Question
Hello,
i was wondering what meditation is and what are the benifits. also how easy would it be for me (17 years old) to learn?
Answer
Hi, Jon.
The word meditation has been used to refer to many different things. I'll talk about what it means to me in the simplest, most direct form.
Most simply, meditation means starting to notice oneself. By this I mean starting to notice the patterns of thoughts and feelings that arise in me that control how I relate to others, to the natural world and to myself.
It is fairly easy to see that we usually respond to life in habitual, programmed, reactive ways. Some of our programs seem to work ok and some seem to cause a lot of trouble. And sometimes we have fresh, simple moments that are not programs at all. And we begin to wonder if it is possible to live more in simple freshness and less in reactive patterns.
Anyone who has sensed this has probably also found that "trying" to be fresh and spontaneous simply doesn't work. The trying is itself a pattern that the brain tries to impose. Most of how we try to change our lives really comes from programmed responses, learned techniques. And there are forms of meditation that try to do this too, to train the mind and body. But the simple meditation I'm talking about is not programming. It is a instant of meeting the present moment with an interest in discovering the difference between programming and freshness.
We can say there are two aspects to this simple meditative moment (maybe we can call it a meditative inquiry or presence.) One aspect is to notice reactions and patterns, to become more sensitive to them in our selves, in a very honest and vulnerable way. There can be a great resistance in the nervous system to the habitual patterns of thinking and feeling coming into the light. Something in us wants to keep them hidden. We don't want to really realize and feel that we are greedy, or scared or feel better than someone else. So by honest I mean not needing to defend any image of myself but rather being willing and interested to see what is actually going on.
The second aspect of meditative inquiry or presence is to notice that, even though there may be a lot of internal noise and conflict, reactions happening, etc., it is not all that is going on. There is the sound right now of the fan, the warmth of the air on the skin, the simple sensations in the body, breath moving, heaviness in the bottom. There is a wide world of simple sensation, movements, life, sound - all one living presence that is based in a deep stillness. We don't usually even experience this world. Perhaps the habitual brain doesn't pay attention to it because it can't be wired into the brain's neurological patterns.
So we are talking about a sensitivity to and vulnerable awareness of the habitual, reactive patterns of the brain and body and at the very same time an increasing sensitivity to and interest in the simple presence that is all around and through us.
The easiest way to start entering into this meditative presence is to sit quietly some place in a comfortable way but not so relaxed that you just fall asleep. You may fall asleep anyway at first but then you'll wake up again. Just sitting still, not trying to change what comes up but just noticing, becoming sensitive. Often the mind will be lost in daydreaming or fantasizing. But if you watch carefully you will notice that there is also a moment of waking up to that, in which you notice instantly that there is now awareness of the body, of the breathing, maybe of the space around you and the sounds, and that during the daydreaming that was all gone.
There is so much for a human being to discover in this open, vulnerable presence and transparency to oneself. In the most wide open moments, which happen on their own once in a while, there is really very little human being there, just the sounds, smells, movements and stillness of life itself. In this there is no young or old, teenage or adult - just undivided life. We have all experienced this at a moment or two in our lives - a dropping away of any feeling of separateness and isolation, a disappearing into life itself.
Meditation is not a progression toward this unseparatedness. It is unseparatedness, moment to moment. Not defending against what is coming up but letting it be seen, heard and felt. It may not feel as grandiose as plunging into a waterfall but it is a critical shift from defensiveness and separation to vulnerability and feeling.
I can tell you that something happens over the years of doing this that makes it easier and easier to live for moments in the deep, refreshing silence of simple, undivided presence.
It can be helpful to be able to talk with other people who are experienced with this. It can also be helpful to get away to a retreat sometimes, in which the ordinary activities of life can be put aside and one can enter more deeply into silent presence. As I mentioned, there are many places that practice meditations that get lost in trying to create new patterns instead of seeing pattern for what it is. One place that I can recommend where the focus is on simple presence is the Springwater Center for Meditative Inquiry and Retreat in upstate NY. You can find them on the web. You are also welcome to keep in touch with me.
I don't know if I've addressed your concern. It's possible that I've been a little confusing. Please let me know if you'd like me to clarify something or if you have some additional questions.
Best,
Jay Cutts
