Course XX - Teaching 1: Meditation

Meditation is an affective act of the soul; this is why it has certain mechanic mode, because each being realizes God according to his inner idiosyncrasy. But the exercise of meditation, if contributes quite partially by itself, makes the mind acquire certain habit that facilitates one’s meditation and prepares for it.
So, you need to sustain the concept that exercises of meditation should not impede the mystical progress of the soul. Any identification with them as if they had been were true meditation are seriously harmful because have to be only guides and molds for the mind. We meditate easily by habit, so that all other exercises should be rejected.
Not all exercises are convenient for beginners. It is necessary to teach them diverse types and methods, so that later they find those that are more proper.
Usual exercises of meditation that prepare the soul for the mystical way are generally three:

Discursive Meditation;
Affective Meditation; and
Sensitive Meditation.

The exercise of discursive meditation is easier because make the mind project an image that the practitioner vocalizes once and again.
Also you can practice discursive meditation by mentally thinking up on certain text of the holy book, keeping a dialogue with an image of photograph, and imagining that you are heard and you receive an answer.
Affective meditation consists of speculating on a feeling or inner image to achieve certain effect. The soul transfers its diverse emotions, moved by the will, to the illuminative plane. This mystical transfer, of ordinary elements of life, engraves the secret part of the soul, so that the soul uses physical values for the sake of soul values. Usual emotions of life, that is, love, fear, pleasure or abhorrence are used to obtain certain spiritual impression.
Sensitive meditation extremely sharpens sensitive potentials of the soul, and later makes them return to the emotional and physical part of being, so that this part may also share the divine bliss.
In this course you shall be given diverse examples of these exercises of meditation, so that the student may choose for himself the most suitable exercises.