Non-Meditation Meditation

In modern society meditation is an important approach to stress, reactivity and the overactive mind. Used in this manner, meditation relies on a variety of methods and techniques. However, the traditional and most profound aim of meditation is to gain and understand the root causes of modern distress and suffering, resulting in a boundless freedom, penetrating wisdom, and sustained well-being. For this one needs to move beyond the effort and structure of methods and techniques and drop into a natural awareness and presence. Join me in this discussion and related practice of noon-meditation.

Transcript

This is Elliott Dasher welcoming you to this episode of Meditation and Beyond.

Today our topic for discussion and practice is non-meditation meditation.

As meditation and its underlying philosophy spread from its originating culture to the lands,

They adapt and respond to the values and characteristics of their new home.

At times this may add new and valuable insights and approaches.

At other times may result in corruption of basic intentions and practices.

The traditional aim of meditation is liberation,

Freedom.

The great sages of the past spoke of the possibility of attaining freedom from a confused view of self and reality and accompanying that a cessation of the distress and suffering which are the invariable consequences of false understandings and confusion.

So how are we confused?

We think things that are impermanent are permanent.

We think that our outer experience is separate from our inner experience.

We think our personal self is a distinct to autonomous entity rather than an interconnected part of the whole.

Together these deeply held and confused beliefs are the illusions and delusions that meditation seeks to cut through.

Freedom to be,

Serenity that surpasses understanding,

Happiness without a natural reason,

A naturally arising wisdom and selfless love and compassion spontaneously appear and self-reveal when the obscurations of confusion dissipate.

These sublime and noble qualities of human flourishing are thus the fruits of liberation that await those that seek with heart the bounties of a life that knows the unchanging truth of existence.

You might not know this as the sacred aim of meditation if you were introduced to it in modern Western context as I was.

I first met meditation in 1971 when finishing my training in Boston.

I was drawn to Eastern thought as are many others through the writings of Herman Hesse.

On a sunny day I visited a church in Cambridge where the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was teaching meditation of the transcendental meditation sort.

He spoke about his value in reducing stress,

Calming the mind,

Improving sleep and enhancing well-being.

We were then given a personal mantra and introduced to the technique of TM.

No doubt the results he spoke of are valued in our overactive life.

But symptom relief is temporary lest the root causes of human distress and suffering are correctly understood and eliminated at the source.

I have no doubt the Maharishi knew this quite well yet he was teaching to the felt needs and capacities of an overlying mental overstressed endless doing and treatment oriented culture.

Perhaps at the time that was the best way to introduce meditation into Western culture.

Now that would be fine if it had not stopped there,

Far short of its true aim.

We latched on to a variety of techniques,

Methods and teaches as a way to temporarily calm the mind and reduce stress.

This led to limited results so it depended on practicing a technique rather than addressing the root problem in our mind and life,

The confusion,

The misunderstandings of the nature of self and reality.

To some extent we gain transient relief but unknowingly we sacrifice the sacred and noble core understandings that truly bring the stress and suffering to an end,

Revealing the great treasures of human flourishing.

Meditation can be understood at three levels.

The first is meditation with the support or focus.

This usually applies a method and an object that serves as a focal point or support.

This could include TM,

Mindfulness training,

Breathing techniques and guided imagery among others.

The second level is meditation without support.

Here our meditation is more natural,

Awareness-based and non-cognitive.

It does not focus or get attached to an object or focal point.

We allow the mind to naturally settle and still,

Including a natural stilling of mental activity.

It's somewhat like silt settling in an aquarium,

Naturally and effortlessly.

We then abide in non-cognitive,

Simple,

Innocent awareness,

Still state of being and presence.

This is very close to our natural and foundational state of bare awareness.

There is minimal to no cognition,

Striving,

Effort or goal-seeking.

The second level is for most of us the subtlest state we may experience.

We almost call it a non-meditation,

As it is natural and relies on no method.

It's just who we are and as things are,

Almost.

In a sense these practices are preparations for the most subtle non-meditation.

The final level of non-meditation cannot be experienced through any effort or intention.

In fact,

That will get in the way.

It is the full,

Naked and foundational awareness that can be experienced in the human condition.

It is who we are and how things are.

Words cannot relate this experience.

By fortune or grace you drop into it,

You will know.

It is distinguished by its stability,

Non- distraction,

Absence of the subject-object relationship and a spontaneous revelation of the qualities of human flourishing.

Do not seek this.

Merely practice meditation without support,

An open,

Simple awareness,

And it will open as it does.

And if you catch it,

It would likely be a glimpse,

But that glimpse can transform life.

