Meditation: The Royal Evolutionary Road

How many books read, retreats attended, sages heard, and personal experiences had before we acquire some fundamental, perennially-affirmed Life Practices as permanent acquisitions? What have we been waiting for? Perhaps we have been waiting for the non-judgmental, hilarious recognition that we don’t know what the reason is that we have been waiting so long.

I am going to – as compassionately and skillfully as I can – encourage you to acquire some stable practices that will never fail to provide and reveal meaning and purpose in your life as an active expression of the evolution of Spirit.

No matter what tradition you follow, if you take your particular lineage into the mystical, you will find that all the saints and sages, yogis and common folk who had a bead on the deep features of life and the human condition all practiced meditation and contemplation.

FIRST, WHAT IS MEDITATION?

Ken Wilber writes in Grace and Grit:

There are many ways to explain meditation, what it is, what it does, how it works. Meditation, it is said, is a way to evoke the relaxation response. Meditation, others say, is a way to train and strengthen awareness; a method for centering and focusing the self; a way to halt constant verbal thinking and relax the bodymind; a technique for calming the central nervous system; a way to relieve stress, bolster self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and alleviate depression.

All of those are true enough; meditation has been clinically demonstrated to do all of those things. But I would like to emphasize that meditation itself is, and always has been, a spiritual practice. Meditation, whether Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, or Muslim, was invented as a way for the soul to venture inward, there ultimately to find a supreme identity with Godhead. “The Kingdom of Heaven is within” – and meditation, from the very beginning, has been the royal road to that Kingdom. Whatever else it does, and it does many beneficial things, meditation is first and foremost a search for the God within.

I would say meditation is spiritual, but not religious. Spiritual has to do with actual experience, not mere beliefs; with God as the Ground of Being, not a cosmic Daddy figure; with awakening to one’s true Self, not praying for one’s little self; with the disciplining of awareness, not preachy and churchy moralisms about drinking and smoking and sexing; with Spirit found in everyone’s Heart, not anything done in this or that church.

Mahatma Gandhi is spiritual; Oral Roberts is religious. Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Albert Schweitzer, Emerson and Thoreau, Saint Teresa of Avila, Dame Julian of Norwich, William James – spiritual. Billy Graham, Archbishop Sheen, Robert Schuller, Pat Robertson, Cardinal O’Connor – religious.

Meditation is spiritual; prayer is religious. That is, petitionary prayer, in which I ask God to give me a new car, help with my promotion, etc., is religious; it simply wishes to bolster the little ego in its wants and desires.

Meditation, on the other hand, seeks to go beyond the ego altogether; it asks nothing from God, real or imagined, but rather offers itself up as a sacrifice toward a greater awareness.

Meditation, then, is not so much a part of this or that particular religion, but rather part of the universal spiritual culture of all humankind – an effort to bring awareness to bear on all aspects of life. It is, in other words, part of what has been called the perennial philosophy.

My [David Rainoshek] intention here is to give you – with a western, rational mind – an appreciation for why meditation is so transformative, and then a practical introduction to the practice by several westerners who have been around the block a few times, namely Jack Kornfield and Jon Kabat-Zinn.

MEDITATION AND VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT

So here is a little from Ken Wilber on how meditation accelerates vertical development. What we are talking about here is something we will return to – lines of human development, such as
cognitive, moral, aesthetic, spiritual, emotional, interpersonal….. Well, heck, let’s jump ahead briefly – they look like this:

These are identifiable lines of development and their stages, and we all move through them. Some of us excel in some, and less in others. For now, don’t worry if this seems daunting now – we will get back to these lines in more detail in our second week! Now here is Ken:

Ken Wilber: How Meditation Accelerates Vertical Development

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MEDITATION PRACTICE(S)

There are many meditation practices, but they are all based on the
ability to develop a one-pointed focus on something: your breath, a
part of the body, a mantra or prayer, or a subject of devotion such
as Jesus, Krishna, Avalokitesvara, or Godhead. But this can be
difficult to do. Moment-to-moment, monkey-mind tends to be a very
dominant aspect of our awareness.

Meditation is, in part, a means to become the witness of
monkey-mind, and the development of the ability to act as witness
is called mindfulness. The practice of establishing the witness
builds a strength of concentration, and concentration (as opposed
to being scattered) gives rise to insight. It is the age-old:

Mindfulness —> Concentration —> Insight

And the easiest way to train one’s mind and establish the witness
is one-pointed focus on the breath. For the duration of the Juice
Feast, we will keep meditation simple:

30 minutes, sitting upright, counting one’s in-breath and
out-breath to ten, watching the mind do whatever it does, but not
jumping into the river of thoughts…. and when you do jump the
bank into the river and notice you have, return to shore, and begin
counting from one to ten.

