hmmm , you have a point though

benodic:
and the schooling started .
the.curriculum comprised of the passions of the mind and they were to be mastered and replaced with the five virtues of ECK, The Holy Spirit.

the five passions include:
1. Lust
2. Anger
3. Greed
4. Undue Attachment to material things
5. Vanity

out of these passions each soul was given a lead passion which formed its Adi Karma . with that passion in tow , the game of life was kick started and so the journey continued .

Adi karma . Is Eckankar in any way related to the Advaita Vendantists?

benodic:
from the ocean of love and mercy where dwelleth the Sugmad, God, the ECK, Divine Spirit issued forth creating numerous worlds .

the first 5 planes to be created where worlds of pure spirit. the pure spiritual planes where no opposites exist and all is in unity with God.

in these planes there are neither male nor female, soul exist here in its pure form , a neuter atom of God .
these planes are filled with the pure light and sound of God .
the nature of these planes did not allow for souls growth as soul was lost in play called lila and enjoyed the bliss of these heavenly worlds.

then the Sugmad saw the need to create further worlds that will serve the purpose of helping souls mature.
then began the creation of the lower universes . the worlds of matter, polarity, space and time.
and the journey of souls continued

I couldn't agree more. Heaven is bliss but is not freedom from reincarnation

Christian Thinkers
- I stand at the door, and knock." Who is this I standing at the door? This 'I' must be OMNIPRESENT or ALWAYS NOW n HERE if he is always knocking.

- And at what door is this I standing? At what door but the door of your consciousness or the heart.

- Therefore , if he is OMNIPRESENT, he is ALSO PRESENT in your HEART , ALSO PRESENT when you CLOSE YOUR EYES to SHUT THE WORLD OUT.

- I stand at the door of your consciousness and knock, but YOU MUST OPEN the door before I can enter.

- If your friend knocks at your door, what action do you take? You STAND UP and OPEN IT.
The ONLY WORK is to just STAND and OPEN the DOOR.

- Now , this GUEST[This Omnipresent I] that you want to admit is OMNISCIENT as well according to the words of the 'FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY , Jesus Christ Himself.

- What do you SAY then to an OMNISCIENT person, now he has entered? NOTHING!. Rather you LISTEN , so that YOU CAN LEARN.

- Do not BABBLE like the PAGANS , for your FATHER KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED BEFORE YOU ASK HIM.

- The ONLY TEACHER in the WORLD is WITHIN YOU. There is NO TRUTH in WORDS. WORDS are just directions that keep you on the right path.

- Two men can read the same bible and only one would become transformed. The reason for this cannot be found outside but in the STATE OF THE SOIL or the HEART of each INDIVIDUAL.

- What SEEDS or THOUGHT do you allow to FALL into your SUBCONSCIOUS in every NOW of every DAY?

- Are your THOUGHTS of LIMITATION or are you actively paying attention to HEAR from that immortal being dwelling 'within the body'? BE STILL and KNOW THAT '''I''' AM GOD.

Christian Contemplation Practice
- The KINGDOM OF GOD is WITHIN YOU.

- If the KINGDOM OF GOD is WITHIN YOU , therefore GOD is in this Kingdom as Well

- If GOD is WITHIN you , when YOU PRAY , do you LOOK UP to the Sky or LOOK INSIDE for the One who is OMNIPRESENT?

- If God , who is OMNIPOTENT, OMNISCIENT and OMNIPRESENT is WITHIN YOU , therefore would it not be wise to get to hear the thoughts of this wise One?

- This 'GOD' is the one and the same 'I' KNOCKING AS THE HEART BEAT OF MAN. As far as you alive , your heart is beating , every second , every minute of the day.

- Open your heart to this 'I' that knocks on the door of your heart. Listen to this I, and allow him tell you of his deepest secrets.

- This is a personal if not secret relationship. There are just two personalities who after becoming 'ACQUAINTED' , ELOPE INTO ONE.

- The primary use of the 'Lower i' or the 'YOU THAT ASSOCIATES with the body' is as an instrument, complete with 'BRAINS TO THINK' and FREE WILL.

- It is useful ONLY as a tool for MERGENCE with the 'Higher I' that RESIDES IN THE DEEPEST RECESSES OF THE HEART.

- To love God with all thy heart is to see God as OMNIPOTENT [All powerful] , OMNIPRESENT [Present everywhere, especially in your heart] and OMNISCIENT [All knowing]

- To love thy neighbour as thy self is to ALWAYS SEE the "INNER I" in him and NOTHING MORE. If GOD is WITHIN YOU , then GOD must be WITHIN HIM AS WELL.

