MEDITATION
An Inquiry into the Self
James Swartz
©1999
1.
MEDITATION
The Joy is Not in the
Object - Meditations Who Am I?
Experience verses Knowledge
The Waker, Dreamer and Deep
Sleeper
A Simple Technique
2.
THE BAD NEWS
The Samskaras - Ego
and the Inner Enemies - Desire
3.
THE PATHS
Action – Knowledge – Meditation -
The Ropes - Diet and Lifestyle
4. THE PATH OF LOVE
Ill-Considered Facts - See God in Everyone -
Love Games - The Goal
5.
FINE POINTS
The Integrated Person - Pure Mind
The Nature of the Self - The Means of Knowledge
Enlightenment Sickness
INTRODUCTION
Meditation is a specialized activity, practised
by a minuscule fraction of the world’s population. Humans have always
meditated, but the science of mind that arose from what must have been a highly
individual endeavor, developed into a comprehensive body of doctrine and
technique before the time of Christ and provided the spiritual root for the
Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Buddhist, and Vedic religions. The earliest extant Vedic work, a codification of ideas floating
around for more than two thousand years, one that established meditation on a
‘scientific’ footing and is still the definitive work today, the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, dates from the period just before
the Christian era. Meditation’s techniques evolved experientially,
not from religious belief. The first meditators were dedicated scientists,
exploring the subjective kingdom with the same dispassionate spirit that gave
birth to modern material science.
Doctrines of identity and transcendence distinguish meditation
from religion. The doctrine of identity holds that the Self, the object of
meditation, is directly experiential and therefore knowable as the innermost
being of the meditator. Fulfillment is not to be found in the details of
individuality or in the subjugation of a limited identity to a Divine
Personality, but by identifying with the nameless, formless source of life.
The doctrine of transcendence urges the meditator to go beyond
his or her objective and subjective limitations, the body and mind, and find
fulfillment in Self knowledge. ‘Beyond’ does not indicate a journey
to a distant physical or heavenly state, but refers to the process of
overcoming the limitations imposed on one’s experience by unconscious
conceptions about oneself and the world.
Identity and transcendence need not be taken as beliefs but as
theories verifiable by experiment. The East’s preeminent place in the
spiritual world is directly attributable to the development of a vast body of
technique confirming identity and transcendence.
The tree of meditation is firmly rooted in the spiritual, not
the psychological, sky. The details of a specific existential situation, the
childhood, for example, are not taken to be the direct cause of suffering.
Instead they are seen as a symptom of a pre-existing spiritual ignorance. And,
therapy or not, unless the underlying ignorance is erased by the knowledge
arising from direct contact with one’s source, the Spirit or Self,
suffering continues.
People have always had problems, but neurosis as a cultural
phenomenon was evidently not a major part of ancient life. It seems, however,
to coincide with the decline of religion and the advent of material science.
These changes brought on the industrial revolution and the atomization of life,
initiating the individual into a world...formerly filled with religious and
moral certainties...of tremendous complexity and insecurity.
With religion in decline and science in the ascendant Freud came
on the scene and introduced the idea of therapy which was based on his
remarkable but belated discovery of the Unconscious, the storehouse of
psychological dysfunction. Freud’s somewhat primitive views, which
fortunately have been greatly modified, threatened to become a quasi-scientific
religion for a small percentage of the intelligentsia and dominated the way the
West looked at suffering for the better part of a century. Meditation is not
therapy but has therapeutic benefits because, as the mind empties and calms,
the roots of neurosis are exposed.
Any virtuous soul can practice religion and the general
population can benefit greatly from the plethora of therapies available today,
but meditation is and will always be for the few, not because its view of life
is elitist, but because success depends on qualities not widely distributed in
the general population. Until evidence that the personality is integrated
enough to conduct a serious self inquiry appears, meditation is impossible and
will not lead to Self Realization.
Nonetheless, all attempts to find subjective solutions to
life’s uncertainties should be encouraged. Faithfully practised,
spiritual arts develop a healthy personality. Even uninformed attempts at
meditation are useful, since results are not solely attributable to
qualification and self-effort but to the all-powerful and compassionate
Intelligence that ultimately guides and influences our quests.
The burgeoning international interest in subjective solutions to
the problems facing us encouraged me to write this text. But need alone does not
supply the character and understanding required to solve the riddle of
identity. In fact, the so-called spiritual world suffers from the same decline
in moral and intellectual standards evident in the general population. Because
it has little inclination to study the ancient texts and modern teachers seem
more inclined to pass on imprecise, idiosyncratic and trendy versions of the
ancient wisdom, the need for an accurate and impersonal expression of the
science of Self inquiry is immense. Without a rigorous, clear and comprehensive
understanding of the basic issues, theories and techniques, the subjective
search for happiness is little more than a frustrating, haphazard emotional
pursuit of vaguely defined and largely unattainable goals.
The logic and structure of the ideas presented below...as well
as the ideas themselves...are drawn from humankind’s vast store of
eternal wisdom and should not be thought to belong to a particular individual
or culture. That their flavor is decidedly Vedic is a consequence of the fact
that my personal quest, by no fault of my own, led me to
The experiences, positive and negative, that motivate the search
for lasting happiness come in many forms. Each has its beauty, yet will never
be more than a peculiar and limited expression of the Self until it assumes its
place in the universal bouquet of transcendental wisdom.
It is hoped that this modest attempt to clarify a sometimes
mysterious and profound body of knowledge and provide an impersonal context for
the personal view of oneself will be helpful for those who wish to solve the
riddle of their true identity.
MEDITATION
The Joy is not in the Object The
business of life is the business of happiness. Because we feel limited with
respect to happiness, everyone is fully engaged every minute trying to attain
happiness. When I take a job, fall in love, read a book, eat a meal, go to the
dentist, pray or meditate, I expect the activity and/or its results to make me
feel better than I do at the moment. No matter how good I feel I can always
imagine a state of greater happiness. If I am miserable, my actions will be
calculated to remove or lessen the misery, a situation I view as an increase in
happiness. When a better state is inconceivable, I refrain from activities that
might compromise it. The world’s tropical beaches are packed with people
flat on their backs, not moving a muscle. Everything is done for the sake of
happiness. Some accumulate money, not necessarily for itself, but for the
happiness it supposedly brings. Others seek happiness in life threatening
sports because they produce a high, an aliveness
beyond the normal state. We ingest chemicals, pills, drink and drugs to change
our state of mind for the better. Belief in God is not intended to make one
miserable. Nobody gets married to suffer. At first glance happiness seems to be
the result of activities. I jog, garden, meditate or ski and feel happy. But if
happiness were in an activity, the activity should produce happiness for anyone
who performed it. Giving away millions makes philanthropists happy. Letting go
of a dime is anathema to a miser. A granny who knits for fun will not take
pleasure in bungee jumping.
Can happiness be achieved getting and possessing certain
objects? A man divorces his wife because she seems to be the cause of his
misery but before the ink is dry on the divorce decree he finds her in the arms
of another...who sees her as his darling bundle of
joy. A steak makes a carnivore happy, a vegetarian unhappy. In spite of this
sad fact we slave overtime to get happiness through objects and activities.
