Common Sense Guide To Meditation #1 Feet On The Ground

John Butler introduces the 'common sense' guide to meditation - feet on the ground, look and listen. People often ask "How can I come to stillness?" In this guided talk, John gives very simple practical steps on how to come to stillness. "Meditation is really very simple."

Transcript

At the School of Meditation in London, Where I was first taught the practice, Well over 50 years ago, We were told, This wasn't at the beginning, Mark, This was after we'd already been practicing for some time, The aim of meditation is union. Well, I didn't know what that meant at all, And I didn't, To be honest, Care for the answer because there was a lot of things in life I didn't want to be unified with, So I didn't pay much attention to the answer, So if it doesn't make much sense to you, I wouldn't worry. What is the purpose of it? Well, If I was to ask you what you really, Really want, Deep down in your heart, More than anything else in life, I wonder what you'd answer. And not everybody gives the same answer, Of course, But if you just bear in mind what that answer would be for you, It might point you in the right direction, But this approach that I'm going to introduce to you today is something that would be appropriate for almost everyone, And I'm going to start with my old friend that you've heard before, Please don't switch off with boredom, Keep your feet on the ground. Seriously, Feel your feet on the ground. No doubt you're wearing shoes, So just wiggle your toes and just move your feet a bit so that you engage with the ground, And feel the movement of your feet against the stillness of the ground. Now, Many people ask me, How do you find stillness? Well, This is a good start, Isn't it, Because the ground is still. So, Do it again, Just wiggle your toes once again, Connect with the ground, And become aware of the depth of stillness that is beneath our feet, Which supports us, Which bears us through all our trials and tribulations, In sorrow and in joy, Is always there, With sure help, From the cradle to the grave, Without fail. There you are, Mother Earth. Even if you're in a high-rise apartment, It doesn't matter, The principle's the same, The floor beneath your feet, Or the ground, Or the naked earth beneath your feet, Is still, At least in relation to the agitation that is such a feature of our minds. Feel your feet on the ground. Immediately it stabilizes you, Doesn't it? It brings in some comfort. It sort of holds you. Feel your feet on the ground. And here, No doubt, You'll encounter, In a way, The problem with meditation, Is that when one has a simple requirement to keep your feet on the ground, The mind finds it extraordinarily difficult, For more than a few seconds, To just do that. If it darts in some direction or another, What's it mean? What's he asking me to do? Any fool can do this. Well, It's quite true, Any fool can. There's nothing complicated about meditation, I assure you. It's the simplest thing in the world. So, Come on, Come back. And if it's five seconds before, Let's try and do six or seven seconds this time, Shall we? Or even ten seconds. A lot of people ask for a guided meditation. Well, This is how it starts. We have to gradually bring this naughty mind of ours under some sort of discipline. We have to give it something to do. And from the feet, You might go to the bottom, Sitting on the chair. And your hands, The weight of your hands, Wherever they happen to be. Once again, Just try to hold your attention there. So, One second, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten. Well, Maybe you already find that your mind is a little bit under control, A little bit quiet. Now then, Just stay with that, And I'll introduce two more little ways of helping yourself. The first is to look. Now, Just look at what's in front of you, And the furniture in the room, And the walls. Look at the floor that is holding you so kindly. Just be aware of your surroundings. Now, Most of your surroundings will probably be still, But some of them will be moving. All this doesn't matter. Just look and note that some are moving and some are still. But that even the moving bits are held by that same stillness that all creation gets from the earth from which it rises. And now I introduce the third one, Which is listen. Now, As I speak now, There's quite a gale shaking the church in which we sit. Really quite a blustery day. Yet here where I sit, With my feet on the ground, Just looking at the furnishings of the church, I can hear that movement of the wind in stillness. Now, If you could keep one finger, As it were, Connected with that stillness, You'll then see that all the movement in the world comes to pass. Common sense tells us that it is so. What is common sense? Just the commonest things that you have. Listening, Looking, And feeling. Common sense. And yet with simple, Simple common sense, We can access some of the profoundest understandings of which we are capable. Let me take it a little bit further. Feet on the ground, Listen and look. It really means being open, Doesn't it? Now look, If you're interested in higher knowledge, Or spirituality, Or higher consciousness, It comes from on high, Doesn't it? And here we are beneath it. Now, Imagine my hands were a bowl. If the bowl's turned that way, The radiation of grace, Which is like spiritual sunshine beaming down upon us, Can't get in, Can it? Because I'm living under this bowl. I'm trying to wear a little Paul Brind hat, But it stops it getting in. But if I just do that, Turn the bowl the other way up, It becomes a receptacle, Doesn't it? To receive. And in this case, We might say a receptacle for receiving the vibrations of radiation that comes from on high. So simple, Isn't it? And see how these simple, Basic feeling, Feet on the ground, Listening and looking, Immediately open our receptivity, Don't they? To receive what is here. We receive probably, First of all, The wonder of the things around us. Because those simple things are wonderful if we look at them with attention. And then with more attention, And then even more diligently. So the very point of your pencil, Or your fingernails, Or the stone on the ground becomes a miracle in its own particular uniqueness. A blade of grass becomes something wonderful. The more you look, The more you listen, The more you feel, The more is opened up. Now, True knowledge, They say, Is not something we read in books. It comes by revelation. Who tells you that something's wonderful? Who shows you that something's beautiful? It moves you so deeply that tears come to your eyes. Do you learn that from a book? Listen and look. And behold what is revealed to you. Well, That goes part of the way towards explaining what meditation is for. It opens up something of what we may not have realized before. It opens up a fullness of experience that we may have simply missed. Why? Because you haven't got to observe people in the street to see how few people are actually