- As far as a man has a heart beat , there is a kingdom of God in him.

- To LOVE THYSELF is to REALIZE and ABIDE with the OMNIPRESENT GOD, PRESENT in the deepest regions of your heart.

- To pray without ceasing is to ONLY SEE the OMNIPRESENT in every NOW , refusing to ''take thought for tomorrow"[Future] or "worry"[Past].

- A listening or receptive attitude is the prerequisite. You MUST BE READY TO HEAR , not offer opinions.

- Think of how SMALL the earth is , compared to the UNIVERSE. The ENTIRE HUMAN KNOWLEDGE , FRONT TO BACK is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING compared to the KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNIVERSE.

- In the presence of the OMNISCIENT , we have to become silent as a recognition of God's Omniscience[that he knows what we need without asking] and our dependency on his Omnipotence[that he is sufficient enough to provide].

- Sufficiently ponder over this , and if you are really sincere about knowing God , then without effort you'd suddenly find out that you have become aware without words.

Author : Joel Goldsmith
The Infinite Way
The Mystical I
Thunder of Silence

All great books postulating the unity of life

3 Words

Conspiracy
Gun Control
Politics

Make of it what you will

Why not leave judgement to God and focus on being that which you wish the other man was.

Gwaihir:
These cases are different. The two examples you cited were apostles of Christ to preach the gospel. They weren't ordinary humans living ordinary lives. I believe the bible said, those who lose their life for his sake will gain t and those who withhold it, will lose it. That is strictly based on the gospel of Christ.


I believe we are talking about daily lives here, daily lives that had to do with people not wanting you to survive, excel, live peacefully. Basically, people who are afflicting you to the point you can go insane or just lose hope on God. This affliction should be endured but not to the manner that who is responsible take victory over your soul. When the devil tormented Jesus did he just sit back and tolerated it or reprimanded him till he left?

When the human possessed by demons, was chased into pigs, should he have said such person should endure the torments?

When it was the woman who was an harlot, did he say her act was just or said there was justification for such? But that no one should judge the woman and told the woman to go and sin no more

There is grace for those who havent heard the word or come to the true understanding of God ditto for Stephen and Jesus. But for those who it has been repeatedly sounded in their ear and have known the gospel but still continue to do otherwise, there is no reason a man should continue to turn the other cheek or allow such person to continue to afflict you. You are basically just using yourself to suffer and also preventing that person to see the consequence of his/her choices. Ditto for Sodom and Gomorrah, and Ananias and Saphira.

It is also in the bible, that some people will not change from their ways until they experience terrible circumstances. That is when their eyes will open ditto for Paul.

Christ said 'Forgive 70 times 7 times'.

Have you heard the parable of the 2 servants?
One servant owed the king much , yet the king forgave him.
This servant saw his fellow servant who also owed him very little and jailed him.
The king heard this and was enraged!

God is the king and he forgives each of us everyday for our ignorance.
Yet , our fellow man who makes mistakes because HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING , becomes target practice for Prayer warriors.

That is wickedness not Christianity.

Melonny:
Somewhere in the bible said, those that are angry with us will be put to the shame of defeat and our enemies will die, there faces will be put off from the earth. The bible said that also.

Who do you follow? The Bible or Christ?
The Pharisees [Upholders of the bible in the times of Jesus] refused Christ teachings.

Christ says - Love your enemies
The bible as at the time of the Pharisees said - Eye for an Eye

The bible says - Do not murder
Christ says - Do not even HARBOR THOUGHTS of hatred.

Christ forgave those that killed him. And he commands us , Forgive that you may be forgiven.

How can you have an enemy if you have FORGIVEN HIM?

Matthew 5:44
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

Christian means CHRIST-LIKE or BEHAVING LIKE CHRIST
Antichrist means NOT CHRIST LIKE or BEHAVING IN DIRECT OPPOSITION TO THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST.

Christian means HAVING THE MIND THAT WAS IN CHRIST. The mind that was in Christ FORGAVE THOSE WHO KILLED HIM!!!

Which kind of persecution can pass this one. There is one thing that really pissed Christ. HYPOCRISY.

Don't pray for another man to die EXCEPT YOU HAVE NO SIN.

