Quite often, though by no means invariably, meditation is associated with a getting in touch with some mysterious other plane or an unspecifiable other dimension. For an Alphomist, meditation is a very worthwhile activity but it is a form of inner exploration. If it turns out, as seems likely, that thought really can be transmitted directly between brains, meditation is also a way of ‘listening’, not just to other humans but to the background noise of nature. It is different from ordinary thinking, which involves firing up the conscious aspect of the brain to the highest levels. In meditation, the aim is to switch off as much as possible of the intellectual, self-directed, babble and to allow the more subtle influences to register. Many people who have wrestled with complex problems, or even something as mundane as a crossword clue, have had the experience of putting the struggle aside and maybe going for a walk. The unconscious carries on working whilst we admire the view or listen the birds and the solution to the problem pops into the conscious mind. Switching off is sometimes productive and it is certainly a worthwhile thing to do. BACK