Why Meditation?
Someone once asked the Buddha skeptically “What have you gained from Meditation?” The Buddha replied, “Nothing at all”, “Well then, Blessed One, what good is it?” “ Let me tell you what I have lost through Meditation: sickness, anger, depression, insecurity, the burden of old age, the fear of death. That is the good of meditation, which leads to Nirvana”.
The practice of Meditation holds the power of bringing us back to a state of simply being. Like a tree basking in the sun, it is our most natural state of existence, it is a state of love and to practice Meditation properly, requires an active practice in the act of love.
In our Western society, many people carry the belief system or understanding that they are doing Meditation ‘wrong’ and the common consensus is “I can’t stop thinking” and generally… from there, people give up the practice. You see, our brain is the most incredible, complex and advanced tool we could wish to have, Meditation is not about ‘not thinking’ but it is a practice that calls in devotion for the long game.
Our greatest pandemic in this time and society is disconnection. We have the entire world at our fingertips, we are absolutely spoiled for choice in ways to distract, numb and avoid ourselves. Meditation demands the exact opposite of this, it invites us to come exactly as we are and to sit with it.
What meditation asks of us is to listen, to surrender and to become comfortable in holding ourselves there, it is an active practice for ourselves in compassion and acceptance, this is why it is an act of love and brings us back to this state.
Meditation is not about controlling our thoughts but it does become about no longer letting them control you. We can begin to shift ourselves into a state of graciousness when it comes to our self observation, we can allow what needs to bubble up to the surface rise and we learn how to respond rather than react. Most of our stress comes from the way we respond to life - not the way life actually is.
There is a common idealism of the Monk meditating on top of the mountain in the tree tops and this visualisation is filled with peace but what we forget is the Monk had to climb his way to the top of the mountain top - through the jungle, fight the tigers, pass the shadows and to finally reach that horizon of stillness and quiet. We can’t all find our way to the mountain top though… so how do we find our peace amongst the roar of chaos and hustle in the modern marketplace?
This is not about the external, it is about the internal work. This is the long game because through consistent practice and showing up for yourself no matter the weather, block by block and day by day, we build the safe haven and sturdy structures of a home in the heart we can always return to. We get comfortable with being uncomfortable, it is not happiness we find there but contentment and this, this is the ultimate Nirvana. We not only gain a portable energetic reset wherever we go, but resilience and the tool to self regulate, this is our piece of peace in the marketplace.
When we can pull the breaks, slow down and bask in ourselves, we are also harnessing our skill of pure presence, to be life meeting life in real time not confined by the past or future whirlpools of our minds. We can disconnect to reconnect, like pulling the plugs out, turning off the switch to turn back on again. When we are not constantly hooking onto the outside world, we can finally listen to the inner wisdom and knowledge our bodies and intuition are constantly feeding us.
Simply, the deeper that we are connecting to ourselves, the deeper we will be able to connect to the world around us and especially as a practice in compassionate acceptance we can only move closer to our true nature, our most authentic self. This ultimately becomes a magically magnetic and beautiful mirror, where we then allow others to be their most authentic selves as well.
