Meditation

[charley]

To summarize my above post on “how to meditate”, all forms of conscious meditation are organised by the self, either by oneself or by someone else - especially when organized into a group. They are, in effect, practised, deliberate, determined, thought out, calculated, intended, studied, preconceived, guided, directed (by oneself or by another), and so on; in other words, they are premeditated. Obviously, anything that is premeditated is not meditation, because it is in essence, get this.... premeditation! So, I am saying that premeditation is not meditation. As long as the ego is trying to “become” something, to attain some goal or end result, whatever form of meditation that the ego is involved in is not meditation, but is in effect a form of premeditation.

Moreover, all forms of meditation, all the different kinds of so-called meditation, whether it is called Zen meditation, or Buddhist meditation, or Hindu meditation, Transcendental meditation, etc. are all forms of premeditation. Any system or method of meditation must of itself be premeditated. And, behind all of these meditations, there is the idea of controlling one’s thought, so that it doesn’t wander or drift. And that is why, all these forms of meditation have to - at one time or another - stress concentration.

A mind that practises any form of a system becomes mechanical, like a machine. So, the moment you practice awareness - becoming aware of the different parts of your body, of any movement of your body, or your breath, you are practising a method, a system - and that isn’t meditation. That is just a way in which you are being unwittingly brainwashed into becoming a machine - being pacified, being put to sleep by the very method that says it will lead to freedom. Even the idea of saying that doing something that will lead to freedom is entirely false. Imitation and following some tradition is always mechanical, machine-like, and has nothing to do with true meditation. Inherent in all these approaches is that psychological freedom is seen as a goal; but, how can freedom be seen as a goal, when one is a stuck to beliefs that maintain one in a state of slavery to whatever belief that one may be attached to? That is also why it is important to drop all that beliefs prior to the natural occurrence of meditation.

The central issue of all of these formulations of so-called meditation is that therein there is one fragment of the self trying to control thought, which is in effect one fragment of the ego trying to control another fragment of the ego. So, what happens is that all these different forms of meditation actually encourage separation, increase the division between various fragments, and maintain self-enclosure and, therefore, create duality, and end up strengthening each of the different fragments - all of which is the complete opposite of what it means to whole, to be one.

Someone who has not laid a proper and correct foundation in their life (which I will discuss in the next post) can only do the meditation that you see online on various sites, which may even be referred to as “fake meditation”.

In true meditation, you are not acquiring knowledge about how you function. You are not adding information and psychological knowledge about your behaviour to your ego. You are not accumulating more experiences. You are not translating some knowledge of yourself into a pattern that you can recognize intellectually. You are not a computer program! This is true meditation.

Meditation must of itself be natural, spontaneous, free. It must be a natural occurrence. So, what I am saying is that it has to be unconscious. That is also why it is incorrect to even try and teach meditation, because there is a goal, motive, purpose, etc. involved in such a process - a method. No one can teach you about yourself; that is one thing to do and discover by yourself (as I will discuss more fully in the next post). And, as long as there is that motive or purpose or effort involved in that process - as I have observed online (and also have seen when interacting with those who even teach meditation here in real life and their students/victims), what one is teaching is premeditated - that is, it is only premeditation. In true meditation, there is no concentration involved, no effort. In essence, meditation is a natural occurrence.

[charley]

All of my posts are nothing less than laying a foundation for meditation to occur naturally, freely, without any compulsion, or thought. To repeat, these posts are in essence by themselves the laying of a foundation for meditation to occur naturally and easily, without any effort, without any forethought about it, without any planning whatsoever.

Of course, if one doesn’t have a good foundation, something solid and indestructible, one can always start again, and build yourself a foundation on a more solid basis.

Fallowness

Now, when one plants a garden, one must ensure that the earth itself is fertile and rich. Otherwise, the plants won’t bloom or grow naturally. When the ground is fallow, dry, and barren, such as found in a desert, very little can blossom and bloom in sand. In that sense, the seeds that are planted in a desert will just blow away and be forgotten. In the same way, when one’s own ground is fallow, these posts will not give rise to the laying of a foundation for meditation to occur naturally.

The ground/foundation of a person must be fertile for a new seed (idea) to be planted and to flourish. When the ground is fallow, the seed (idea) will perish and drift away. [As an aside, and in tune and in harmony with nature and the seasons of life, there are natural times when meditation itself can and does subside. So, it is nonsensical to apply a fixed time and routine for meditation.]

