The brain is a riddle for us all – we have only superficial knowledge of what it contains, how it is shaped during a life and what the subconscious mind is about. But progress is being made – all the time. Our immediate challenge is to obtain a working control of our brains so that a decent life is possible – or a mind that supports us, does not disturb us.
Electrical waves can be observed in the brain under certain conditions.They are called theta (from the Greek alphabet) waves consisting of oscillations with a frequency of 4 to 7 Herz. This gives rise to the expression theta rhytm. These waves are found to arise during meditation.
Meta-thoughts also arise during meditation, being of a higher order or second order of thinking.
In your life you act through your will, and it is beneficial to increase your sensitivity to what is going on or who you are, and you will want to find out about the subconscious processes in your brain. Modern meditation have been shown to touch these elements.
The basic art of living and being a human raises the question of what we are and what can be found at the bottom of human nature, what is beyond the senses that rule most of our actions. The aim is to balance your thinking, attain wellness and ease.
The old Greeks were seeking answers to these questions too, and used meditative processes through incubation techniques. Their ambition was great – they wanted to get to the underworld of the mind. Their oracles gave them food for thought so as to get nearer to reality, and to search for deeper levels of consciousness. Could what they were looking for be called meta-thoughts?
This was later labeled mysticism, it was done on an individual basis so it was closed to others and therefore outwardly seen as a possibly doubtful practice.
Could modern meditation teachers and Greek temple priests/healers have the same function?
Emerging thinking and research on the functioning of the brain could find these techniques useful in the work to improve peoples lives. The emerging techniques has science behind it, many of the processes can be described soundly, so it is not mysticism any more. We need to reach the deeper layers of our consciousness, and are building the science/knowledge to understand it too.
What will we find in our deep layers of consciousness? What will be the use of what we find? Watch it – works are in progress.
