I found the following post by Beverly, at the Sri Chinmoy Inspiration Group very inspiring. I am reposting it here, as "Inspiration-Group Gem".
One-pointed concentration
Is the pathfinder
For a deeper meditative
Consciousness.
Sri Chinmoy
http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/sri-chinmoy-service-trees/part16/241.html
"There are three stages in our spiritual practice. It starts with
concentration, then meditation, then contemplation." - Sri Chinmoy
http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/earth-cry/part1/51.html
The talk that this quotation had been taken from is also available on
the online Sri Chinmoy TV:
http://www.srichinmoy.tv/meditation_videos/what_is_meditation
A while back Doris asked me to post something about my son. This
incident took place some time ago. It concerns concentration.
I had been trying to teach my son how to concentrate.
Yesterday we went for a walk to a float on the ocean. I stood at the
edge and observed some small jelly fish but he REALLY looked. He lay
down and draped himself over the edge and peered into the dark water.
A little ball jelly fish was the focus of his absorption. To picture
this jellyfish Imagine an inflatable beach ball (an analogy offered by
my son). The ball bulges out between the longitudinal segments,
making a scalloped profile if viewed from the 'north pole'. Now
imagine the ball is almost transparent, a little milky and no more
than two centimeters in diameter, with tentacles of almost
indiscernible slenderness trailing from the 'south pole'. "It's
emitting light", he exclaimed. So I, too, knelt and we concentrated
on this tiny wondrous piece of creation. Sure enough, a minute or so
of patient watching revealed a flash of blue which traveled up along
one of the lines. But purple, that I had not seen. My son had. Not
so easy to detect in summer sunshine. Finally I let go of my
restlessness, quieted myself and concentrated, patiently,
patiently,... and finally witnessed a fleeting glimpse of subtle
purplish-blue traversing a globe suspended in a watery world.
Joy shared.
I had been trying to teach my son how to concentrate.
Beverly
Thank-you Beverly!