Secular Meditation

Recently I began meditating. I’ve read about Buddhist and other religious-based meditation. I disagree with the vast majority of the religious/philosophical beliefs and assumptions about the human condition but the act of meditation itself resonates to the deepest corners of my consciousness.

Meditation is one of my most effective tools for calming anxiety about things over which I have no control. There’s something about just being in the moment, letting go of the what ifs and if onlys that is so freeing. My natural state is to  analyze everything around me at all times. You may notice me sitting quietly in the corner sipping tea and observing the extroverts among us. Listen closely, though, and one just may hear the whirring of my mind as I compose a poem, wonder how we’d cook, bathe, or keep the floors clean if the house suddenly turned upside-down and everyone had to walk on what had formerly been the ceiling, or ponder the hologram that is our universe.  There’s nothing wrong with any of this – it’s just how I naturally function.

At times it is necessary to turn my thought processes off for a time and live in the moment. Breathe in, breathe out. Nothing in the world exists for that time other than a beating heart, slow breaths.  I’m so new to meditation that I don’t have anything pithy or profound to say about it other than it’s working.

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8 Responses to Secular Meditation

  1. I agree. Meditation for the sake of itself is a good thing. When a person overlays it with religious and/or philosophical meaning, it can easily dilute the whole process.

  2. Aaron

    I recently got the Stumble! app for firefox browser. It’s a button you can click and it will take you to websites that deal with things you like. When I set it up, one of the things I said I liked was buddhism. I came across a lot of websites about meditation, and since that I’ve tried it a few times. It’s cool you’re interested in the same things!

    • Lydia

      That’s very cool! I’ve read a little about Buddhism as well. It has some very interesting ideas. Maybe we could talk about them the next time we get together?

  3. I – like you – ‘disagree with the vast majority of the religious/philosophical beliefs and assumptions about the human condition but the act of meditation itself resonates to the deepest corners of my consciousness’.

    I’ve recently written a piece that touches upon meditation (Tul-Wisdom).(Let me know what you think!)

    I ‘practice’ meditation (at least my version of it) either through the Tuls (patterns) of my martial arts, or – more often than not – on the bus going to work in the morning. (It may be debated whether it slip into a semiconscious state paralleling sleep or actual meditation… seriously).

    I have no ‘official’ nor formal ‘education’ regarding meditation.
    How is it that you meditate?

    I’d very much like to know!
    Email me directly if you’d like:
    imdj@bell.net

  4. Pingback: Secular Meditation Update | On The Other Hand

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