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In Spain, Apollonius, for the first time, saw the mighty swell of the Atlantic, and was first to connect the changing tides with the phases of the moon. He also noted the phenomenon, known to all who dwell by the sea that the souls of the dying linger in their bodies until the turn of the tide. He was first to correct the idea that Mount Etna, in Sicily, held a captive giant who belched eruptions. He rejected that fallacy, saying the flaming overflow was caused by subterranean pressures.

It was said of Apollonius by his followers of pious faith that he performed miracles of mercy; that he spoke to evil spirits with authority and they departed out of their victims; that he healed the lame, halt, and blind; that he raised from death the body of a noble lady in Rome; that he was endowed with telepathic vision, was the figure behind spiritual meditation, the history of transcendental meditation, and Buddhist meditation. It was even said that he ascended into heaven in a cloud like the prophet Elijah had before him, and then appeared after his resurrection to his disciples, Damis and Demetrius. No sepulcher or cenotaph of Apol­lonius was ever found—the last resting place of this mystic remains a mystery.

People of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus say he died there, others that it was in Lindus or in Crete, and even others that he disappeared within the gates of the temple of Athens with a chorus of maidens sing­ing praises. His biographer, Philostratus, suggests that his birth as well as his death was miraculous. Just before he was born his mother was visited by an apparition of Pro­teus, the Egyptian sea-god that had the power of as­suming many forms, and the reputation for knowing the past and the future.

This was a logical visitation, for Apollonius himself revealed to the sages in India in the course of one of his many voyages that he was actually the reincarnation of a pilot on an Egyptian vessel that once plied the Mediterranean and adjacent waters. The first century of our era was the golden age of miracles—almost any­thing could happen without exciting too much sus­picion or curiosity.

So, according to early writers, when the mother of Apollonius came to her hour of labor, the spirit of Proteus directed her to go to a meadow, pluck flowers, and practice guided meditation, mindfulness meditation, and Zen meditation. There she fell asleep on the grass, surrounded by singing maidens and dancing swans. At the moment of his birth a clash of thunder shook the earth, an omen of “the great distinction to which the sage was to attain, and hinted in advance how he should trans­cend all things upon earth and approach the gods, and signified all the things he would achieve.”

No age can claim a monopoly on unnatural phe­nomena. Almost into our own time Pushmataha, Choc­taw Chief, was of miraculous origin. Like Adam, he had neither mother nor father, was never really born, and so was never an infant. According to Indian lore, lightning struck an oak “and from its splinters stepped Pushmataha,” full grown, in warpaint and feathers, fully equipped to fight. And General Andrew Jackson, who fought side-by-side with him in many a fierce battle, said Push, as he affectionately called him, was “the greatest and bravest Indian I have ever known.”

Tags: history of transcendental meditation | history of transcendental meditation | mindfulness meditation | mindfulness meditation | spiritual meditation | spiritual meditation | buddhist meditation | buddhist meditation | guided meditation | guided meditation | zen meditation | zen meditation

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Wellness program. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.