Meditation
Meditation used to be an esoteric practice for spiritual growth, but in recent years it has entered the mainstream and has become diluted, distorted and sometimes over-complicated. It is now commonly used for stress relief and relaxation and is being promoted as a way to bypass life’s difficulties. It is being used to relieve the symptoms of an ego-driven life, but it was originally intended to be a way of dis-identifying with the ego-self and developing a deeper connection with our true-Self. Meditation is not supposed to give us a break from our troubles; it is supposed to help us connect with the root cause of our troubles whilst simultaneously dis-identifying with the beliefs that we are our troubles (e.g. I am angry, anxious or depressed). Basically, meditation helps us to experience the infinite nature of Self and the ephemeral nature of ego.
So what exactly is meditation? Meditation is practising presence; it is practicing present-moment awareness; it is experiencing what is arising without any judgement or agenda. It is as simple as that. Hundreds of books have been written on how to meditate but they are largely unnecessary, because meditation is not something that we “do” – meditation is pure “being”. All it requires of us is to stop doing everything and just notice what is occurring, within us and/or without. It is that simple, but it is not that easy.
Undoing decades of conditioning is not easy. Stopping the mind from analysing and judging is not easy. Stopping the emotions from reacting to our thoughts is not easy. Stopping the body from becoming restless or uncomfortable is not easy. The good news is that we don’t have to do any of that – we can just let it all be. Perhaps the biggest misunderstanding about meditation is that we have to be mentally, emotionally and physically calm. This is not true. Trying to achieve it is incredibly difficult and can result in a lot of unnecessary frustration and suffering. Striving to achieve inner peace by attempting to control the mind, heart and body can actually take us further away from our goal. Meditation is all about letting things be. If we stop resisting the mind, heart and body they will quiet down naturally – not through our efforts, but through our non-effort. Meditation is not about being calm or blissed out; it is about being present and aware. Calmness and bliss are not the goal, but they are often pleasant by-products.
It is the nature of the mind to think thoughts, form associations and make judgements – they are its purpose for being. Yet some people on the spiritual path try to quiet the mind, repress the mind, or stop the mind in the hope that it will allow them to become more spiritual. Actually, the problem does not lie with the mind at all (which is just doing what it is supposed to do); the “problem” is with our awareness. We do not need to train our minds to become quieter; we need to train our awareness to be less affected by and less identified with the contents of mind. The same applies to our emotions and desires. The mind must be allowed to think, the heart must be allowed to emote and the body must be allowed to feel. Trying to repress them is almost impossible, but noticing them with conscious awareness and feeling them with conscious presence stops them from getting out of control. The spiritual path is not really about our physical, emotional and mental bodies; it is primarily about developing and refining our soul body (or causal body).
Meditation is about observing, feeling and welcoming whatever arises, even if what arises is resistance, boredom, restlessness, mind-chatter, critical thoughts or all of the above. If these things come up we simply notice them and feel them without any agenda (to stop them) or judgement (about them or about ourselves). Distracting thoughts and emotions are not enemies that must be vanquished; they are wise teachers that we can learn from. Whatever arises is an experience through which our consciousness can grow and evolve; even if, on the face of it, it seems unpleasant. That is just the ego’s subjective view – the Self is completely objective so it doesn’t judge these things as good or bad. The Self isn’t interested in controlling or changing things. The Self just wants to experience all that life has to offer, “good” and “bad”, and experience it fully. Meditation is practicing being our Self.
Meditation involves observing and feeling with an open mind and an open heart; without thinking, analysing, judging or trying to change it. Meditation is noticing “what is” and surrendering to “what is”. Surrendering does not mean a passive detached “whatever” attitude. Surrender means active and engaged presence – it means being with it fully; not being absent.
Meditation is focused presence; not mindless absence. It is not about being in a spaced out trance; it is about being present (here and now), more than we are normally. Presence is our natural state of being, but we have forgotten this because we are too busy thinking and doing – we have forgotten how to just be. Meditation helps us to return to our natural state; it trains us to simply be.
Just stop for a few moments and simply be. In this still quiet space, our false sense of self falls away; all of our troubles fall away; there is no suffering – there is only being. Do that 24–7 and we can end all of our unnecessary suffering. Meditation involves practicing this state of being so it becomes second nature; so that it becomes our default state of being. Meditation is practicing “being” – anything more complicated than that and it is not meditation.
Many so-called meditations give the meditator (the ego-self) a task to do, such as counting the breath or repeating a mantra. These practices aren’t actually meditation; they are a type of mindfulness. Meditation is about “being”, not “doing”. It is about identifying with the true-Self, not the ego-self. Meditation is the practice of consciously “being” so it does not involve “doing” anything. These other practices are fine, there is nothing wrong with them, but they will not help us to discover our true-Self.
Meditation isn’t a means of achieve anything; it is merely a way of realising presence and pure awareness. Meditation involves noticing that pure awareness is present, feeling that presence and being that presence. With meditation there is no goal, so there is no expectation. If you expect that meditating an hour a day for 20 years will take you to enlightenment, you will almost certainly be disappointed because you are fixated on an ego goal which is never going to lead you to your true-Self.
Meditation is not about trying to achieve pure awareness, nor is it about practicing pure awareness (although it does involve this). Meditation, in its purest sense, is simply being pure awareness. It is about experientially knowing that we are pure awareness. It is about “being” who we are as much as possible and “doing” as little as possible. So don’t try to manipulate your experience in any way – just be with “what is”.
I am going to build on the glass half full analogy to describe what makes an effective meditation: A glass (our awareness) that is half full of water (mind, emotions and body) is also half full of air (soul). The contents of the glass remain the same whether the water is still or unsettled, so meditating to still the psyche (mind, emotions and body) is of little benefit. The real benefit of meditation comes from raising our awareness from the everyday level of the psyche to the higher/subtler level of the soul (i.e. aligning with Self). Admittedly this is easier when the psyche is still, but it is by no means essential. It doesn’t really matter if our mind, emotions and body are all restless. If we sit in pure awareness and simply notice the turmoil within us, without trying to change it, we will benefit from the meditation. All meditation is beneficial and effective, whether it feels like it or not. If we meditate without any agenda, expectation or judgement, we will reap the benefits whether we know it or not.
Meditation vs Mindfulness
Mindfulness and meditation are highly beneficial practices: mindfulness for personal development and meditation for spiritual / transpersonal development. The main difference between these two practices is where our attention is focused:
- Meditation: During meditation our attention is primarily on the pure background awareness of our soul (the cinema screen).
- Mindfulness: During mindfulness our attention is primarily on the content of our mind (the moving pictures on the screen).
One of the goals of mindfulness is to clear and calm the mind. This is not a goal of meditation because meditation has no goals. However, by not focusing on the content of our minds we are no longer encouraging the mind to keep bringing us more content – so meditation does indirectly result in a clearer and calmer mind.
The Benefits of Meditation
Meditation has been the central practice in almost every spiritual and religious tradition for thousands of years, and will quite rightly continue to be so for millennia to come. Regular meditation will enrich your life, develop your consciousness and cultivate abilities that will benefit you now and in the future. Some of the direct and indirect benefits of meditation are listed below:
Figure 20: The Benefits of Meditation
The presence, pure awareness and essential qualities that we cultivate in our daily meditation practice gradually percolate through into our daily lives. Being present and surrendering to “what is” is a lifelong practice – in meditation and in life.
The next article explains How to Meditate
