On Meditation

The exercise of meditation is one that can be very beneficial to people. Note my emphasis on can. Humans ultimately decide what to take with them. Hopefully this short essay shall help those who are open and interested in learning.

This summer, I have adopted an almost daily routine of meditation. I find that like many things, repetition is key. But first let us start with: Why even meditate? It is used for many things such as relaxation, clarity of thought, reaching nirvana/enlightenment, prayer, and honing the Self. Despite one’s reason for meditating, the results will be positive physically, mentally, and spiritually when performed correctly.

It can be performed incorrectly you might ask? Absolutely! This brings us to the next point: How to meditate? Physically, one’s positioning does not matter in the slightest. I would recommend a sitting position, however, standing works just fine. Lying down is probably an invitation for sleep in our sleep-deprived society. A quiet place is naturally preferred as well.

Now, when actually in meditation, closing your eyes helps with internal focus. From here, there are several avenues to take. One which I enjoy is to focus my thoughts on my goal in life and to let them flow from there. Another way is to not even focus on a goal but to simply clear you mind and relax.

Lastly, there is focus on the spirit and oneness of life. Start out by aligning mind, body, and spirit if you feel that they are not already one. Decisions are made on three different levels, the mental, the physical, and the spiritual. If a person is not at peace within, then a discord is reached and decisions are different and disharmonious. Unfortunately, people tend to neglect this aspect of ourselves and even in their discord, people will listen to the mind or body almost all of the time, ignoring the spirit.

After one has reached a state of contentment within, it is time to move outward. During the second part of the meditation, join your oneness with the oneness that is larger; the cycle of life, all living things, the universe, God, Nirvana. Whatever the name, everyone and everything are interconnected. Meditation is a very useful tool to realizing this. After this level of awareness(!) is reached, one’s actions will be not only the best for themselves, but also for the Whole as well.

For beginners, meditation can be frustrating at times. It is important to remember to not force anything. If your thoughts wander, let them wander; they do so for a reason. While focusing on a goal is helpful, do not attach your happiness to reaching that goal. Think upon meditation not as a means to and ends but instead as a process. Enjoy the process, enjoy life.

Expectation

All right, forget my exam; I'm in a writing mood.


Today, it seems a lot of people spend time doing something just to "relax" or "escape from reality for a while." I know I have throughout the past 10 or more years. But why do we feel the need to relax? Surely no one would say that it would be good to spend all their time relaxing and escaping from the world. A desire to escape from reality can't be a fundamental part of our humanity, can it? What is it that we feel the need to escape from?

I believe the answer is that our attempts at "escaping from the world" are an attempt to deal with the relationships we have in which we have to fulfill the expectations of others. We naturally hate being in this position, I think. Hasn't everybody hated having to do what seemed like a very silly and pointless homework assignment at some time? We hate having to base our actions on the expectations of others, because it sometimes forces us to go against what we naturally want to do. So then the question is, how do we deal with being in this position that we hate being in?

It seems to me we deal with this situation by taking the other role in the relationship in other aspects of our life. Isn't this what we are doing when we play a video game or watch a sitcom "to relax"? Just like the teacher who says "I will accept those students who complete this certain assignment" or "work in this certain way", aren't we really saying "I will accept anyone who also watches this TV show" or "plays this video game"? I realize now this is exactly what often motivated me to spend time playing a video games and look at sports on the internet. We deal with what we hate by becoming it. In order to deal with the expectations others put on us, we in response find our escape in being the one who lays down the expectations.


Okay, I won't say anthing else yet, because I don't want posts to be too long and complicated and all and I think I've said what I wanted to say. (And I really need to start thinking about my exam in 11 hours.)

Games

What really sometimes scares me is that I could spend life doing nothing but playing games. I realize that the only reason I want to play the games is to establish relationships with other people, but this does not really end my desire of playing them. Of course, that’s all life is to many people, a series of different games: mimic what the teacher says, gain the approval of a group of people, etc.

