The purpose of meditation is to see the completeness of the present moment where it is noticed that what is arising is absolutely free of 'me'.
Discomfort (suffering) is caused by the gap between what we think ought to be happening and the reality of what is arising in the present moment.
Obviously, what we think ought to be happening comes from our past conditioning. It is this past conditioning arising in the present moment that creates the idea of a 'me'. Whatever is arising is not 'me'; it is only past conditioning arising as thought.
To illustrate all this consider the common traffic jam. During a traffic jam cars are moving slowly (if at all), the engine idle can be heard, and the scenery is more or less stationary. That's pretty much it! But what do we think 'ought' to be happening: cars should be moving at the speed limit or more, there should be fewer cars on the road, drivers should not be switching into 'our' lane, and our plans to be on time are intact. These fanciful ideas about how traffic should be clearly come from past conditioning.
So ...given such a big gap between our expectations and the reality of a traffic jam, it is not surprising that we get upset. Meditation practice shines a bright light on the gap between presently arising reality and our 'dreams' about how things ought to be.
Awareness is curative ... regular meditation practice affords us the opportunity to see with clairity our "ought to be" dreams. Simply seeing this recoil from reality melts the dream and reveals the completeness and peace of the present moment in which we always find ourselves completely at home. Next time you are in a traffic jam notice the staggering peace that is there.
bob
So Bob, I am watching just some television show and the scene involves a dying parent who in her final moments is soothing a grieving adult child of hers.I cannot help but feel sad myself as I not only watch the tears on the screen,but also as my eyes well up.
ReplyDeleteSo my sadness is really the "ought to be" thought from having that same kind of scene with my mom 14 years ago...like why does she have to die?...whereas reality is just that I am watching 2 people have a conversation... and as I step back and recognize that this sadness really isn't about "me"...and not even real? It is what I perceive from my "pain tank" that can keep that story running at full speed...Much rather sit in the peace... and surrender the thought!
Peace on You Bob!
I liked your talk about being in a traffic jam. A number of years ago I was stuck in traffic and just as I was about to go off, I noticed a person in the car beside me raving and banging his hands on the steering wheel while his passenger was looking out the window, probably wanting to be just about anywhere else. For some reason I lost all my anger and actually laughed. I decided the stranger in the next car could be angry at the traffic and I would do my best to enjoy the wait...
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