Meditate.
Adapt to the challenges put in front of you.
Source: This article was first published on Modern Times Opportunities.
The practice of meditation is currently flourishing. No wonder, as most people's days are tightly scheduled with overflowing calendars, appointments, conferences, calls, and deadlines. Many function under constant pressure and tension, rarely coming to their senses. Such exhaustion over time can result in so-called “lifestyle diseases”, previously pretty much unknown yet nowadays common all around.
I made my own experiences burning out at a relatively young age, juggling multiple businesses at the same time. I should have known better as since I was a child, I had always dreamt of experiencing the true meaning of meditation in life and with it, hopefully experience a real path towards “enlightenment”. I have no idea where this deep desire came from, as both my parents and my surroundings weren’t familiar with the concept of meditation, so it’s no surprise that it took me the first twenty years of my life to find a meditation that worked for me. Having said this, earnest desire is only met with tangible results if one dares not to give up and just keeps going.
Fast forward another ten years and after (by then) practicing different types of meditations regularly, one of my best friends asked me why I would meditate. I knew his question was “rigged”, as whenever a topic came up that was somehow “spiritual”, he involuntarily and subconsciously considered it his duty to challenge me.
In fact, I met many people in my life who have not realized their fear of spirituality and what it sometimes can do to them and their environment. Humans are naturally equipped with seven major types of fears, some which are well known such as death fear or stage fear, and others which are less obvious, such as “Spiritual Fear”. Whilst fears also carry a meaningful purpose (i.e. to survive, to overcome, grow, etc.), the latter one is often a real life theme of the individual.
People with spiritual fear are often brilliant in various areas of their lives, yet they rarely succeed to connect the dots beyond that as they attribute the sanity of their brilliance to not let their mind wander into another domain (i.e. a “spiritual realm”), unknowingly believing that they’d thereby protect themselves and their tribe. Sometimes that’s true, though mostly the opposite is the case which explains the state of science, research and education we have in the world today, where asking for the science beyond the science (“spirituality”) is almost considered a mental crime.
Back to my friend — this exchange of blows between a more spiritual and a more materialistic perspective was a great give-and-take and priceless learning opportunity for me. With him challenging me in anything touching “spirituality”, I knew that I could not reply with my usual “to reach a state beyond the mind” upon his question as to why I mediate, so I simply said: “because I’m not as good a person as you are and I found meditation a suitable way for me to become the best version of myself” — which was perfectly true at the time, for I could be a real jerk in certain aspects of my character.
Indeed, during the course of my life and my “career” in meditation, I would make the case that doing any form of meditation is often linked to personal matters the individual is confronted with at the time, so it’s more of a universal life tool which enables us to tap into an innermost force that we all have natural access to and is not necessarily connected with religion or our modern understanding of spirituality at all. Just as in my case at the time when I wanted to work on my character by pacifying my moods, meditation can be applied to simply calm oneself, gain a better focus or concentration for a task at hand, help with mental disorders or stress and even find relief from emotional trauma or painful memories.
The one common denominator of it all is the quietness — no thoughts, yet pure awareness — the place from which solutions arise to problems that have yet to be born.
Not without reason the old German saying goes “In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft” which loosely translates into:
“Calmness is the source of strength.”
The Subjective-Objectiveness of Meditation
Given the complexity of the quantum universe, where particles with fundamentally different properties can interfere with each other it’s not surprising that different humans’ points of views become entangled as well.
No wonder then, that the subject of meditation is a very personal matter associated with different cultural backgrounds, religious perceptions and contemplated by highly individual experiences. Therefore by definition it’s difficult, perhaps even impossible, to truly objectively assess it.
