Don't look within for inner peace. Look without.

This Pearls Before Swine comic humorously sums up my evolving approach to meditation. Which, as you can read below, also is the approach favored by my new favorite mindfulness teacher, Amit Sood, M.D.


Now, actually I'm more of a blend of Rat and Pig. I still enjoy closed-eyed meditation, but I no longer am devoted to what the spiritual organization I belonged to for 35 years, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, referred to as "going within."

That notion was based on religious assumptions I've come to reject.

Namely, that supernatural realms of reality exist, and it is possible to experience them through meditation aimed at bringing every bit of conscious attention away from one's body and the outside world through concentration on what lies within one's head.

I have no problem with focusing attention on what lies within -- thoughts, emotions, imaginings, visions, inner speech, and such -- but this is a one-sided approach to meditation and mindfulness. 

At its worst, and I experienced this during my time as an active member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, avid devotees of "going within" can become seriously damaged psychologically. They lose interest in work, family, and other normal human pursuits, having become fanatically committed to detaching from the world and entering imagined non-physical domains of existence.

Not good. Meditation should make us a better person, not a worse one. If we aren't becoming a more loving, caring, and compassionate friend, relative, spouse, employee, volunteer, or parent, meditation isn't working for us.

After all, what makes us feel better when we're listless, lacking energy, down in the dumps, sad? (1) Sitting by ourselves in a room with eyes closed, focused on the contents of our mind, or (2) Getting out and doing something like walking in nature, talking with friends, patting our dog or cat?

I don't know about you, but I find #2 much more appealing.

Here's some quotes from Amit Sood's book, Mindfulness Redesigned for the Twenty-First Century, along these lines. I shared Sood's seven tenets in my previous post. The third tenet is: Intentional attention, external or internal, engages the same brain network. Focus your meditation on the world if you struggle with the mind.

In the third tenet, we explored ways to develop meditative attention by cultivating curiosity and focusing on meaning in the outside world. This helps us with engagement and flow.

These externally oriented practices are not only easier but also more effective than trying to see the light in an inwardly focused meditative stance.

The pursuit also makes you a more engaged spouse, parent, employee, and citizen. Attention so strengthened loses its rigidity, It becomes supple and flexible. Flexibility gives you freedom. In most situations, flexibility is a sign of health.

...An important aspect of the brain is that thinking about an activity engages similar brain areas to those engaged in actually practicing the activity. Thus research shows that imagining playing piano or violin or imagining dancing can help you improve your piano, violin, or dance performance.

When I read all this research, I speculated that the same networks should be engaged whether you focus externally or internally (playing piano versus thinking about playing piano). Thus meditation with eyes closed (internally directed) or eyes open (externally directed) should engage the same or similar parts of the brain. I was excited to see that an interesting study supported precisely this speculation.

In this study, investigators evaluated which brain areas activate based on two variables: external versus internal focus, and intense versus low-grade attention. Researchers found that the intensity of focus had much greater effect on the activation than did the direction of focus.

Thus, very similar areas were activated when the participants were intensely focusing, whether looking out at an object externally or thinking about the details of the object internally. An additional research team has recently corroborated these findings.

Realizing this has freed me. I meet so many colleagues who find the internally focused meditation practice very difficult. I have similarly struggled with sitting meditation. I feel comfortable now in suggesting externally focused meditation, in which you experience your world with full attention.

Because from the brain's perspective it doesn't matter whether you are focusing externally or internally. Therefore, in addition to or in lieu of sitting with the eyes closed, you could meditate immersed in the world, with your eyes open. It will activate the same or similar areas of the brain.

Since we spend most of the day in the world and not sitting on a cushion, we could get ten thousand hours of training (which some but not all experts suggest is needed to become really good at anything) in just a few years.

The third tenet builds on intentionality and emerging research, offering you a different way to meditate: instead of meditating with eyes closes, you meditate with eyes open by intentionally projecting your attention externally. 

...A few thousand years ago, when our threats were mostly external, training attention would have meant pushing it toward the depths of the mind, the basis of most meditation practices. A lot has changed since then, such that the definition of escape isn't escaping into the mind but escaping from the mind.

Comments

[Spence Tepper]

Meditation can give you the strength to go out and be active; the confidence and conviction to acknowledge the truth. And the empathy and compassion to help.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation#section5

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12160-008-9030-2

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3156028/

Whatever you think you see outside, your are seeing it through your mind and senses, and those are inside.

So why run away from it? Especially when simple Mindfulness can be applied to your inner environment of thoughts, impressions and stimuli as well as to the outer world around you.

If the magnifying glass is warped or unclean, it will see a warped and unclean world wherever it looks.

