The Waking

  Introduction I intended to move on from the previous blog to this one relatively quickly, but it took me longer to get around to this than I anticipated so you might want to have a quick look at that one before going further. It is at https://herethewaking.blogspot.com/2026/04/should-i-explore-jhana-meditation.html I ended th at previous blog with, “ In the next blog I will explore the variety of people’s subjective experience of jhana states, to give practitioners an idea of where they can take you.” The eight jhana states are usually given as: The material jhanas: 1. Rapture or Delight 2. Happiness 3. Contentment 4. Equanimity   The immaterial jhanas: 5. Limitless (or infinite) space 6. Limitless (or infinite) consciousness 7. Nothingness (or no-thingness) 8. Nether perception nor non-perception I will focus here on the immaterial jhanas. They feel deeper than the material jhanas and differ more from familiar, day-to-day states. My guess is th...

  ‘Monastery Window.’ A photograph by Thomas Merton from an exhibition devoted to his work at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, in 2014 What is it? Philosophers, theologians, mystics, spiritual teachers and others have explored the ‘ground of all being’ or ‘divine ground,’ while describing an ultimate, foundational reality that underlies all existence, sometimes experientially and sometimes conceptually. These ideas can go under other names too, like ‘the One,’ ‘Being-itself,’ or ‘Godhead.’ Why go there? Why would a normal, sane person want to experience the ground of all being? Well, assuming that I am a normal, sane person, this is what got me into it: 1. To uncover deep peace and stillness. You know that endless inner chatter that your mind is so good at? That isn’t in the ground. You’ll experience inner stillness as you never have before! 2. It is deeply real. For most people, day-to-day life feels real enough, but it’s possible to go deeper without the aid of ps...