What one needs to understand about
meditation is that, as a focusing of one’s attention and awareness,
it is a creative state of being. That is, you will create an
experience of that on which you meditate. As such, when one asks,
“Why meditate?” you will probably hear a variety of different
answers. Whether the individual realizes it or not, the answer they
give ultimately depends on the intention they hold when they
meditate for that is what they are creating with their meditation.
The following list is some of the reasons that have been given for
mediation. All of these things are potentially obtainable through
meditation although they are also obtainable in other ways. The
questions is whether one is willing to do the work necessary to
obtain any of these things whatever technique they choose to use.
Mediation can be used for:
-
To become aware of one’s
thoughts
-
To become mindful of where one
is placing the focus of their attention
-
It is to observe one’s self in
relationship
-
It is to calm the mind
-
To silence the mind
-
To cause the endless chatter
that normally fills our consciousness to be stilled.
-
To become still as a calm pool
of water with no ripples and to realize that 1) all arises from
within our own being only to ripple outward into an expression
of oneself and that our body is only one such manifested ripple
and 2) one is only an eddy or a place of stillness within a
larger pool of vibrations.
-
To observe the energy you are
experiencing by watching thoughts, feelings and sensations
-
It is to access the “Why?”
behind what occurs, to see the cause effect chain of events you
see and experience.
-
To become self observant
internally and externally, reflective and insightful, as to why
you have created the experience you have.
-
To break or form habits of the
mind.
-
It is to find God or to
experience God
-
To see the bigger picture and
remember what is important in one’s life
-
It is to stop one’s thinking
and moving beyond the mind
-
To decouple from the senses to
become aware one is not one’s senses so that one can realize
they are not their body and one can realize they can leave the
body and experience death if they so choose.
-
To see the illusion of reality
-
It is to become a witness at
all levels of your being so you can access any time and any
place anywhere you are.
-
To be present to what is, as
it is.
-
It is to observe the
conditions of the body, mind, emotions or spirit and any part of
one’s extended being or condition of reality external to the
body.
-
To become detached.
-
It is to reach higher states
of consciousness.
-
To pull ourselves out of rut
of our every day awareness to remind us and bring us and to
learn about higher spiritual values.
-
It is about becoming wise.
-
To achieve understanding
-
It is about visualizing and
creating
-
It is about the direction of
energy such that you can immerse yourself in water or cover
yourself with wet blankets and cause steam to arise from you
body because of the power of your ability to control and direct
energy
-
It is to activate the energy
of the body to heal itself.
-
To access and use our unused
mind
-
It is to become a mystic
and/or have mystical experiences.
-
It is to obtain one of the
supernatural powers of the mystics such as the power to read
minds, foretell the future, see the past, reduce one’s body to
the size of an atom to explore the subtle levels of reality, to
expand oneself to any size, to be able to full one’s wishes, to
gain leadership over things and people, or to attract and
control things.
-
To bring a concept or vision
into a perception and/or manifest the concept or vision as a
physical experience or manifestation.
-
To explore the depth and
breath of one’s true nature.
What the author has found most
interesting about all the answer to “Why meditate?” is that there is
one response that he has never seen give or anywhere stated. That
is, the author has never heard from any author, master, therapist,
meditation practitioner or any individual the follow or equivalent
statement - “I meditate because it is fun and I enjoy it. There is
no other reason that simply I enjoy it.” The author has heard such a
statement about sleep, about play and activities associated with
play. But he as never heard it said about meditation. Many will talk
about the joy and pleasure created thought mediation or by
meditation. Few talk about the pleasures of meditating itself. The
author knows of no one who has said it is the most thrilling
experience they have ever encountered.
The author has also never met or heard of anyone who has said, “I
incarnated to have the experience of meditation.” He doubt he will
meet anyone who has such an
intention for their life. Meditation is not an end in itself. It
is simply a tool to get somewhere or get something.
The author has come to believe there is a very profound reason for
why it is not said meditation is fun. It is simply because of the
work involved in disciplining the mind through meditation.
Disciplining the mind, whatever technique that is used, is usually
not fun. Meditation is not done for the joy of the experience
itself. Until meditation becomes a habit like any other habit, it is
work and it is often hard work.
It always takes work to discipline and focus and undisciplined mind.
Once mind is disciplined, it usually no longer struggles and mind
will do whatever needs to be done. It is then, with a disciplined
mind, that mediation becomes an extremely powerful tool and can even
be considered fun. In many ways, it is an acquired taste. But even
with a disciplined mind, there is again some work associated with
the concept to get any of ends one desires by using meditation. One
has to sit and meditate until they create what they desire. Few find
joy in the meditation itself unless they acquire a taste for it.
In any case, there are many reasons given for meditation. But in all
those cases, meditation is a means to an end. The above list is a
list of some of those ends. Meditation is an extremely powerful tool
and there is some work associated with the concept to get any end
one desires.
From a
creativity perspective, if one realizes meditation is a creative
tool, to state the purpose of meditation is for any of the above
reasons is a very incomplete answer. Any of the above reasons by
themselves do not address why you wish to achieve that objective.
For example, if you state, “Meditation is to calm the mind,,” you
will then have to ask, “Why do you wish to clam the mind - what is
wrong with a restless mind?” In your attempt to answer this
question, you will then be faced with “pulling
the string” on a long series of “why’s.” At some point you will
be faced with the simple realization that “I chose to .... or I want
....” and that is the real purpose for your meditating.
There is something you are seeking. There is an intention that is
driving your meditation The same is true for all the reasons for
meditation given above. Simply said, meditation is a creative tool
to get something. It frequently becomes an end itself and/or a habit
that can interfere with taking what one has found back into the
every day world The goal is not sit and meditate. The goal is to
take meditation into one’s every day life. The goal is to make our
life a meditation to create what we desire to experience. That is
the goal. It is to become mindful and awareness of our thoughts to
chose those thoughts such that when we act to manifest those thought
we are creating what we desire to experience.
Meditation is a way to achieve any understanding that is primarily
directed inward. In the approach used within the material on this
site and the Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity Technology, the
view of meditation is that it is a tool to focus one’s attention and
awareness to discover and explore one’s true nature. Then armed with
that in awareness, meditation becomes a tool to assist one in
creating whatever they choose.
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