Meditation Visions: Are yours Real or Imaginary?

By Doug Allen

Have you ever become fascinated by visions that arise during meditation? These visions, often felt as breakthroughs, show us a glimpse of something beyond our sensory system that normally dominates our awareness.

People like to experience visions because they lend credence to the idea that we are more than just our physical body- that there are extraordinary worlds beyond the body. Those who don’t have visions when meditating often feel left out or somehow less advanced.

Through many years of meditation practice, it has become abundantly clear to me that visions of the inner planes are not indicative of spiritual growth. These visions are a superficial veneer of underlying movements of consciousness. In and of themselves, they are meaningless. It is the underlying movement of consciousness that has meaning.

Having a sense that we are being stretched energetically, or having a new feeling inside of our self, is what matters. Increasing awareness that our character is strengthening and our love is expanding indicates spiritual growth.

Visions are of two varieties- real and imaginary. It is up to each person to honestly test the veracity of a “vision” to determine if it is real or imaginary. A real vision will create two responses. First, the physical body will register a sensation of some sort, your feeling state will shift in a way that you know you couldn’t do through imagination. You may have a feeling of bliss, lightness, goose bumps, pressure, a feeling of delightful expansion or other sensations.

Second, the mind will immediately try to intercede to understand what is happening, and this often ends the vision experience. The ability to hold the mind at bay as you are being impacted by an energetic is a skill that is developed. In a true vision, the mind will remain still and unattached. In fact, the easiest way to tell if your vision is real or not is whether the activity of the mind makes it go away. You can’t regain the experience once the mind attaches to it.

Especially in the beginning stages, the typical pattern is that you will drop into meditation as the mind becomes still. As the waves of thought become still you begin to have a deeper experience of your own being. At this point a vision may arise. Then the mind will jump in with its desire to understand and question the experience, and in a sense, take control of the experience. The mind loves to think it is the ruling force of our being, while in fact it is just the caboose on the train of our being. Thus the mind will take over, add its story to what is occurring.

Knowing that visions can arise only when the mind is still, and that as your energetic state shifts the mind will want to re-insert itself, you can start to gain discernment of whether you are seeing or imagining. If you honestly assess what the mind is doing, it becomes easy to discern the true visions from imagination.

True visions tend to be abstract and, at best, only partially understood by the mind. After all, you are being moved to a new place of awareness, how could you understand it at first experience? How could you make sense of it especially when the inner planes have a reality that is different in nature than the physical plane? It is like visiting a new land with a language you don’t know. It takes time to learn the language, customs, and terrain.

It takes practice to develop the inner eye and get a handle on how the inner planes appear. If you are fairly new to meditation and you have visions in clear detail, you are imagining. If you switch from scene to scene, you are imagining. If you have no physical response, you are imagining. If your vision looks just like something in the external world, you are imagining. Be honest with yourself with this assessment.

True vision will not boost the ego; it is part of the process of destroying the ego. The energetic that is behind a vision will take you beyond your normal comfort zone, not increase it. A true vision is part of an energetic that shakes the system; it won’t build up pride and ego. The energetic behind a true vision should diminish the ego as it forces you to re-orient your idea of who and what you are.

Ultimately, what counts is to experience yourself being moved into a new state sVisions are absolutely unnecessary for this process to occur, in fact, vision is rarely associated with profound growth. It is a meager by-product of the process. On the spiritual path what must be focused on and worked with are the feelings of stepping into new and uncomfortable territory. If visions occur along the way, fine. If you don’t have visions you need not be concerned. Know that as soon as the mind grabs onto the idea that visions are important and a primary focus, you will inflate or deflate yourself.

If you have a desire to have visions, you will eventually be trapped.

In my 25 years of spiritual work, and hundreds, if not thousands of visions, I can say that a vision has never moved me forward on the path. Think of visions as a signpost on the road. They are not the road, the map, the vehicle, the fuel, nor the landscape being crossed. It is only my bold willingness to step into the uncomfortable unknown that has moved me into deeper territory within and a stronger connection with spirit. It is our ability to be shaken by forces greater than our mind, embrace the mystery and not turn away from what life presents us that is the measure.