Giles you are obviously a true gentleman and scholar and a terrifically kind-hearted person. Where I seem to attack forcefully with my words you flow like a willow in the wind and answer without 'attacking' back. I hope that the practise of meditation has half the effect on me as it has obviously had on you. I realize now that we actually seem to see eye to eye on most of these topics.
That said, it also seems pretty obvious that we actually 'meditate' (sorry - using it as a verb not an ideal state) in fundamentally different ways. Some images come to mind to show what I think the difference might be. Of course there is no one right way to practise but this fundamental difference intrigues me.
My way might be seen as climbing a mountain where there's a kind of rigorous effort (mental effort) for most or all of each 'sit' but sometimes I make it to the peak of that mountain and the object kind-of drops away and effortless awareness prevails. (That effortless awareness happens rarely by the way but much more easily with Lifeflow (I think))
The image that comes to mind for your way is not ascending with effort but allowing yourself to sink downwards (I'm picturing quicksand or swampy quagmire) into awareness with no-effort. From what you've written I'm assuming you usually are 'letting go' of the mantra fairly early into each sit? The way you actually use the mantra not really as a focus point but rather as something that kind-of naturally draws you into awareness is what I'm finding hard to comprehend. I haven't actually listened to the Discover Meditation downloads on this site yet so perhaps that will clarify this for me.
If you agree with this sort of image my question is - Have you always practised that way or did you start off doing something that more resembled my way? I ask this because I think if I tried to meditate your way I'd be lost at sea so to speak. This is because in most books I’ve read it says that a base level of concentration is necessary before moving on to pure awareness practise. And it's obvious to me that I don't have that base level of concentration at all yet! But I will endeavour to learn more about the mantra method on those downloads.
Thanks Giles
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