For meditation to be occur naturally, a right foundation has to be laid within. And, one basis of such a foundation is always right action, right behaviour, proper conduct. And, the beauty and wonder of right action is that no one can tell you what you “should” do - such an awful word is that word “should”. So, what I am saying is that it is for each and everyone to discover for themselves what right action is.

Authority

Any foundation that is based on thought will result in conflict and sorrow. The foundation for meditation must be based on right action, on virtue. Most definitely, virtue is not the virtue that society tells you is virtue, what others define for you. When society defines to you what virtue is, you are following the dictates of an authority, someone or a group of people who obviously have an agenda. When you follow what society tells you is a virtue, all you are doing is developing a habit. Society may say that it is okay (in effect, virtuous and commendable) to be greedy, to be competitive, ambitious, acquisitive, successful, intent on achievement, on becoming, etc. even to the point of being ready to kill for some idea, for some belief, etc., but that is not virtue. It can never be true virtue, because as long as there is this ambition and competition, and so on, there must be exploitation. Exploitation means that one is using another, even if it is mutual, and this very exploitation prevents relationship, prevents communion with “the other” - because there is always fear involved in exploitation, even to the point of paranoia - fear of losing, so then jealousy, possessiveness, etc. Moreover, it is thought that creates the idea of virtue that society tends to impose on others. It is thought that creates the idea of virtue that is inculcated into us by society. It is thought that chooses the morality and ethos of society, of any group, of any gang, of any organized group of people. It is never love. [As an aside, it is important to understand that love is always located outside the field of thought.]

Virtue itself cannot be cultivated, because when it is cultivated it only leads to respectability - what others think you are worth based on what society values and thinks you are worth. Such people have no problem showing a fake form of respect to those they want to be liked by, and they can easily deny respect to those they don’t like, which is so hypocritical. This is important, because it is respect that gives rise to understanding, and it is understanding that awakens intelligence.

So, any foundation that is laid must not involve the acceptance of authority. Authority must be questioned and doubted all the time. Authority always ends up resulting in arrogance and a lack of humility and is a dead end in itself. There must be freedom from authority for meditation to occur naturally.

So, what I saying is that virtue is something that can only be discovered by you alone. And, when that is done, then only can there be order in your life. When there is that order, it may be possible for meditation to occur naturally, freely, and without effort.

Freedom

From the above, it is clearly seen that unless one puts one’s beliefs aside, these very beliefs prevent a naturally occurring meditation. How can anyone feel free to look when one is tied to beliefs? How can anyone feel free to look when one is afraid? So, what I am saying here is that freedom is also a basis for laying a proper foundation for meditation to occur naturally. While most people “believe” that freedom is the goal, that just isn’t true.

Additionally, one also needs space - to be able to move around in life, but one also needs interior space. To be able to see what is happening within, one also needs to have enough space within. Please understand that there is very little space between the tip of your nose and your skull. And, when you stuff that small space with psychological knowledge, with beliefs, with thoughts, you block yourself from having the necessary space within to see clearly “what is” happening inside, as well as “what is” happening outside. So, by dropping beliefs, you create space inside that will make it possible for meditation to occur naturally. Of course, most of you know the expression: ... “you can’t see the forest for the trees”; and, that is why it is important to free yourself up of the trees that get in the way of you getting the whole picture of who you are. So, it is seen that psychological freedom is part and parcel of laying a right foundation, right at the beginning. It is not a goal or an end to be achieved.

Love

Without love, there no possibility of virtue. To me, this love is the love of humanity, which includes: sympathy, empathy and compassion - compassion being the love for all. [It is not affection or fondness, which also exists; and, please understand that affection or fondness or sensation is not love. Even a monster like Hitler was fond of his dog!!! but, he wasn’t a loving human being!]

For my part, my understanding of the word “passion”, comes from its original etymology, meaning suffering, sorrow from the Latin word “passio-”. People have corrupted and misused its meaning due to how people alter the meaning of words according to their conditioning and how they then try and influence others so as to use them and exploit them... which is nothing less than outside propaganda and pressure - years of corruption through generation after generation of abuse, etc. As well, people say, because of advertising, “I love Coca-Cola”... Of course, it is impossible to actually feel “love” for a soft drink. You can see easily from this one example how words have become corrupted and easily misused.

So, from my part, when one accepts who one is, there is passion. In other words, a priori, one must know who one is. Unfortunately, most people don’t even know who they are, nor even understand who they are.

In this context, please understand that knowing about oneself is not the same as “knowing” one’s sorrow closely, intimately.

