Acceptance and Meditation

Acceptance

Accepting reality means constantly expanding your definition of reality. It also sometimes means accepting the times that you can't accept something. We may make headway in identifying with our feelings, our ups and downs, but there will always be times when panic or fear takes over and all one can do is let themselves suffer. But if afterwards we dwell on it, and wonder "why does this happen to me?", our suffering continues. how do we stop this viscious cycle? how do we keep our mind centered enough so that it may traverse all the various regions of the cosmos? true ecstasy is not pleasure alone, for pain and pleasure are one ecstasy, two extremes.

Meditation, among other practices is an excellent way to learn this tricky maneuver. It comes with time, as meditation does not initially "clear the mind". Rather it puts the practicioner in direct contact with his present surroundings and state of being. When a person allows themselves a few minutes, a half hour each day to be truly by themselves, she can walk back into the world of people, things and spirits with a more calm, clear head.

The truth is, as humans, much of our cognitive and interpersonal activities involve taking oneself out of the moment (or so it seems) and into abstract, verbal-conceptual experience, which can unfold into the beautiful novel of human history. And in order to use this tool wisely and enjoyably, a delicate balancing act must be employed in keeping our spirit centered while letting our mind turn its wheels.

 

i agree with most of that, aside from your first two sentences. would it not be better to let go of definitions entirely, and accept all experiences? to keep that meditative awareness consistantly would seemingly allow for any experience to be accepted, as there would be nothing but awareness and acceptance of the present.

 

And I agree with you, as well. but i tried to explain this at the end - The truth is, as humans, much of our cognitive and interpersonal activities involve taking oneself out of the moment (or so it seems) and into abstract, verbal-conceptual experience, which can unfold into the beautiful novel of human history. And in order to use this tool wisely and enjoyably, a delicate balancing act must be employed in keeping our spirit centered while letting our mind turn its wheels.

letting go of definitions entirely and directly experiencing reality is a beautiful ideal, but to do this we'd have to pretty much stay seated and quiet in a meditative state. What i'm saying is that the simultaneous burden and gift of human existence is that of thought, symbolic communication, definitions and categories. our cognition is responsible for the ever expanding book of human history. Without it, we'd never have science or religion. in fact, without this ability, the idea of meditation or yoga could never have been developed or communicated. If you look at the practice of yoga and meditation, you will realize that it is a structure through which all structure is released. once you are seated, breathing and quiet it is possible to loose all seperation of self, but in order to do so you must get yourself into a quiet room at a certain time - meaning you must use your tools of thought and ego (the desire to meditate) before letting go. Its a fact, we cannot spend all day long under the bodhi tree. in order to live we must work. and beyond that our lives are filled with a plethora of relationships and love whose meaning only adds to the beauty of life for us to appreciate. there is nothing wrong with these things. but when treated as reality they become a distraction from whats happening right now. So what i'm saying is what your saying, to carry the meditative state through everywhere you go. but to do taht, one must enter into those self involved activities while keeping the mind centered enough so it doesn't get carried away with one or the other. And beyond that, it is important that when one finds himself too far down a particular path, to learn from it, let go of it and move on.

basically what i'm saying is that living day to day is a tricky thing.

 

i suppose a decent goal would be to gain control over cognitive processes and use them only when necessary, making the meditative state the consitant one, rather than the cognitive.


another comment: without cognitive thought there would be no need for religion or science. there does seem to be some reason for its existance, but i feel that we have been mistaken to see it as our core being. the meditative state seems to feel like "going home", or "waking up", while the cognitive seems to be a step away from the present, as you mentioned.

i like your style of communication and i hope to see more threads from ya, man.