Meditation

There are a lot of different opinions as to the definition of meditation. What is it exactly, you ask?

For one thing, I don’t think there is a good book definition of meditation or a good one line answer. Kind of like feminisms, I think there are meditations, and they mean something different to each individual.

Buddhists believe in things like walking meditation, sitting, standing, etc. meditation. I’m sure you could swim and meditate if you wanted to.

So all I can tell you is what meditation means to me: It means to concentrate on the beauty and oneness of all things. To focus on love and joy.

Now this may sound like some kind of new age hokiness to many of you. It’s not new age, its very old age. It’s not ‘modern’ to meditate it is in fact very old fashion.

The oldest text in the world is the Vedas, written in India some thousands of years ago. The Vedas talk about meditation.

So why do we close our eyes when we meditate? Well in psychology there is this state called ‘alpha’ which is between sleep and awake. It was when they say you are most vulnerable to absorb things.

I think that when you close your eyes and concentrate you are reaching first the state of alpha before you reach other higher states of mind.

I don’t know enough about the different stages of chakras, or states of being or mind that you can reach when you meditate. Quite frankly I think that if you get to analyzing it too much you lose its beauty.

I like to listen to music to meditate. Now I don’t just listen to instrumental music, I listen to regular old music. Since most songs are love songs, I figure God is love. Or something like that.

Now, remember in the film Footloose where the preacher says that Rock and Roll is from the Devil. That preacher would think I am a Devil worshipper because I happen to think you can listen to rock and roll and meditate at the same time.

You know that song by the dwarfs in Snow White, “Whistle while you work…” I think you can meditate while you work. In the back of your mind if there is a notion that love and beauty are the essential components of every task and every trade, then you will succeed at noticing the divine in the mundane.

Life is short. You have to wonder why we are here etc. etc. I think we are here to notice our divine nature and see that every being is connected.

I think ‘God’ is just a conglomeration of all beings dead and alive. It’s an energy source or something. And we know that energy is neither produced nor destroyed. It simply changes shape.

The universe has many shapes, but I don’t think God takes any particular shape at all except what we imagine in our head. If you imagine a really old guy who looks like Santa Claus that’s fine, if that works for you.

If you imagine God to look like Kali, the black goddess, that’s probably also just fine with god or the Goddess. Unlike ourselves, I don’t think She’s that vain or particular.

So do you have to meditate on God? I have no idea what happens to you if you meditate on the Devil or Satan or whatever…but I do know that positive energy feels better than negative energy.

So if you’ve ever had a bad experience on the Ouija board you know that there is probably negative energy out there, waiting to take over your self or soul or whatever. But if you have ever seriously meditated you know that there is positive energy out there that is waiting to invade you, to pervade you.

I don’t think you have to believe in anything at all in order to meditate. It is a way to escape the everyday and come to a place of peace. god knows we could use a little peace.

nina