- cross-posted to:
- piefed_meta@piefed.social
- cross-posted to:
- piefed_meta@piefed.social
Meditation is a thing that you do with your attention. When you pay attention or concentrate or get distracted, that’s you doing a thing with your attention. And that’s obviously important stuff in your life and the world. Meditation takes it further.
We basically have 2 kinds of meditation.
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Concentration meditation, which is plain ol concentration taken to a higher level.
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Zen meditation (aka shikantaza), which is another thing to do with your attention, kindof a left turn from concentration and is a bit esoteric.
So there you go.
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So can you meditate at will? I usually don’t say I meditate as try to meditate because that is what I am doing. Sometimes I feel I get to a state which is illusive and maybe what I am looking to get to when I try to meditate but im not sure if that is meditation either.
Yeah, I can meditate at will. I slide in. Starts shallow, gets deeper. The longer I go the deeper it gets. Then when I’m done I slide out again over hours and days. Ideally I’d do it 24-7 but there you go.
It’s like my hand is chronically in a tight fist. When I meditate it relaxes and opens up and gets relaxed and floppy.
That’s shikantaza anyway. The other kind of meditation, the concentration, it sorta makes me tighter. But I don’t do that meditation these days.
Have you ever done group/collective transcendental meditation? From my limited lack of knowledge, I understand it is used to push positive social waves into the surrounding community. Big David Lynch fan.
Also, have you seen that collection of David Lynch’s short works? It’s got its moments. Featuring Harry Dean Stanton being musically deep. I have only seen it on torrent.
Yes! My current favourite is a clip of him making quinoa. Opens the tap…“Now add some fresh, fresh water”.
I am also a big David Lynch fan :)
I have not done TM in any serious way. I basically fumbled around and experimented until it made sense to me. Forging my own path and such.
I did go to a TM thing once a long time ago. They were nice people.
As for pushing positive social waves into the surrounding community, yes, I have some small experience with that. It’s a thing I study and experiment with some.
Thanks, all the best to you.
I feel like I’ve had undiagnosed ADHD my whole life. I’ve done some meditation in the past and I felt it helped a bit but it’s been years.
Any advice that you’d give me? Anything you’d like to mention about the benefits?
Ok I wrote a thing. It’s short and polished. It’s basically what I did. Check it out then ask me any questions.
As for benefits.
You will start with the concentration meditation because it’s dead easy and just takes a little time and effort. It will make you sharp. Maybe a little too sharp. You’ll like it. You’ll feel powerful. You’ll also become a little bit of a crazy asshole. I guess a monastery provides the environment for taking care of people in this state, but lacking that, try to lead a life with lots of free alone time and little stress.
After you get a handle on that you’ll do the second meditation. The “shikantaza”. But that comes later. It’s much kinder but you need to get a handle on the first one first.
BUT that’s just me. Maybe there’s a better way. There was a teacher named Joko Beck who skipped the concentration meditation and taught only the shik. I dunno. Above all you need to become your own expert. Experiment and explore. There is no substitute.
How would you say this has affected your life?
Positively
So, do you have a more-experienced meditator that you meet with regularly, or do you meditate on your own?
I meditate on my own
Is there a principled reason why you do not consult with other meditators, or did it just work out that way?
No principal involved. The way I see it, I have this thing before me and addressing it seems to be a personal one-man job. So ya, I never felt drawn to consulting like that. But when I find somebody else who meditates I do like to talk to them. Sometimes intensely.
That makes sense. There’s been an enormous amount of meditation work done over the centuries, in the Euro-American world we tend to be unaware of it. I kinda feel like I should encourage you to seek out meditation centers and temples. But if what you’re doing works for you, then awesome.
Have you ever had any dissociation events? Like, feeling that you are a passenger in your own body, after meditation?
Ya, I’ve felt like that. Not in a way that was associated with or caused by meditation, as far as I can tell, tho.
no question, just one single clap