And if you focus on that glass and clean it, then the outer focus is better too.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2040428/

But a magnifying glass doesn't clean itself magically. It's a nice denial to think so. No one should ignore their own thoughts, as these connect inevitably to behavior.

But our purpose in life isn't just to clean that glass, but to use it.

The fact that all kinds of meditation, including inner meditation, improves outer performance has backing in science.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/well/live/to-train-an-athlete-add-12-minutes-of-meditation-to-the-daily-mix.html

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/meditation-athletes_b_3398745

The fact that inner meditation has significant health benefits is also a good reason not to dismiss it unilaterally.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/changing-our-dna-through-mind-control/

https://www.jabfm.org/content/16/2/131.short

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/410453

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12883106

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/meditation-health-benefits_n_3178731?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Mental rehearsal, mental ideation and imagery are all useful tools in the service of right and effective behavior.

[s*]

Inner and outer world go together.
So inner and outer meditation go together too..
When focused everything becomes ''meditation''
It's all about intention.
imv(in my vieuw)
it's also about knowing ourselves ..as much..to know and understand ''others''..
It comes to love all over the place..

[Um]

[1] Meditation should make us a better person ….
[2] After all, what makes us feel better ……

That are legitimate goals and you are correctly stating that RSSB meditation is not a suitable means to that end:

The one that initiated you wrote back in 1974:
Santmat meditation is ONLY to release the soul from the mind and take it to its own home.
It is not meant to give any sort of psychic help to anyone, not for finding any truth at any other place in the world. It is not to be used for any other ulterior motive except to take YOUR OWN soul back to the Lord. Meditation should be done for only one purpose - to go back to where we belong.

[Spence Tepper]

Hi Brian!
I loved the picture of rat closing his eyes and seeing terrifying people all filled with emotion when he tried to enjoy the bliss of meditation.. And then concluding he will never do that again.

Conversation between Rat and his therapist later that week....

Ray : "It was awful! It was like a nightmare! There isn't peace inside at all!

There are monsters!!

All I have to do to escape them is just open my eyes and get to work! Why would I ever want to go back there! Those monsters are more powerful than I am! If I spend time doing that, I fear they will eat me up like a piece of cheese and I'll never be sane again! They were like trying to kill me! "

Therapist :" That doesn't sound peaceful at all. "

Rat:"It was terrifying! Truly a waking nightmare! I was filled with fear and horror. It's traumatic. That can't be healthy! It was destructive!"

Therapist : "A traumatic experience!"

Rat: "It's dangerous! No one should meditate inside. It could drive a person crazy!"

Therapist :"You felt fear."

Rat : "It was overwhelming fear, like when I was a child. It was the same fear, and helplessness. More than I could handle!"

Therapist : " It was just too much, and so negative."

Rat:"Trauma! It was traumatic. That's a bad thing! Exactly. Why would I ever want to do something that I couldn't control and was so frightening! How can that have any benefit? It is wrong!"

Therapist : "and all that trauma and helplessness was right there inside you, just by closing your eyes."

Rat : "Yes, all inside me. Yes, the trauma was inside me."

Progress.

[Spence Tepper]

Hi Um
You wrote
"Santmat meditation is ONLY to release the soul from the mind and take it to its own home.
It is not meant to give any sort of psychic help to anyone, not for finding any truth at any other place in the world. It is not to be used for any other ulterior motive except to take YOUR OWN soul back to the Lord. Meditation should be done for only one purpose - to go back to where we belong."

You are artificially separating two things. When we see things from a larger, objective perspective, we are automatically withdrawing from the body. Happens all the time. People who do mental work intensely, or creative people, people working intensely on legislation, literature or design are largely functioning at the eye center, or in a region just above, a region of the Astral planes (there are several). At some point you can see they are living largely in a concept, not their own body.

Any attractive idea, inside or outside, can do that.

We go where our attention takes us, and thoughts, and actions follow.

If you withdraw from an activity people who are used to you being there naturally react and may become angry. They need you to know your place there. This is true both within, with the characters of your subconscious, should you attempt to withdraw your attention to some finer, different point, as readily as it is for those in the world around you when you wish to separate from them and move away. They don't even need to hear you. Good friends know something is up just looking at your face.

So when that happens inside, meditation is no longer a haven but a place of fear. Then you make your haven outside, perhaps in the garden, where it feels safer. But actually you are still building that atmosphere inside as well, just subconsciously from a safer distance.

[Um]

Spence, I just put the words that Brians Guru wrote … they are not mine.

They are a declaration about the goal of SantMat Meditation as intended by him.
They are also a confirmation of what Brian wrote.

Meditation is a "no good" for the things of this world be it material, or mental.

[Spence Tepper]

Hi UM
You wrote
"Spence, I just put the words that Brians Guru wrote … they are not mine."
This is not exactly correct.

