Mystical experiences can occur
spontaneously on
sudden
decisive moments during one's lifetime. Most people have on more than
one
occasion been in contact with the Divine, be it through music or any
other
art form, or by thinking, talking or reading about Divinity. Sometimes
godliness
can even break through on unaware moments, outside any artistic or
intellectual
setting, when you 
expect
it the least. Different people have reported experiences of a mystical
kind
outside a definite setting. They were overwhelmed by a sense of
completeness
and of fulfilment and became suddenly aware of a reason and a plan
behind
the diversity of everyday reality. In the mystical experience they saw
with
the inner eye a different reality, that they experienced as giving
reason
to their lifes.
So for most people the mystical experience is something spontaneous occurring only at certain moments or even rarely. But for the mystic the mystical experience is a way of life. Because in the tradition of mysticism there is developed a technique, that enables him to live in close contact with the Divine. By using this technique mystical experiences occur more frequently and in the end the mystic even adopts all the characteristics of the Divine by way of this technique. It's called meditation.
There are a lot of misconceptions about meditation. It's very important not to have these wrong ideas about it when you are planning to start with meditation. Otherwise you will not know what to expect. When some difficulties or striking feats occur you probably would not know how to react to them. In the worst case you will give up and quit the Mystical Way before having embarked on it sufficiently.
So
let's answer some Frequently Asked Questions
about
meditation and see if we can get a clear picture of this art.
1 What is meditation?
Let's start by stating what it is not. Meditation is not a natural way of getting hallucinations equivalent to drug experiences. When you meditate you will not see mental images of a distorted nature or enchanting colours or hear music out of paradise. It will not lead you to a sudden euphoria. You will not begin to laugh or to sing out loud or to 'speak in tongues'. If you expect these things to happen then meditation will prove to be a disappointment for you. Meditation is not an alcohol or a drug.
It's also no fast cure for ad hoc diseases. Sometimes it will cure a headache or still a pain in your spine, but mostly meditation functions not instantaneously but in the long run. It will take away all your future headaches because it removes the cause of those diseases, but you need to have patience, because no cure is provided after one session. Only months or even years later you'll begin to realise that you never had a headache again. But by then headaches aren't your concern anymore.
Furthermore meditation is not the mental equivalent of a yoga asana or a gymnastic exercise. It's not a physical position you set yourself in without any preconditioned mental attitude. You can't do it casually in between two cups of coffee, but it demands a serious attitude. You'll have to develop a profound understanding of how it works (but don't worry: meditation itself will provide you this understanding out of itself).
2 Ok but what is meditation then?
Meditation is the stilling down of your nervous system by an act of will. Because we human beings are conscious we are the only species capable of controlling their own nervous system. Meditation is the technique to do it. When you meditate your body and mind (your whole physical and psychic system) become stilled down. All your physical activity, like your blood circulation or your metabolic functions, slows down and becomes tranquil. This calming down of physical activity affords your body the opportunity to recuperate. This is the rest your body needs. Because the rest your body gets in sleep is not profound enough to eliminate all tensions your body has gathered during the day. Meditation is a more thorough purger.
Body and mind are one. Meditation quiets the mind and by quieting the mind the body becomes still and harmonious again. But when the body becomes quiet the mind also comes to rest. So both body and mind help each other in finding their equilibrium again. It works both ways.
