Hi Phil,
I don't think you're new age at all.


Stacey and GEB dog Chesley

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 2:44 PM
Subject: Be Still and Know


> Rhonda,
>
> Being still has always been difficult for me.  It takes some practice.
> Learning how to focus and be still so you can hear God always begins with
> noise, that is, outside noise.  That includes everything you mentioned in
> your message.  I learned 27 years ago how to do this.  At first, 
> everything
> is clamoring for attention the second you sit down to be still.  Screaming
> is often more like it.  The first time I did this, I almost freaked out 
> when
> all the noise and clamor slammed into my brain.  I told the Lord that I
> would never be able to do what He was asking me to do.  He told me to 
> wait.
> I did.  About 15 minutes later, as I identified the noises individually 
> and
> let them fall away, or drift away, things became very quiet for the first
> time in my life.  I was on my knees and knealing in front of a chair I
> always used when praying but most of the time I sit in a comfortable chair
> now.  God is just on the other side of the noise.  Some noise is pretty
> threatening, too, like "You are sick and going to die," or, "Your mate has
> cancer and is going to die," or old memories try and surface to condemn 
> you
> and your relationship with God.  Let them come and don't focus on any of
> them; just sit there.  Practicing this more than once will eventually 
> allow
> you to go into a prayerful mode, sort of speak, almost immediately, and
> frankly, at any time or any place, and the second you do, the noise and
> racket bounces off and away almost immediately and suddenly, there is God.
> No, this is in no way eastern meditation techniques.  I don't focus on God
> or a flame of a candle or hum ohm to myself or try and create images.  I
> don't picture myself on the surface of a plasid pond or lake or ocean and
> slowly sinking to the bottom.  I don't picture myself slowly levitating 
> into
> the sky to drift aimlessly among the clouds and eventually into and among
> the stars.  I don't picture myself in my favorite childhood memory 
> playing,
> riding my bike, running with my little dog, or strolling through the woods
> on a gentle path.  I could, and I have when I didn't know any better, but 
> I
> don't.  In fact, if such happens, I immediately mentally defocus away from
> them.  I've study eastern religions and practiced, years ago, 
> Transcendental
> Meditation, and other eastern new age forms of meditation, and became 
> quite
> good at it.  In fact, I became good enough that I know now I could have
> easily had and out of body experience, or O B E for short, or what is now
> commonly called astral projection.  What I am describing is nothing like
> that.  If any image, or unholy thought, attempts coming to mind as I sit 
> and
> wait on the Lord, I let my mind immediately go to any of my favorite Bible
> verses.  When I let myself unfocus for a second from that verse, I know if
> what I was seeing or hearing is gone.  If it isn't, I return to the verse.
> If it is gone, I let myself return to just thinking and that's all this 
> is.
> Biblical, or Scriptural, meditation is seeking God and to do that, we must
> be still and wait on Him.  As I said, I have learned, in recent years, how
> to allow this to occur on the fly, sort of speak, and it is a definite
> advantage to be able to instantly recognize the voice of the Lord over 
> that
> of any other voice because we have lots of voices trying to get our
> attention.  So what happens after you cross this noise barrier of every 
> day
> life events and circumstances?  Good question.  You hear God.  I know this
> is going to get me in trouble.  I reached a point in my prayer life, 27
> years ago, when praying in this manner, that I eventually remained on my
> knees and totally silent and almost motionless for 30 minutes as I 
> listened.
> I did it daily for several weeks, maybe months, until I knew God and where
> He was.  He is inside of us and His name is The Holy Spirit.  What I
> discovered was that everything faded quietly into the background.  No, not
> disappeared all together and no, my mind didn't become empty.  I 
> discovered
> that the only two people who were talking in my thoughts were the Holy
> Spirit and me without all the worldly interference.  Don't try this at all
> if you are really upset because sometimes we are really upset naturally,
> that is, our emotions are responding normally to present circumstances, 
> and
> since the Lord gave us those emotions, and He has them Himself, He isn't
> expecting us to go into a trance and become devoid of all thought and
> emotion.  Besides, that alone is dangerous, spiritually speaking, in the
> first place.  This is especially true if you haven't ever heard God's 
> voice
> in your thoughts clearly in the first place.  So, now that everybody 
> thinks
> I am New Age and involved in the eastern art of meditation, I'll stop.
>
> Phil.
>