You added...
"It is not meant to give any sort of psychic help to anyone, not for finding any truth at any other place in the world. It is not to be used for any other ulterior motive except to take YOUR OWN soul back to the Lord. Meditation should be done for only one purpose - to go back to where we belong."

The only other benefits Brian Ji writes of here is peace of mind. You are stating that Sant Mat meditation does not accomplish this.

That is a false statement. Withdrawing the mind from the senses brings peace. The issue is what method is most suitable. And that is an individual matter.

Maharaji stated, "We try to find peace and happiness in worldly faces, worldly objects and worldly pleasures. The more we try to seek there, the more miserable we become... The main purpose of meditating is to lift that weight from the soul, to make it light so that it automatically will go back to its source. "
Maharaj B Charan Singh Ji, Spiritual Perspectives Vol 1, p. 352-353.

You see, Um, Maharaji explains a very basic concept that when we are not attached to so many things, we naturally rise, and as we rise we see things from a higher and more peaceful perspective.

Sant Mat meditation is simply one method to accomplish this. There are many. Moving baskets of earth, planting in a garden, taking a gentle walk with the small effort to just enjoy being in a quiet place, these accomplish the exact same thing each to their own degree.

If you are in a disruptive location, then having an inner practice provides a portable sanctuary regardless of circumstance. That makes you mentally tougher. But that practice could be a sanctuary in your imagination where a picture of your own garden sits upon the dias for your inner ccontemplation.'Whatever gets you through the night, it's alright.'

The reason why Sant Mat meditation is just one approach among others is embedded in Maharaji's answer above. The Soul has its own natural tendancy, as burdens are lifted, to return to its source automatically. Like bubbles rising to the surface. No bubble needs a road map or anyone's hands offering to lift them up. It certainly is not tethered to another being. At some point it must rise up naturally of its own pure nature.

Anything that alleviates any psychological or emotional burden or mental condition automatically leads upward to a higher place, and from that place we have to face other challenges next.

So any method that does this, without creating another burdensome attachment, performs exactly the same function. Could be enjoying a good cross - word puzzle or a challenging game of chess. Whatever has the power to lift you beyond your mental and emotional burdens.

The only question is whether that will be bullet proof under life's difficult challenges, whether the effect, through practice, is sustainable and transferable under different times, locations and circumstances; whether the effect is basically internalized and hardwired. These are the qualities of a good practice. But any practice that you can do is good. And any practice that you cannot is worthless.

All spiritual practice is about alleviating 'you' from your 'burdens' psychologically and finding peace in the process. That practice over time should not become more burdensome nor add more burden to your own conscience, and reduce your happiness, or be so enthralling that you lose your own center of balance.

[Dungeness]

Meditation is a "no good" for the things of this world be it material, or mental.

Maybe not its ultimate intent as practiced by RSSB, but meditation
is effective at mitigating stress and much more.

That can become the genesis of an inner journey, to understanding
and overcoming obstacles in the way of knowing who we are, why
we're here, and to pursuing our own innate spirituality.

So any kind of meditation is good, especially for "mental things"...
"material" too at an early stage even though that may not be its
primary objective.

[Jen]

I agree, don't look within, look without. Life can be a meditation. Instead of trying to meditate and falling asleep, nowadays just simply living with awareness as much as I can and reminding myself that this strange little human being which is experiencing a short lifespan on this tiny planet spinning through space, which then makes me think of how mysterious and magical this life can be when I stop trying and just enjoy as much as I possibly can.

209 seconds that will make you question your entire existence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Eh5BpSnBBw

[Jesse]

There are a number of "studies" that talk about the bad effects of meditation. Maybe we shouldn't be looking for peace within or without. Maybe there's no peace, and looking for it is a waste of time and effort.

[Time traveller]

"Maybe there's no peace, and looking for it is a waste of time and effort."

Exception being the promised "reset" which many a religion promise or change in the "yug" ?????

[Time traveller]

There is no God.

Meditation is useless.

209 seconds ride to irrelevance.

It's just a life on a planet. Just live it until it ends??

The universe “the ultimate free lunch” because it came into being out of nothingness with no “cause” or “creator”.

Space and time the basic fabric of the universe. Are they? What is space and time? Would space and time continue to exist even if living creatures (we) were removed from the scene? Could the universe exist without space and time?

[a wise owl]

Interesting post @time traveller.

I do hope you weren't expecting answers to the interesting questions you raised.

[Rajesh]

Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy case: HC asks Radha Soami head, 54 others to deposit Rs 6,000 crore - The Economic Times https://m.economictimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/pharmaceuticals/daiichi-sankyo-ranbaxy-case-hc-asks-radha-soami-head-54-others-to-deposit-rs-6000-crore/articleshow/71494805.cms