That having said and leaving the aspect of spiritual fear aside for a moment (which blocks openings to real objectiveness anyway), there are some basics that anyone willing can follow by experience, for instance the facts that:
our mind doesn’t like repetitions and that it feels bored after a while. This technique is used in all major religions one way or the other, whether it’s in the form of repetitive chantings (songs, sounds, mantras, etc.), repeating prayers, benedictions and decrees, specific ritual body movements, etc. — in essence they’re all following the same principle to get the “mind to shut itself off” or at the very least “move into a more passive state”;
once we focus on something NOT to think or do, it inevitably becomes the center of our attention, or as the modern expression goes: “[don’t] think of a pink elephant” — which then according to the Ironic Process Theory (“IPT”)is very hard to get out of your mind;
normally we cannot control our mind (and with it our thoughts) directly, but only in an indirect manner. Certain breathing techniques (including Pranayama and those utilized by professional divers, the military, yogis or tai chi practitioners etc.) however allow us to indirectly control our thoughts, or rather, lose ourselves from thinking by moving over a doing into a feeling stage;
when exposing ourselves to certain extremes (e.g. ice cold temperatures, multiple days of dry or water based fasting, etc.), involuntarily and in some shape or form a forced natural reset of our physical and mental faculties occurs, thereby allowing us to better penetrate the inside of our minds;
by simply hugging a tree (e.g. during an exhausting hike) we’re provided with an almost unexplainable (yet exhilarating) new found strength whereas the conscious practice of grounding is often accompanied with a sudden but peaceful centered relaxation in our own being;
…and many more.
A more technology-savvy approach to experience meditation and the popular topic of mindfulness (when perhaps focusing on mind-emptiness would yield even better results) include apps such as:
and hardware-driven solutions such as:
which not only helps to get you in the mood but some can also measure your progress by hacking various data points, brain waves etc. along the way.
These modern times tools follow the amazing successes of famous mind machines such as the Brainman and the Brain Tuner, or lucid dreaming devices such as:
or the Procyon device.
Other (and for many decades) well researched and previously explored techniques to achieve deep meditative states include the floating water tank (sometimes also called “isolation tank”) which uses sensory deprivation and is recognized as an official therapy called “REST” (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy).
If you don’t have any of those tools available don’t worry, cause neither had Massenet, yet he composed a most marvelous piece of music called “Méditation”, so be sure not to miss listening to it:
Cello: Ekkehard Hessenbruch, Piano: Toby Ruckert, Source: SoundCloud.
History of Meditation
When it comes to meditation I’m more the old-school type and like to appreciate the applied knowledge (a.k.a. wisdom) which has been proven to work throughout the ages, no matter how technologically poor they might be portrayed in history.
The well known and established Vipassana, Transcendental and Kriya Yoga meditations, and my personal favorite — the lesser known Heart-Soul Meditation of the ancient Mahāsiddha Tradition — are examples where I see the real meaning and benefits of meditation unfold and come to life in its fullest.
Another unique path towards meditation is by identifying, embracing and utilizing your individual personality’s groundnote as established by the Nada-Brahma system of Vemu Mukunda, linked to the ancient Nāda Yoga tradition.
“Every human being who has found the groundnote of his individual voice has also found the groundnote and the key to his life. The wonderful part in the study of the voice is that it reflects not only the character of an individual, but also his overall development and stage of evolution. The essence of his personality is expressed in the speaking voice.”
— Hazrat Inayat Khan
Today’s mainstream concept of meditation unfortunately is a much less holistic and often merely superficial affair, albeit at least addressing how to relax, however with little or no understanding of what really happens behind the scenes, i.e. capturing the deeper purpose of certain breathing techniques, the differences between imagination and visualization, or the quintessential consequences that arise out of refurbishing harmony between body, mind, spirit and soul in the context of an increasingly complex world.
Compare this with Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga Principles — the Eight limbs of Yoga — in which he explained how Yoga works on different levels of the human being (not just body, but also mind and soul). To him Yoga wasn’t only physical exercise, stretching, breathing exercises or meditation, but indeed all of these and more:
Yama – Moral principles related to society. So if somebody lives a successful and harmonious life in society, he is also practicing one part of Yoga.
Niyama – Personal principles, such as what to eat, when to eat, when to sleep and so on.
Asana – Body postures to enhance the energy flow in meridians by applying proper pressure on different parts of the body (using the principles of reflexology).
Pranayama – Breathing exercises to regulate mind and energy.
Pratyahara – Controlling the mind from its deviation to the external world through the five senses Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell and Taste.
