"We were created in this world to give us an opportunity to break and transform our nature. We come in operating solely on a desire to receive for the self-alone mindset and our goal is to convert that desire into one of sharing, loving, and thinking of others first." (Yehuda Berg)
When you meditate, all the masters say, you're not supposed to "do" anything, but just "be." And yet even Zen meditation teachers talk about meditation helping us to see what truly is. You see yourself and your actions and the world with greater clarity, dissolving the veil of self-delusion. Still, isn't "seeing" also a kind of "doing"? Most meditation teachers tell you that when thoughts arise, you ought neither let yourself indulge in them, thereby prolonging the thought process, nor make any effort to "force" the thought away, which will distract you from meditation. Just observe the thoughts as if they are clouds reflected in a mirror on the ground, and let the thoughts pass. They call this by the lovely phrase "mirror mind." Afterward, you presumably emerge from meditation with clarified vision as a result of all this passive "seeing." That vision may manifest as a desire to change something about yourself, or to be of service to others in some way.
I don't disagree with any of that, but I also have to admit I've never
been an especially good or orthodox meditator. I mix in prayers of all sorts; periods of deep
breathing; even physical therapy exercises for the neck and cervical
spine performed in rhythm to the Jesus Prayer. These are all ways of including the body in meditation--something I learned from my venerable Qigong teacher as Standing Meditation. But in between and during all that I do sit in emptiness for at
least 20 minutes or so. Like many people, my mind is besieged by
negative worries and concerns, which arise during meditation just as
they do when I wake up in the morning or when I'm driving my car
or walking dully along. But I've found a way of dealing
with these distracting and often negative thoughts that is quite different from what most meditation teachers suggest. I turn these toxic tape loops into
brief prayers. If, for instance, I start obsessing about money, I
convert that into a prayer for those who are in dire financial straits,
who have lost everything, or have no place to live. If I feel
annoyance at the fact that it's raining and I had hoped to rake last
fall's leftover leaves from the flowerbeds, I channel that negative energy into a prayer
for the people in Fargo and other parts of the world who sacrifice so much more to prepare for
life-threatening floods.
And so it goes. This may sound similar to the "metta," or loving-kindness meditation from the Buddhist tradition. For those who aren't familiar with this practice, the object of metta meditation is to cultivate and spread loving kindness, which is love for oneself and others without attachment. Traditionally, practitioners begin by cultivating loving kindness toward themselves, then their loved ones, their friends, teachers, strangers, enemies, and finally toward all sentient beings. It's a structured process and you can find many instructions on the Internet about how to perform metta meditation.
We don't need 16 arms or superhuman powers to respond to cries for help. Turning your own negative thoughts into positive prayers for channeled grace could be one way to begin.
And so it goes. This may sound similar to the "metta," or loving-kindness meditation from the Buddhist tradition. For those who aren't familiar with this practice, the object of metta meditation is to cultivate and spread loving kindness, which is love for oneself and others without attachment. Traditionally, practitioners begin by cultivating loving kindness toward themselves, then their loved ones, their friends, teachers, strangers, enemies, and finally toward all sentient beings. It's a structured process and you can find many instructions on the Internet about how to perform metta meditation.
However, the practice I'm talking about is something less structured, and completely in the moment. You convert your negative judgments, fear, anger, and hatred into channeling grace (another term for loving kindness) to other beings in need of it. This is a practice worthy of the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Compassion, called Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit, or Chenrezig in Tibetan. The original Sanskrit name has been determined by recent scholarship to mean one "who hears the cries of the world." It refers to a being who has made a great vow to listen to the prayers of all sentient beings in times of difficulty, and to postpone personal Buddhahood until after having assisted every being on Earth to achieve nirvana. He is depicted with from 4 to 16 or more arms, sometimes with an eye in the palm of each hand, the better to see and aid the desperate situations of those who call on his mercy. In China the Bodhisattva morphed into a female figure called Guanyin (Kwan Yin).
Using pressing and daunting thoughts as flipside material for prayer is an excellent idea Peter! Bothersome thoughts now has it's own comforter and ability to make a positive contrtibution - for healing!
Katherine,
The Kabbalists say that only by going into our darkest areas do we open ourselves up to bring in the Light. And, as you know, Jung also spoke of befriending the shadow in us as a way to shed light on those aspects that we find unacceptable. It's all a variation on the venerable martial arts technique employed in Aikido and Tai Chi of using your opponent's weight and aggression to trip him up. In this case, our opponent is the Ego, which Kabbalists indeed refer to as the Opponent, the part of us that wants us to fail. Call it our Inner Rush Limbaugh. We use its own logic and force to reverse the vector from negative to positive.
Peter