Dear Cristi,
I am grateful for your well-thought out detailed critique and I try to respond point wise:
You wrote
"Now, knowing all the benefits of meditation, and that this is perhaps the most fundamental and natural state for human mind, why it is not more spread? I mean, who will prefer alcohol, drugs, sexual excesses? Who will prefer an unhealthy life to a healthy one? It seems that many make this choice. "
It seems to me that conscious self-awareness is buried beneath the sea of thoughts, and our actions are more often than not dictated by our thoughts. To realize self-awareness we have to work and train ourselves to see past our thoughts.
"One reason is that most people don't trust these techniques, because usually they are sold together with religious views, and people are tired to be saved by various cults. It is rare when a guru preaches meditation or awareness, without trying in the same time convince you that his way is better or the only way, and others are just illusion, or negative paths. This is easy to check, just ask the disciples (if the guru is unavailable), and they will say that their guru is some important incarnation (I've met people who claimed their gurus were incarnations of Shiva, Buddha, Krishna, Shakti, Virgin Mary, Jesus, Ramana Maharshi, etc.), and the others are at least fake gurus, if not some evil mythical entities. Pretty much as with some (or most?) Christian cults, for which all others are led by the devil. Some gurus will claim they unite all religions, just to reject all, because their original teachings were corrupted. So, it is not unconceivable that some use meditation techniques for brain washing. It is rare when a guru is "universal", in the sense that he sees the good in all paths, like Ramakrishna. Or neutral, like Ramana Maharshi or Krishnamurti."
I agree that such learning must be completely dissociated from religion. Also, one may learn from a teacher for some time, but after that one must train on one's own. One should not be a disciple of this or that guru.
"
Perhaps the most frequent reason why people reject meditation is because the Western mind of doing to accomplish is opposite to the Eastern one. Especially to the non-action idea, when if you are detached, you can see that things can go by themselves without your help. An Western mind will watch the news every night with religiosity, as if he misses them, he worries that something catastrophic may occur. Western mind is about control, and trusts very little in letting the things follow their natural way. But then, Western youths still feel the need to evade reality. While one may say that sex, drugs, alcohol, gaming and gambling are ways to avoid worrying about future and past, they might as well be seen as ways to evade the present. "
I agree with you here.
" I think that saying that we worry about the future and suffer about the past, and if we live in the present, we are happy, can be misleading. The point is that in meditation you are not in here and now, you are just outside worries, outside space and time. While you may attain a state in which the senses are very sharp, giving the impression of "living in the present", there are many gurus who preferred to live with lethal diseases, which were in their present, rather than leaving the solitude of their isolated place. If this kind of living in the here and now means this, then it is understandable why so many people avoid it. So, perhaps a better wording should express this idea. Otherwise, living in the here and now would be incompatible with writing an essay about the future of humanity, because this would mean to worry about the future. You can meditate and be centered, and still think about things in the past or the future, and still act and be socially involved, from your centered state. This is often forgotten when discussing about living in the here and now."
Yes, by living in the here and now I did not mean to advocate say suffering with lethal diseases without doing anything about them. Here and now is intended as a highly focused sharp state of awareness which is used to plan and take deliberate clear action. By meditation I would not like to think of a permanent thoughtless state - I agree that would be stagnance. Rather mediation is a state of permanent awareness where one acts from the conscious I, and not from the thought controlled conditioned mind. Here and now may perhaps be thought of as a state free of negative, unpleasant thoughts and emotions.
" Another reason people may reject this way is the idea that thoughts are bad. Having a controlled mind, without random thoughts, will indeed be like a computer without viruses. But people might worry that keeping all under control will ruin surprises, new ideas, creativity. According to evolution theory, randomness played a paramount role in the birth and evolution of life. Similarly, random thoughts lead to new ideas. Such processes are used in creativity techniques like brainstorming. One can argue that you don't need to think, because if you meditate, you will be connected to the universal consciousness, who will give you the ideas and will create through you. If this is true, then people need more objective evidence about this, which up to this point is lacking. This evidence seems to exist only for the believers."
No, I would not talk of universal consciousness - I am not sure it exists. At least as of now i believe different individuals have different distinct consciousness. Also, certainly not all thoughts are bad. Nor is the thought process bad. Perhaps I should have expressed better - what is intended is that one should be a watcher of one's thoughts, and watch them from the position of the conscious I - which thoughts to act on is decided by the self-aware conscious I. One should not let negative thinking determine our actions. As for creativity, I tend to believe that its germs lie in the thoughtless self-aware state, from where a creative idea germinates into a thought. I think such germination is easier if techniques such as meditation are used to reduce the unproductive, at times harmful, thought noise. Such germination could be called a random thought, i agree.
"Introducing meditation in school, would this help? In most cases will be like religion in schools. You will have to explain children and parents why is important. This will lead to religious arguments. So, perhaps introduce mindfulness, as seen by Western psychologists. And make some studies to support the arguments. In Eastern countries, many are acquainted with meditation since childhood, because of religion, or of customs. Obviously in the East there are much more children who meditate, than in the West. Perhaps it would be interesting to see some studies which show if they are healthier, happier than children from Western countries. Statistics seem to prove the opposite viewpoint: Western people seem to live longer, and seem happier than the Eastern ones. Not to mention wealthier. Could it be because Easterners are thought not to be concerned about their future, about money, about this body which is just like clothes and we change it with each reincarnation? While worries about money are very bad, and are at the root of most of the trouble in the both the Western and the Eastern worlds, there is also a good side. People try to make money by improving others' lives. If they choose to help others actively, they may have financial gain. One may object that if they help others for money, there is no real gain. Well, for all practical purposes, helping others means helping others, no matter if it is done for money or for a place in Heaven. By contrary, there is little evidence about the success of helping others by praying or meditating for them."
You have raised some really important issues here. I agree again that religion must be kept out, if such training is introduced in schools. Somehow I think meditation as such [if meditation say means `meditate' for the next thirty minutes...] is a limited concept. I prefer self-awareness, and conscious awareness of one's thoughts. Now the very interesting issue of East vs, West. Undoubtely, the west is today more advanced - healthier, wealthier, happier, and has better work ethic, compared to the east. But I think this is the cycle of civilizations, isn't it? Until only a few hundred years ago, the east was doing better, until industrial revolution and the modern scientific revolution took place in the west. I do not think children and people in the east meditate more - they are probably more deeply involved with organized religion, but that is not meditation. People in the east are largely poor, and that contributes to their worries, poor health, and suffering and unhappiness. I readily support he great need to improve the economy of the east - it is no less important than creating self-awareness, by any means. All I say is that awareness training will help people in the west to be even better than they are [and they are certainly not doing too well when it comes to global concerns such as war and climate change]; mch as it will help people in the east.
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The problem is very complex, and I think you did a very good job launching a discussion about it. I would very much support the introduction of meditation in everyone's life, even in schools. But only optional, and in a way which is clean from religious views. This is difficult, since we turn to guys like Buddha to learn about awareness and meditation, because they were indeed experts in it. But they are also overloaded with myths and religious interpretations. Perhaps it would be good if science can study more this, and isolate the universal benefits from the cultural particularities, and also see the impact to people's happiness, health of the mind and the body, social relations, etc. I think awareness (and critical thinking, which is not in contradiction with meditation) should be available to everybody."
I readily agree.
Thank you again for your detailed comments. I look forward to reading your essay.
Kind regards,
Tejinder
