________________
The Psychology of Enlightenment
thing, but do not know the name of the thing for which they cry. Once in a while in our wanderings, in a moment of silence, we glimpse what we have been searching for and, like the infant who cannot call it by name, we may point to it. It is something innocent and natural which is unaffected by our graying hair and aging bodies—all the external changes. It is the quality of God which dwells in each of us. Unfortunately, few of us recognize this quality in ourselves because our perception is clouded by the somber and often frightening images of God which we have collected over the years.
Primitive man conceived of God as a father who alternately punished and rewarded his children here on earth. If you go to the Vatican today, you will see God depicted in art as such a father, rewarding some of mankind with heaven and punishing others with hell. No matter how modern we may think we are, we are not free of this ancient concept of God. We have woven the thread of our imagination around this idea. Even when we pray, the image suddenly appears before our mental eye and we discover that we pray to no one but the imagined figure.
Someone once asked me what the difference was between prayer and meditation. I told him, “Prayer is when you speak to God whether or not God is listening. Meditation is God speaking to you when you are silent." In meditation, you are calm and receptive. You are like an open door providing a kind of cross ventilation so that the air of divinity can move through you. How can this fresh air of divinity move through you if your door is closed?
There is a beautiful story about Krishna in Indian my
[ 34 ]
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
