Meditation and the Evolution of Cosmic Consciousness

About the Book

This book is about the little-known fact that there are four different kinds of meditation—Witness Meditation, Transformative Meditation, Discursive Meditation, and Transcendental Meditation. More often, each kind of meditation is promoted and practiced apart from the others. But combined as a process, they lead to cosmic consciousness and more loving attitude toward one’s self and planet Earth. Instead of the violence of interpersonal competition and environmental exploitation so prevalent today, the ideals of peace, justice, and harmony can become the new reality given a more integrated approach to life’s material, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual realms of experience. But in spite of the enormous advances in technology, we are still caught up in unwinnable wars that cost lives and resources of all the participants; we are still confronted by the injustices of social and economic controls that have most recently resulted in meltdowns; and we are still faced with that seemingly unsolvable environmental problems that are plaguing our planet today . Seemingly, the leadership of our global community is failing us. So it’s up to us as individuals. Meditation and the Evolution of Cosmic Consciousness is not a how-to book, however. It is an attempt to identify the process in a way that can be imitated. To do so, Don Ayre has reviewed his private practice as a family and child therapist and the writings of a number of historical figures that he recognizes as “great minds” for evidences of cosmic consciousness that can be used to build a living model. Ayre invites his readers to examine their uses of meditation and the writings of their favorite authors to contribute their thoughts and ideas that will assist with the evolution of cosmic consciousness.

About the Author

Born: May 10, 1935 Winnipeg, Manitoba Based on his experience in private practice as a family and child therapist and educational consultant, Don Ayre insists that by asking life’s four most basic questions—Who am I? What’s life all about? Where do I fit in? and Why are we here?—we can have what psychologists call “peak experiences” and that by asking ourselves these questions in the context of the kind of an unconditional love experienced in meditation, we can achieve what theologians call “soulful moments.” Thus, we can be a part of the evolution of cosmic consciousness experienced by the great minds of history and share in its living secrets. Ayre received his early training as a family and child therapist at the University of Manitoba in his hometown of Winnipeg and then took postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh. He was director of research at Family and Childrens Services of Pittsburgh from 1961 to 1966. He taught at the University of Manitoba from 1966 to 1872 when he went into private practice. His private practice was based on a unique combination of the theories of Erich Fromm (The Art of Loving) and Carl Jung (Modern Man in Search of a Soul), and also the writings of de Chardin, Einstein, Fuller, Maharishi, Krishnamurti, and, most recently, Deepak Chopra. Ayre became semiretired in 1995. He is a strong advocate for peace and continues to write articles and to conduct workshops based on human dialogue. He and his wife, Jean, live in Winnipeg, as do their two sons with their wives and families. They have five granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.