So, without accepting all of one’s conditioning which comes from sadness, fear, sorrow, suffering, and everything else, a person really has no passion. They may have a form of ego energy, which fuels and drives their life, but that isn’t passion.

Now, there is a big difference between having a particular interest/hobby/a “liking” in one area, and having a lifelong passion in a direction which carries one to leave a particular mark on the world, which is beautiful in itself, and which has not caused harm to anyone, especially to themselves.

Compassion means to have a feeling towards and with (com- meaning “with”) the suffering of another. Therefore, compassion is passion which extends outward to include “the other”... which, of course leads to the meaning of having passion for the suffering of all... in other words, a love for all.

Of course, without being open to or close to or being in touch with one’s own suffering/sorrow, it is impossible to have that passion, and therefore be open to integrate compassion into one's being - that feeling of love of humanity, that feeling of love for all.

Please understand that when one behaves with greed, with pettiness, with brutality, cruelty, ambition, elitism, exploitation, competitiveness, etc., we create a world where all that exists. Please also understand that while all organized religions say that they promote love for all as a message, the fact remains that they do not denounce or condemn the greed, the pettiness, the brutality, cruelty, ambition, elitism, exploitation, competitiveness, etc. of their congregation, because they depend on the cooperation of their congregation to maintain and sustain their religion. [As an aside, all gangs/cliques usually function in somewhat the same way.] If they would actually condemn and denounce these aspects to create a world where love for all (that is, compassion) would exist, it would mean the collapse of all of their organized religions.

[charley]

Now, personally, I must admit that originally in my own journey, I approached those who I thought and “assumed” knew more than me. As a matter of fact, I bugged loads of “experts” (that is, “authority”), and came away a little more than frustrated - with thoughts such as “g.......m m....f..... so and so’s.... However, at that time, not understanding what meditation was, I really didn’t have those words that could express the "why" of my dissatisfaction with these self-styled “specialists”, and what was wrong with their approaches.

I would say that one of the main problem with these people was their absolute lack of transparency. Also, I did spend (and waste) a bit of $... (smh)... on these bozos.

Moreover, I even tried meditation in a group... and I did sense - after a few gatherings - that there was something inherently wrong with this approach, and still didn’t have those words to say what I felt/sensed was wrong...

I must add here that when one understands something, it is only afterwards that words come.

My present understanding of why meditation in groups is problematic is that one finds oneself with a lot of people who do not necessarily understand who they are, and let alone what they are. And so, there is a quite a bit of psychic energy floating around such a group, and such energy can and does affect someone, even to the point of interfering/affecting/influencing one’s own capacity to see “what is” happening inside and without. Moreover, in this environment, this form of so-called “meditation” can make one even more susceptible to suggestion. I don’t feel like listing here the many examples of what happens in a “mob”; but, in general, people do have a tendency to be carried away by the feeling generated by being in a “mob”. Of course, such a group effort will “stimulate” meditation.

The downside of group meditation is that one may then “depend” on the group to maintain the “stimulation”. Please understand that such dependence (or any dependence on some guru) itself is counterproductive to true meditation, and it may actually thwart one’s ability to see oneself, by maintaining and even sustaining the dysfunctional tendency of the conditioning of dependence itself. Meditation must be something that is discovered alone, a word that literally means “all one”, in other words, “whole”. [As an aside, being alone does not imply isolation...]

One has also noticed that some people like to do meditation sitting alone (cross-legged in a "meditation posture" with their eyes closed) in a public area, such as park. For similar reasons as mentioned above, such as the psychic energy floating around these public areas especially by onlookers, I feel that is not a good idea.

I will also add here that only two of the many bozos that I had contacted apologized to me, and both of those two bozos did it in a sneaky manner - instead of calling me up on my phone... Moreover, they did that some time afterwards and to my utter surprise; they contacted me by coming up inside of me, and did their apology that way!!! I only accepted one of those bozo’s apologies, as I saw remorse... which I regretted later on!!! As I now understand their manner of apologizing, it constituted a real invasion of privacy. As well, it prevented me from asking questions as to the "why" of their behaviour and thereby elucidating and clearing up any misunderstandings, and also discovering their agendas then and there, which of course would have led them to having to face themselves as to their own dysfunctional behavior.

So, again, I mention how important it is to question authority. Of course, certain things have to be seen as facts - technological information, etc. [Obviously, it would be ridiculous and silly to accept the idea (and consequent belief) that the earth is flat.] So, I am saying that one must use a bit of discernment in one’s questioning of authority. In other words, one can't go around "negating" everything around you, and everything that anyone says.