Selah

benodic:
@ Pastor AIO


i also read the link. that is the Hindu perspective. it is quite limited. the spiritual eye which they called ajna chackra is of course located between the 2 eyebrows but from their point of view they use it to explore only the psychic planes which belong to the lower worlds of duality. using the word they gave there which is the Aum, will only take you to the mental plane which is the third heaven that Paul reported in the Bible.

through the opening of the Spiritual eye soul can also move into the soul plane and above which are the heavens of heavens where soul exist as pure soul and there is no duality there, no man or woman. that was the heaven Jesus was referring to when he said that there is no marriage there.

the main thing about this thread is that these heavens can be experienced here and now and not when you die and the opportunity is there for those who are bold and courageous enough to do the spiritual exercises. of course the meek who are not bold and courageous will inherit the earth and remain earth bound.



thanks a lot.



the answers to image 123 is actually in the write-up but due to the fact he was looking for argument and not answers i didn't bother explaining further and of course his mind was already made up on what the answer should be and he was not ready to entertain any other answer.



you are really very insightful. that clearly answers the questions. the purpose of this thread as i made clearly to image 123 was to provide various practical ways that soul can use to get that inflow of the Holy Spirit. once the Holy spirit starts flowing into the person, that person automatically becomes a changed person. all those negative traits which are not compatible with the Holy Spirit will start to drop away gradually until the soul becomes completely purified and becomes a pure channel for the Holy Spirit.

this process is beyond any religion and is not the sole property of any religion and every master that comes on Earth emphasizes this process.

unfortunately the Ego of Man takes over and turns the masters into Mini Gods and claims their way is the only way, creating dichotomies and unnecessary bickering and quarrels. and in the process losing site of what spirituality is all about.

the starting point still remains singing of the Holy Names of God while putting your attention on the spiritual eye. then you will start seeing the light and hearing the sound of the Holy Spirit which gradually turns you into a lover of life.
those who have tried out these spiritual exercises have their experiences which becomes their authority.

my thoughts exactly

Who are You?
I AM alex
I AM deborah
I AM peter
I AM joe

Take away the names and what remains . . . I AM
Who is this ''I'' that becomes a ''personality'' or ''person''

Meditation is simply shifting the focus of attention from the personality or ego or name to this ''I'' that I AM and that you are as well

How do you feel?
I AM Sad
I AM Happy
I AM angry
I AM afraid

So you see , this ''I'' can also take different emotions or thoughts at different times. Meditation is learning to stay as ''I'' , TAKING NO THOUGHT FOR WHAT TO EAT, . . . . .

How to stay in ''I''?
Remember , ''I'' was your natural state , right from your mother's womb , so no mystical exercise is no needed.
Just sit still and watch. What is going on in your mental space right NOW? Whose thoughts are passing through? THE PERSONALITY or THE INDIVIDUAL?
Do not resist the personality or ego , rather for every time you notice ''PERSONALITY THOUGHTS'' , understand that those are not the individual's thoughts and go back to watching your mental space

A lot of basic knowledge is needed to ''NOT RESIST EVIL'' , but as fate has it , a certain man called JOEL GOLDSMITH has done a lot to pass this knowledge.
Anyway , Google search - Joel Goldsmith to find his pdf books online or find his page on facebook.

Man Know Thyself

intention helps a lot as well. Know why you have decided to watch the breath. Dont just watch without intention

Ranchhoddas:
Okay.
So how EXACTLY is this achieved?

Just Be. Close your eyes and in that dark space , silently watch the process of your breathing.
Watch as your chest rises when you breathe in and as your chest falls when you breathe out.
Now , thoughts would flood you with things of the past or things of the future. For any thought that comes , try to see whether that thought is about the future or past.
If the thought is not in the NOW , then return back to the observation of the sensation of breathing.

If you can successfully account for every NOW in 10minutes , then increase the time
Practice makes perfect.

Ranchhoddas:
Is this what it means to "find the stillness between your breath"?

exactly. the space of no thought. God has a still small voice according to Elijah , so to hear God , man has to be absolutely still , physically and mentally

Ranchhoddas:
How do we achieve this?

Surrender. Learning how to just be in the present. Be Still and Know I AM God.

If i should ask u , who are you?
You would say , I AM Ranchhoddas. That means that the 'I' in that statement is DIFFERENT from RANCHODDAS.
Learning how to stay in this 'I' that is independent of Ranchhoddas is the goal of meditation.

This I , never leaves you.
I AM SAD
I AM HAPPY
I AM RICH
I AM POOR
I AM ANGRY
I AM HAPPY

There is always the presence of I. A horse might feel cold but it can never THINK of itself as 'I' am Cold.
This is what separates man from animal.

To learn how to be , meditation and concentration , especially vispanna , helps a lot.
Also , this pdf material by Joel Goldsmith - The Mystical I , sums it up it pretty well

Ranchhoddas:
What is life's true purpose?

To grow or evolve into our true identity OR to grow into recognition of the Self that dwells in the physical body