09-18-2009, 08:58 AM
I have some thoughts on what it means to meditate.
I see spirituality as a transition into a new way of interacting with the world, a new operating system for your self. The new mindset is one of being instead of thinking. It is more open to the flow of energy between yourself and the rest of life. It is a much more calm and peaceful existence.
It looks to me like meditation helps you stand a bit outside your current mindset. The thoughts you see rattling around your mind are the way in which the old mindset deals with world.
In my experience it is important not to get too bent out of shape if you can’t keep your mind perfectly quiet. If you are seeing thoughts, you are already outside of them. I like to think about leaning against a wall as a good analogy. You are definitely exerting force to keep your mind still, but you are doing it in a way that is comfortable for you to sustain. You can also learn a lot by looking at these thoughts and seeing how they operate and try to deal with the world.
It also seems to me that these thoughts only exist because you used the old mindset to interact with the world. If you become indifferent to the thoughts they tend to expend their energy and fade away. Of course there always seems to be more.
I think it is important not resist thinking too much, either by pulling away from thoughts, or by suppressing them. They definitely seem to need validation from you in some fashion. I found that if I if don’t interact with them, then they tend to run out of steam. I just kind of look at them like, “Eh,, I don’t really need this to interact with the world anymore.”
I don’t think that the thinking mind ever goes away. What seems to happen is that you learn to operate from a different mindset. The old way of thinking is no longer you native operating system, but you can use it’s capabilities as your discretion.
Anyway, I don’t know if any of this makes any sense, but see if it is helpful at all.
I see spirituality as a transition into a new way of interacting with the world, a new operating system for your self. The new mindset is one of being instead of thinking. It is more open to the flow of energy between yourself and the rest of life. It is a much more calm and peaceful existence.
It looks to me like meditation helps you stand a bit outside your current mindset. The thoughts you see rattling around your mind are the way in which the old mindset deals with world.
In my experience it is important not to get too bent out of shape if you can’t keep your mind perfectly quiet. If you are seeing thoughts, you are already outside of them. I like to think about leaning against a wall as a good analogy. You are definitely exerting force to keep your mind still, but you are doing it in a way that is comfortable for you to sustain. You can also learn a lot by looking at these thoughts and seeing how they operate and try to deal with the world.
It also seems to me that these thoughts only exist because you used the old mindset to interact with the world. If you become indifferent to the thoughts they tend to expend their energy and fade away. Of course there always seems to be more.
I think it is important not resist thinking too much, either by pulling away from thoughts, or by suppressing them. They definitely seem to need validation from you in some fashion. I found that if I if don’t interact with them, then they tend to run out of steam. I just kind of look at them like, “Eh,, I don’t really need this to interact with the world anymore.”
I don’t think that the thinking mind ever goes away. What seems to happen is that you learn to operate from a different mindset. The old way of thinking is no longer you native operating system, but you can use it’s capabilities as your discretion.
Anyway, I don’t know if any of this makes any sense, but see if it is helpful at all.