Current location:	The Usual
Current mood:	meditative
Current music:	My Launchcast Station
Entry tags:	eckankar, lucid dreaming, sunday meditation

Sunday Meditation 2/3/08
The topic of today's Meditation is actually one that I've thought about a number of times in the past, and indeed played a certain role in my starting this journal in the first place. It wouldn't surprise me if it surfaced again in another post after this, again, but that remains to be seen.


There is a faith group known as Eckankar--some of you may have heard of it in the past--that I'd like to presently draw your attention to. Feel free to research it if you like; my own curiosity in the past has shed light on it that I think is useful for kindling some thought--always a good thing, right?
Eckankar proclaims itself to be "The Religion of the Light and Sound of God." To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what exactly this phrase means, but, based upon the other things I've learned about this faith group, I think I can interpolate: those who practice Eckankar, known amongst themselves as Eckists, both seek to more deeply understand the paths God has shown for them (i.e. the "Light"), and are asked to sing a "love song" for God daily (known as "chanting HU"; the "sound"). Though this, of course, does not describe the entirety of the faith group's practices, they are certainly a good start.
But enough about the semantics of the group's moniker. Eckankar, unlike most faith groups, is more of a proponent of more metaphysical practices than most major monotheistic faiths; to wit, I refer to such things as "Soul Travel" (an Eckist practice not unlike what is usually called "astral projection"), lucid dreams, and, of course, things like chanting. As many of you know, my philosophy tends towards existentialism and as such I am a proponent of a certain degree of individualism (within reason) as a means of expressing one's unique identity, and so I like a certain degree of these odd practices that hold meaning to the people who use them. I'm going to examine some of these at length here.
Eckists believe that, at least some (if not all) of the time when we believe to be dreaming, the soul actually leaves the body and visits other planes of creation. This is the aforementioned "Soul Travel;" according to Eckankar, we can learn things meaningful both to our lives on earth and our personal, spiritual existence. There are purportedly (or so it is believed) certain sagacious individuals who have lived on earth in the past and are now residents on these planes, where they will dispense wisdom and guidance to the people who encounter them in these dreams/Travels. These individuals usually live in certain places (often palatial in nature) on these planes, according to these beliefs, which serve as a helpful identifier to the sleeping traveler.
Now, I'm not about to say that these methods and beliefs are necessarily correct, nor incorrect; what I will say is that they are an interesting way to incorporate self-examination, regardless of the intervention of extraplanar individuals. Supposing for a moment that these people are mistaken, but through the wonders of imagination and expectation manage to manipulate their own dreams to exhibit common symbols, we can see that they have nothing to lose and perhaps something to gain: in dreams we can sometimes learn things about ourselves that we have refused or have been unable to see properly, or we may reveal other wisdom that we have somehow withheld. Depending on how much you believe the subconscious mind "knows" (i.e. some people believe that the subconscious connects to the sum knowledge of all mankind, in which case we could learn just about anything, should it be true), there is a varying degree that can potentially be garnered by consulting a figure that at the least is believed by self to be sagacious and holding worthwhile wisdom. Still, there is nothing harmful to be extracted here, and without question the experience would be one that would be quite rewarding to the person who experiences it, regardless of whether it is simply a hallucination born of expectation, or contact with a real (albeit extraplanar) benevolent entity.
Similarly, the practice of lucid dreaming, which I believe that I have exposited upon in past journals, is entwined in Eckankar with the Eckist practice of Soul Travel, and is itself a highly beneficial practice. However, because I have mentioned it before, I will refrain from going into it at length here.
As to chanting, Eckists believe that chanting "HU" (pronounced "hyuuu") is a way of singing a love song from the spirit to God (often referred to by the name "Sugmad" in Eckankar, much as the Israelites had multiple reserved names for God, such as YHWH and El Shaddai). Personally, I like this fairly well. It is common in faith groups that practice singing hymns, I've found, that hymns become only music and words, without personal meaning; it's almost like a pop star singing on a stage, in that it's like a performance is expected without the performer having to have an ounce of genuine feeling for what is being sung. The practice of chanting "HU" removes both lyrics and prescribed tone, leaving it up to the chanter to imbue it with personal meaning, to let it simply flow from the heart without having to tie words to it. I like this idea--for people who simply want a familiar practice, it can be that, whereas for people who crave a feeling of connection to the divine, it can be this as well. It's simple and relaxing, and requires no knowledge of a song's lyrics or musical progression; even now, with as little as I've told you, all of you who are reading this can do it yourselves (not that I'm asking you to, but you could do it if you wanted to). No Latin, no chords--just the sound you feel you should use to sing your love to the divine. The simplicity is alluring and, if you ask me, appropriate.
The way in which Eckankar inspired me to make this journal in the first place, which some of you may still be wondering about, is that Eckankar doesn't ask for exclusion of outside faith practices, because it's more of a methodology and less of a prescriptive belief/doctrine system. Its practices can be integrated with virtually all monotheistic beliefs, and quite possibly even with some of the polytheistic ones (though I honestly can't say for sure because I'm not a polytheist, myself). This was, in part, the kind of thing I wanted to do with this journal and the Extant Body project: a community where people could come together to strengthen their faith journeys, regardless of doctrinal differences--something that doesn't force believers to exclude all others, even if they don't believe the same thing as others. Perhaps you can understand the connection; I hope that it makes sense to you--sometimes I get a little babbly.
You may be wondering, as well, why I don't simply toss all this and simply go become an Eckist myself. The reason is that the leader of Eck, generally referred to as the Mahanta, is assigned far too much importance (perhaps by his own doing?) for any one person, in my opinion. It's a common shortcoming of new religious movements; it may be a product of a human need to have a faith figure with a face, or perhaps greed on the part of the leaders, or something else entirely. Regardless, this part I do not agree with, just as I do not expect any one of you to treat me as anything more exalted than a fellow faith-seeker.
As to the practical part of this--I'd suggest that you try working with lucid dreams again, if you've started in the past but let it go, or that you start for the first time if you've never done so in the past. It's an extremely rewarding practice with a lot that can be gained from it. Also, if you feel like you'd like to add something new and unique to your faith practices, you can try chanting "HU" as part of your daily or weekly actions. It can be done silently if you desire, but there's something therapeutic and meditative about voicing the sound that I'd recommend at least trying.

My best wishes go with you as you strive to broaden and deepen your personal faith journey as you find unique and meaningful ways to expand its practices.