Some try to attain happiness through the mind. Poets,
writers, artists and intellectuals find happiness playing with thoughts and
ideas, feelings and emotions. Professionals, convinced that sustained happiness
can be gained through knowledge, subject their minds to years training and
their lives to untold sacrifices.
A tiny minority, spiritual questers,
try to find happiness by disciplining themselves with prayer, meditation, chanting,
breathing or ‘processing’ to achieve altered or high states of
consciousness.
The psychological world believes happiness can be attained
by removing subjective barriers...disturbing experiences and memories, self
limiting concepts and unforgiving thoughts lodged in the subconscious mind.
Limitation of Object
Happiness
Both approaches, the physical and the psychological, share
the belief that self effort can alter the objective and subjective factors
inhibiting happiness and bring about greater happiness. Conventional wisdom
supports this view and the kernel of truth it contains probably accounts for
the universal attempt to get happiness by changing our objective and subjective
worlds.
Why do we feel happy when we realize a goal or obtain a
desired object? According to spiritual science, all activities are caused by a
split from our natural state of happiness, a separation that engenders two
apparently contradictory instincts, fear and desire, which cause many
disturbing emotions. Beneath every desire a fear lurks, behind every fear a
desire. If I don’t get what I want I will be unhappy. Avoiding what I do
not want makes me happy. So the fear of unhappiness is just the desire for
happiness. These two primal forces...which cause attraction and repulsion,
attachment and aversion, likes and dislikes...color every aspect of our lives.
The many subtle and gross fears and desires playing in the
mind stem from a deeper need, the need to be free of fear and desire,
the need to be fulfilled or happy. When I say I want a new car or a new lover I
do not actually want the object. I want the happiness apparently wrapped up in
it.
Removing the Wall
If happiness or unhappiness does not come from objects, it has to be
coming from me. If this is true,
why does it seem to come from objects? Because the attainment of desired objects or
the avoidance of feared objects temporarily removes the wall of fear and desire
separating us from the Self, the source of happiness. When the dam breaks our
lives are flooded with happiness, from the ecstasies of love to the pleasure of
a cup of coffee.
When a fear or desire is removed, the mind
associates the happiness with the object rather than with the removal of the
subjective limitation. That human beings are universally attached to and frightened
of physical, emotional, and intellectual objects confirms this poorly
appreciated truth.
At one time or another almost everyone believes people
love is happiness. As long as the love object gives and receives according to
the subject’s special needs everything is fine. But as soon as the object
stops cooperating, the love dries up and the removal of the object is then
thought to make one happy. Why does the love dry up? Because the idea that it
was coming from the object acted like a switch which closed the door between
the mind and the Self, effectively cutting off contact with the inner source of
love.
That switch, the
belief that the joy is in the object, can also pull down the wall. For example,
loneliness often causes us to fantasize an ideal someone who is capable of
removing our unhappiness. When reality presents an
approximation of the fantasy, the wall encompassing the inner ocean breaches
and love cascades wildly into the heart, producing the experience of happiness.
Because the process is unconscious and takes place instantaneously, the love
seems to be coming from the object or an interaction with the object, but the
person is only a catalyst, a trigger activating the inner switch.
Let us argue that since everyone’s innermost nature
is happiness/love the joy is in the object, in this case people. True,
love is all-pervasive and has to be in the object, but since objects invariably
impose conditions on their love, we cannot count on it to make us happy. To
avoid this trap I should understand that though love is in everyone, I can only
rely on it when I have realized that it is my own Self. To do
that I need to sacrifice the fears and desires separating me from my own
happiness/ love. For example, people are happy in deep sleep because
objective and subjective limitations do not hamper their experience of bliss.
An Important
Definition
What is an object? Spiritual science
divides creation into two apparently separate categories: subject and object.
Though many subjects seem to exist, there is only one, the Self, and many
objects. An object, therefore, is anything perceived or seen, including the
instruments of experience, the senses, mind, and intellect. So
objects include physical forms, activities, sensations, feelings, thoughts,
ideas, beliefs, opinions, memories, dreams, and states of mind...like desire
and fear. All our life experiences, solicited and unsolicited, are
objects. Objects are not conscious but the Self, the Seer, is. Though egos
are subjective with reference to the objects they experience, they are objects
from the Self’s point of view. The appearance of many individuals is
caused by an unconscious association of the one Self
with many bodies. One aim of Self
inquiry is to remove the belief that the joy we seek is in objects.
Object Happiness not
Permanent
If you are not convinced that
happiness and unhappiness do not reside in objects and activities, you will
probably agree that object related happiness is impermanent. If permanent
happiness were attainable by possessing and enjoying objects, the desire to
have another object would never arise once the desired object was attained.
Conversely, if permanent happiness were attainable by the removal of an object
(including states of mind like negative feelings), we would never have to rid
ourselves of another object. But experience shows that desire for and fear
of objects continue, often increase, with their possession and enjoyment. I
may want more of them, less of them, or something else altogether. One day I
may even want something I previously believed would make me miserable. The
satisfaction of my desires and the removal of my fears does
not leave me permanently satisfied. For example, people who associate happiness
with a certain object, say a drug or alcohol induced
state of mind, try to achieve that state over and over, up to and often beyond
the point were it no longer yields pleasure. Nobody is ever permanently
satisfied by a successful sexual encounter or any other supposedly happiness
producing object or activity. In fact, happiness producing objects and
activities often suddenly produce unhappiness. The confusion about the nature of
happiness and unhappiness with reference to objects suggests that the question
of happiness and unhappiness must be centered on me, the subject.
Am I whole and complete and therefore immune to the pull
of objects, or am I an incomplete being, one desperately in need of things to
complete me? Having eliminated objects as the source, a
confusion still exists about my nature, prompting further analysis. When
I think about it I can see that sometimes I am happy and sometimes unhappy.
After careful consideration I can confidently conclude that happiness is
natural to me because I always cling to it when I have it. And when I am
unhappy the reverse is true; I try feverishly to rid myself of it. Therefore, if I am happy by nature, do
not consistently experience happiness, and know it does not come from objects
and activities, how would I attain it?
I know that through effort I can attain something I do not
have, but how would I attain something I do have? When she answered the phone
the secretary put her pencil behind her ear. After a lengthy conversation
during which many important subjects were discussed, she began searching for
the lost pencil. A co-worker asked why she was agitated and, on discovering the
reason, revealed the pencil’s location. In this case, the physical search
was ineffective because she had the object all along. And she found it the only
possible way...through knowledge. Similarly, if I do not know happiness is my
nature, the discovery will only come through knowing, not through doing.
Meditation, an inquiry into happiness, is a method of Self discovery that can
lead to knowing.
What is Happiness?
Let us capitalize Happiness to
distinguish it from object happiness. Like its synonym love, Happiness is
difficult to define. Often only negatives suffice. Happiness is the absence of unhappiness,
pain, suffering, sorrow. A kind of neutral blank state? No, not at all. One feels very good but the feeling is
not connected with the presence or absence of anyone or anything. Happiness is
a causeless, objectless, unspecified sense of well-being. Though not an
emotion, it uplifts the emotions.
