The first major experiential step, prior to any function, is to ascertain the Unity of All Being and One Way. This is the place from which all stems and comes into being. From this One is The Way. Many are the paths which are provided as part of the One Teaching, the Only Truth and Being. It is this from which all religions and teachings have come, and toward which they all aspire.
Place yourself, with and through meditation, in focus upon each tradition. For each one you will need to spend whatever time it takes until you can actually attune to what it is. This is one of the reasons for first reading some of the teachings of the various traditions. You sit, being receptive and connecting to one of the traditions. Your intention here is primarily to get a more real sense and experience of it directly. So put aside all conceptions or attitudes about it and feel.
After you get a sense of what the particular tradition is, it is time to relate it more to the Source from which it came and the other traditions. So now, this is your intention to experience. Here, you open yourself to consider, feel, unfold, and know its parts as one aspect of the whole. It is possible you will get this right away or need to sit with this several times as the knowing sort of bubbles to the surface, or unfolds.
When you do have a good sense of the tradition and that is it part of the larger transmission, it is time to move on to the next concentration. Here you unify the particular tradition you are working with to the others and the Source. You do this through attunement of your heart and breath.
A. Feel the unity from which it comes.
B. Sense the unity of all those beings who have realized Truth through this path or tradition and how they relate to this path.
C. Sense those within this tradition upon which you focus relating to the whole from which they have come and returned.
You place yourself within this and feel the unity of all beings in and through this path. Put your attention upon the prophet or teacher who brought this expression through. Try to feel this persons heart and breath. Look for the breath until you get a pretty good sense of its presence. Try to match your own breath to this. Try to feel this beings heart. Try to match your feeling to this. When you do this, look for yourself actually becoming of this until it seems like there is only one breath and both yours and the prophet or teacher are feeling and breathing together as one. Later we will go further with these attunements using sound and movements. Now you are beginning to gain the greater framework and laying the groundwork for more deep experiences.
After spending whatever time it takes to gain this set of experiences, expand your connection through this particular tradition to those who knew - truly and really. How do you do that? In steps, you can individually feel and sense their being. For example, in each of the various traditions there are major teachers, minor prophets, guides, and those who made a special mark upon or through it. You focus upon one of them and let that beings presence grow. Again, feel this beings heart and breath.
These are the keys to experience more of what they are. Connecting through breath opens the way for you to actually look through their eyes, feel through their feelings, and know through their knowing. One of the ways to strengthen this experience and come closer to the particular being is to read the words he or she has written or spoken. They will help you connect and attune. Find the rhythm in the writing and sound/feeling of the words. Let them lead you, guide you, as you sort of ride upon them toward the source from which they came.
There are walks of some of the prophets. We will be exploring these later. If you focus upon any particular being you may get a sense of how that person walks or moves. This may be stylized and representational or may be actual - or a combination of the two. By trying to feel this and then to connect your own gait or even match it, you will get a profound deepening of experience of what it is to be this personality and to feel from this perspective. Try it a few times. If you catch how to do it, this will open many doors to you. Walk their walks should you know them or be led through unfoldment to it.
At this stage, when working with each of these paths, which I sometimes call processes or means, and which when crystallized more form the particular religions, I suggest you begin by spending about 7 days, more or less, and see how that works for you. After you really get a good sense of the tradition, then again feel how it composes one part of the greater Teaching. This is in a sense like getting a feel for each of several colleges making up a university or each of several courses making up a larger field of study. As you get a perception of how they work together you gain a greater appreciation for the purpose and function of each of them.
At this stage you sort of put together the whole package of the separate attunements and experience you have been having with these beings, their teachings, readings, walks, feelings, breaths, and also the so-called doctrines of the path or tradition. You do this by allowing them to form a composite feeling and experience. This might be something like first focusing on and becoming aware of several different singers and then how they harmonize in a group, or like becoming aware of the tones and sounds of various individual instruments and then how they blend in an orchestra. You are getting the knowing of the path or tradition through feeling its music.
When you have done this with one tradition, then go on to the next. You essentially repeat the process above with each. When you are finished with them all, you will have a greater sense, feeling, knowing, and appreciation for each.
Then next step is to consider each one as that singing voice or instrument in a larger chorus or body. Let them come together and sense the harmony that is created when they each give voice to part of the One Teaching and Being from which they come. Here them point toward the All, the One of which they are.
You have now finished this stage of this particular process of exercises. You now have a choice to make. There are two sets of practices. One is directed toward more experience of the various paths, and then this would lead naturally toward experience and attunements toward the Prophets. If you choose these, we will re-examine and connect even more deeply to and through each of the paths through practices of recitation and attunement of movement, heart, and breath. These are found in the page called Names.
There is also another writing on doing more of these practices in general. This also contains several additional practices moving toward a deepening the experiences toward Unity and toward The Real. This is titled More and Deeper Practice. You can select either grouping as a next step. Whichever you choose, you can then go on to do the others. There are links to each other on both pages and the prophets page, as well as on the contents page.