I’ve read statements by people, in blogs and elsewhere, where they say, for example, “I meditate for 20 minutes a day.”
Please!
Meditation cannot be practiced. It is a quietude of the mind that is not made by some projected image of a central controller. There is no central controller, or “I,” or “me” that can cause meditation. Meditation is not a mere sequential effect or event (in time) brought about by some predetermined cause (i.e., by some form of causality). True meditation is timeless and is not what can occur by any methodology in (and “as”) psychological time. If you think that you are causing so-called meditation to happen for a specified period of time (each day or whatever), it is — unfortunately — a form of glorified self-hypnosis.
Real meditation is not even what one can “know” is happening. It is beyond the field of the known. One can neither practice it nor know that it is happening… and that is its beauty. But most people are so addicted to their need to categorize and “know” things that they feel frightened or insecure with not existing (mentally) as the known. They perpetually cling to the apron-strings of the known. They have to know that they are meditating or know that they are practicing meditation… all of which are not real meditation whatsoever.
Or they say such things as, “Well I am working on perfecting my meditation,”… or “I am practicing my meditation more and more each day.” Who (or what) is this so-called “I” that is supposedly doing such things? Really, if we are at all honest, it is a protrusion of thought (i.e., an image created by thought) that takes credit for being a central controller or central (mental) orchestrator, of which it is (in actuality) neither. Most people — plain and simply — are afraid to transcend the false sense of security that the primitive notion of a central “I” projects as. However, a false (fabricated) central “I” that thinks it is meditating is neither meditating, nor an actuality, nor truly central. (Past blogs that one has written explain this more; read them if confusion exists at this point.)
Real meditation may occur when the mind, without effort, is aware beyond superficiality. That means that it is not merely attached to the field of the known. The known is always limited; it is grossly circumscribed. Wisdom is meditation, a non-concocted quietness, which may happen throughout the day without deliberate intent. Then, perhaps, what is eternal, sacred, unlimited, and beyond words may enter. But it does not enter if false notions, false practices, and false images are perpetually clung to.
Real meditation can be a blossoming of the mind. But if you (metaphorically) cling to fake, fabricated flowers all of your life, nothing profound will happen.
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
Reading your post is a great way to start the day — you have a great day!
Thank you, Ken. 🙂 Probably most people neither understand it nor want to be bothered about what it is about.
Interesting analysis Tom! 🙂
Thank you, Kym. 🙂 It was written (one feels) way beyond what mere analysis can provide. The analyzer is the analyzed and this goes way beyond that dog chasing its tail. 🙂
I equate washing up as I look gormless looking out the window and missing bits on the plates… as my “meditation” of which due to a bad back today seems to be sitting cross legged in the ruddy sink! LOL
Well, it is a cleansing! 🙂 Hoping you feel better!
I do feel better, thank you. Today I will potter around and allow healing to take proper hold.
Glad you feel better! 🙂
One CAN practice being still and open … there is ample testimony from those who do that such practice that it improves the odds for elusive “true meditation” to materialize (whether during practice or at some unexpected time) …
And some of us who are not inclined to discipline “practice” when nudged by unseen forces (as opposed to by-the-clock)
I disagree. 🙂 Any such “practice” only makes the mind more mechanical and significantly duller — even enabling it to believe it experienced something — plus (like was suggested) it reinforces the barbaric notion that some central entity is causing something to make it happen. When i was in college, i met a good number of gurus from the East; it was, i assure you, a bunch of sham stuff for $. I quickly (fortunately) realized that what they were propounding was not so very different than the self-hypnosis that i studied and read about in high school.
We don’t have to agree … we certainly do not all need to follow identical processes. For me “meditation” is never regimented, never with a guru (though one might call Nature a guru and I would not argue.) You might rather call it my spacing-out reprieves. The terminology is not important – opening to something bigger than me is important … important to me. Sorry if I seemed to be challenging … intent was sharing a different perspective on an often-misunderstood word. As you point out well.