But are not feelings temporary?
Feelings are fleeting but the ‘feeling’ of true or real
Happiness is not. ‘True’ means it lasts forever. ‘Real’
means unchanging, undying.
Happiness is the sense that nothing is missing or lacking on any level,
inwardly or outwardly; that, no matter what, one is perfectly equipped to deal
with whatever life has to offer.
Happiness is the feeling of endless possibility, invincibility, and
unqualified freedom seen in children before they’ve been compromised by
conditioning. Happiness is
wholeness, completeness, an unshakable conviction that nothing can be gained or
lost. Even if someone or something very dear is taken away, one is
undiminished. Happiness is the
knowledge that one is more powerful than all the objects in the world and all
the thoughts in one’s own mind.
It is the knowledge that no separation exists between oneself and the
world, between oneself and others. Happiness is
unconditional disinterested love for the sake of the beloved. It is fearlessness, fullness,
inexhaustible inner abundance. And the absence of desire. Especially the
absence of desire.
Happiness, beyond the
intellect and unaffected by time, is ‘the peace that passeth
understanding.’
Happiness is Consciousness, our very essence, not thoughts
and feelings, but the Awareness1 illumining thoughts and feelings,
the ‘State of Meditation,’2 the Self, an unshakable
identity beyond the body and mind.
We meditate for the same reason we engage in any activity:
the belief it will make us happier than we are. So the only question remaining
is: does it work? Does it produce temporary or lasting Happiness?
1. Because we have been conditioned to
think of Consciousness as mind or thought-flow (‘stream
of consciousness’), it might be helpful to refer to It as
Awareness. The mind is Pure Consciousness taking theform
of perception, thought, feeling, memory, will, etc... like
an ocean taking the form of waves.
2. Because Consciousness is non-dual it has
no ‘states,’ but it seems to because of the projections of the
mind. See ‘The Waker, Dreamer, and Deep
Sleeper’ later in this Chapter. Thinking of it as a ‘state’
is attractive to those who have a problem with Consciousness as God, a consciousbeing. However, ‘states,’ as we
ordinarily understand the term, changeand are also
not conscious. The Self is unchanging and conscious. It is being, but not a
being.
MEDITATIONS
(a) The Blank Mind
An idea that never seems to die says the
‘state’ of meditation, the state of permanent happiness, is a mind
free of thoughts. Whoever gets credit for this theory is a mystery. Perhaps the
author analyzed deep sleep and concluded that where thoughts and emotions were
absent limitless bliss was present. Ergo, if thoughtlessness works in deep
sleep, why not transpose it to the waking state?
Two facts somehow got lost. If you want to be happy, go to
sleep. And, limitless bliss is already available in the thought free
‘state’ of meditation.
The ‘peak experience’ phenomenon lends
credence to the blank mind theory. During these experiences the mind stops
inexplicably and the individual feels wonderfully focused, fearless, peaceful,
powerful, awareful and loving. Many of the
definitions of Happiness in the above list apply to peak experiences. When one
feels excellent, one would like to ‘maintain’3 the
feeling forever. I once encountered a young Japanese man in the ashram of an
Indian yogi who claimed his mind stopped as he skied down
In the thirty years I have been involved with meditation I
have never met anyone who permanently attained the thought free state of mind,
with the exception of a man who botched his suicide and ended up in a permanent
coma. This is because ‘stopping’ the mind is an egoic activity. The
results of ego’s activities are limited because ego is limited.4
Additionally, the mind is just a bundle of thoughts and
feelings and the desire to stop the mind merely another thought in it. How will
it eat up the existing thoughts? In fact it will fatten, not starve, the mind.
Finally, how will we work out what needs to be worked out
if the mind is not available? True freedom and lasting Happiness are only
attained through the knowledge ‘I am Happiness Itself,’ an
impossibility with a non-functioning mind.
Still, a modified Blank Mind theory can produce a reasonably peaceful mind.
That certain thoughts and feelings apparently cause suffering is well documented.5 For
example, desire is the primary link in a chain of inherently frustrating mental
phenomena that disturb the mind and generate endless ego-centered activities which
in turn cause vasanas6 that recycle the desire. Refusing to act out ten percent of one’s desires over time
results in a corresponding reduction of mental, emotional, and physical
activity and a ten percent increase of peace. Also, many thoughts and feelings
are quite wonderful, do not conflict with happiness and need not be eliminated.
So the application of a soft version of the Blank Mind theory can eliminate
much suffering.
3. Happiness or meditative states of
mind cannot be ‘maintained’ because they are not under
anybody’s control
4. When the Self is realized, however, It is experienced as thought free. If the Self is empty and
I am the Self, I experience silence, peace, love,power, etc. no matter what the mind is doing.
5. Actually, identification with
unhealthy thoughts, not the thoughtsthemselves,
causes suffering.
6. Subconscious impressions. For a
detailed discussion of the vasanas see Chapter II.
(b) Happy Thoughts
Most meditation theories are not as radical as the Blank
Mind. Not many are willing to go to the trouble of stopping or controlling the
mind for limited happiness. Another theory suggests replacing unhappy thoughts
with happy thoughts. Affirmations, a popular modern
meditation practice, involves making positive statements about oneself
or the world. This approach, which is rather like watching a sunset, seems
easier than going for a blank mind, but creating and maintaining happy thoughts
is hard work, so happiness is held hostage to incessant effort. Since personal
effort and its results are limited, the happiness produced by this technique
would necessarily be limited.
And when you think about it, creating happy thoughts is
actually just another way of saying ‘I am unhappy’ and thereby
reinforcing the view of oneself as an incomplete being. When you are happy,
unhappy thoughts are not a bother. Supposedly the happy thoughts crowd out
their unhappy companions, but negative thoughts and feelings should not be
dismissed out of hand because they indicate what needs work. In fact, because
mental and emotional pain is a symptom of a much deeper complaint, the
separation from the source of happiness, trying to correct the symptom without
addressing the cause is ultimately futile.
However, visualization, a happy thought variant, which utilizes
the mind’s tendency to think in images can help
purify the mind. Since relative happiness is proportional to the degree of
mental and emotional purification, any technique that cleans the mind is
useful. Whether such practices lead to lasting happiness is questionable.
Many New Age visualizations invented by neophytes
and created solely from imagination, beyond an immediate feelgood
factor, are spiritually pointless because they are not based on a clear
understanding of the relationship of the psyche to the Self. Symbolic images
need to be powerful Self archetypes, the contemplation of which clears the mind
and brings single-pointed attention to the Self.
The meditator who cannot relate to the sophisticated
visualizations offered by Eastern religions should at least study their
underlying psychology before attempting his or her own.
The most common type of visualization involves contemplation on an enlightened
being, a god or goddess.
The purpose of creating a god or goddess-like figure in
the center of one’s consciousness is to symbolize the god and/or
goddess-like nature of the meditator, the state of pure Meditation. A god or
goddess is essentially a human being endowed with qualities of compassion,
wisdom, discrimination, dispassion, radiance, power, and beauty, qualities that
are undeveloped in the meditator.
