Being at peace is a state of mind and body
Some notes from a recent expedition to the inner worlds of consciousness, where feelings are born and thoughts weave the tangled web of our perceptions. Yes folks I went to learn how to meditate at a center here in Ontario as I've been doing every few years in an attempt to learn how to purify my mind ... why?
When the mind becomes quiet, the soul can express itself directly by filling your life with grace and clarity of purpose. Until then it lies chained in the depths of your consciousness, drowning in the sensory overload of your thoughts and feelings and cannot even begin to surface from this deluge to set you free ...
How does the mind become quiet? Well that's the purpose of meditation. You learn to witness your thoughts, your feelings without getting caught up in trying to control your experience.
Sounds a bit difficult doesn't it. It is indeed very difficult but if you are seriously interested in discovering how to gain insight or as Buddha said "to awaken" you have to learn how to meditate. And this can only be learned by doing. Not by thinking about it, not by discussing it, not by imagining it but actually by doing it. What do we have to do you might ask ... well you have to learn to sit quietly, for ten days not talk to anybody else, and watch your thoughts wander as you try to focus in first on your breathing, and then later on the various sensations your body is experiencing second to second, moment to moment from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, slowly, carefully and attentively. This workshop gives you solid, detailed instructions as you go from session to session from Day 1 to Day 10 and it's a surprisingly liberating journey for those who take it seriously and follow the instructions diligently. But what's astonishing is that even for those who are not scrupulous in their observance of this act of witnessing their mind at work interpreting the various sensory inputs, it is still able to help them cleanse themselves of various psychosomatic issues such as migraines as has been reported by participants. But need I say that the motivation for learning meditation should not be constricted by narrow goals or we will end up remaining trapped in the realm of our shallower desires forgetting that our soul has deeper longings than wishing for an end to aches and pains, and it's these rooted values that form the core of our existence and it's this we need to get in touch with if we are to be liberated from our day to day confusion about what we really want or what we are really about ... well anyways felt that it would be the right thing to do to share what I managed to understand about this process of meditation and I have no hesitation in recommending this because the organization behind this is not a religious order, nor do they have any pecuniary considerations at all whatsoever. It's offered free to those who are interested and all they ask is that you work with them for the ten days you are there, sitting quietly and focusing on your breathing and your sensations, and in the evenings understand how this process begins to work to help you discover and release your automatic responses to things you crave or detest which form the basis of our negativized attitudes towards circumstances in general and situations in particular.
Because when you learn to be free of negativities you can then truly learn how to kindle love in your heart. Because when you plant these seeds of love, it is not just you who blossoms but everyone that's interacting with you. The whole world is lit up when even one of us become fully awakened, fully enlightened. Because as you practice meditation you will also discover that deep down all of us share the same consciousness. We are in the process of becoming who we are as individuals, inevitably fragmented into so many different aspects of this consciousness we lose sight of our deepest desire .. to come back together as one again, enlightened, grown through our challenges to a state of higher being. We don´t know who we really are, or what aspects of ourselves we should identify with or believe in as we learn to deal with the world in gross terms, such as careers, material milestones that can serve to help us measure us against everybody else etc. So many contradictory voices, dictates, and feelings fight for control over our inner lives that we find ourselves scattered everywhere, in all directions, leaving nobody at home.
Meditation, then, is bringing the mind home.
If you're interested in learning meditation you can go to the following website to inform yourself and/or to register for a ten day course.
http://www.dhamma.org
No comments:
Post a Comment