Meditation

Meditation is a beautiful thing. It is all revealing. It is not what people commonly think it is. Real meditation is the most simple technique that can be applied. Meditation is not meant to bring the mind to stillness, or eliminate thought. Meditation is a practice of being, being still, being with intense energy maybe, ultimately though it’s being with ourselves.

For every single one of us meditation is going to mean something slightly different. Who you are being with is different than who I am being with as I sit on my meditation cushion. When a person sits, it is best that they do not try to make themselves into something, it is no good to forcefully make ourselves into little Buddhas or little Christ’s.

Compassion is a very high virtue. Something exercised by all saints and something that should be exercised by all leaders. Compassion was what Jesus was, and is no easy feat. So often we allow ourselves to misunderstand the symbolism of who our role models are, this becomes especially easy as they die, and lay buried years gone.

Meditation is compassion and as such is a living example of how to be in the world. As the great sages of the past have died, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Jesus, Buddha, they have left a legacy, and we can choose how we look at their existence. Initially we see them for what they did. However if we take a page from their book and look deeper, we can see how they lived. These people were not individuals that aspired to greatness, they instead lived virtuously and greatness found them in their humble dwelling, and they fearlessly rose to greet it. Our greatest leaders are the most fearless warriors, and held their behavior like any enlightened monarch should.

These individuals lived a meditative existence, and escaped the clutches of materialistic existence.

Meditation is beautiful. As I have said it is simple, and not trying to do anything. Seated meditation is as easy as it is hard. It is simple because it is not trying to be anything, and it is difficult because it creates space where everything will come up!

Just as my teachers have taught me, I want you to sit like a king, or a queen. The posture is that of royalty. Our shoulders are back and down, our chest moves forward and lifts, and exposes our brave heart to the world. Traditionally the legs are folded indian style with the hands gently resting on the knees. It is the same position that a good king would hold on his throne, no?

The posture and the breath are intertwined here. The good posture happens naturally, and so does the breath, inhale we may choose to remind ourselves how our posture is, exhale we let everything soften. Inhale into the body, exhale dissolve. Inhale feel the body, exhale let go with the mind. It is a gentle practice, and very compassionate to our existence.

It is important to note that we are not training ourselves to have blank minds, or to act like our teachers or their teachers. We have thoughts, minds and emotions, and without space, reflective existence or introspection, we lose the ability to honor our very own existence! We do not need to buy anyone a fancy car or nice watch to honor their existence, the most wholesome recognition of another’s existence comes without frills.

Meditation is how we learn to do this beginning with ourselves. We can cheerfully acknowledge who we are, our thoughts emotions, and existence. We need not be dependent on another for recognition, as we love ourselves, we love the world.

With meditation comes a path many have traveled, well cataloged and shared, there are pitfalls and risks along the way, but generally speaking, if you were a person that was going to become lost on the path, you wouldn’t starting to begin with. The thing is we all have a secret knowledge of the self, and meditation is just waking up to our own subtle process, tuning into who we are. Nothing new is being created, the attitude of fearlessness and compassion exists without support, we may need a little help to scrape away the mud from the lotus flower, but the lotus flower blooms all on its own.

As a dear friend I ask you, sit, come to know yourself, let the dignity of your existence come to show itself as fully as this human existence allows. Walk away from the deceiver, let fear come and go. You have nothing to lose, and a life to gain.

If you decide not to meditate after reading this that’s okay too. It’s only suggested, and not absolutely necessary. If that’s the case remember the attitude. Meditation is only a part of the attitude of wakefulness.

We can develop a positive attitude. I like to think of it as a “we can clean the world” attitude. I like this better than a “we can save the world” attitude because it is realistic! The world may or may not need saving, however everything could stand to be a little cleaner, and lets not forget the fact that real saviors always have terrible things happen to them. We start where we are, we can be cheerful because we can clean our world up! We can make thing nicer!

It is essential to start where we are. We meditate where we are, we practice  attitude where we are, for when we spend all of our time trying to be somewhere else we wash out all the beautiful subtle experiences of now, and now is the only place were we can be ourself.