clarity of meditation

["darktemplarssj" <whited4@...>]

Hello, I'm new here. I've been studing Bardon's method's for about 
3 monthes now but some of his comments on meditation 
in "Introduction to Heremetics" are a little ambiguous.
First, is "holding a single thought in your mind" the same as 
visualizing a simple object like a triangle or square? If not I am 
not sure what the second part of the Magical Mental Training in part 
I is asking? could it be more of an intense feeling? I know this 
is a hard question to awnser, any thoughts would be useful.

Also there seems to be a gradient of clarity during my meditations
(when I am attempting part 3 of step I, the evacuation of any 
thoughts from the mind) and I have been wondering exactly what level 
of concentration is necessary for the completion of this step.
It seems to be that there are about 4 levels of clarity
1)an intensly outlined picture, I rarely get these anymore and only 
for a second at a time.
2)a stream of thoughts with no accompaning pictures, This happens to 
me now and then, maybe once per 5-10 mins of meditation, but it 
happens for around 10-30 seconds at a time.
3) Pictures that are seen but are pushed out of the mind so quickly 
that they are barely considered, does this count at a "thought"? 
This happens to me fairly frequently, maybe once per 30 seconds.
4) perfect clarity, this is where you have an absolute mental 
vaccum. I can usually maintain this for between 10 and 30 seconds 
then I will usually have something from #3 occur then return to this 
state.

The way Bardon states it the hermeticist must maintain state #4 
unbroken for 10 minutes or nearly so. This seems a bit difficult 
for this stage of development doesn't it? I would expect it to take 
1 or 2 years to attain that, am I doing something wrong or 
interpreting him incorrectly?
Thanks alot for any comments you guys can make
-Dave