The Miraculous Journey of Meditation Explained

The first stage of spiritual practice—what I call the first surrender—is purely passive. You simply let go. You let go of the mind. You let go of preferences. You let go of any habit of seeing yourself as the doer of anything that’s happening. You adopt the perfectly passive position of simply observing what is.

This is the witness position: a complete withdrawal from engagement. It is a posture of detached observation. But it’s not a state we generate or maintain—it’s a discovery. We uncover a dimension of ourselves that is always observing, always detached, and never touched by anything in this world. That witness has never been involved in the drama of our lives. Our first task is to find that part of ourselves and merge with it so completely that we become the witness of our own existence.

In doing this, we discover a timeless awareness that has never been affected by the world. That awareness is what is aware—and it always has been. Resting in that depth of awareness is the aim of the practice I call conscious contentment. We would all benefit enormously from spending a half hour a day resting in a fully merged state with the awareness that is aware. This would give us all a stable, peaceful, and calm ground of being to live from.

But some of us are called to go further than that. We want to discover what lies beyond peaceful detachment. What we are drawn into next is a luminous absorption. We don’t just observe the world as it is; we begin to be captivated by the light of something deeper shining through it. If we follow that light, we are drawn more deeply into the moment—so deeply, in fact, that we pass through it to the other side.

This transition often includes a passage through what Ramana Maharshi called “sleep—but not sleep” or “mind awake,body asleep” by those who pursue out of body experiences. In this liminal space between ordinary waking consciousness and the more subtle awareness of the soul we are invited to cross a threshold. This crossing requires a more active engagement. But it is not the activity of doing—it is the activity of surrender. It is the act of giving yourself to the light, giving yourself to the possibility beyond the known, and allowing that possibility to pull you through.

It’s not about efforting your way to the other side. It’s about surrendering with such intensity that you allow yourself to be drawn into the mystery. As you move through that liminal passage—between sleep and not sleep—your waking mind dissolves, and you find yourself wide awake, but in an entirely new state of awareness. You have crossed into the soul. You are now inhabiting the non-material dimensions of your being.

And a new spiritual adventure begins.

The surrender of conscious contentment introduces us to the awareness that is always aware. From the position of the witness, we see everything—our thoughts, emotions, reactions, and preferences—but none of it defines us. We are not what we observe. We are the observing presence itself. This gives us a taste of utter freedom. We are no longer entangled with the world; we abide in calm, peaceful stillness.

But once we cross the threshold into the soul’s domain, we step into a new phase of the journey. We encounter our soul self—that part of us that has traveled across lifetimes, growing and evolving through its association with each human life. As we merge with that deeper self, we begin to experience life through the lens of the soul, and we open to the subtle energies of divinity that are shaping our evolution.

We begin to see that our soul has been learning, expanding, and awakening long before this lifetime began—and will continue long after it ends. Merged with it now, we are able to bring its intelligence and guidance into every aspect of our human life. We begin to live in a way that optimally supports the growth of the soul.

The truth is, we’ve all already touched this soul self. We’re all, to some degree, already merged with it. But the more complete that merging becomes, the more we become the soul—not just in elevated moments, but always. And when that happens, we bring the full force of our being and the higher energies of divinity into every moment of our lives.