Creating Your
Foundation for
Inner Peace
with Meditation
In part 1, I introduce the foundational concepts for how we can change our lives. These concepts come under the aegis of a system I call: Awareness, Action & Change. They are not individual unrelated concepts but are parts that form the jigsaw pieces of a much larger picture. These jigsaw pieces are not esoteric in nature or founded in some heady western or eastern philosophy but are based on common sense and a little awareness. Why common sense and a little awareness? The concepts I’ll present to you are not from years of academic study or sitting at the feet of some guru or teacher but are from my many moments of self-
contemplation. Very early on when I started to walk my new path of self-awareness, I attended many retreat centers of established teachers and signed up for a few correspondence courses. I did not find any connection to any of them. Almost with resignation I decided to carve out my own path of self-healing and self-awareness.
I read many books. They did not give me answers to my questions or guidance on what to do next, but I found that the knowledge contained within opened up opinions on the subject that I never knew that I had. These opinions and ideas then guided me along my path.
The four considerations that I kept at the forefront of my mind when writing the book were: inspirational, accessible, practical and verifiable. These have been my own guiding considerations for each step that I took. Inspirational, was an easy one to consider. After all, if you create something then there has to be inspiration behind it. Whenever intuitive knowledge arose to help me understand myself and the world around me, I would run it though my filters of accessible, practical, and verifiable. If it did not pass any of these, then I would revisit the concept and work out how to adapt it to make it work.
Paracelsus was a Swiss physician, alchemist, and astrologer living during the sixteenth century. He was a great proponent of observation in combination with intuitive wisdom. He had many areas of interest and is considered to be the father of toxicology. I believe that a saying by him beautifully summarizes my view.
True knowledge is attained two ways,
both are completely interdependent.
These are intuition and experience.
The purpose of intuition is to reveal certain basic
ideas which are then tested and proven by experience.2
I’ll be honest: there were many times when I would have given anything to have a teacher just tell me what to read next or what to do for the next step on my path. In the end, I had to carve my own path. The disadvantage? Many times, too many to remember, it was hard and very exhausting. The advantage, the furrow that I carved out behind me is very deep and very well-defined. The furrow contains the concepts that I share with you in PART 1.
2. Hall, Manly P. Paracelsus, His Mystical and Medical Philosophy. Los Angeles: Philosophical Research Society, 1990.