The thing that really scares me is spontaneous personal expression. For example, I can actually freestyle pretty well, but I've only done it for an audience a handful of times. Doing it for one person is even scarier. Rapping someone else's lyrics for any audience doesn't raise my pulse at all, but having people hear what I come up with in the moment is oddly terrifying.
Last night was my friend Luke's birthday party. Before the complete production, which is like the parties I've seen in movies, but better, he hosted a small dinner and meditation session for half a dozen of us. I went because I've met awesome new friends every time I've gone to one of his dinner parties, and despite hearing about how much it's improved everyone's lives, I've just never really understood meditation.
We all sat on cushions on the top floor of his house. We would be doing pair meditation, Luke explained. We were to sit and ping-pong back and forth offering one word descriptions of what's going on in our bodies and minds. He and his partner went back and forth to demonstrate:
Interesting post! I've done a bit of meditation and I can enjoy the shorter periods, but the longer chunks of time never seem like quite the right "fit" for me. I like the idea of meditating with a partner though, I hadn't heard of that before.
Centerpointe is technology, not meditation - it's useful for relaxation and stress relief, but it isn't really doing what mediation does (i.e. training you in very specific ways of getting to know your mind).
Eckhart Tolle, fun read, but yeah derivative and a bit full of it. Go for the Buddhist texts, Sharon Salzberg's new book 28 days is awesome.
If you want to master meditation in a Hardcore Way then read this book! "Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book" by Daniel Ingram. You can buy or even download a Free PDF Version of the book here: http://www.interactivebuddha.com/mctb.shtml
A Great Read!
Wow Tynan, 666th post and you didnt write about how you sold your soul to Satan??
The point of meditation is not to go blank, as others have stated before me. You left Vipassana on the same day that the majority of people who quit will leave. You had the idea that you're supposed to be blank and instead of investigating that and looking at yourself, letting your thoughts come as they will and calmly bringing yourself back to your breath (not forcing yourself back angrily, frustrated), you just left. The instruction would have helped you through this process, as would have asking one of the teachers.
Having said that, most people who meditate went through years of thinking as you do--that meditation just doesn't work for them, and they have all the excuses and complaints that you do. The difference is that you are voicing yours publicly while for many others it is a much more quiet journey.
Meditation keeps coming into your life. If it was me I'd investigate that further, but of course it's up to you.
Seems like you've got a good community of readers who meditate. This comments thread had me thinking after my last comment about why I consider meditation different from other "good for you" things like exercise and reading good books and eating right.
It's because, to me, meditation is practicing the most fundamental skill that pervades the rest of my life. My favorite metaphor is that I am sitting in a dark room, and for my whole life have been struggling, flailing around, trying to get out of the room, trying to deal with the fact that I can't see anything. All that struggle has kept my eyes from dilating and adjusting to the darkness, and it's meant I've been banging into things, cutting myself on edges, knocking stuff over through my blind actions. I'd be much happier if I were to sit still and allow my eyes to adjust so that I could make out the shapes of things and then move skillfully within the dark room.
Meditation is the sitting still and allowing my eyes to adjust. But while there are formal styles of meditation (zazen, vipassana, etc.) the Buddha's instructions were simple (and myriad) - "Breathing, know that you are breathing." "Eating, know that you are eating." "Walking, know that you are walking." Etc.
