Quite some time ago I talked to a friend that told that when he actually wanted to understand something in Bardon's IIH where the sentence seemed to make no sense, he would "meditate on it". He would make it center of his meditation and gain additional understanding.

I have no idea how to accomplish this, but I know people have meditated on phrases from the Tao Te Ching or the I Ging, Buddha's writings or Bible scripture, and so on. It seems to me they touch onto the energy behind the actual words which connects back to the set of ideas these words derived from. Instead of taking the expression of the idea they go back to the idea in the abstract and can then form a different expression from it they can understand.

I know how such a process works for emotion. I have touched upon emotional energy and every time I touch the energy I get a new interpretation, a new way to express it, a way to say what the emotion means, to describe it, understand it. But how do I obtain a similar grasp on a concept, a sentence?

I have a specific problem with the sentence "holding it in your mind" often used in this context. Does that mean repeating the sentence? How can I focus on a line in a book and make it a focus? Continuously contemplating the concept in thought? Visualise something your mind associates with the object and try to keep the picture?

I'm looking for a way to meditate on a thought, concept, sentence, something abstract or mental. A way that works for me, which is maybe the problem in this.

So, what do you gals and guys do when you crack such a mental nut in meditation?

On a sidenote, as I think it is related: How do Zen scholars meditate on a koan? Do they just repeat it?

Thank you all,
Oliver