What's the Aim of Meditation To You?

[olmate]

In its essential significance, the aim of meditation in my daily practice is just this: the realization of our total incorporation in the ground of being through a cycle of awareness and return to silence and stillness.

The qualities we need in this fundamental encounter between ourselves and the ground of being are attentiveness and receptivity.

The wonder of this is not in a succession of awakenings, but in the single all-inclusive awakening of the ground of being.

What's your take?

Olmate

[GilesC]

I don't usually go for trying to put such things into words as they can be limiting. If I had to, I would say simply that, for me, it is about being free of attachments that prevent me from living in the present moment. That in itself has a knock on effect on everything around me.

Hugs

Giles

[brozen]

waking up to having the base mind of a child.

the mind before it becomes bombarded with endless ideas from the ultimately irrelevant, external world.

and thus being able to reason freely, with the inherent good virtues.

and of course being able to TRULY enjoy every moment

[Panthau]

Yup, trying to uncondition the mind of the thinking and judging habit. So i can enjoy more and more the present moment.

[Karmoh]

Hi Olmate,

A very simple but astute question, with far reaching values, we seek spirituality, we read, we study, and we write and post on forums. Strangely however helpful it may be to hear stories about God, to covet the meaning of the Tao, to meditate on Buddhist principles, to study the Koran or to be one with the Great Spirit, none of this will touch us much until we look past the story, past false doctrine, beyond meditation, prayer, and oneness to experience what these techniques were devised to teach.


My aim when I sit, it is not to meditate per se but Instead to know the truth. A much different truth than I have ever sought before. And there lies my problem I still choose to seek what is already here.

An interesting question Don, which has opened up something within...


Peace

PS. Just to clarify further, I do meditate in the traditional sense, but I’m not reliant on just 45 minutes in the dawn to show me a path. There is a subtle awareness throughout the day that life is the meditation. In silent pauses and hectic thoughts there is a presence that teases and tantalises showing hints of truth or unconditional love.

To be a bit controversial on a meditation forum, the grasping part of me doesn’t believe that if I miss meditation all will still be as it is.

Umm, digging a hole here As Giles rightly says very hard to quantify in words only.

[Michael David]

The formal portion of my meditation practice begins near dawn every morning. My intention is to become mindful and present and to reconnect to the natural process of Being. There is an intention to re-membring or re-experiencing the essential equanimity of Being. It is as though each morning I awaken and after a brief few moments of possibly being "connected" waking consciousness ensues and along with it an uneasy sense of separation from Being.

One of the aims of meditation is to re-connect to a "higher" awareness or connection to Being that I have experienced along my path of meditation.

It is as if I have unconsciously forgotten some of what I had previously experienced. And then for me meditation becomes a natural process of allowing what is, to be as it is, as it gradually uncovers layer upon layer of separation; as a closer consciousness to pure Being rises to the surface along with a feeling of interconnectedness with all life.

Some days are "better" than others.

Michael

[olmate]

@ Giles
I know what you mean. Language by its very nature is dualistic. But... those with a mentoring/teaching gift such as you and Edwin seem to overcome the limitations. Accordingly, any and all contributions are always welcome.

@ Brozen
Looking over the panorama of life often brings up that paradox. Innocence wallpapered over then stripped away...

@ Pan
Man I really admire you. So cool, so now, so experiential. I really learn a lot from you Pan.

@ Karmoh
Sometimes I get a bit pensive about asking questions like this. Then I just start to wonder what your take would be. Never disappointed. I do get what you mean. The chosen path for me is that as well. Stripping away the layers of lost meaning in the teachings and leaning into the limitlessness with as much courage as i can muster. It is a difficult conversation due to the personal nature of our journey's - but I know you get it. Thanks.

@ Michael
Its funny Michael how unseen connection arises. There are some on this Forum that are familiar beyond the posts. On the occasion a post arises a knowing smile emerges. Hard to explain but I sense you will know. I would have guessed your practice included those elements.

A recent teaching I was studying suggested that the age in which we live today is unique in the sense that the connection between unseen and physical is at a advanced stage of development in human history - deep history included. It resonated strongly when I heard that.

Thanks fellow travellers...

Olmate

[pollyanna]

Hi Olmate,

my initial aim to learn to meditate was to unclutter my mind and create the space to receive universal information. I felt it was a piece of the puzzle I needed to move forward and help me reach my goals... and it does

That was my initial aim - yet now, I don't think I have an aim - it's simply a daily habit which I am so grateful for and enjoy. It helps me in ways I would never have imagined. What I do in life is my purpose for being here I believe, but I always visit "home" everyday

I wish you much peace and joy

[M L K]

Simple questions can be so provocative. Thanks for asking, Olmate.

I meditate to experience the deep quiet within me, to give it a chance to soothe and enliven me. And then back within the noisier world (which I love, and which carries the quiet within it as well, I believe), I am able to feel more expansive and yet more grounded, less stuck in habit and reaction, a little more patient and less judgmental, and a clearer sense of what is appropriate for me.

It's an ongoing journey for which I am grateful, and meditation both buoys and anchors me.

Warm regards to all. Margaret

[olmate]

Hi Pollyanna and Margaret,

I am currently doing a course entitled "Comming Home". Your descriptions so sit with some of the elements of that course. Particularly the daily call home to check in.

Thanks to both of you for sharing. What a wonderful journey this is!!!

Olmate