‘Center’ refers to the Self, the center of
one’s being, and indicates what is most essential. Put a smile on your
goddess and you are symbolizing bliss, our innermost nature. Crown her to
contemplate on the dominion the Self enjoys over your thoughts and feelings. A
many armed god symbolizes the Self’s infinite capabilities, Its power to accomplish anything. A sword in one hand could
indicate discrimination, the ability to separate the real from the unreal. A
staff means authority, support. The Self is the ultimate authority and our only
true support. Your deity’s posture needs to suggest grace and poise and
its gestures invoke reassuring and kind feelings. A kneeling figure represents
devotion, a reclining one, peace. Colors play an important part in
visualization. Gold, for example, symbolizes spiritual wealth; blue, infinity;
red, the fire of knowledge or the heat of meditation; green, healing. A natural
setting symbolizes the Self as the most natural aspect of oneself. A figure
sitting on a high place indicates the exalted, witnessing nature of
Consciousness. Put your god and goddess in sexual union to symbolize
Enlightenment, the union of love and wisdom. Or create an androgynous figure to
indicate gender transcendence. A god treading on or seated on an animal might
symbolize transcendence of the lower nature.
As you meditate on your God or Goddess imagine
that its mind is the essence of perfect wisdom. See immaculate rays of light
emanating from its heart dispelling unforgiving and self limiting concepts.
Mentally prostrate to your creation, offer loving feelings, and ask that it
guide you to Enlightenment.
(c) Mantra Meditation
“Meditation is the uninterrupted
thinking of one thought.”
Patanjali
Mantra is a variation of the ‘happy
thought’ style of meditation.7 A mantra is a spiritually
charged sound syllable or syllables which, when repeated with feeling and full
awareness, can purify the nervous system, eat thoughts and feelings, and awaken
the mind to the source of happiness, the Self.
Mantra meditation is based on the idea that thought
is natural to the mind and that the type of thoughts determines our knowledge
and experience. According to this theory, the mind becomes what it meditates
on. If it constantly thinks of a pleasurable or painful experience, for
example, it will become painful or pleasurable. If it meditates on the Self, it
will come to know and experience the Self. However, for the mind to accurately
think about an object, it must know what and where the object is. Therefore, before
it can successfully meditate, it must be turned away from objects and fixed on
the Self.
Mantra first represents the Self with a sound symbol.
The mind is then trained to concentrate exclusively on that symbol. When the
concentration is perfect, the symbol dissolves into the Self. The feelgood factor is the upside and the downside of mantra
meditation. Mantras are composed of ‘seed’ syllables,
fine vibrations that activate the bliss aspect of the Self. Unless there is an
inclination to chant endlessly, chanting is a limited solution to the question
of lasting happiness. Yet bliss calms the mind and aids concentration. When
concentration is highly developed and directed to the Self, Enlightenment is
possible.
7. For more on mantra see ‘Mantra and
Visualization’ later in this chapter.
Mantra as Contemplation
Mantras have specific spiritual meanings, the
consistent and deep contemplation8 of which can lead to liberation.
Chanted daily by tens of millions worldwide, OM NAMAH SHIVAYA is a
popular mantra. What does it mean? The first word,
The second word, one found in many mantras, is namah. If
1.
Contemplation on the inner meaning, not the mere verbal repetition,gives the mantra
its power.
2. The meaning of
The Effect is the
Cause
Thinking of oneself as an unlimited being is not
delusional. Certainly the body and mind are limited, but the essential
Consciousness, That without which we do not exist, is
non-separate from the Consciousness in everyone and everything. How far is the
wave from the ocean?
If
10. Pronounced ‘She-vai-yuh.’
(d) Insight Meditation
Insight meditation11 requires neither a blank mind, generating special imagery or
repeating a mantra, but trains the mind to dispassionately observe the
phenomena constantly appearing on its luminous screen. This ancient and
respectable meditation trains the meditator not to identify with, react to, or
act out samskara-motivated12 impulses. The realization
of the impermanence of all phenomena and the discovery of the non-existence of
ego that comes from dispassionate observation causes knotty problems to
unravel, freeing the mind of limitations. An unlimited mind is a happy mind.
The theory is sound, but will the mind remain free as a
result of such a practice? Only when the Unconscious,13
the source of experience, is emptied. Because the quantity of stuff in the
Unconscious is unknown, fulfillment may be postponed indefinitely. Secondly,
although problems are solved, what is to insure that one will not generate new samskaras
and therefore new problems? The Unconscious is not merely a passive memory
like intellect, but it is a dynamic mechanism that recycles everything created
by the ego/mind entity. Only by neutralizing the vasanas, the seeds
sprouting from past actions, a Herculean task, can the mind be freed.14 Furthermore, to ‘maintain’ the round-the-clock
awareness that might make the technique work in the long run is virtually
impossible.
Finally, if witnessing is the result of splitting the
mind, training one part to observe the other, the split will need to be healed,
so witnessing meditations eventually have to deal with the removal of the
witness. If witnessing is maintained by effort, the benefits will cease when
the witnessing stops, the witness being a self-appointed voyeur who, for
reasons of its own, keeps an hard eye trained on the
mind’s seductions.
Still, vipassana, which
mimics the power of Consciousness, is based on a scientific fact: when you
watch something for an extended period, awareness turns around and becomes
aware of itself, the Witness.15 Practiced with an inquiry into the
nature of the Witness, it can awaken one to the
knowledge ‘I am effortless Awareness. I am happiness itself.’ Short
of that, vipassana is an excellent,
though arduous, technique for purifying painful samskaras16 and
attaining a relatively peaceful state of mind.
11.
Known as vipassana, a technique dating
back to the time of theBuddha and before.
12. Subconscious formations. Related to vasanas. See Chapter II.
13. See Chapter II.
14. The method for insuring against creating new subconscious impres-sions is explained in the Karma Yoga section of
Chapter III.
(e) The Gap
Another
theory defines meditation as attention on the space between thoughts or the gap
between the waking and sleep states. That, contrary to
appearances, nothing in the universe is substantial is the basis of this technique. A material object, though seemingly
solid to the senses, strings out into waves and completely loses form on closer
analysis. Similarly, the mind, which is capable of thinking only one thought at
a time, is an apparently opaque flow of thought. Yet gaps exist between each
thought...a moment after a thought ends its successor begins. Since the
omnipresent and all-pervasive Self is the substrate on which the mind dances, It pervades the space between thoughts. Therefore, if the
unconscious karmic pressure that jams up the thoughts were reduced, the
thoughts would slow down and bring about a heightened state of awareness
allowing the meditator to see into the gap and realize the Self.
The
idea combines nicely with mantra, a conscious thought. Most mental
activity is unconscious patterns of quasi-logical associations specific to the samskara sprouting in the mind at any time.
Associative thinking, where one thought connects to another like a link in a
chain, is spiritually useless because the mind can end up anywhere. But mantra
is a specific conscious thought about the Self introduced into the mind in
place of everyday thoughts and practiced with a gap. If the mantra is
not simply interjected between random thoughts, or chanted on top of the samskara-produced associations, but allowed
to absorb the mind’s energy and become the only thought, stopping it
stops the mind momentarily and, at that Moment, if attention is directed to the
gap, the Self in the form of Silence, Peace, Light or Energy, is experienceable.
