Meditation Is Not For The Meditator

I am here to tell you The Truth. And this truth is not meant for “the world.” For “the world” is nothing more than background noise meant for the Insincere.

Now apparently everyone “meditates.” There are now meditation groups. And meditation billboards. And “scientific” articles about meditation espousing the “health benefits” of meditation. And fingernails-on-a-chalkboard exchanges such as this:

“Do you meditate?”

“Yes I do.”

“Wow, me too. Don’t you just love it? It makes me feel so calm.”

Even writing this exchange was painful. I just watched myself let out a big sigh.

I will not allow venom to pen this discourse. I will proceed with equanimity. Accepting the world for what it is. And resting in the idea that I’m not speaking to them. For I refuse to waste my words on the societal, the cavalier, and the insincere.

I will begin with some stark and unflinching statements. No shock value. Simply Raw Truth.

Let us begin:

Meditation Is Not An Action.

If you meditate for a “benefit” you are wasting your time.

If your mind thinks you at all holy or progressed for having meditated, you have added yet another bondage to your life.

If you consider yourself a “meditator” you are the same as a “church-goer” and a “coffee-drinker” and a “runner.”

If you meditate to become calm, life will soon make you un-calm.

Saying Aum is really and truly about you watching yourself say Aum.

The Buddha did not meditate.

If you meditate to get away from your problems, you will create new problems in the world of meditation, and the old ones will patiently wait for you until you are done “meditating.”

Meditation will NOT improve your life. It will only slightly improve your self-image now that you begin to see yourself as a meditator.

Meditation will NOT transform you. It will only bind you.

If you join a meditation group, you are interested in the group more than you are interested in the meditation.

If you are looking to improve your health, why would you want to improve the health of a body that is going to absolutely, certainly, and undeniably die?

And if you want to live longer, why do you wish to prolong your misery?

I would tell you to forget all about meditation, but if I do I would only be giving you a prescription. So I won’t.

And if I tell you that meditation won’t help you, you will immediately ask me what will.

Very well, I will respond to that question.

“If meditation won’t help, what will?”

To which I will respond, “Help you do what?”

What does “help” mean?

Help you from your problems? Help you feel happier? Help you be more calm? Help you be less emotional? Help you have better relationships? Help you enjoy life more? Help you out of your depression? Help you alleviate your anxieties?

My dear and close friend, do you not see?

If you use meditation to “help you” get over these problems, meditation will itself become yet another form of anxiety.

Why?

Because if you meditate and these problems don’t significantly lessen or go away, you will become disappointed. And this will absolutely happen. And if you have meditated, you KNOW it is true! You are my evidence.

And when you become disappointed in your meditation, you will wonder if you are “doing it correctly.” And then you are so completely on the road to doom. Because then you will search for THE HOW.

And you will find all the HOW-GIVERS in the world. The books that teach you “how” to meditate. Where to place your fingers. Sit in the lotus or half-lotus. Breath through your belly so that you may expand the lower lungs and strengthen the diaphragm. Say the famous “Aum.” Burn incense to your East. Listen to the sounds around you. Watch your thoughts as passing clouds. Stay focused on your breath. Inhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 8, and exhale for a count of 16. Feel yourself sink into the floor or the “yoga” mat.

Then open your eyes and feel “refreshed.”

Why all this drama, friend?

Why not just take a hot shower and be done with it?

Oh, but you LOVE that drama. You aren’t interested in the salad. You’re interested in the dressing. You aren’t interested in the ice cream. You’re interested in the fudge topping.

I’m not scolding you. Nor am I trying to be kind. I’m telling it like it is. And if you’re honest, you’ll admit it.

Admit that this is all a bunch of complete NONSENSE.

I don’t care if it gives you a drop of calmness. A quick massage will do the same thing. Oh, but a quick massage doesn’t have the ancient Himalayan story attached to it, does it.

You want the sauce and the story. You want the IDEA of meditation. So that you can call yourself a “meditator.” So that you can feel “refreshed.”

I’ve always told you The Truth. Haven’t I?

I, thus, request The Truth from you.

Why do you want to meditate in the first place?

I ask you Sincerely, and Openly, and Respectfully.

Why?

Aren’t you tired of chasing stories already?

Don’t you have enough dramas in your life?

Listen, if you TRULY TRULY TRULY want to arrive at an otherworldly place within yourself, we can absolutely talk. And it will be a joyous exchange for I will be convinced that I’m speaking to one who is beyond all dramas and wishes for nothing but THE TRUTH.

If you wish to arrive at a certain place, then outline for yourself PRECISELY what that place is. Fill it with details and colors. Examine it and reexamine it to make certain that this is TRULY where you wish to go.

And then set off upon a WHOLLY SINCERE journey toward it.

Rather than chasing the recommended paths that you’ve been told about.

The truth is, man is not in love with the Destination. He is only in love being a MEMBER of the prescribed path.

It is up to you.

It is all about SINCERITY.

It has never been about anything else.

Isn’t it interesting that those great ones throughout history discovered their own paths? And this is why they succeeded.

Do not be clever, dear friend. Do not walk in the footsteps of the giants. For those footsteps will not fit you.

You have your own path to tread. And it will reveal itself to you.

But only once you drop all of these prescriptions, no matter how evolved and holy you think them to be.

Your path awaits you.

May you walk it with the Sincerity unknown to mortal men.