Why are there so many seekers but so few finders? Why is inner peace so difficult to find? IF we should happen to feel at peace, is it impossible to maintain that sense of self as life unfolds before you? Does meditation help us to find and sustain inner peace? Carl Jung is credited with saying that wisdom was stating the obvious. Perhaps, what you find when you meditate does not measure up to your expectations. Zen states the reality of finding illumination best, first enlightenment and then the laundry. Even when you are the grand mystic high exalted one, who will do your chores for you? If you dig for diamonds, would you discard all the gold and silver that you find as you mine?
The basic misdirection a seeker encounters on their quest to find inner peace – revolves around developing the awareness to appreciate the arrival of inner peace. Also, to remain aware to notice when inner peace begins to slip away. Typically, when we choose to practice meditation, we seek a quiet place where we can draw our attention inward and away from the confusion of the world around us.
It is not healthy to separate from the world. Perhaps it would be better to see what we call distractions as a series of lessons on maintaining awareness. Meditation strengthens your connection to the world. The process of meditation supplies the quiet space within that you need in order for you to recognize how your choices create your life. Each of us is an important co-creator of the world. Each of us has the responsibility to create the world by the application of free will. The world is neither confusing nor comprehensible. It is just a place where things happen. You can’t change what is happening. You can only be aware of your response to what is happening all around you. Awareness gives you the space to be present as life unfolds and to respond to situations as you choose to respond. Meditation gives you the opportunity to appreciate how your choices influence your life. Meditation trains us to be aware.
Our culture trains us to understand what is happening so that we can make the right choice. We live in the age of science and have developed a cultural bias toward thinking and understanding. We are taught that one should know what they are doing before they attempt to do it. I am not saying that thinking is bad. Actually thinking and understanding is only one way to respond to what is happening in your life.
What is happening in our life may be beyond our capacity to understand. The meaning of physical sensations, emotional responses and spiritual communication can only be felt. The body, your emotions and your spirit all communicate. However, the communication does not happen with words and ideas. Only the mind communicates with words and ideas. Body, emotions and spirit communicate with feelings. Why do you love one person and not another? You feel love physically, emotionally and spiritually but no one understands why you feel that way toward the object of your affection. You certainly can’t convince someone to love you or not to love you. All emotions are unreasonable and non-debatable.
Meditation is the process by which we can get in touch with our feelings and come to trust feelings. Meditation enables us to balance knowledge with feelings. In that way, a fully integrated being will inform our response to our life as we are living.
Now I have mentioned body, mind, emotions and spirit. In reality those concepts are only a representation of who you are at any given time. How can your body be different than your mind? How can your mind be different than your emotions? How can your emotions be different than your spirit? In reality there is just you, an integrated being. The words are representations that enable us to express our ideas. Unfortunately the words can also shatter our sense of integration so that we feel empty and scattered.
The words are powerful enough to convince you that what you feel is not important. Meditation will help you to feel your feelings, express how you feel as you are feeling those feelings and then move on. What could complicate the search more than confusing words and concepts with the real world?
Through meditation we seek inner peace. With inner peace, we foster world peace. Yet the news reports remind us that there is a war going on somewhere in the world. Inside of each of us there is a war zone as well. Even the act of meditation will stir conflict. When, where, why, how should I meditate? When we fight with ourselves who wins? The problem is neither simple nor difficult. It is a value judgment. How much do you value inner peace? Everyone wants to be successful, the question is, and how hard are you willing to work to achieve your goal?
When you practice meditation you begin the process of integration. Body, emotion and spirit will be given a voice and mind will determine what to do with that communication. Meditation is done with awareness. Developing awareness is the purpose of meditation.
So how do you start the communication between your passions and your intellect? Where do you begin building the bridges?
Next, so how do I meditate?