paying attention to where they are. Nearly everybody is, I call it, Looking like bananas. They're sort of bent over, Walking along. What are they going to buy? What are they going to do? No dwelling on some real or imagined misfortune. But to be actually present, As this listening, Looking, And feeling brings one into the present, To be present is actually one of the most significant things we can do. And even a glimpse of what it is to be present, Such as now, Using these three senses, Lets you realize, My God, Where have I been all this time? I've been absent. Of course, And isn't this the whole human problem, That we are not present, We are absent, Absent from the wonderful. Well, What do I mean by wonderful? Well, How far do you want to go? Who has ever found the end of wonderful? One, Have you thought of it like this, One, O-N-E? Wonderful, Full of oneness. Well, Let's see if we can take it a little bit further, Shall we? How far does wonderful go? Ask a silly question, They say, And you get a silly answer. But perhaps if you follow me this far, You will get the sense that we are, Let's say, Approaching or going in the direction of the infinite, The infinite potential that is actually so readily available in the most ordinary humdrum situations. If only we can just go through this simple basic procedure of common sense, Of coming into the present and opening our attention to whatever gifts from heaven are coming. Well, I won't try to teach you to run before you can walk. Maybe that's enough for now. Do remember, Dear, It's so simple, It's as natural as breathing. If you have a dog or a horse or any sort of animal companion, Just look at how alive they are, How they live in the present, Without all the problems that we fill our own absent-mindedness with. Present and absent. Am I present at this moment? Are you? Then we have something in common, Don't we? But so often human communication consists of two absent-minded people in their separateness, And how hard it is sometimes to get on with it. There's a simple further thing I could say concerning knowledge. Let's come back again, Feet on the floor, Bottom on the chair. Listen. Now there's a certain knowing about that, Isn't there? A certain knowing that this is real. We call many things real, Don't we, Whether they're real or not. Things appear to be real. Let's come back again, Feet on the ground. Listen and look. And sense that infinite presence. It is actually a knowing, A knowing that this way lies completion, And perhaps all that one really, Really longs for. Whereas in contrast, What we call worldly knowledge, The sort of thing we learn at school or pick up from books, Is so often a bottomless pit of ever more, Of ever less. True knowledge is knowledge of one, Of that which is present. And it's utterly simple, Isn't it? In fact, You could say it's simplicity itself. You can't measure it, Can you? But you know it. And you don't need anyone to tell you, Because you know it for yourself, In your own experience, By using your simple common sense. When I learned, Fortunately there weren't so many methods available, So I didn't have this awful choice of trying to choose. Yes, It's a real minefield, Isn't it, Or it can be, Of confusion. Well, That in a way is why I trust ever more simple common sense, Because really some of these approaches simply miss out these first basic steps and try to launch straight into of fancy exotic spiritual language and everything from candles to wearing special robes to going to India to find a special guru in a cave and all these other things. And I may reassure you that sometimes in my long life I have dabbled in a good many of these things myself and fortunately eliminated them in the process and come back again to blessed common sense. So please don't dismiss too easily what I say because it seems too simple. I know we all long for some high-minded something, Don't we? Even if it means, You know, Wearing a special robe or something or sitting cross-legged or something. Well, Do those things if you really want to do it, But don't forget, Don't ignore your common sense. I was taught from a tradition that requires a one-to-one approach. There's nothing written down. That's how I received it and that's how I pass it on. And I'm not going to prejudice anybody's spiritual development by trying to explain to thousands of different-minded people over the internet. It's always been advised, To my knowledge, By those who really wish to make a lifetime study of this subject to try to find a reputable teacher. Again, If I had to choose among the great number that are offering it today, I'd find it well-nigh impossible, So I wish you luck in your searches. But I can give you perhaps a steadying voice for those that are that way inclined and have some faith. You can't go wrong with the name of Jesus. And for those who are not that way inclined, Well, You can do worse than stick to breathing, Which is an age-old, Tried-and-tested method, Which is helpful. For those interested in using the name of Jesus, By the way, Going right back to the beginnings of the faith, It's been used for 2, 000 years, There's an ancient Christian meditation called the Jesus Prayer, And those that wish to research it can find that on the internet, Where you'll get some very good instructions on how to follow it. But please, I beg of you, Don't forget your common sense. If you think of meditation like this, One of my favorite ways of describing it is, Think what it's like on a cloudy day. Clouds are like, Thoughts are like clouds, You see, And often on a cloudy day we just live under this mantle of cloud, Don't we, Or under this mantle of thought, And we can't see anything beyond it, You just go from one thought to the next. And people get in absolute despair about this, Especially if the thoughts are negative and doing mischief, Which they often do, Beside taking one away from the present, Because if we're thinking, You're not present, Are you? You're absent, You're in the mind. But on a cloudy day, What happens when you go to the airport and get in an airplane? You go through the clouds, Don't you? And what's there beyond the clouds? This is an everyday miracle, Isn't it, That beneath, Beyond the clouds, There is the clarity of the open sky. Now that's a very precise illustration of meditation, Which, And to do that you need an airplane. Well, In this case, The practice of listening and looking and feeling your feet on the ground is in effect like an airplane. It's helping to focus your mind through the thinking process. It's bringing you into the present, Into the present moment. If you're in the present moment, Really present, Feeling your feet, Listening and looking, You're not thinking, Are you?

Reviews

Best explanation of how to be present, that I've heard since I started trying to improve my self

Simple presence leads to simple (and real) enlightenment. Thank you!

Joyful hugs 🤗 💚🙏

Thank you so much! This gives me a new way to approach my daily meditation.