Concentration, meditation, contemplation; revery, contemplative prayer. Different traditions use different words, but the energetic experience is at its core much the same.
Meditation is a process by which humans can learn to control their personal energy then focus it to achieve specific beneficial objectives. Any tradition can use these processes to achieve their core beneficial objectives.
The first step in the meditation process is concentration, which means learning to control your own energy. You need to be able to focus on your choice of a topic, whether this is learning to control your mind so that it stays silent when you wish, or learning to stay in your heart center so you can “keep the faith” and focus on the consciousness of your leader who might be Christ, Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, and so on. To achieve this, some people chant or do japa, others listen to peaceful music or focus on an image of their leader.
The next step is to move from concentration to meditation. Once you learn to consciously focus at will, you are now able to relax into a specific space – peace, or the Christ or Buddha energy for example. This is a letting go, enabling you to more fully identify with an energy. We worked with the piece of clear quartz to relax into a balanced, peaceful energy field.
The last step is contemplation. After you have learned to focus, then to relax into the energy, you are now ready to choose a topic within that energy and consider its reality, in a very deep, universal way. In a way, you have returned to concentration, only now within a specific universal energy. You may wish to explore this energy via continually cycling functions of concentration and meditation.
This process is how interdimensional communication occurs. Once you master concentration, meditation and contemplation, you can choose to travel to any energetic location you wish, and study that energy. Your only limitation is your own ability to listen to the universe speak with its many voices.