Do I really need another book about meditation? No, I've got lots of them at the moment and have read many more over the 55 years I've been engaged in daily meditation.
But do I want another book about meditation? Absolutely.
That's why Amazon delivered The Mindful Geek by Michael W. Taft to me recently. I was in the mood for a meditation guide that was based on secular non-religious principles that were in accord with modern neuroscience. Taft has a strong background in various sorts of traditions. His first paragraph is:
From Zen temples in Japan to yogi caves in India, I've been meditating for over thirty years. As a result, I have extensive experience in both Buddhist and Hindu meditation techniques. I started in the late 70s, because I was experiencing so much teenage anxiety. Meditation gave me some relief and I was hooked. In the 1990s, I worked as editorial director for Sounds True, a publishing company specializing in spiritual and psychological teaching programs. While there, I had the good fortune to meet dozens of the most popular and interesting spiritual teachers in the world. I produced their programs, which meant that I got exposed to the workings of dozens of traditions.
Taft starts out by talking about the benefits of mindfulness meditation, then observes:
If you are a card-carrying geek, however, the upside of all these possible benefits may be strongly counterbalanced by the downside of having to deal with religion, spirituality, or other things you may consider nonsense. Mindfulness meditation is mainly associated with Buddhist religion, and for that reason can seem deeply suspect to skeptical, rational people.
I'm here to lay that worry to rest. In my experience, you can get many of the benefits of meditation without joining any religion, going to church, or believing in reincarnation or karma. By treating mindfulness as a scientifically-based psychological technique, you can keep your atheistic or agnostic secular skepticism and still maintain a powerful, regular, and deeply effective meditation practice.
Meditation is really a technology. And like any good technology, if you use it correctly, it will do the job reliably whether you believe in it or not. At its heart, meditation is a technique for hacking the human wetware to improve your life. And this book is a manual for how to make the most of that technology for yourself. Let's look more deeply at what meditation actually is.
The definition of meditation offered by Taft is: a psychological practice which makes the unconscious conscious and which improves life.
For me, "unconscious" points to that part of the brain which is hidden from conscious view. Taft notes that this is the majority of the brain. So I prefer "unaware," making the definition something like a psychological practice which makes us aware of what we're often unaware of and which improves life. This fits with Taft saying:
What does it mean to make the unconscious conscious? It means that meditation calls your attention to things you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. It gives you insights, in other words... When you use meditation to become more aware of what you're feeling, the unconscious or semi-conscious flavors of emotional experience begin to come into focus.
Speaking of neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to change, Taft says that "all learning is neuroplasticity at work," adding:
It means that you can almost "sculpt" your brain in an intentional and directed manner. Whatever you focus your attention on, regularly over time, will change the brain itself -- physically alter it, some parts becoming larger or smaller -- to get better at processing the thing you're focusing on. Within limitations, you can make the brain you want.
He describes what mindfulness is.
What is the difference between meditation and mindfulness? Why use two different words? In short, mindfulness is a type of meditation, a subset of meditation. Specifically, mindfulness means paying attention to your present moment sensory experience in a nonjudgmental manner. That's the basic definition.
The way the word is used in modern America, mindfulness not only means to meditate, but can also mean a way of directing attention in everyday life, even when you're not practicing formal meditation.
"Mindfulness" is the modern American translation of at least two words from the ancient Pali language: vipassana and sati. When we're talking about a type of meditation, mindfulness represents the term vipassana, which actually means "insight" or "clear seeing" in Pali. This technique (really a whole group of techniques) is sometimes called insight meditation or vipassana.
When we're talking about a way of directing attention at any time, during formal meditation or not, mindfulness is the translation of the Pali term sati. Sati actually means "mindfulness," to pay close attention to what you're doing. To go even deeper, sati literally means "to remember," as in "to remember to pay attention to what you're doing."
I like how Taft points out misconceptions about mindfulness meditation.
The first is that mindfulness meditation means to "clear your mind" or to "have no thoughts." Nothing could be further from the truth. In mindfulness meditation, it doesn't matter how much thinking is going on during the meditation. It literally doesn't figure into the equation. The goal is not to empty your mind of thoughts; the goal is to pay attention to some aspect of your current sensory experience.
...Remember that there are a lot of different kinds of meditation. And some of these techniques do, in fact, ask you to clear your mind. For some reason, those techniques became one of our cultural images of what meditation is about, and that's unfortunate, because "stopping thinking" is not only very difficult to do, even for an advanced meditator, it's also not all that useful. So just let go of that image completely.
