Course Overview

Overview of Active Meditation Discourses & Course Objectives

By Dr. Robert Leichtman

These discourses are on the theme of making the right choices using detachment as tool to facilitate this process. So often, in a busy life, we allow our reaction to outer events determine our choices, define who we are, and direct our behavior. The autopilot in our subconscious is happy to take over the majority of our choices for us, free us to worry and recycle annoyances at our leisure. Unfortunately, this is also how we permit entrenched habits and prejudices to dominate important areas of our thinking and attitudes. This is how we get stuck in beliefs and tendencies that do not honor our highest good or our health and general welfare. If we are to free up our common sense and inner wisdom to guide us, we need to practice the art of detachment. These discourses discuss how detachment works and its immense value to leading a mature and enlightened life.

The first discourse FOCUS ON WHAT’S IMPORTANT is about how we can learn to back away (detach) from our standard beliefs, moods, and perspectives. This enables us to explore our capacity to review the relevance and meaning of what we think and feel at the outer level. As we practice being partly detached from our usual mood and attitudes, we can connect with our ability to observe how we automatically tend to react with the same old beliefs and habits with all of their limitations and inadequacies. This, in turn, evokes consideration of our other options about how to respond with better beliefs and expectations. This is an important way to exercise greater control about how we interpret and experience the conditions and events in our life. As a consequence, we will be able to can explore how to free our self of the many limiting assumptions we might have about our health, success, and fulfillment.

 

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The second discourse MAKING BETTER CHOICES is about how to practice detachment, the art of backing away from our usual focus of attention and beliefs. This allows us to explore how we are capable of being something more than the sum of our burdens, challenges, and problems. We also have the capacity to be an observer and director of how we think, what attitudes to apply, and how we shall act in major circumstances. When we stop being so passive and allowing our automatic attitudes to take charge, we can also stop being such a helpless victim of outer circumstances. These changes of perspective open us more completely to our higher human and spiritual possibilities.

The third discourse WORKING WITH OUR STRENGTHS is about appreciating we arrive on earth with a divine design, destiny, and a spiritual endowment of blessings of wisdom to guide us, love and joy to keep us optimistic, and strength to push through the obstacles. When we detach our attention from our usual habits of thought and attitude, especially our tendencies to be pessimistic and feel helpless, we can open up connections to our higher human and divine possibilities. This enables our guidance and good qualities to assist in redirecting our attention, adding to our skills, and empowering us to act in new and more healthy behaviors. Ultimately, the tool of detachment is essential to major healing changes and the enrichment of our character.

Think on these things

Written by Dr. Robert Leichtman