1. The Self.
2. The purification techniques are
discussed in Chapter III.
(e) Pay Attention!
A final theory, one that makes a good deal of sense, is
meditation as attention. Attention is not a specific thought but the flow of
awareness to a particular object like the flow of oil through a wick to the
flame. In this type of meditation, of which an example will be given later, the
attention is moved from the sense world to the breath and finally fixed on the
Self.
Who Am I?
Whether it comes through a meditation technique or another
avenue, the rediscovery17 of oneself as effortless Awareness
beyond the mind rather than a watching ego or the watched mind is
Enlightenment, the goal of meditation practice.18
‘Beyond’ doesn’t mean somewhere else, but the Awareness by
which the ego/mind is known.
The relationship
between the Self and the mind is sometimes likened to the relationship between
the sun and the moon. The moon-like mind is a seemingly sentient bundle of
inert tendencies, thoughts, and feelings because it is illumined by the
sun-like Self, the radiant Spirit.19
17. Because the Self is the most essential
part of our experience, It isknown. However, owing to
the pressure of the samskaras, the mind extroverts and forgets the Self,
so when one ‘realizes the Self’ or ‘attains
Enlightenment,’ it is never a new experience but a ‘re’cognition, a‘re’discovery,
or a ‘re’awakening.
18. Enlightenment and Self Realization are synonyms. However, in spiritual
literature the constant experience of the Self by a purified mind iscalled either Self Realization or Enlightenment. A
slightly subtler andfinal stage in which the
meditating mind ‘merges’ into the Self is also termed either
Enlightenment or Self Realization. In the first stage theSelf
is the object of meditation and in the second the mind is the object because
the meditator has ‘merged’ into the Self. In reality there is no merger
because the meditator is already the Self. Stage two follows effortlessly from
stage one as long as the mind holds steady on the Self. The transition is
effortless because the mind understands that the Self is the source of
limitless happiness and clings to it with a vengeance.
19. Capitalized words are roughly synonymous and refer to the Self.
I Am The Light of the World
Though
the Self cannot be accurately described, It can be
known because It is us. Always present and accounted for, Consciousness is the
most familiar and essential part of every experience. However, because it
cannot be objectified, we do not know it the way we know ideas, emotions or
sense objects, aspects of outer reality known through media. If we are looking
for the lasting happiness that comes with liberation, even knowledge of
scripture will not do the trick because it would only be inferential, conditioned
by how an admittedly ignorant intellect interpreted certain ideas. If Self
Knowledge is not mediate intellectual knowledge what kind is it?
Experience Versus Knowledge
Knowledge takes place in the intellect but not all knowledge is
‘intellectual.’ Intellectual knowledge is knowing
of something about which one has no experience. Knowledge not backed up by
experience is not knowledge. It is opinion or belief. However, concluding that
because knowledge can be intellectual, it is spiritually useless,
is foolish, because the intellect definitely needs knowledge to make an inquiry
into the Self.
For knowledge to happen the mind needs to contact an object of
knowledge. Contact with the object is experience. But the knowledge half of the
experience only happens if the intellect is alert and paying attention to the
experience. For example, if the ego is completely wrapped up in the feelings
and sensations arising during an experience, the intellect will not work
properly and knowledge will not happen. For this reason accident victims cannot
accurately report what happened, for example. A similar phenomenon occurs in
commonplace situations when intense concentration on something prevents
knowledge of events taking place in the immediate environment.
It stands to reason, therefore, that if the Self is the object
of experience, and I am so ‘blissed out’
or excited when the experience is taking place that my intellect is turned off,
I will be unable to know the Self.
Because the intellect was unavailable during Self experience,
many are left with vague and often confusing feelings of wonder and are not
freed of the craving for experience that is the signature of Enlightenment.
When you realize that you are the Bliss you are experiencing, experience
continues but the longing for blissful experience dries up.
Often a mystic experience of the Self in the form of a vision of
God or a particular deity leaves the impression that the Self is the deity, or
that the deity caused the experience. However, since experience of the deity is
fleeting, when the deity is not manifesting, a craving for its return dominates
the mind, even though Self experience is actually going on all the time
‘at a deeper level.’
Whether
the Self can be an object of experience is the subject of a long-standing
spiritual controversy. Some claim It cannot be
experienced, others that It can. If Self Realization is described as an
experience, a transaction between subject and object, it is a peculiar
experience. Ordinary experience is a straightforward interaction between a
human being and its world. If the mind,20 consciousness with a small
‘c,’ is a gross and limited transformation of Pure Consciousness,
how will it fully know or experience Pure Consciousness, the Self in its
subtle, unlimited form? Just as the senses cannot experience the mind, nor the material world the senses, the mind/ego entity
cannot ‘experience’ the Self.
According to spiritual science even the material world is a
transformation of Consciousness. But as Consciousness involves Itself with Itself as matter, Its ‘light’ or
awareness seemingly gets absorbed into the objects and, on the physical level
at least, apparently stops shining. For example, even though light reflecting
off my body falls equally on a mirror and the black wall on which it hangs, I
will only see myself in the mirror. The Self is also seemingly absorbed into a
mind clouded with emotion and thought, making It unexperienceable for all intents and purposes. It can,
however, be ‘experienced’ in a mirror-like pure mind.
The non-experience school claims that humans are two-tiered,
existing on one level as a subject interacting with objects, which necessarily
means experience, and on another as Consciousness, the ‘light’21
illumining experience. So in scriptural literature you will find definitions of
the Self as transcendent, beyond, uninvolved, and unattached to anything. It
will be described as living in its own hermetically sealed world, the shining
world of knowledge, unaware of anything other than itself, or alternatively as
the witness of outer events.
Many who are unaware of this fact incorrectly believe the ego
will experience the Self like it experiences everything else. So to save them the grief of trying to obtain a mind-blowing cosmic
enlightenment experience, the knowledge people point out that the Self is not
that type of experience. Mind-blowing blissful cosmic experiences, which
come by the grace of God, sometimes in conjunction with conscious spiritual
practice, sometimes quite unsolicited, are simply mind-blowing blissful cosmic
experiences, reportable only because they are observed by the Self which as
disinterestedly watches non-mindblowing unhappy
mundane experiences.
Thinking of Enlightenment as an experience also opens the
meditator up to the problem of maintenance. When the ego enjoys a pleasant
experience like the Self, it always feels that the experience should continue
indefinitely. Apart from the fact that the Self is out of time and therefore
not subject to disappearance, no ego experience lasts forever. If I am unaware
of this I am tempted to see if I cannot ‘maintain’ the Self
experience. On the other hand, knowledge requires no maintenance. For example,
the knowledge of one’s name does not interfere but politely remains in the
background as one goes about one’s business, effortlessly popping into
consciousness on demand. Moreover, Self experience cannot be made constant
because the Self has no handles. How can the ego, which is a limited form of
the Self, hold onto the unlimited Self and make it deliver a particular
experience? Additionally, Self experience cannot be maintained because it is
always present and self evident. The one who mistakenly wants to maintain the
experience is already the Self.