[charley]

Knowing yourself

The fact remains that most people build a foundation based on comfort, in their search for security. And, where there is this desire for comfort, for security, there is always fear - fear of losing that comfort, that security. And, because of that fear, there is no possibility of understanding. It is that very fear that blocks looking within. And so, without knowing who one is, there is no possibility of understanding what one is. And, I am saying that true meditation is all about the discovery of what one is. Therefore, to summarize, without knowing oneself, there is no possibility of understanding oneself; and, without understanding oneself, there is no possibility of true meditation occurring naturally. In a way, one is using the word “understanding” as implying intelligence, and not intellect and IQ. So, to understand anything, one has to grasp something in its entirety, which means that one actually stands under the self - getting to the bottom of one’s self. So, again, I am stating that without knowing oneself, there is no possibility of meditation occurring naturally.

Without knowing who one is, there is no possibility of going further. So, what I am saying is that the foundation must be built on knowing who one is. It is only when one knows who one is, that there is the possibility of right action, including that of knowing what to do with one’s life. Moreover, it is impossible to actually have a relationship with another person, with the “other”. Such a person can only have arrangements with others that are usually based on comfort and security. And, because of what I have mentioned previously in an earlier post (on “Integrity”) regarding the means and the ends, someone who doesn’t know who they are is most likely to use wrong means to achieve their ends; and so, of course, there is always a hidden agenda, and a lack of transparency. This implies, of course, that they have not laid a proper foundation in their life to begin with. Such people always cause mischief and confusion in the world, and are at the very centre of conflict and hence of sorrow.

It is easily seen who is incapable of true meditation: all the bullies, the liars, the hypocrites, the people who play mind games with others, the people who play god with others, the people who indulge in calling others names (the rather childish and stupid ad hominem attacks), people who try and sabotage and obfuscate (by people who advance argumentation only for the purposes of trying to distract), people who invade another’s space (whether physical or psychological), people stuck in respectability (such people have no genuine respect for the “other”).

The fact is when you realize that you don’t know yourself, the easiest way to begin that self-knowledge is just to observe yourself - when you are with someone else - in other words, at the same time that you are interacting with someone. So it is important to be aware of how you treat them, to be aware of yourself when you talk with your neighbour, your friend, your partner, the stranger you don’t know - in effect, with anyone. So, when you lie to another, knowing full well what the truth is, you are not being true to yourself, and it also means you are incapable of true relationship.

Again, there is only one way to know oneself, and that is to through one’s reactions, through the manner in which one responds in life with other people - and not through admissions of knowing (for example, saying, “Well, I’m competitive,” etc.); and, therefore, not through words, and that is because those very words themselves prevent one from seeing oneself. These words are nothing but a screen that prevent clarity, and this is what it means when you have most probably heard of the expression, “seeing through the glass darkly”. So, what I am saying is that it is important to observe oneself without using words, quietly, just seeing one’s reactions. To be more precise, when one uses words as a means to describe oneself, as a means to interpret one’s behaviour, one is displacing the natural faculty of attention from seeing oneself - and thus is moving the reaction into the field of thought, thus trying to alter the characteristic into a static state, which then results in it becoming more difficult to observe oneself. And, that is why certain people are predictable in repeating their toxic behaviour, because the very means they use (such as words which they ascribe to themselves) actually blind themselves to knowing themselves.

Please understand that relationship itself is the very foundation of life. And, relationship means to be related, to be in close contact with, to feel something deeply in one’s blood. So, without this deep intimate knowing of oneself - in other words, without being in relationship with oneself, one is apt to feel lonely when not with someone, one is apt to attach to anyone to avoid feeling this loneliness, one is apt to play with words, obsess with habits, drown oneself in alcohol or work, etc... and so on. When one feels one is related, one feels love, and generosity of spirit. A selfish person is - generally speaking - an unloving person; it’s easy to see, as they are chintzy and cheap with their words when they talk with the “other”. On the other hand, they may flood another’s ears with loads of placating praise or clever words, just to leave a certain impression. So afterwards, when anyone behaves badly, abusively, lies or whatever it is, this selfish person will say nothing, or even make excuses, rationalizations, justifications for the abusive one’s behaviour. It is their intent to keep people at a distance by not being forthcoming with the “other”, and so on and so on - all because they are afraid of losing friendship with the abusive person - fear of not being liked. You ask a question, they change the subject, etc. One could go on with this, but I’m sure you have met people like that.

Personally, I don’t put up with nonsense by such people.

