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© Pamir Kiciman 2011

Awareness is a quality which utilizes more sources than the intellect or the brain’s information processing. The thinking mind cognizes and perceives but neither of these add up to awareness. Awareness includes presence; the presence of the one cognizing. It also considers experiences available from other sources. Signal processing isn’t the only experience available to the human organism.

When we look out at the world with the five senses and what the brain processes through them, the world is solid and works in specific ways. When we look out to the world with awareness, its solidity starts to break up. It also becomes apparent that there are other possibilities in the way the world works.

This is true of our inner workings as well. If we only cognize our challenges and dilemmas, many times they seem unsolvable, set, and punishing. If we bring the same into awareness, however, space opens up and new possibilities arise in that space. We also find that we’re far less identified with or even as those ‘personal problems.’

If we imagine that our mind is like the blue sky, and that across it pass thoughts as clouds, we can get a feel for that part of it which is other than our thoughts. The sky is always present; it contains the clouds and yet is not contained by them. So with our awareness. It is present and encompasses all our thoughts, feelings, and sensations; yet it is not the same as them. To recognize and acknowledge this awareness, with its spacious, peaceful quality, is to find a very useful resource within. We see that we need not identify with each thought just because it happens to occur. We can remain quiet and choose which thought we wish to attend to. And we can remain aware behind all these thoughts, in a state that offers an entirely new level of openness and insight. — Ram Dass

The Heart-Mind

The thinking process gets all the fanfare. Schooling produces thinkers. Our mental capacities are touted, researched, edified and respected. Rightly so in many ways; the human mind is a pretty amazing thing. What becomes detrimental is the focus on the mind to the exclusion of other amazing aspects of our being, the chief of which is the heart.

This isn’t the biological heart or the heart of romance. It’s not operating only at the level of emotion. It isn’t entangled in our self-identity as ego. In fact it’s free of us entirely, acting as a backdrop to daily existence, and a container for the human journey.

In Sanskrit this Heart is called hridayam, the locus of consciousness where our true Self lives.

There’s nothing bad about having an ego. Those thoughts and feelings are necessary for a healthy personality. But if you identify so strongly with the ego that you think that’s all there is, that limited view can keep you from your deeper Self. — Ram Dass

As amazing the mind can be, it’s also conditioned, fragmented, distracted, trapped and fearful. It isn’t able to extricate itself from such influences by relying only on its own brilliance. It needs the balance of the Heart, and the awareness that’s available there. It needs to become heart-mind.

… in all Asian languages — at least I’ve been told this; I don’t know all Asian languages — but in all Asian languages the word for “mind” and the word for “heart” are the same word. — Jon Kabat-Zinn

There isn’t a mind without the Heart. Thinking without awareness gets us into trouble. We become narrow and exalt temporary truths. Thought-generated awareness is limited, the input it gets comes from the material world which gives us only a partial view.

The heart-mind is awareness turned inward, awareness of the spiritual universe within, and the quality of that awareness, the feeling that accompanies it, is love. — Ram Dass

Awareness

True awareness doesn’t originate in the mind. Cognition and perception are too narrow to produce awareness. There’s a contemplative quality to awareness and routine thoughts are too fast and disparate to be contemplative. The mind needs the ballast of the Heart. The mind is linear and trapped in time. The Heart is nonlinear and timeless. With heart-mind we can be in time and deal with our daily life, and also renew and recalibrate in the timeless. With heart-mind our sojourn in time is sweetened and enhanced by our diving into a nonlinear, timeless center of wholeness.

Mind by itself also leaves us trapped in ‘local problems.’ These are the stuff of everyday living, all the usual pressures, stresses and dramas. Awareness sources in the nonlocal. It’s ever-present and impersonal. It doesn’t make judgments or evaluations. It simply and directly reveals what is. Although readily available, like the Heart, awareness needs to be cultivated, promoted and made familiar to our consciousness.