The experience of egolessness is a
common definition of Enlightenment. Aside from the obvious
fact that experience needs an experiencer, an ego...except the experience of egolessness...what happens when the sense of separateness
returns? Is the Self no longer available for experience? It is because It is the only possible experiencer, witnessing both the
prior experience of egolessness and the present
experience of ego. If it weren’t witnessing, how would egolessness be known? Therefore, Enlightenment does not
require any particular experience. It only requires that I remove the notion
that I’m not already the Self.
Knowledge has it that the Self is everything. Therefore It is the experiencer, the experienced, and the
experiencing. It is never apart from us. If this is so, thinking in terms of
experience is spiritually unwise because it may actually prevent one from
finding out who one is. For example, if someone
experiences the Self for a period of time and the experience stops, the person
might be heard to say, “I was the Self for two days.” Fair enough,
but from this point on the experience becomes an acute source of misery because
the Self is no longer available for experience.
Where did the Self go? It did not go anywhere because it is
always present. What went (or never happened) was the knowledge ‘I am the
Self.’ This knowledge needs to happen if the experience of the Self is to
set you free. In other words, I am not the victim of a lack of Self experience
but of the dualistic belief that ‘I’ experience something other
than my Self.
If the idea of pure knowledge is too stark and unforgiving,
perhaps it will help to think of Self-Realization as a knowing experience.
Knowing is as much an experience as any physical or psychological transaction
with an object. To distinguish it from knowledge of an unexperienced
object or knowledge by perception and inference, Enlightenment is called
‘realization,’ which means ‘to make practical or real.’
Making the Self real simply means allowing the knowledge that one is a partless whole to destroy one’s sense of limitation.
Self Knowledge will definitely make sense of the whole of
one’s life, since the Self is the only factor present throughout all
one’s diverse experiences. Additionally, the idea that an ignorant experience-hungry
ego can properly appreciate the overall meaning of his or her life on the basis
of the knowledge gained from disparate experiences is ridiculous. A gem dealer
visited a flea market where he found a huge uncut opal on the table of a man
who had picked it up on a camping trip, thinking it was just an interesting
rock. For ten dollars the vendor relinquished the opal, which subsequently sold
for two million dollars. Both vendor and customer experienced the rock, but
only one knew its true value... because knowledge was operating in his mind.
Where is this knowledge going to come from if I don’t have
it already? I do have it already but not in the form of opinions and beliefs
about the meaning of my experiences. It resides secretly in the Self and is
made available to me in at least two interrelated ways: through the teaching
tradition and through meditation, direct contact of a tutored and purified
mind with the Self. The techniques for gaining this kind of mind are
revealed in Chapter III. Vedanta, the teaching tradition, uses a very clever
method of thinking in a formal meditative setting to remove the notion that one
is merely a limited experience-conditioned creature. If the knowledge enshrined
in this text were properly understood and used as the basis of a discrimination between the Self and the Not-Self in the
seat of meditation, Enlightenment may happen.
That experience does not always lead to true knowledge is
another dimension in the ‘experience versus knowledge’ debate. For
example, from the point of view of someone standing on the equator the sun
seems to rise in the east and set in the west, but at certain times of the year
the same person can stand on the North Pole and experience the sun going around
in a circle. Which is true? Knowledge has it that though apparently rising and
setting with reference to the earth, the sun is actually stationary and it is
the earth that turns. Similarly, if the Self is experienced at one time as a
blazing light without circumference, for example, and as a cosmic vibration at
another, which is true? Knowledge has it that the Self is the Awareness
illumining both experiences.
Another example of the contradictory nature of experience,
psychic fact, is that sometimes we experience ourselves as miserable suffering
creatures and sometimes as radiantly happy beings. Which is true? Spiritual
science claims that we are miserable, suffering creatures when we are
identified with the egoic part of ourselves and happy, adequate beings when we
are identified with the Self, an identification that is not possible without
knowledge.
Yet, we cannot discount experience because discrete identifiable
Self experiences are helpful even though Self experience is taking place all
the time whether we know it or not. Therefore, meditation and other spiritual
practices are to be encouraged. Additionally, if the knowledge of the Self did
not change one’s experience what would be the point of seeking it? The way the enlightened experience 22 the world is
radically different from those identified with samskara-projected
experience. Or, more accurately, the Self realized enjoy a
completely different relationship to samskara
projected experience than those who don’t know the Self. The Self is
an object of desire because It eliminates limitation
and inadequacy. Moreover, it is the ‘sense’ of inadequacy buried
deep within the mind that knowledge aims to destroy. When the idea that one is
inadequate is removed, one’s experience changes because what one was
previously suffering was nothing more than the idea of inadequacy. Experiencing
the Self without the destruction of the idea that one is limited is only
marginally superior to other experiences. The so-called spiritual world is
little more than millions whose knowledge of themselves as limited beings has
survived repeated experiences of the Self.
The purpose of this discussion is not to weigh in on one side or
the other of a weighty argument, but to show that we need to appreciate the
inadequacy of beliefs and opinions born solely out of personal experience. And also, because so-called ‘intellectual’ knowledge
about the Self, Its bodies and states, and the methods of purification, is
definitely necessary for success in spiritual life. Without it, the
meditator will fail to reap the sweet fruit.
Finally, meditation technique will not give Self knowledge
because techniques only produce certain types of experience. Yet a meditation
practice that creates the kind of mind that is clear enough make a disciplined
inquiry into the Self and Its vehicles is absolutely essential for
Enlightenment.
20. The mind is technically called the ‘Subtle Body’
and is known as the ‘instrument of experience.’ ‘Person,
individual, soul’ and ‘human being’ are commonly used terms
signifying the Subtle Body. The Subtle Body is explained in Chapter II.
21. Hence
the term ‘Enlightenment’ which probably originally meant a mind
aware of the light illumining it.
22. The
enlightened experience the world, their bodies, and their minds just like the
unenlightened. However, Enlightenment grants viveka,
the power to separate the meaning the mind projects on experience from reality,
the Self. Therefore something that seems real to the unenlightened may be known
to be unreal bythe enlightened.
The Waker, Dreamer and Deep Sleeper
What if I am denied happiness because I think I am somebody I am
not? The following discussion reveals the reason the ‘I’ I think I
am will only experience periodic fits of happiness, never lasting fulfillment.
As humans we have three ‘egos’ or experiencing entities.23
The waking state ego,24 is Consciousness,25 the limitless
Self, shining through the body/mind/intellect bundle experiencing both the
material world and the subtle world of feelings, emotions, thoughts, beliefs,
perceptions, ideas, memories, etc.
Everyone primarily views his or herself as a waker.
When I say ‘me’ in conversation, I am referring to myself as a
waking state entity. Our analysis will show that the idea of oneself as a
waking state entity is a belief accompanied by the erroneous conviction that
the waking state and its objects are reality.
The waker’s consciousness is
turned outward. It is the Self shining through the
senses, mind, intellect, illumining objects, emotions and thoughts. Idealistic
metaphysics’ claim that no world exists apart from the perceiver, means
that the Self does not see a world unless it shines through a body, mind or
intellect, not that the physical world does not exist. Though it exists
independently of the waker’s perceptions, the
universe doesn’t exist apart from the Self.
