“The symbols (the Signs) serve the purpose of expressing the ideas behind them, the wise words of explaining the Signs. When symbols are comprehended, words can be forgotten, and when ideas are comprehended, symbols can be forgotten. However, if hanging onto words, symbols will never be comprehended, and if hanging onto symbols, ideas will never be comprehended.” (in Wolfgang Bauer, Fundamentals of the Book of Changes, Introduction to the I Ching by Richard Wilhelm, p. 13.)

I very much like the simplicity and clarity of it.

The two most obvious activities of the mind you notice when starting to practice some form of meditation, is the wandering imagination (1) and the inner speech (2). These two can be present simultaneously or just one at a time. But while they are there, they are filling your mind, they are generating mind activity. It is important to realize that neither one should not have any negative connotation for you in this context. The inner wanderings and ramblings just need to be brought under voluntary control in order to be able to stop them at will.

The beauty of Yoga consists in helping you understand that every part of your being can be trained. Not just your physical body. Thus, in order to be able to practice your chosen form of meditation, you can train your mind to become a helpful instrument.

1. Stopping imagination at will

Imagination doesn’t just provide the essential material for your dreams, but it controls your involuntary actions more than you realize. In your day-to-day life when something imagined becomes a belief, it will then influence even your physical health. Learning to direct imagination towards a desirable direction is widely accepted as a form of mental health care.

Here, we need to get neutral about this. It is not our goal to turn towards a positive mental stream, but to understand and learn the way to bring imagination under control. When you are able to stop any imaginative activity on your mind-screen for an indefinite time period, then you have gained control over your imagination. And once more, this does not mean you should not learn to have a positive imaginative mental attitude. This is just simply different. You are simply learning to stop imagination at will.

Imagination is calibrated by attention. Attention is usually pointed where the eyes are looking. Traversing a rift on a plank is usually safe just until you stare at center of the plank. If you move your eyes, your attention follows and your imagination brings in the belief of falling. So, three factors are involved in the process: imagination – attention – eye focus. What the yoga technique suggests is to reverse the order here. Learning to keep the eye perfectly motionless will keep the attention focused. When the focused attention is maintained at will, as long as you want it, uninterruptedly, then imagination can be maintained still. It can be stopped at will.

This technique is called Trataka. It consists of fixing the focus of the eyeballs on one spot. You may use whatever you want to be the object of this training: a spot on the wall, an object, the top of your nose, some prefer the light of a candle. But you are there only when there are no movements of the eyes. Not even micro movements. It should be maintained until the eyes begin to water, at which point you may close them and relax. Too much tensed effort affects you like in any sort of training. So be careful, but persistent. You have to learn to get control over all the reactions that will manifest.

2. Suspending the inner speech

Thinking is generally considered a process of inner verbalization. We use words, sentences to think, although this is going on soundless for the outer world. All thoughts are followed by a soundless form of speaking, the inner speech. Those of you who were trying some form of meditation practice know that the inner speech is very much present when you wish to calm your mental fluctuations. In fact, most of the mental fluctuations are manifesting through this inner speech. Even thinking about your actual meditation is a sign of a fluctuating mind. So, learning to suspend the inner speech at will, indefinitely in time, is essential for every meditation practitioner.

Any kind of soundless inner speech produces micro movements in the muscles of your tongue. Even if you try your best and it is completely unnoticeable for you, with the help of some sophisticated machinery, those micro movements would be clearly observable. And also, those movements are perfectly corresponding to the regular tongue movements as in loud talk. The interesting part is, that we are so used to this interaction between our tongue and the inner speech, that if we impede or inhibit the movements of the tongue, our inner speech will be impeded and stopped. This is what is used in yoga. Operating on the reverse as with the stopping of the eyeball movements.

Yoga calls this technique Khechari Mudra. The complete execution of this technique is difficult, also not entirely relevant here as it concerns breathing exercises. What is important to remember is, that by placing firmly the tip of the tongue on the palate you are making the effort of inhibiting all tongue movements. Through constraining the tongue in a firmly fixed position, your are also impeding the inner speech to manifest. Thus, you are stopping the mental fluctuations and – through serious and persistent effort – are training the mind to become a helping tool.

