Ann Purcell relates the following account:

“During the first few years after I started meditating, the experience of deep silence was absorbing and charming. I would see a dark vastness in front of me. In time this darkness sometimes transformed into a field of brilliant light. The experience was one of increasing pleasantness. I felt anchored to my inner depths, less tossed about by outer changing circumstances. Underlying insecurities started to dissolve, and I felt stronger and more accepting of myself as a person.”

[in Ann Purcell, The Transcendental Meditation Technique and the Journey of Enlightenment, (Green Dragon Publishing Group, 2015).]

Some similarities to Joseph Smith’s First Vision seem to be:

• A vast darkness in the beginning
• The darkness transforming into a profound brilliant light
• The experience leaving one feeling pleasant, joyful
• A sense of personal forgiveness and reconciliation in oneself

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is just one of many different forms and techniques of meditation. It focuses on mantras. Another well known method is vipassana meditation, which often focuses on one’s own breath.

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