The waker, vishwa,
is a consumer of experience. Sanskrit literature describes the waker as ‘the one with thirteen mouths.’ The
‘thirteen mouths’ refer to the ten senses, mind, intellect, and
ego. These instruments are mouths in that, powered by the momentum of past
experiences, the samskaras, they aggressively seek experience. The
physical body consumes matter, the four elements26 in various
permutations and combinations. The mind constantly chews emotion, the intellect
eats ideas and the ego gobbles any experience it believes will make it feel
adequate and happy.
23. The teaching that follows is taken from
the Mandukya Upanishad, aVedic
text from the pre-Christian era.
24. See the bottom third of the
diagram on the next page.
25. The word ‘Consciousness’ as
defined in Vedic texts is unmodified Consciousness, i.e. the Self without.
26. Air,
fire, water and earth.
Consciousness turned inward27 is called the dreamer.28
It enjoys experience similar to the waking state in
some respects and radically different in others. In the
dream state the Self illumines only subtle
objects, a replay of the vasanas29 gathered in the waking
state expressing as mental imagery. In the waking state the vasanas30 express
as the waker’s thoughts and feelings. Like the waker, the dreamer takes itself and its world as reality.
The dreamer is equipped with the same instruments of experience as the waker: dream senses to consume dream objects, a dream mind
to emote and feel, a dream intellect to think dream thoughts, and a dream ego
to go about experiencing the dream life.31 The Upanishad refers to
the dreamer as taijaisa, the ‘shining
one,’ indicating its nature as Consciousness. Even though the waking
senses are inactive, all dreams are bathed in light because the Self,
Consciousness, is shining through the dreamer, illumining the dream world, just
as It shines through the waker
and illumines waking objects.
Sleep is defined as a state, saturated with happiness, where one
loses consciousness, does not desire external objects, does not see internal
objects, and is both Self and self ignorant.
The
sleeper is called pragnya or formless
consciousness. The sleeper is extremely subtle, virtually unknowable, its
existence inferred by the knowledge upon waking that one slept well. People
with serious problems like depression often sleep to avoid the limitations that
plague them in the waking state. Though the bliss of the Self shines in all
states, in the waking and dream states It is broken by
sense perceptions and many divisions of thought and feeling. When experience
alternates in this way we unconsciously develop a confusing idea of who we are.
The deep sleep or ‘seed’ state is free of both the
waking and dream egos and objects because the vasanas projecting them
are dormant. When the ‘seeds’ sprout, one becomes a waker or a dreamer and experiences the appropriate world.
Because we do not remember being conscious in it, the sleep
state is often thought to be a void. In fact Sanskrit literature refers to it
as ‘the womb,’ because our waking and dream worlds emerge from it.
When you wake up in the morning your whole life is consistent with the day
before, indicating that previous experience had simply entered a dormant state.
The dormant potential of the sleep state containing the macrocosmic vasanas32
is called Ishwara, the Creator, in Vedantic literature. With reference to the microcosmic vasanas33
the sleeper is called pragnya.
The sleep state is also known as the gateway between the waking
and the dream states because it functions as a kind of closet with two doors
where the dreamer can don the guise of the waker in
preparation for its appearance on the waking stage. And vice
versa.
Though they seem to be so, the three selves are not separate
entities, but are apparently distinct entities created when the limitless I associates with a given state of consciousness. Associated
with the waking state, the Self seemingly becomes a waking state personality,
suffering or enjoying the limitations of the senses, mind, intellect, ego,
Unconscious, and ignorance. The dreamer suffers the limitations of the mind,
the Unconscious and ignorance. And the sleeper, the Self apparently merged into
the unconscious, suffers only ignorance and limitless bliss.
These three states and egos are known to everyone and constitute
the totality of the limited ‘I’s’
experience. An interesting question posed by this analysis is ‘Who am
I?’ If I am the waking ego, the person on my driver’s license, what
happens to me when I become a sleeper? I willingly surrender my body, mind,
intellect and all my physical possessions to become a mass of limitless
Consciousness.
Yet I do not seem to be content as a sleeper, the blissfully
ignorant subtle being, because I sacrifice that status to suffer and enjoy the
world created by my vasanas in waking or dream states. My dreamer
identity is equally insufficient because I always leave it to become a waker or a sleeper. So my status as any one ego is
uncertain and my true identity open to question.
If identity is happiness then an ego identity will deliver only
intermittent happiness since the happiness experienced in sleep disappears in the
waking state. Dream happiness dissolves on waking and waking happiness cannot
be transported into sleep or dream. For example, one can be quite happy at
bedtime, fall asleep, and suffer a nightmare. Or leave the misery of the waking
state to enjoy a happy dream.
27. In fact Consciousness is all pervasive
and can’t turn inward oroutward. The
consciousness referred to is Consciousness
functioning as the mind.
28. The lower right third of the
diagram.
29. Subconscious impressions.
30. Chapter II presents a detailed
discussion of the vasanas.
31. The substance of the dream
field, thought and feeling, are drawnfrom both the
macrocosmic and microcosmic minds, i.e. collective and individual experience.
32. The impressions of the experience of all
beings over limitless time.Creation, according to
Vedanta, is the recycling of unmanifest
experience.
33. The personal subconscious, the
impressions of each individual.
If I am Real I Have to
Exist all the Time
The answer to ‘Who am I’ is that I am not any of
these egos or ego states. If I am real I have to exist all the time. I cannnot suddenly be someone one minute and somebody else
the next. I experience life as a single conscious being.
In fact I exist in the waking, dream, and deep sleep states
independently of the waker, dreamer and deep sleeper.
As what?
As the Self, the Awareness, and witness to the three states.
Aside from meditation, the Self is perhaps easiest to identify in the dream
state because the physical senses are inactive and no thoughts arise because of
their contact with objects. A dream plays on the screen of the mind like a
movie. Though physical light is absent, the dream ego and dream events are
clearly illumined, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as ‘lucid’
dreaming. The lucidity is the Self functioning as the
dreamer, ‘the shining one.’ However, identification with the dream
ego and its doings prevents us from properly appreciating the dream light, the
Self.
In the waking state too we are so preoccupied with the
happenings in our worlds and minds that we are unaware that both the sense
objects and our thoughts and feelings are bathed in Awareness, the source of
happiness.
In deep sleep the ego dissolves into very fine unconscious
thought, so it is denied knowledge of the Self even though it enjoys limitless
bliss.
Meditation Practice
Meditation practice is the waking state tool connecting us with
the Self, unalloyed Happiness, not the goal. Some traditions teach that
practice is both and insist that sitting should be enjoyed for itself, quite
apart from striving to attain a high state...good advice, because transcendence
is reluctant to come when called. In fact, just sitting still, thinking of
nothing in particular, waiting for a bus or driving home after work, might
cause transcendence...the experience that the body and mind are merely objects,
like the passing scene.
