Course XIII - Teaching 8: Exercise of Intellectual Meditation

A Son has to know first the exercise of meditation comprehensively. He must make of the technique, a comprehensive, rational technique.
First it is necessary to discern and charge the persuasive word with comprehensive power. So you get a comprehensive exercise, a self-comprehensive exercise. You see your inner trends and your outer obstacles as well, and you spot the transcendent goal and drive the soul powers toward spiritual realization. But the whole being does not participate. Just the comprehensive being participates; emotions-sensations are charged only with intellectual power. Intellectual meditation is a psycho-technique and its relative reach neither touches deep layers of the human soul nor lets them arise. The intellectual position is an unsurpassable barrier, as much for the ascent of the lower aspect unknown as for the descent of the higher aspect unknown.
Intellectual meditation creates a fictitious reality. It is not a natural soul attitude, but identification of the ego with a sequential consideration. It is transform the non-ego into an ego.
One should make of the ego a non-ego by simplified Renunciation.
The exercise of meditation leads to a higher state than the average, but it is a natural mental state. One should reach a super-natural mental state, which cannot be attained by intellectual exercise. So, while the Sons learn technique and different exercises, apparently they progress as to prayer, but once they finish the apprenticeship and know every method, since they do not go beyond the latter or beyond a continuous repetition, they are stagnant. What they do is quite valuable, but does not grant a transforming value.
Natural states can be transcended only by inner and outer ascetic renunciation, endurance, routine, sacrifice and disappearance. An intellectual comprehension of Renunciation leads only to certain point; it is life made Renunciation the only one that leads till the end.
In short, exercises consist in being self-conscious through self-consideration or consideration of the world. This is to go from an aspect known to an aspect unknown. Only one supernatural comprehension is worth more than years of exercises.
Meditation does not consist in going from known to unknown, but from unknown to unknown through a negative, static, receptive and quite deep soul attitude as a whole.