All the ancient spiritual paths insist meditation is the key to enlightenment and inner peace and that by emptying the mind even gods and spirits will come bearing gifts, let alone mere mortals. I had an interlude like that recently on a London tube of all places, which though bizarre, was revealing and I think worthy of sharing for possible insights into the many-faceted but essentially monotheistic nature of divinity. Either that or I'm just plain nuts. I'd fallen into a Zen-like meditation with eyes open – clearing my mind and focusing on my breathing, when out of the blue, I felt a surge of energy flowing down from the top of my head and filling my body like a fast-acting psychotropic chemical and somewhere above and behind me, as it were, in full psychadelic 70s retro Bollywood technicolour, Shiva appeared. I'm not a Hindu – if anything a wayward Taoist and so was quite sure this wasn't something consciously manufactured. I found myself falling into congenial 'conversation' with him. “Are you the one god?” I asked. “There is only one god – I come in as many shapes and sizes as people give me”, he answered. “Why do you come to me as Shiva?” I asked. “You like pretty, colourful pictures? This is one of the prettiest pictures of the divine you'll get”, he replied with a trace of irony. “Having seen this vision of you, must I now stay loyal to you – become a Shiva follower?” I asked. “Stay loyal to a picture?” he asked back. An attractive woman got on. I got distracted momentarily. “Are you still there?” I asked him. “I'm always here”, he assured me, “It's you whose attention wanders and gets lost in the world of form. See me in that woman – I am there too.” More people got on. I was distracted again. “See me in them too,” he said, “They are all me in disguise”. “Do they know that too?” I asked. “Eventually, everyone wakes up to who they are”. “Do you have a message for my readers?” “Yes. The key to success in the world derives from waking up to the divine presence within and around you at all times. Tell them to meditate and all will be revealed, Barefoot.” Then he chuckled in a godly fashion and faded into the distance. Next week, I'll take you through a simple, universally applicable Taoist meditation scheme.