Contrary to popular opinion, transcendence does not have to be
experienced as an earth-shattering ‘out of body’ experience. In
fact, though no one seems to notice, we are already always beyond our bodies
and minds. Meditation practice should strip us of the identification with the
body and mind, allowing us to appreciate the natural separation of the Self
from its vehicles.
Aside from the goal, meditation is practiced for psychological
and physical benefits: increased energy, heightened senses and reactions,
strengthened immunity, improved intelligence, creativity, efficiency, power,
pleasure, discrimination, dispassion, sense of purpose, peace of mind, expanded
awareness, selflessness, compassion, and others.
What to Expect
Without a powerful technique to quickly lift the mind to the
level of the Self, meditation practice is difficult for two reasons. First,
until the idea that it should be entertaining is abandoned, practice is deadly
boring. The realization that some part wants to sabotage the meditation is a
large marquee advertising the whereabouts of an ego whose craving for excitement
can quickly derail practice. The ego likes action and entertainment and will
only grudgingly cooperate since meditation moves it from the center to the
periphery of one’s consciousness.
Second, observation makes the ego feel exposed and vulnerable.
Born in the darkness, unappreciative of scrutiny, it will certainly crank out
an incessant stream of distracting thought and feeling throughout the
meditation. Because of its mindless belief in the virtue of self-validating
work, no matter how ill-conceived or illogical, it needs to be given something
to do.
Which accounts for the popularity of active
over witnessing meditations. Active meditations keep the ego busy thinking
holy thoughts, saying calming words, or visualizing ‘spiritual’
images. Because it bores quickly, its least preferred activity is watching the
breath or mind. Sooner rather than later, the meditator who listens to the ego
will consistently find him or her self mentally sitting on the beach sipping a
coke, reading an adventure novel, and working on a tan.
Allowing the ego to preside over meditation practice puts the
fox in charge of the chicken coop. Understandably, most initial
‘spiritual’ activity is ego based, but changes should evolve out of
discrimination and dispassion arising from meditative insight and awareness,
not as a reaction to suffering or ego ‘shoulds
and shouldn’ts, do’s and
don’ts.’ The monasteries, zendos, and
ashrams of the world over are populated with egos whose fundamental sense of
identity has been unaffected by the move to the religious life, not surprising
since ego transcendence is not unlike a salmon swimming hundreds of miles
upstream to spawn.
In the next chapter we consider why meditation as a practice is
so difficult to master, what causes the incessant cascading of thought and
feeling, why deep-seated complexes yield so grudgingly to awareness, and why
trying to control the mind with the ego is impossible.
A Simple Technique
Based on the idea that the mind likes pleasure and the Self is
the ultimate pleasure, the following simple technique introduces the mind to
the Self.
If holding the body upright is difficult, lying down is
acceptable as long as the tendency to sleep can be overcome when the mind
empties. Some go for the full lotus while the less physical gravitate to the
half lotus or the simple meditative poses evolved by Hatha
Yoga. In
On the mental level assume a gracious, upright, noble, pose. Get
into a sensitive, inquiring state of mind, like a botanist patiently examining
a delicate flower. The meditator should think of meditation as an afternoon on
the beach, not a shift in the mines.
With the eyes closed, settle in.
What is next?
Ask for help. Obviously, if you knew who you were you would not
be meditating in the first place, so by sitting you are really saying you do
not know anything, the most essential ingredient for a successful meditation.
Most meditators believe in a higher power, God, a spirit guide, guru figure,
the saints, the universe, ‘guidance,’ or a deity. The Self, which
knows every thought and feeling, understands the need and will respond through
the chosen symbol. The Self put the meditation idea into the mind in the first
place so the meditator needn’t worry. Everything that needs to happen
will happen.
Make a resolution to leave your worries and involvements behind.
It is good to meditate in a place not used for other activities. Feel satisfied
you are making an effort to meditate. Next, clear the mind of memories of
previous meditations, good or bad. Trying to improve a bad meditation or
reproduce a good one is futile and will agitate the mind.
After the invocation, scan and relax the body from the feet up.
If you have a hard time relaxing, use a little visualization. Imagine you are a
warm, peaceful, light-filled ball of consciousness inside your feet and expand
until the feet feel hollow. Next bore your way up the legs, hollowing out the
ankles, knees, and hips. Take your time. It may seem a silly trick but it works
because the body is actually a vast field of consciousness, not a constipated
little ball of meat. If the ‘ball’ does not work, use any method
you wish to relax your way up the legs. Because they are associated with waste
removal, the stomach and abdominal organs often carry negative energy, so spend
sufficient time working in this area. Move up and explore the chest. Its
association with the emotional center causes angry and unforgiving feelings to
lodge there, so the muscles are often tight. Scan leisurely, leaving it
light-filled and relaxed, then move up to the neck and shoulders. Much tension
accumulates here so take your time. When it’s
relaxed move out to the tips of the fingers and hollow out the arms like you
did the legs. Then redo the neck and shoulders.
The face we carry around in the world is not usually our real
face, so we need to do something to get it back to normal. Work
around the chin, mouth, and cheeks first and then up to the eyes and forehead.
You will find many tiny vibrations hovering around these regions,
so release the muscles supporting them and let them dissipate. A smile or frown
means too much energy’s been left behind. Aim for the indifferent look of
a Buddha or the peaceful face of the dead.
The idea behind all this scanning and relaxing is to prepare the
body for your exit. Think of the body as an automobile and yourself as the
driver. The driver just returned from a long day on the road, will park the car
in the garage and enter his or her home for the evening. Before you park it for
good, re-scan the whole thing to make sure it is comfortable and turn your
attention to the breath.
The Breath
The breath goes in and out nicely on its own. Simply observe it,
do not breathe consciously, although observing the breath consciousizes
it a bit. Not to worry. It will settle down and return to its normal pattern.
The point of meditation is to relax, not just physically but mentally. Watching
the breath occupies the mind with a simple rhythmic object. Because it wants
glamour and excitement, the mind quickly grows bored, but boring is good.
Learning to enjoy boredom is one of the benefits of meditation.
At this point I give the mind a challenge by training my
attention to ride on the breath. When the breath is out the attention should
flow out and when the breath comes flowing in, the attention comes with it.
Of course, the mind will wander. Pull it back and synchronize it
with the breath. It need not ride perfectly on every breath. Do not get upset
if it doesn’t work immediately. Take your time.
Meditation is not about the breath anyway. The breath is only a
tool. How long should one work with it? There is no hard and fast rule,
sometimes five or ten minutes, sometimes longer. You are looking for a sign
that the mind is getting quiet because it stills quickly as it synchronizes
with the breath.
As the mind and breath harmonize, use surplus attention to
release pent-up thoughts and feelings on the out breath. Do not relate to or
analyze the thoughts/ feelings at this point, simply pay attention to what you
are doing. Just as the out breath cleanses the body, releasing thoughts
detoxifies the mind. From a meditative perspective one’s relationship to
the thoughts is more important than the thoughts themselves. Later, when you
are seeing from the Self, you may wish to analyze them, although ultimately all
thoughts are basically useless. Do not be concerned about losing them, they
will be back. The aim is to take a little pressure off the mind, not empty it
completely.