… levels that share common informational value …

Now a few final thoughts. Using these two techniques will improve your meditation. But the other reason to share those was to demonstrate how self-evidently yoga operates with vertical thinking. Acting upon interconnected levels generates efficient change. Recognizing the connected levels that share common informational value is the core of vertical thinking. Inner transformation is relevant only in terms of this verticality, on the axes of material and formal causes. Acting upon one level always affects the other.

One of the most important keys in approaching vertical thinking was given to us by the genius of Jung. It is called: synchronicity. What he really managed to create was a terminology suitable for our Western rational minds. Mainly through clarifying explanations, with terms that got into the common knowledge ever since. So many people have heard of and are using the term synchronicity. But do we really know what that means? I think it is worth the effort to learn some more about it, especially if you are a self development addict like me. Let’s dive a little into the details of the concept.

Jung defined synchronicity as “an acausal connecting principle”. It connects the personal psyche with the material world. So the two protagonists of the phenomenon are the personal state of mind – the inner world, and the material world – the outside.

Synchronicity is considered a phenomenon manifesting meaningfully for the personal psyche. This is the second major aspect to be considered: the meaning it carries. This meaning is not necessarily to be considered as some sign, but as a balancing influence over one’s psyche. Interpreting it is by all means a great help in achieving this balance. Understanding it has a bigger impact than just discovering it.

…an essentially mysterious connection

It was considered by Jung an essentially mysterious connection between the personal psyche and the material world. Mysterious because it doesn’t fulfill academic criteria. Unexplained in terms of science. Jung’s interest in quantum physics led him to the interpretation that at the bottom, the two components (psyche and material world) are only different forms of energy.

The common knowledge recognizes synchronicity when this acausal connection occurs in the same time (or around the same time) in the same place (or closely in the same place), like a response or echo to the person’s state of mind in the material world surrounding him/her. But Jung expanded the concept with two other forms of the phenomenon, less known. Those two are considered in the common knowledge forms of clairvoyance: remote seeing and precognition. To sum it up, here is the list of the three forms of synchronicities:

1. Present time, same or neighboring place
2. Remote seeing: same time, different place
3. Precognition: future time, different or same place

All those phenomenons share the common property of being both mysteriously connected in time and space and connecting the personal psyche with the material, outer world.

In Jung’s words: “Synchronicity . . . consists of two factors: a) An unconscious image comes into consciousness either directly (i.e., literally) or indirectly (symbolized or suggested) in the form of a dream, idea, or premonition. b) An objective situation coincides with this content. The one is as puzzling as the other.["Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle," ibid., par. 858.]”

Synchronicity is never sought nor anticipated, but discovered

The temptation for actively searching for instances of synchronicity is often present where people are looking desperately for the mysterious or uncommon. But Jung warns us that synchronicity is never sought nor anticipated, but discovered. So, the healthy attitude is to discover the phenomenon once it has manifested. On the contrary, the obsession for correlations is there as a form pathological deviance.

It is also elucidating to see how Jung interprets the major influence of the phenomenon on the human psyche:

“As soon as a psychic content crosses the threshold of consciousness, the synchronistic marginal phenomena disappear, time and space resume their accustomed sway, and consciousness is once more isolated in its subjectivity.“[On the Nature of the Psyche," CW 8, par. 440.]

And also gives us the theoretical possibility of provoking the phenomenon:

“Conversely, synchronistic phenomena can be evoked by putting the subject into an unconscious state.” [On the Nature of the Psyche," CW 8, par. 440.]

I am positive that most of you have been experiencing the amazing phenomenon of synchronicity. We all are attracted and even fascinated by the mysterious. And synchronicity can bring us that experience, usually when we less expect it. I tend to see it like a glimpse behind the veil, like we are allowed to have a vision lasting for an instant about overwhelming realities.