A recent commenter mentioned that trying to meditate is, in a lot of ways, an oxymoron. This reminded me of passage from Alan Watts along the same lines:
When you realize that you have come to your wit’s end, you can begin meditation. Or meditation happens, and that happening is simply the watching of what is, of all the information conveyed to you by your exterior and interior senses, and even the thoughts that keep chattering on about it all. You don’t try to stop those thoughts, you just let them run as if they were birds twittering outside, and they will eventually become tired and stop. But don’t worry about whether they do or don’t. Just simply watch whatever it is that you are feeling, thinking, or experiencing – that’s it. Just watch it, and don’t go out of your way to put any names on it. This is really what meditation is.
It’s an important reminder about what we’re doing when we’re meditating. We’re not trying to meditate, rather, we’re just being. For me, and I suspect for many people, this is not something that comes naturally anymore. Maybe once it did. But over the years, the input of constant simulation has made it seem almost completely unnatural. I’m definitely excited about continuing on this journey and changing these habits.
Today gave rise to an interesting development. Upon reflection, I realized that my thoughts, overall, were based less on words and more on images in my mind. Until today, almost all of my thinking has been verbal. What I’m wondering is whether my thinking actually started shifting to pictures, or whether the verbal thoughts quieted down just enough that some of these image-based thoughts were able to rise up to the surface?
I’ve done a good bit of research into how the way we interact with the world changes the way we think , and I’m wondering if something similar is occurring here. I’ll be interested to see whether and how this process continues to develop over the coming days.
Have you experienced any changes or breakthroughs so far this week?
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