The second misconception is that meditation is something that is supposed to be blissful or pleasurable. The cultural image attached to this idea is that of a yogi seated in full lotus posture, fingers curled into a mudra (gesture) of perfection, face suffused with radiant ecstasy. The process of meditation, in this misconception, involves disappearing into a cloud of bliss.
Again, nothing could be further from the case. Mindfulness meditation involves paying attention to your present moment sensory experience nonjudgmentally. That counts no matter if your present moment sensory experience is painful or pleasant, positive or negative. Rather than acting like Ren wearing the "happy helmet" (from the Ren & Stimpy episode "Stimpy's Invention"), in mindfulness meditation, you welcome whatever experience is arising whether it's "happy, happy, joy, joy" or not.
It's possible to have a perfectly good mindfulness meditation while meditating on the body sensations of a headache, for example, or sitting in line at the DMV. There is no need to invoke, produce, or expect any sort of bliss. If bliss happens, that's fine, but you're not trying for it, and you're not trying to hold onto it if it does arise. That's the nonjudgmental part.
Sounds interesting, thanks for the book recommendation and your thoughts.
And, come to think of it, your blog.
Happy Holidays.
Posted by: Oliver | December 29, 2024 at 06:20 AM
Reading this latest blog, Taff makes some good and obvious points about meditation.
Similar to Taff’s practice, I’d think that anyone who is interested in finding out who/what they are would inevitably come face-to-face with one’s cognitive processes, the mass of mental activity that appears to generate and contain all the information that poses as ‘me’, as who I am.
Perhaps such a practice may show up many of the usually unconscious drives that takes us off on numerous searches for meaning or purpose; or it could perhaps allow us to question our beliefs and assumptions. Taff calls it ‘making the unconscious conscious; Brian prefers the term unaware rather than unconscious.
I also appreciate Joan Toliffson’s approach to practice: - “While I often emphasize the undivided, effortless, choiceless happening in which there is nothing to do (or not do) and no one to do (or not do) anything, I do in fact engage in and recommend what could be called a practice. I’ve never been an enthusiast for the word practice—it sounds too methodical to my ear. But as I’m using it here, I simply mean a way of life.”
And: - “What I’m pointing to here is nothing more or less than the “practice” of simply being alive, being this moment, just as it is. This is not a result-oriented practice or a self-improvement project, but on the other hand, it's not about mindlessly being a miserable jerk either. It’s a non-methodical, present moment, discovery, cultivation and exploration of open attention, awareness, presence, surrender and letting go.”
All good stuff Brian. Happy New Year to you and to all commentators.
Posted by: Ron E. | December 29, 2024 at 07:55 AM
This topic on meditation deserves another comment. I couldn’t help but reflect on how very different the various religions and other spiritual practices are. But then I’m thinking that, when it comes down to it, ultimately it doesn’t matter one iota what we practice and believe. Basically, we all share the same life experience of being born, being alive for a while and then dying – but then comes the inevitable add-ons generally from one or more of the belief systems.
The three Abrahamitic religions are faith based, and if they help their followers in some way that is fine; after all, we are all looking for some sort of meaningful peg to hang our hats on. Along with social and community benefits, many beliefs provide a sense of meaning and security. But, as with Taff, I tend to gravitate toward the more practical teachings (philosophies), which for me are the Buddhistic teachings of Chan or Zen.
This addresses much of what Taff is saying, which is ‘paying attention to your present moment sensory experience in a nonjudgmental manner.’ Also, noticing how the mind operates which includes seeing into the unconscious or semi-conscious contents and how our prejudices, fears and insecurities tend to run our lives. It’s all about being aware of the fears, anxieties, hopes and desires that drive us to seek hope and security through all manner of activities, through beliefs, through authorities or through spiritual and political leaders.
There is a great drive in human nature to make sense of everything, of the world in general and perhaps foremost the eternal quest of ‘who I am’. Yes, some of the various myths and beliefs can obviously help, though inherent in belief is doubt – which can lead to incessant justification, disputes and, at the extremes, persecution and war.
Posted by: Ron E. | December 30, 2024 at 07:31 AM
I'm currently reading Naked in the Zendo by Grace Shireson. Quite good, exceeded my expectations actually. Grace began studying zen back in 1967 with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. This was back when you could just wander into the Berkeley zendo and have a chat with the roshi
What hooked Grace on zen? In her 1st encounter with the roshi, he said: "The more you practice zen . . . the more you understand . . . . that life is SUFFERING."
This completely blew Grace's mind, as it went against everything her hippie mind presumed about the spiritual search. But she's stayed with zen for almost 60 years.
Posted by: sant64 | December 30, 2024 at 01:05 PM