Models, examples and parables are often more effective than word descriptions in enabling us to understand new concepts. You have heard the saying that a picture is worth a 1000 words. Well, the same holds true for a mental picture. It facilitates our comprehension of a new subject by using a example with which we are already familiar. It helps to understand mental or spiritual concepts in terms of material examples.

We have already used a number of examples in the previous chapters, such as the example of the river grasses, the boat on the sea, the fire in the bedroom, the pressure cooker and others. Here we will offer a few more examples, which we have found useful in understanding the various aspects of meditation and its benefits. Be aware, however, that no model or example can ever be perfect. There will always be flaws or possible contradictions. Their usefulness, however, is not diminished by that fact.

THE MAGNET AND THE IRON

An interesting phenomenon has been discovered by scientists studying magnets and pieces of iron. A magnet is simply a piece of iron in which all of the molecules are oriented in the same direction, which means that they all have their positive pole in the same direction and their negative pole in the opposite. The molecules are ordered. In the common piece of iron this is not so. The molecules are randomly oriented and not organized.

You will have noticed that when we put an ordinary piece of iron in contact with a magnet, it temporarily obtains the qualities of the magnet and can attract other pieces of iron. While in contact it obtains magnetic powers. When it is removed from the magnet, it looses those powers. But what scientists discovered was that the ordinary iron was not exactly the same after this contact. Some subtle changes had taken place. Some molecules had, under the power of magnetic field, actually changed position and more of them were oriented in the same direction. This slight change after each contact between the magnet and the iron is called "the hysteresis effect". If this contact occurs for a long enough period of time, or for sufficient number of repetitions, then the ordinary piece of iron undergoes enough of a change in its molecular orientation, so that it permanently becomes a magnet. After such a transformation, it maintains its magnetic powers even when it is not in contact with the magnet. This is because its molecules are now all organized and oriented in one direction.

This is an excellent example of what happens to the mind after years of meditation. The magnet is the inner self, soul, spirit, higher self or higher intellect, or even God, depending on the way in which you have learned to view the spiritual self. The ordinary piece of iron is our mind. During meditation we bring the mind into contact with this higher aspect of our being. Temporarily, for the duration of this contact, the mind obtains the qualities of peace, clarity, freedom, bliss and wisdom. It is under the influence of the power of the spirit. We come out of meditation, we return to our ordinary way of thinking and reacting. But a small, imperceptible change has taken place like the "hysteresis effect" in the piece of iron. Our mind has been slightly altered by this contact. Our mental energies are slightly more organized, more focused in a spiritual direction, less scattered, more centered.

When this goes on for years, then we begin to experience those spiritual qualities throughout the day more and more. These feelings are no longer limited to the duration of the meditation. Just as the piece of iron, through repeated contact with the magnet, obtained magnetic powers, the mind, through regular daily contact with the spirit, obtains spiritual qualities and our energies are more spiritually oriented.

THE LIGHT BULB AND THE LASER

The difference between an ordinary light bulb, say of 60 watts of power, and a laser, is not in the power available. The difference is that in the ordinary light bulb the rays of light vibrate at various frequencies and go out in all directions, whereas in the laser all the rays have the same frequency of vibration and the same direction. Thus, while the light from the light bulb can simply light up a room and cannot penetrate through any surfaces, the laser, with the same available power, can penetrate through surfaces as it burns through them. It has penetrating power. This is because its energies are organized, synchronized and unidirectional. There is no loss of energy to other directions or other frequencies.

The same difference exists between the ordinary mind and the mind intensified by meditation. After years of meditation, our mental energies scatter less and become more focused. We eventually see that many pursuits, which were previously so important to us, are in reality superficial and not worthy of spending energy on. We begin to have greater faith and loose less energy in fear, anxiety and worry. We accept ourselves and need to expend less energy on seeking self-affirmation. Thus our mind, like the laser, begins to function on the basic frequency of spiritual evolution and its energies flow all the more comprehensively in this one basic direction. The mind gradually becomes like a laser, which is able to penetrate into problems and situations and see them as they really are, and not as our programmings and mechanisms pretend that they are. We are able to solve problems more effectively and create and produce with greater freedom of thought. The mind is more effective.