The most we can do is prepare ourselves with practice and reflection.

That preparation will increase the probability that we are touched with an experience which lies beyond our ordinary consciousness.

In J.

Krishnamurti's words,

We need to clean up our room,

Open the windows,

And allow the breeze of full knowing to enter when it will.

Cleaning up our room means letting go of meditation methods and technique,

Practicing a simple,

Effortless,

Awareness-based non-meditation without support,

Living a simple,

Virtuous life,

Maintaining a still,

Kind and clear life.

That is all we can do.

It may not bring a awakening to the final truth of self and reality,

But for certain is a formula for a life of vitality,

Kindness,

And great well-being.

Now let us practice together.

You may begin,

If your mind is quite noisy,

With a technique that you've done before.

It could be breathing and breath-holding,

Could be mindfulness,

Could be a mantra,

Whatever might still the coarse noise of the mind.

When you are somewhat settled,

Your mind is a bit still,

Let go of all techniques.

Come into the now.

Allow your mind to naturally settle.

You can be in with your body.

Allow your muscles to relax,

To rest in their natural state.

When we do that,

We realize how tense they generally are.

So let's settle the muscles,

Let's quiet the body,

And then move on to our ordinary mind and mind talk.

We just let the mind's talk and noise,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

And images settle,

Like waves settle back into the sea.

Left alone,

Mental activity naturally settles.

The key is not be attached to it,

Not get interested in the thought,

Feeling,

Or image,

Not elaborate,

Not fix it in time.

Just let it come and go on its own.

That's how we settle the activity of the mind.

The mind in general,

Let it settle as well,

To a place of presence and beingness.

Simple,

Easeful,

Abandoning all effort,

Abandoning all sense of trying to arrive at a particular place,

Abandon hope or fear.

Move into the timelessness,

The space of being.

No one to be,

No place to go,

Doing nothing,

Doing nothing,

Just being,

Just being present.

The hardest thing for a Westerner to do.

Feeling the stillness settle into the body,

Mind,

And spirit.

There is an expansiveness and spaciousness that will also make itself evident.

There are no boundaries to the space of beingness and presence.

It's open like space,

No beginning and no end.

This state of presence and beingness does not belong to you,

To any one person,

Any philosophy,

Culture,

Religion,

Or ethnic group.

There is no hierarchy here.

Presence and being is just presence and being.

Each of us,

Each of us has that as our foundation.

So just rest and abide in the place of beingness,

Spaciousness,

Openness,

And ease.

Nothing to do,

No place to go,

No one to be.

Just abiding in presence or awareness.

It's a natural state.

It's meditation without support,

Or non-meditation would be a better term.

How wonderful.

You can rest in your natural self,

A state of non-meditation,

Meditation,

With great ease,

With no effort.

A natural settling of mind,

Body,

Spirit,

Into the natural state that we were born into.

No commentary,

No judgment,

Just a simple,

Innocent presence,

Awareness,

Beingness.

This ground of our being has a dynamic energy that can express itself transiently in thoughts,

Feelings,

Images,

Forms,

Ideas,

Beliefs,

Intellect.

All experience arises from this basic space of all phenomena,

This awareness,

This presence.

And all experience,

Which is impermanent,

Drops back into this space,

This ground of being,

Is who we are,

This fundamental reality.

Just experience it by just abiding in the natural state of stillness,

Of settling.

It may be at times you'll drop,

With great fortune and grace,

Into an experience of oneness,

Wholeness,

Flow,

Absence of a personal self,

The heart center of your being.

You experience it,

Abide in it,

Don't hold it,

Don't attach to it,

Let it come and go as it will.

So whatever happens,

You abide in it,

In a naturally settled,

Innocent,

Simple way.

This is non-meditation,

Meditation,

The most authentic and sacred part of meditation.

It is a wish-fulfilling gem that all that you wish and want in your ordinary life will come naturally from this natural presence,

This space of being.

You can practice this in formal sessions,

Preferably in the morning,

And stop during the day in your activities.

Stop thoughts,

Stop feelings,

Stop movement,

Just drop into this place of being,

Just for a minute or two.

Then go back to your ordinary activity,

Having re-energized this foundation of your natural self that lies below all daily activity.

This is who you are.

This is life's reality.

Everything emerges,

Dissolves back into this fundamental awareness and presence.

There is great wisdom here,

Insight,

The capacity for precise action,

When indicated,

Spontaneously snowing,

Well-being.

No cause for any of this,

Just being in your natural state.

I'm going to leave you now,

But you can continue this quiet meditation if you want,

After I finish the audio.

I thank you for joining me and practicing with me.