This past weekend I went to a group meditation practice with a friend because I was in the mood for companionable silence. I am not formally trained in “mindfulness meditation,” but I attend group practices occasionally and have read a number of books and incorporated aspects of the practice into my own over the years, so I expected to be comfortable attending.
Because I was new to the group, the leader asked me questions about what I experienced after most of the segments of the practice.
After the “meditation” segment, the leader asked me whether I’d had any thoughts. Of course I had thoughts. If not, as I think of thought, I would be brain dead.
For me the question is not whether I had thoughts (I include meditative awareness as thought), but whether I got stuck in dwelling on something from the past or some kind of planning or problem-solving. My training would have me let go of attention on such thoughts to refocus on the chosen focus for my meditation, i.e., the breath or a mantra, but for me, that is not the absence of thought.
Some of the quibble might be semantics. Part may be an underpinning philosophy to a practice that categorizes an ideal of pure awareness/consciousness as something higher or better than human thought.
If you practice or teach meditation, feel free to weigh in.
On my walk home from my annual wellness visit, along with the flu vaccine. Because my being vaccinated could save someone else’s life.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
