Amod, I agree 100 percent with every word in this article. We don't "practice" meditation to become a highly skilled meditator. We practice it to learn to return to reality when we drift off to la-la land. And after a while, we find that we are doing that in everyday life — it just happens over time. Meditation has changed my life, bigly. I'll never stop returning.
yes, this is so true. after many years of the practice, I'm not so sure the frequency of mind wandering has abated, but i can definitely manage it much better. it's been a real benefit. i no longer get stuck in a thought loop like i used to.
This is really excellent. I have heard or read other people speak about this on occasion, but I do not know of any other piece of writing which so clearly and fully develops what is most significant to realize about the practice of mindfulness meditation
That's its own question, yes. Some of the "nondual" Buddhist meditation traditions will speak of a "witness" or "spy" doing the noticing - but it is not clear to me how that differs from the self that they are at such pains to deny.
Amod, I agree 100 percent with every word in this article. We don't "practice" meditation to become a highly skilled meditator. We practice it to learn to return to reality when we drift off to la-la land. And after a while, we find that we are doing that in everyday life — it just happens over time. Meditation has changed my life, bigly. I'll never stop returning.
yes, this is so true. after many years of the practice, I'm not so sure the frequency of mind wandering has abated, but i can definitely manage it much better. it's been a real benefit. i no longer get stuck in a thought loop like i used to.
This is really excellent. I have heard or read other people speak about this on occasion, but I do not know of any other piece of writing which so clearly and fully develops what is most significant to realize about the practice of mindfulness meditation
Thank you, Karsten! It's one of those things that feels obvious after years of practice, but so it surprises me how few people *say* it.
I'll second Karsten, an excellent point. But what I've been wondering lately is who is doing the noticing? Who is the watcher?
That's its own question, yes. Some of the "nondual" Buddhist meditation traditions will speak of a "witness" or "spy" doing the noticing - but it is not clear to me how that differs from the self that they are at such pains to deny.