Meditation is the willingness to return to balance, clarity, depth, or centeredness–equanimity by any name.
“The absence of struggle is in itself freedom”–Chogyam Trungpa.
“The effortless state is the state of realization”–Ramana Maharshi.
Moments of meditation (dhyana) are “colored” by the texture or feeling of the preceding moment. If the preceding moment is agitated, dhyana feels like peace. If the preceding moment is depressed, dhyana feels light. The experience is most often interpreted afterward by pre-existing schemas instead of simply utilized for opening the sense of self.
Mindfulness is nonjudgemental awareness of the living reality of this moment. Mindfulness deconstructs the force behind narrative threading without denying connections. So mindfulness builds towards appreciation of this world or freedom from constraint. Intentional mindfulness opens the self. Experiencing openness gives the mind evidence that the self need not be conscribed by history or limited by circumstance. In other words, openness shows that potential is part of who we are. Realizing this to any degree injects life into thinking at the same time as deprioritizing one’s opinions.
In order to begin well, it seems sensible to begin with tranquility meditation. In order to continue to reap benefits other than just comfort, it seems important to develop the ability to stabilize attention or focus–to concentrate. In order to concentrate well, it is helpful to learn to concentrate or direct one’s intention instead of forcing one’s efforts. Intention may be discovered without any great show of force. So meditation is more the intention to be present rather than an attempt to get high in some way.
In order to actually benefit from meditation, instead of using it as a crutch or a drug, it is necessary to develop insight. Insight may be pursued through the practice of vipassana (insight or analytic meditation) and by enacting compassion in the world.
Any process involving agency is an exploration of change. If we don’t buy into particular interpretations of meditation before trying it out for ourselves, we have the option of expressing agency and intention in what we do or focusing on exploring who the doer actually is and whether that doer is more adequately experienced as a doing. If agency is delegitimized, we lose appreciation for part of our potential and usually lose some appreciation for this world. In my opinion, it is unnecessary and usually harmful to attempt to diminish the ego rather than putting one’s effort into being present and balanced.
“By making your standpoint that of wisdom, the world will be seen as only God.”–Ramana Maharshi.
Meditation may be very simple. Siddhartha Gautama recommended that people cease to do evil, learn to do good, and purify the heart. Meditation may be described as the way to achieve this “standpoint of wisdom”. One of Maharshi’s suggestions was, “Turn your look within and make it absolute.”
Copyright Todd Mertz