Daily life immerses us in our most pressing tasks and concerns. We rarely have the opportunity to spontaneously confront our inner reality and our spiritual needs. The daily grind robs us of the chance to establish deep relationships with family and friends. We live in a kind of semi-consciousness regarding who we are and what our goals might be. We become accustomed to not seeing ourselves, not reflecting, trying to forget what causes us pain, and focusing instead on what exerts pressure upon us.
Often, it is painful situations or tragedies that force us to pause and reflect. Perhaps this is why, unconsciously, we assume that if we have no problems, there is no need to stop and meditate.
Yet, there remains a latent need to become intimate with ourselves and to truly know who we are—along with a yearning to connect with a reality far broader than the scope of our daily preoccupations. Much of the discontent we feel while living in a constant rush stems from failing to satisfy this fundamental need. This need can begin to be met through discursive meditation.
The practice of discursive meditation generally lasts fifteen minutes, divided into three steps. Before beginning the first step, the meditation, its theme, and its intended effect are stated three times. Each of the three steps is also announced: Invocation, Waiting, and Response.
In the Invocation, we open our souls to the Divine Mother; we learn to speak her name and to ask for her assistance and her light. We reveal who we are to her—without reservation and without shame. It is akin to emptying ourselves internally, allowing us to see what truly remains: the naked reality of our own soul. In this way, little by little, we not only reveal who we are, but we also discover our own needs and deepest yearnings. In the Waiting, we remain expectant, without desiring or expecting anything other than the word of the Divine Mother. It is like suspending all judgment, all movement.
In the Response, we receive the word of the Divine Mother, which reaches us through our silence, our honesty, and our openness. We may not feel comfortable during the Response phase, as an answer from the Divine Mother might seem unreal to us. This often happens when we have not been truly sincere and open during the Invocation—because we spoke superficially, through the mask covering our true self—and the response reaches us from that same level of consciousness. When we manage to make the Invocation by fully revealing ourselves and, in the Waiting, set aside our habitual discourse, the Response emerges of its own accord from the depths of our consciousness.
Discursive meditation plays an essential role in our spiritual development. It opens us to our subconscious and unconscious, teaches us to accept ourselves and understand our inner processes, and prepares us for the work of affective meditation. Before we begin working on our emotions in affective meditation, we must know and accept ourselves without judgment or condemnation; we must recognize our insignificance in relation to the totality that encompasses us and
impels us to expand our consciousness and our love for the Divine Mother.
Discursive meditation plays an essential role in our spiritual development. It opens us to our subconscious and unconscious, teaches us to accept ourselves and understand our inner processes—for it is necessary that we know and accept ourselves without judgment or condemnation; ...that we may recognize our own insignificance in relation to the totality that encompasses us—a totality that impels us to expand our consciousness and our love for the Divine Mother.
Because discursive meditation employs a very simple technique and is the first one we learn, we do not always accord it the importance it deserves, often abandoning the practice once we have learned affective meditation. Yet, discursive meditation remains highly valuable for our development, as well as for our mental and emotional well-being.
Prayer, in all its forms—meditation included—naturally draws us to center ourselves within the divine presence, such that we feel inwardly accompanied in all that we think, feel, and do. The divine presence brings with it, into our daily lives, all the souls of the world. The divine within us is an echo of living reality, of the ceaseless flow of life.
It is something natural and spontaneous, emerging simply from the act of focusing our inner gaze upon the Divine Mother. To live in a state of prayer is to cultivate coherence between our actions and our being; it is to integrate our deeds with the constructs of our own minds. This state of prayer helps us to inhabit a single reality—that of a consecrated life—which unites our own being with all other beings within the divine presence.
Often, it is painful situations or tragedies that force us to pause and reflect. Perhaps this is why, unconsciously, we assume that if we have no problems, there is no need to stop and meditate.
Yet, there remains a latent need to become intimate with ourselves and to truly know who we are—along with a yearning to connect with a reality far broader than the scope of our daily preoccupations. Much of the discontent we feel while living in a constant rush stems from failing to satisfy this fundamental need. This need can begin to be met through discursive meditation.
The practice of discursive meditation generally lasts fifteen minutes, divided into three steps. Before beginning the first step, the meditation, its theme, and its intended effect are stated three times. Each of the three steps is also announced: Invocation, Waiting, and Response.
In the Invocation, we open our souls to the Divine Mother; we learn to speak her name and to ask for her assistance and her light. We reveal who we are to her—without reservation and without shame. It is akin to emptying ourselves internally, allowing us to see what truly remains: the naked reality of our own soul. In this way, little by little, we not only reveal who we are, but we also discover our own needs and deepest yearnings. In the Waiting, we remain expectant, without desiring or expecting anything other than the word of the Divine Mother. It is like suspending all judgment, all movement.
In the Response, we receive the word of the Divine Mother, which reaches us through our silence, our honesty, and our openness. We may not feel comfortable during the Response phase, as an answer from the Divine Mother might seem unreal to us. This often happens when we have not been truly sincere and open during the Invocation—because we spoke superficially, through the mask covering our true self—and the response reaches us from that same level of consciousness. When we manage to make the Invocation by fully revealing ourselves and, in the Waiting, set aside our habitual discourse, the Response emerges of its own accord from the depths of our consciousness.
Discursive meditation plays an essential role in our spiritual development. It opens us to our subconscious and unconscious, teaches us to accept ourselves and understand our inner processes, and prepares us for the work of affective meditation. Before we begin working on our emotions in affective meditation, we must know and accept ourselves without judgment or condemnation; we must recognize our insignificance in relation to the totality that encompasses us and
impels us to expand our consciousness and our love for the Divine Mother.
Discursive meditation plays an essential role in our spiritual development. It opens us to our subconscious and unconscious, teaches us to accept ourselves and understand our inner processes—for it is necessary that we know and accept ourselves without judgment or condemnation; ...that we may recognize our own insignificance in relation to the totality that encompasses us—a totality that impels us to expand our consciousness and our love for the Divine Mother.
Because discursive meditation employs a very simple technique and is the first one we learn, we do not always accord it the importance it deserves, often abandoning the practice once we have learned affective meditation. Yet, discursive meditation remains highly valuable for our development, as well as for our mental and emotional well-being.
Prayer, in all its forms—meditation included—naturally draws us to center ourselves within the divine presence, such that we feel inwardly accompanied in all that we think, feel, and do. The divine presence brings with it, into our daily lives, all the souls of the world. The divine within us is an echo of living reality, of the ceaseless flow of life.
It is something natural and spontaneous, emerging simply from the act of focusing our inner gaze upon the Divine Mother. To live in a state of prayer is to cultivate coherence between our actions and our being; it is to integrate our deeds with the constructs of our own minds. This state of prayer helps us to inhabit a single reality—that of a consecrated life—which unites our own being with all other beings within the divine presence.