Will you always meditate this way? No. But to establish greater
concentration, this is one of the best, tried-and-true ways of
doing so. In the future, once you can sit for a half-hour and not
lose count, following the breath is sufficient, and other
meditations we will review from Jack Kornfield in his book
Meditation for Beginners will provide a greater span of meditative
subjects.

But for now in your practice during this Juice Feast,
breath-counting is perfect training.

Here is a basic introduction to meditation by Jack Kornfield:

Jack Kornfield is an author
and psychologist. After graduating in Asian studies from Dartmouth
College in 1967, he trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma,
and India. In 1975, Kornfield cofounded the Insight Meditation
Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and later, the Spirit Rock Center
in Woodacre, California. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
His books include A Path With Heart; After the Ecstacy, the
Laundry; The Art of Forgiveness; and most recently, The Wise
Heart.

HOW TO CULTIVATE A DAILY MEDITATION PRACTICE

Source: Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield

ONE OF THE most important aspects of meditation is to cultivate a
daily practice. If you do, the first thing you will notice is that
on Monday you might be able to be with your breath very well, but
on Tuesday it will be a struggle, and on Wednesday it will be even
worse than that. Then on Thursday it might be better again, but on
Friday it could be completely frustrating.

It is important not to judge your meditations. Your job is to sit
on the cushion or the chair and to accept and relate to whatever
happens, which will always be solely a reflection of whatever state
your mind and body are in at that moment. Even if you are frantic
at the end of the day and you can sit and watch three breaths in
the twenty minutes and the rest is a lot of thinking, do it anyway.
Try not to have expectations. Just commit to practicing it as an
exercise, and do not get discouraged by whatever happens. Remember
that meditation practice is very much like learning how to play the
piano. At first it amounts to little more than getting your fingers
to work a series of exercises. Later, you may be able to forget
about the exercise and hear the music behind it. We have all spent
probably a hundred million moments of wandering mind in our lives
already, so to try to change the wandering mental habit overnight
is not very likely. Meditation works, but it takes perseverance and
a gentle training of yourself.

Here are some suggestions to help you establish a daily
meditation routine.

• Choose a time of day that works for you, and then try to meditate
around that time every day.

• Accommodate your personal style. If you are a morning person, you
may want to meditate shortly after rising. Others find it easier to
sit in the afternoon, or in the evening.

• Find a quiet corner where you can practice every day. It can be
anywhere, as long as you can remain relatively undisturbed during
your meditation session. Use a chair, a cushion, or any support
that best helps you maintain your meditative posture and
awareness.

• Sit for fifteen minutes, half an hour, or longer each day. Even
just five minutes a day will be beneficial, as long as you make the
simple commitment during that time to feel your breath and bring
your awareness to your physical sensations, thoughts, and
feelings.

• Depending on your inclination each day, use any of the eight
meditations featured in this book, or any combination of them.

• You may find it helpful to place inspiring objects In your
meditation space: an image, some incense, or possibly a book. You
might want to read a short passage from a book before meditating.
Many meditators light a candle to symbolize the illumination that
is the gift of awareness.

• Seek out a meditation group. These can be found through churches,
temples, Buddhist or Hindu groups, and various secular
organizations. Joining such a group does not commit you to becoming
a follower of any particular teaching; it simply surrounds your
practice with the support of other meditators.

• Remember that meditation is not an accomplishment, but a lifelong
practice. As you work with your breathing, bodily sensations,
thoughts, and emotional energies, you will become more adept at
remaining calm and curious in the midst of any life situation.

• Keep it simple. The point of vipassana meditation is not to have
any particular experience, but to become aware of whatever
experience you are having. An attitude of childlike openness will
help you discover the truth of your life in the present moment.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Below in the attachments are two excellent conversations
between Tami Simon of Sounds True and Ken Wilber on his experiences
over the last few decades with meditation. You many enjoy listening
to them!

Also, check out the following books:

Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn [HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED]

Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield

The Meditative Mind by Daniel Goleman

A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield

Meditation: The First and Last Freedom by Osho

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

And this audio program:

The Inner Art of Meditation by Jack Kornfield (9 CD Set)
[EXCELLENT REVIEWS]

Remember, the map is not the territory. These books and
resources are excellent, and such a huge gift, but only to the
extent that you practice.

Enjoy your breathing!

With peaceful steps,

David Rainoshek, MA

Tags: featured

Category: Ken Wilber, Meditation, Mysticism, Spirituality