What I am saying is that meditation is not some isolated activity that one practises away from life. Meditation must be an integral part of one’s life. I also feel very strongly that meditation is the birthright of every human being on the planet. Those who have abandoned their humanity have displaced their birthright.

Goodness

The very essence of virtue is goodness. And the very essence of goodness is generosity. Obviously, selfish people will have a problem understanding what “generosity” really means. It is important to understand that goodness arises from right action, right behaviour. When the Buddha put down his 8-fold path, his intention was to show the manner in which behaviour lies at the core of being good. For the purposes of this discussion, I am not using the word “good” in the sense that it is normally used in society as society is - in other words, being a so-called “good” citizen, paying your taxes, working your buns off to fit into a corrupt and insane world, etc., contributing to the GDP, etc. - everything that people do to fit in, to conform, to be liked, to be popular. I am using the word “good” in its original sense, as in rightness, as in correctness, as in the sense of well-fitting.

Meaning of Life

Without a true foundation, all forms of “fake meditation” are only self-hypnosis, because they lead to illusion. The very word "illusion" means “to play falsely”, “to play with things that aren’t real”.

[As an aside, is important to note that the word “thought” also means “thing”. So, a person who likes to play with different thoughts is playing with things that aren’t real - in other words, is playing falsely. A mind that is full of thoughts will have trouble seeing clearly because all those thoughts get in the way, like trees in the forest that prevent one from seeing the whole forest - whence the expression: “get that plank out of your eye”.]

Insofar as the meaning of life is concerned, everyone likes to define and have and develop their own particular meaning of life.

Please understand that having a sense of the meaningfulness of life that one has personally... has absolutely nothing to do with the meaning of life that others try to impose on people, that people adopt from others, etc., or that people project outwards out of their own conditioning.

Personally, one has discovered why one is female, why one is gay, and why one is butch (apart and besides everything else that one has discovered within), and even why one appears more masculine than when I was younger and prior to meditation, and this understanding has added to one’s sense of the meaning of one’s whole life - apart from all the other discoveries that one has made. Please understand that the uncovering of the "I" process yields a meaning of life, and this is what is crucial. Obviously, having such a sense of the meaningfulness of one’s life is not subject to change, is indestructible, is independent of anyone else’s beliefs or ideas, and gives a person an inner strength that no one else can extinguish.

Create your own mirror

Thousands of years ago, when you wanted to see yourself, to see what you looked like, you had only to find a pond, or a pool, or a bowl of water that was still (that is quiet), and you could bend over and see yourself; in other words, you would see a reflection of yourself in the water.

[As an aside, it is important that to see yourself, there must be a certain amount of stillness within. The meditation methods that I have seen online, offer stillness as a goal to be achieved, which is entirely false.]

As mentioned previously, the word “meditation” comes from a Sanskrit word “ma”, and means to think about, to consider, to ponder, to reflect... So, when the right foundation has been laid, intelligence can operate within, unconsciously. It is intelligence that needs to be awakened because intelligence is the intermediary between reality and truth. So, what happens is that you create a mirror, a reflection of yourself within, which will show you thinking, feeling, sitting, standing, talking, gesticulating... whatever you are doing - in sum, showing you all of your reactions that flow from your conditioning; and, all one does is attend to this mirror, this reflection of yourself, this image of yourself, thinking and feeling, and follow this image of yourself to wherever it leads. What you are doing then is uncovering the entire “I” process, and it is through this uncovering of the “I” process, that all sorrow can end. It can only end when one is fully conscious of this suffering, this sorrow within. And, all the discoveries which you make will be your own, which no one can take away from you. And, of course, because these discoveries are your own, you can talk about them. Personally, I found this creation of a mirror/reflection within to be one of the most remarkable and wondrous of journeys in the world to have seen as to “what is” going on inside... absolutely marvellous.

To summarize, when the mind is ready to see oneself, to confront oneself, is free to see, and has a properly laid foundation, it is then that intelligence can create this mirror within. Everything within is now in a state ready to yield to seeing this “I” process. Even the brain, which - usually in demanding security - would tend to oppose/obstruct this seeing, even to the point of lying to you to prevent you from seeing yourself - will now yield to this incredible creation from within.

One cannot provoke or manufacture such a reflection within. It must be natural occurrence.

[As an aside, being fed up (in a state of discontent) can give you the necessary energy to see inside.]

And finally, I will say, it is usually a crisis or shock that can offer the opportunity to say to oneself, “I don’t know ... what to do”, and it is this understanding and admission that may open one up to this wonderful creation, and find oneself in the midst and depth and journey of true meditation, of the discovery of what one is.