Why Meditation is the most active endeavor
Meditation may seem like a passive activity where one meditates into the stillness of their mind, but it is a highly active pursuit. It involves exploring the uncharted territories of our self and consciousness rather than the external world.
The quieter you become, the more you can hear. ~ Rumi
Consider the words of Rumi, who said, “The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” This encapsulates the active nature of meditation. It is not merely the absence of physical action or the silencing of the mind; instead, it is an active engagement in listening, understanding, and unraveling the layers of our consciousness. In the stillness, we actively confront the cacophony of thoughts, emotions, and perceptions that define our everyday existence.
Meditation can be seen as an exercise in phenomenology, the study of conscious experience. It requires an active, deliberate focus on the nature of our thoughts and perceptions, devoid of external distractions. It is an act of introspection that allows us to examine the fundamental nature of our being. In this sense, meditation is not a withdrawal from reality but a deeper immersion into it, a pursuit of understanding the true nature of our existence.
Moreover, meditation is an act of liberation. As Plato suggested in his Allegory of the Cave, we are often prisoners to the shadows on the wall, mistaking them for reality. Meditation enables us to turn around and see the light, recognizing the shadows for what they are. This is not a passive realization but an active awakening, a deliberate turning away from illusion towards truth. It is also a practice in the active cultivation of the mind. Just as a gardener actively tends to a garden, pruning the weeds and nurturing the plants, meditation involves actively shaping the landscape of our mind. It’s about cultivating qualities like mindfulness, compassion, and equanimity and uprooting unhelpful patterns of thought and behavior.
It is an active engagement in the Socratic method of self-examination, which is a part of the realm of ethics. Socrates once proclaimed that a life that is not examined is not worth living. Meditation serves as the tool that enables this intensive self-examination, a process that can be incredibly active and transformative.
Meditation is not just a way of escaping from the world but a method that actively takes you on a journey to discover your true self.
To conclude, meditation is not just a way of escaping from the world but a method that actively takes you on a journey to discover your true self. It's an intellectual pursuit that challenges our perceptions and seeks to understand the fundamental truths of our existence. Through meditation, we unlearn what we previously believed and engage in a deconstruction and reconstruction process that helps us improve.
Murat
- Recommended Book: RUMI — Drops of Enlightenment: (Quotes & Poems)
