Why Do I Meditate? (Part I)

With my departure on a 10 day meditation retreat I thought I would write a blog on why I meditate. When I began I had intended a single entry. By the time I was done I realized that I had significantly more words than would comfortably fit in a single entry. So with that in mind I’ve prepared a series of blog entries where I explore the question of why I meditate. And with technology empowering me to schedule posts when I am not even at a computer I invite you to read while I spend time in my metaphysical cave.

As I continue on my spiritual journey I'm becoming clearer about some essential realizations. The first and foremost is that the practice of meditation is the most important component of what I aspire to.

Meditation has empowered me to re-train and re-culture my mind. It has been central in my quest to uncover more about myself, which in turn has helped me to clarify my aspirations. The perseverance and determination to thrive with the practice of meditation has been a platform from which I have been able to consciously redesign my circumstances.

Those of you familiar with the spiritual practice of Affirmative Prayer (also known as Spiritual Mind Treatment) may point to that practice as a tool for conscious creation. And as someone who has spent years learning about crafting prayers I would have to agree with you. However, through meditation I have established a profound clarity, expansiveness and a direct sense of love. Combining meditation and prayer is like adding jet fuel to a moped. When I pray following meditation it always has a feel that cannot be compared to prayer alone.

Central to the Buddha's teaching on meditation was the idea that we should strive for mastery of the mind. I have rephrased this as ‘mastery of the objective mind’. The more I've delved into this practice the more I've come to realize that mastery of the objective mind is actually a skill. The more I practice using this skill the better I become at it. Over time I've gotten better at being the one that directs my objective mind, not the other way around (which used to so often be the case).

The objective mind (the analyst, critic, linear planner, and judge) is a tool and a facilitator. That part of me that is subjective mind (true self, soul, etc.) created the objective mind with will. Every time I use operate through my objective mind without awareness of the true self I blindly imprint memories, mental conditions, values and agreements beneath the surface of my consciousness.

The Buddha talked about the carving of grooves, or in the Pali language Saṅkhāra, beneath the surface of our conscious awareness. I explain it thus:

About the soul is a reservoir of memories. Each emotionally charged reaction, mental-conditioning, value, agreement, belief or attitude I dwell upon is carved like a groove upon my reservoir of memories. We have grooves that align with our aspirations and grooves that align with reactions to belief in separation. The more intense the emotional experience with that moment the deeper the groove my reactions carve.

When we go through life without an awareness of what is going on beneath the surface we get caught up in the same old thing. We experience boredom. We get into a rut. The idea of feeling invigorated or renewed becomes more challenging.

The great gift of meditation to me has been a way for me to re-train my objective mind. I've spent many hours refining such skills as focus, concentration and harmonious awareness. And the deeper I've travelled along this path the more indescribably beautiful the journey with this practice has become. Old grooves have been smoothed away (a process for which I will explain more about at a later entry in this series) and I have found an increase in my ability to concentrate. A direct effect of meditation for me has shown up in my being able to maintain a harmonious and loving awareness so much more than I used to be able to. Meditation has yielded great mental discipline for me. And because it has changed my thinking it has literally changed my life.