But now, I see the foolishness in this. When a relationship is based on a game, it misses the point. Games are something that we can learn from and enjoy together. But the instant you start to play a game of any kind for the purpose of developing a relationship with someone else, you are necessarily imposing an expectation on them. This completely turns the purpose of games upside down. The presence of an expectation necessarily excludes the ability to learn from a game. All of sudden the game becomes about meeting the expectation rather than learning something about life. Relationships should never be built upon expectations, but rather a mutual trust and desire for understanding. This is the type of relationship we all truly desire.

Thought vs. Action

I've been thinking recently about what leads to action. What determines the actions we make? Most people I think would say simply the decision to do something. But if you think about this, you would see that this is not true. Have you ever decided to do something, and then just never got around to it? I know I have done this many times even when I honestly thought it was a good thing and really wanted to do it. That proves for me at least that decision does not necessarily lead to action.

When I read this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer I realized the answer:

“We have spent too much time in thinking, supposing that if we weigh in advance the possibilities of any action, it will happen automatically. We have learnt, rather too late, that action comes, not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. For thought and action will enter on a new relationship; your thinking will be confined to your responsibilities in action.”

This quote has given me a new understanding of how we choose our actions. We have no natural impulse toward any one action, because goodness can exist in any course of action. When we make a decision to do something we are merely saying "I see goodness in this course of action." This same thing can be said of just about any action that we make. Like the quote says, action comes only when we choose to accept the responsibility that comes with that action. Of course we think there are a lot of things that would be good to do; the question is what are we willing to accept responsibility for. That is what we must answer before we can change our behavior.

On Happiness

It seems to me that at the root of human dissent is happiness, or the lack thereof. This concept is so simple that it almost makes me weep. No person who is truly happy would ever do harm to another. Balance with one’s environment is easily achieved when one has balance within. It appears that most, if not all, problems are caused because people are not happy.

Wars are started over riches, land, and beliefs. The most basic of these are material goods, money, oil, etc. But the only reason that people hunger for these goods is because they believe that having them will make them happy. What they do not see is that true riches come from within. These are the riches that truly make on happy (to be touched on later). Again is the misconception that land will make on happy. This idea is quite funny considering that land cannot truly be owned. History has shown us land changing hands many times due to various reasons. People can certainly occupy a space of land, but it can no more be owned than the air that we breath. Lastly, beliefs tend to be such a touchy subject these days. I’m right! No I’m right! These concepts simply melt away with the awakened person. The awakened one is at peace because they see things for what they are. No attachments are made. Beliefs do not define the individual. Indeed, it is the other way around. While I’m not saying that there wouldn’t be some conflict if people were truly happy, the world would be a much more peaceful place.

Now, what does it mean to be truly happy? Happiness, I believe, is the equivalence of awareness. Awareness of what you ask? Awareness of life! Our society has imploded upon itself to create zombies out of people. The conditioning that subjugates people can cause them to walk through life with their eyes closed. Be aware of knowledge, attachments, and labels. All of these can stop one from seeing, for seeing is the path to righteousness, to awareness. See things and people simply for what they are. This is achieved by dropping your labels, your attachments, your preconceived notions. Once one is walking through life with their eyes open, they see, they are aware. Awareness such as this will lead, most importantly, to seeing yourself. It will lead you to drop your ideas and labels of who you are. Once one sees themselves simply for who they are, they will realize that nothing can hurt them emotionally and spiritually. How can you be hurt when you have no attachments to trivial things such as pride and beliefs? Once it is all dropped, the natural state of happiness will ensue.

It is this particular statement to which I have given thought recently. The natural state of people is one of happiness; not the common misconceptions of elation or joy, but mere happiness. Contentment might be a more apt choice of words. Just what is this particular state like? It is simply experiencing all the natural emotions of life while not identifying with them. Realizing that one is not the emotions that they experience, all worry and anxiety will fall. Only contentment will remain. And how can happiness not be the most basic feeling when there is so much beauty in the world? Not just sunsets and flowers but simply wood and rock too. When all things are seen for what they are, a sense of great wonder will prevail. Such wonder I myself experience at taking in the view of something such as grass. Live each and every day in this state of wonder through seeing; happiness will permeate your existence. That is the key.