Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation homepage > Notebooks of Paul Brunton > Category 23: Advanced Contemplation

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Advanced Contemplation

Evolution is only an idea within the mind, hence it has the value of something imagined. The reality is that one has never left the heavenly being, but ignorance prevents him from realizing this. To get rid of this ignorance, he must sharpen the mind by constant effort, tranquillize it by meditation, and guide it through the help of a teacher.

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Whatever path a man starts with, he must at the end of it come to the entrance of this path--the destruction of the illusion of the ego and giving up identification with it.

1. Entering the Short Path
   • Begin and end with the goal itself
   • The practice
   • Benefits and results
2. Pitfalls and Limitations
   • The truth about sudden enlightenment
   • Limitations of the Long Path
3. The Dark Night of The Soul
   • Its significance
4. The Changeover To the Short Path
   • The preparation on the Long Path
   • Making the transition
5. Balancing the Paths
   • Their contrast and comparison
   • Their combination and transcendence
6. Advanced Meditation
   • Specific exercises for practice
   • Yoga of the Liberating Smile
   • Intercessory meditation
   • Night meditations
   • Witness exercise
   • ``As-If'' exercise
   • Remembrance exercise
7. Contemplative Stillness
   • Experiencing the passage into contemplation
   • Still the mind
   • Deepen attention
   • Yield to Grace
   • The deepest contemplation
8. The Void As Contemplative Experience
   • Entering the Void
   • Nirvikalpa Samadhi
   • Meditation upon the Void
   • Emerging from the Void
   • Why Buddha smiled