I’ve been thinking to write a piece about the intricacies of meditation and why so few people truly understand the subtle elements of the true essence of meditation for the past couple of day… …I’ve been really busy with other projects, so I haven’t been blogging a lot of late. Sorry…
 
Anyway, I went out to breakfast this AM. My lady and I went to this restaurant that we visit not infrequently. As we walk in, I hear the song, Do You Remember, by Phil Collins playing over the sound system. I didn’t really think too much about it. Then, maybe ten minutes into the session, I begin to realize, wait a minute, that song is in a loop. It’s on replay. So, for the next forty-five minutes or so, the staff, the one other customer in the establishment, and my lady and I, we heard that song over and over and over again. I wanted to scream!
 
Now, for you Phil Collins fans out there, don’t get me wrong, I certainly respect the man for his accomplishments and his music, but in a loop, come on, are you kidding me! I wondered if he was getting his royality payment for each time that song was played?
 
Now, all this brings us to the point of the piece I was going to write… What is meditation? And, why do so few people truly understand the process and the practice?
 
When most people think about meditation, they envision someone sitting, with their legs crossed, and their eyes closed. And sure, that is an ideal example of meditation. Zazen as it is known in Zen Buddhism.
 
But, the vast nature of meditation is much grander than all of that. In fact, meditation can encompass so many elements of life, that there is no true hard and fast rule about what is or is not a meditation. Here. This is where the misunderstanding of meditation begins to arise. Most people only think of it as one thing. That sitting thing. But, it is much more than that.
 
Particularly and historically with the rise of Zen Buddhism in Japan, meditation began to vastly expand in its understand. Certainly, Kinhin or walking meditation is now a more commonly known and recognized practice. But, the practice of meditation fans out from there.
 
In other traditions, such as the Sufi tradition, for example, the Whirling Dervishes are an ideal example of true movement meditation.  They spin. It’s an incredible sight.
 
As you may know, I was very closely associated with the Sufi Order in my early years. And, I was luckily enough to witness the Whirling Dervishes exhibit their advanced meditative skillset in a very small and intimate setting. It was incredible!
 
This is the thing, I could go into all kind of examples of the various forms of meditation: known or unknown but it would all come down to one factor. That factor is, meditation is what you choose to make it. Yes, you can follow the longstanding teaching of meditation, like Zazen, Mantra Meditation, Wall Staring, and all of those. Or, you can view the more nuanced versions. But, if you do not meditate, if you do not take the time to consciously separate your mind from the chaos of life, then all you are is dominated by your desires, your whims, and the emotional exploitation shifted onto you by others.
 
So, here’s the question… Can you quiet your mind? If you can, great! If you can’t, why not? And, if you do not try, if you cannot do it, do you not understand that you are missing one of the greatest elements of your human life, the removal of all of that chaotic rumbling around causing you to lose your peace.
 
There are many schools of meditation that teach their practitioners to listen to a sound and be drawn into it.  So, is listing to a Phil Collins song over and over and over again a meditation. If you make it so, if you choose that as your pathway, the answer is, yes.  If not, it is just purgatory.
 
And here is the Truth Point, if you can consciously and purposefully choose your mediative path, anything can become your tool for silencing and focusing your mind. But, you must make a very conscious, very precise, and very practiced technique. You must do it all the time, or it becomes nothing more than a Mind Game.