Meditation - Why Specifically?

      In the previous post, I used phrases like "true nature," "lack," and "profoundly satisfying quality of life." We could have a long, interesting conversation about any one of these. Some friends tell me that they find such concepts baffling, and feel uncomfortable talking about them. Other friends tell me that they value my blogs because I'm the only one they know who discusses such depths of human experience.

     It's becoming increasingly 'normal' to be so swept-up in our contemporary culture of consumerism & materialism that little or no time & energy remains to seriously investigate the deeper, more meaningful aspects of life. This is despite the fact that for over 20 years we've known that after we have sufficient food, shelter, & clothing, additional material gains have minimal impact on well-being. Those who nevertheless continue to focus on accumulating wealth & material possessions, are "at greater risk of unhappiness, including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, & problems with intimacy—regardless of age, income, or culture." Tim Kasser PhD "The High Price of Materialism." Bradford Books, 2003. 

     And many of us are not even that interested in accumulating more stuff. But decades of conditioning to prioritize only "things" we can touch, manipulate, control - leaves us with the impoverished notion that "the physical" is exclusively what life is about. All else has long been ridiculed & dismissed as "soft," "unscientific," old-fashioned, superstitious nonsense.

     So if you feel that your life seriously lacks some essential ingredient - as many of us do - the answer is not likely to come from working even harder & longer, more social media, more & finer food/drink, bigger/finer home, more expensive toys, more trips of a lifetime, or exploring exotic, dangerous 'experiences'! 

     Since we've run ourselves ragged doing more & more of what doesn't work (the definition of madness), and have possibly irreversibly ruined the earth in the process, isn't it time to seriously try a different approach?

     “Our civilized existence is a contracted kind of consciousness.” Ralph Metzner PhD

     “Part of becoming more conscious is that we start to understand the human condition more and have more compassion about it. We start coming from our heart instead of from our head.” Adyashanti

     “In the ‘ecozoic era’ into which we are moving, our worldview will shift from seeing the world only as a ‘collection of objects’ to seeing it also as a ‘communion of subjects.’ Thomas Berry PhD

     "A self-transcendent orientation unlocks worlds of possibilities." Adyashanti

     Perhaps a healthier, more sustainable way of life is exemplified by (healthy, mature) grandparents and how they nurture their beloved grandchildren, in a holding environment of safety & unconditional love. This is a model we can all relate to, at least theoretically, even if our own childhood was far from ideal. We can also envision how the (healthy, mature) owner of a puppy or other pet, or how a gardener, provide all that the pet or plants require to flourish, without the recipients ever having to earn continued loving attentiveness. Perhaps the simplest, most readily apparent model of nurturing is how our left & right hands help the other - as if they were one and two. An attitude of loving-kindness, and the nurturing behavior that tends to flow from it, is what we as individuals and as a global community desperately need right now.

"Everything you do right now ripples outward and affects everyone.
Your posture can shine your heart or transmit anxiety.
Your breath can radiate love or muddy the room in depression.
Your glance can awaken joy.
Your words can inspire freedom.
Your every act can open hearts and minds." David Deida

Embracing Paradox

     "Intimacy with all things" includes apparent paradoxes. Here's a striking example of this from a learned, seasoned explorer of consciousness, Ralph Metzner PhD:

     “I came to a new understanding of the two key mottos that run through much of the alchemical literature of the European Middle Ages. 
     One of these is natura naturans – ‘nature doing everything naturally.’ This is also the fundamental concept in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, as well as in western Hippocratic and indigenous medicinal practice: that the body basically heals itself, and we just need to support that process. We can rely on our primal, unconditioned, instinctual mind to sustain our health and well-being as we go through the life cycle from conception to birth, youth, maturity, old age, and death.
     The other motto, equally pervasive in the alchemical literature, is opus contra naturam – ‘the work against nature.’ This image and motto seemingly contradicts the first one. It avers that in order to really wake up and become conscious we have to practice working with mindful intention against the inertial pull of the unconscious sleeplike habits of everyday life. Gurdjieff and other masters of the so-called Fourth Way, as well as some teachers in the Sufi, Zen, and Taoist lineages, are often identified with this way.
     D.T. Suzuki (1980) wrote: ‘What is awakened in the Zen experience is not a “new” experience but an “old” one, which has been dormant since our loss of innocence … The awakening is really the rediscovery or the excavation of a long-lost treasure … the finding ourselves back in our original abode where we lived even before our birth.’ ”

      Ralph Metzner. “Searching for the Philosophers’ Stone. Encounters with Mystics, Scientists, and Healers.” Park Street Press, 2018.