Jazz, don’t be concerned about being challenging with me; i don’t mind one bit. 🙂
What i am talking about isn’t a “process” or what can be selected from a number of “processes.”
It is still, one feels, regimented when one does it at home (without a guru) in a way that is “set aside” or “practiced.” You can never set aside awareness for a “special time”; you can never — in any real, fundamental sense — practice the living art of awareness. It would be like practicing humility… which is ludicrous. It goes on all day (and all night long)… living awareness does… and one cannot practice living (awareness); if one does, it ceases to be living (and becomes mechanical and part of some silly motive or set of motives). I think you are right about Nature being a significant factor, Nature is magical. 🙂 But Nature only goes so far (and is, after all, full of a lot of violence and conflict in many of its areas if one looks closely enough).
Your mention of the gurus who taught for $ reminded me of a favorite phrase I came up with, and may write about one day: “profits of doom.”
As for meditation, I noted this, with agreement: “Wisdom is meditation, a non-concocted quietness, which may happen throughout the day without deliberate intent.” I experience that from time to time at my work. There’s nothing like hand-sanding 60 feet of teak with attention to allow quietness to seep in.
Yes, Linda, it can happen (perhaps) while one is working, driving, or just sitting with nature. But it is never what one can decide to do or practice. There is no practice that makes it more likely to happen. It’s like humility, in a way; you can’t practice it or decide to be what it is. And, as i suggested… that is its beauty. 🙂
It is good to clear your mind – pretend it is like a blackboard and wipe it clean and start over from scratch – it keeps your mind open and receptive to all the good things you might miss otherwise. I try to leave the house like that, and not take any baggage with me. The flowers are beautiful Tom.
Thanks, Linda. 🙂
We have to be very careful with this… because the cleaner is not separate from what’s on that blackboard (psychologically), so any process of wiping (by a separate wiper) is ludicrous. If there is a wiper wiping, it is an illusory waste of energy. Just let the openness and innocence of the mind occur naturally; there is no need for any wiper or “boss” of what’s on that blackboard. One can be carrying baggage, all the while feeling that one is not carrying any baggage. So do be careful. 🙂
Meditation! I’ve never tried to “formally” meditate since it often just happens for me as I go about my daily life. I know people who love going to meditation class and it seems to help them clear their minds. I don’t know what’s better, but I think any type of mind-clearing is good. For me, it’s sitting in the garden watching the birds, pulling weeds and of course going on long walks by myself so I can stop and notice the little things we often overlook when we’re in a hurry.
Lastly, the photograph of the flowers is incredible! 🙂
What you are doing, Sabine, is probably much closer to the real thing. 🙂 Self-hypnosis can clear the mind. I studied self-hypnosis while in high school, but i certainly wouldn’t want to do it. While in college, i attended seminars given by gurus from the East. I realized that their formal meditation was really just a variant of self-hypnosis.
What i am talking about is not the same. One (kind of meditating) involves much awareness without a so-called controlling center and without any immediate motive; motive stems from thought/thinking and corrupts the outcome; the other so-called “formal kind” involves motive brought about by a fictitious center. A limited, petty, little emptiness is easy… but that is not very legitimate. Keep doing what you are doing, Sabine. 🙂
Interesting explanation. Ironic that when I started reading, I found myself wondering what you would say about “humility”.
Yes, Jane, it is like what i suggested to Jazz (above). You can’t practice “humility.” 🙂 It would be absurd to practice it. Real meditation is rather similar in this respect; it cannot — at a decided, specific time — be practiced (or made to happen). This reminds me of those blasted people who go to church on Sundays, but the rest of the week they are indifferent barbarians. It’s silly really. One, if one is orderly, is mostly aware 24 hours a day, naturally, without motive… and quietness (stillness) happens naturally often (without motive and without being concocted). Wisdom is another factor. Dead-end meditation is like saying, “I practice being wise 20 minutes a day.” It’s absurd!