Meditation 24: Meditation

We live such busy lives that we tend to forget the present moment as it quietly or not so quietly slides into the past.  It is impossible to grasp the present, because the moment one tries to grasp it, it vanishes.  Like a neutrino whizzing through the universe at the speed of light, the present has no mass.  Try to stop it and it disappears.  So how can we let the present be?  One answer is through meditation.  Meditation stops the flow of thoughts that distract us from paying attention to the present, not as something we are trying to capture, but which we are trying to experience.

In a scientific world, the notion of meditation sounds suspicious.  This is because the practice of meditation is associated with mysticism and various occult studies, as well as religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.  This is a misconception of what meditation is and what it does.

Meditation is no more or less than a technique for entering the present moment and letting it be. It is like holding a soap bubble in your hand but not squeezing it so hard that it pops.  The secret to meditation is to cease thinking without ceasing to be conscious of the world within and without you.  Consciousness without thinking or passing judgment leaves one in the present moment, without distractions, without hopes, without fears or pains, anguish or grief.  The present opens up to us in the space between thoughts, and meditative techniques are all designed to quiet the mind, to stop its chattering, its clinging to the past and anxiety over the future.

You cannot prevent your thoughts from coming.  They come when they will.  The practice of meditation is difficult precisely because of this.  The moment you start to congratulate yourself on having attained openness in the present, you lose what you thought you had attained, because you have distanced yourself from the present by thinking about yourself.  Thoughts of self and others are always coming up.  Meditation may take you out of the stream of constant thinking, but it does not do so permanently, nor should it do so.  Meditation is a well-deserved vacation from the worrying world of life and death, sickness and health, riches and poverty, past and future, and like any good vacation, it refreshes us for the work and struggles ahead.