Dharana – Concentrating internally (here “Meditation” starts).
Dhyana – Observing the changes occurring during Dharana.
Samadhi – Thoughtless state which is beyond the mind.
whereas “Yama”, “Niyama” and “Asanas” are in physical level, “Pranayama” and “Pratyahara” are in mind level and “Dharana”, “Dhyana” and “Samadhi” are considered to be beyond the mind.
As one can see, during ancient times of meditation history, there was a clear evolution of mastery required before one was confronted with the consequences of meditating. Perhaps this is the equivalent or subconscious purpose of the aforementioned “spiritual fear” in modern times? Or perhaps meditation in itself is nothing but a stepping stone to proper self analysis followed by true self-realization?
In any case nowadays we’re lucky — cause everyone who wants can meditate. In ancient times however, it was a privilege!
Motivation, Uses and Experiences
The reasons why people start to meditate are different, so is the motivation which keeps them going. Everyone has their own states of knowledge, applied at various experience levels, realizing wisdom in their own pace and way.
My personal Harujuku Moment to earnestly begin pursuing meditation with the discipline it required for me came, when I had a devastating live piano performance. I had the occasional memory lack when playing by heart and without sheet music but what was worse was that on stage I tended to mess up the piece trying to jump through such gaps by accelerating beyond recognition, only to fail with my own weakness.
Visualizing the entire piece beginning to end, I promised myself that during the next performance I wouldn’t panic or accelerate in the face of a self-induced attack, instead I would do the opposite by slowing down, risking the “danger” of producing a few embarrassing moments on stage. This put my mind exactly where it needed to be as once it had realized that I wasn’t going to be afraid, it didn’t play any jokes on me and knew that if it disturbed my flow, I'd just slow down and focus more on the present moment.
For me the key takeaway from this realization was: I am not my mind. Yes, my mind is a part of me and it also has some kind of personality. But it ain’t me. On the other hand I knew that visualization techniques and centering myself on the present moment were just two small parts of the repertoire that meditation beholds, so I wondered, what else could I use meditation for?
Today I’m lucky to have encountered absolutely extraordinary individuals who apply the benefits of meditation in new ways and who explore its many different uses in their daily lives, not just for themselves, but also for their friends and family, nature and their environment as such. They use it for instance to:
better navigate a world of constant information overload, system designed misinformation and indoctrinated education;
sharpen their 6th sense, intuition and ESP levels and even sense illegal surveillance (e.g. in industry espionage);
spot subliminal and hypnotic manipulation and help others remember common sense for everyone’s sanity;
prioritize work for optimized flow states using their own subconscious, thereby producing the most productive and efficient outcomes;
open their minds and push the boundaries of perception, thinking and execution, thereby creating new innovationsand thinking outside the box;
expect the unexpected, i.e. that AI could be nothing but the foundation of a new religion, or to simply gain a better focus by increasing one’s attention span;
grow plants more successfully, heal nature and help others simply by emanating a certain happiness or smile;
…and many more.
Of course these simple (admittedly more modern times) uses of meditation are nothing akin to Himalayan masters’ siddhis, but they might just suffice facing a real life frequency or chemically induced mind control event, or an outstanding hypnotic adversary encounter as depicted in Jessica Jones’s Kilgrave character.
For me personally the experience of stilling my mind has resulted in an ability to confidently identify the thoughts and feelings I actually have. I don't believe I would know myself quite so well, if I didn't take time each day to still the worry, the chatter and the mental noise.
If you’re new to meditation, I would encourage you to take notes on your practice and use those insights, as it takes time to learn bringing memories of experiences encountered during meditation from subconscious levels up to a conscious state and later remember them.
A couple of friends wrote a wonderful small book called “Living Reflections” that I helped with for photography while living in New Zealand. It covers certain insights from their meditation journey, that I’m sharing with permission here.
My personal observations after starting meditation many years ago (other than getting a grip on my moods to help me with character building) were simply that whenever we would leave the house for a while, our fridge would naturally empty itself. There was much less waste in our life all around and things just seemed to “fall into place”.