So much of what is considered “smart” is brain-based. There’s another, holistic intelligence; that of the Heart. Education, business, social and behavioral sciences all emphasize brain development. Yet we’re inhuman without the Heart. It’s not the heart of cardiology or heartache that trumps the brain, but the Heart of exquisite Being and Presence.

Awareness is available at the Being level of reality. Here there’s Presence. Mind isn’t equated with the brain in its superlative states. Mind breaks the barriers of the brain. Yet even then, if it doesn’t hold hands with the Heart, it can’t know itself, it can’t participate in Presence.

Presence is ineffable, but it can be known and felt once we make ourselves available to it.

This presence whether experienced as Allah, as Atman, as Sunyata, or as the Buddha-nature or as Bodhisattva; whether as Tao or as the One or as the Divine Feminine, is the atmosphere in which humans breathe deepest and without which they eventually suffocate. — Thomas Berry

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A basic meditation routine, or even better a more substantial one, is essential for successful living. No matter who you are or what your endeavor is, the way our world is currently, and the way we have to be in the world, this whole process of living is uniquely challenging, a special set of circumstances humanity hasn’t really encountered before. Wanting to focus on meditation, and not make a long list of these unique circumstances, I point you to the major global events of 2011 and some of the interpretive posts about them you can find on this blog by clicking through to this compilation.

Through the ages, meditation has always brought great benefits to the human condition. Remember that meditation has been around since well before the time of the Buddha, stretching way back into antiquity. Today, it probably holds the greatest benefits for us than it ever has.

Meditation practice predates Buddhism and all of the world religions. It has lasted through the centuries because it is direct, potent, and effective. — Sakyong Mipham

In meditation, what we’re doing is looking at our experience and at the world intelligently. — Sakyong Mipham

What is intelligence? On one level it’s what an IQ test reveals. Intelligence doesn’t end there. It moves into knowing, wisdom, intuition, and clear-heartedness. Without these forms of intelligence we’re nothing but math geeks or some kind of super efficient robots. Intelligence includes our humanity, which includes our spirituality.

For a short while the immortal ray of light that is our soul wears a perishable mortal garment…but for all eternity the soul is sustained by the Infinite Source of that light. The more we meditate, the more we feel that consciousness. And the less we meditate, the less able we are to transcend identification with the little self—so many pounds of flesh encasing a limited mind bound by sense perceptions to the troublesome environs of the world. We have to get to the Self beyond its physical and mental instrumentalities to realize we are not fragile mortal beings… — Daya Mata

The human mind, normally equated with the brain by neuroscience, is limited. As Sakyong Mipham puts it, “Meditation is based on the premise that the natural state of the mind is calm and clear.” This is the knowledge that our various wisdom traditions have imparted. There’s the daily mind, and a higher mind with greater discernment, accessing wisdom and knowing.

This level of mind is termed buddhi in Sanskrit, from the root bud which means ‘to perceive’ or ‘to become awake.’ This form of intelligence discerns the true and the real from the false and the unreal. As Matthieu Ricard says, “It is through this unconditioned aspect of consciousness that we can transform the content of mind through training.” That training is meditation. Otherwise we remain in manas, or ‘outer,’ ‘sense’ mind, which is on the surface and handles impressions.

Here are a couple of more perspectives to help understand this:

Our minds are field-like, they are not confined to our brain. — Rupert Sheldrake

The conscious mind fails to grasp that which lies beyond the spheres of time, space, and causation. — Swami Rama

Pure consciousness without content is something all those who meditate regularly and seriously have experienced… — Matthieu Ricard

That “content” is the stuff of personality, the not-so-fun stuff! We want to move from content to substance. The substance of eternals like compassion, peace, and wisdom.

We’re also dealing with a paradox. There’s the real nature of the mind, and the mind we’re stuck with every day. There’s our humanness, then there’s our divinity. Leonard Jacobson puts it well: “We are on a journey of becoming that which we already are. That is the impossible paradox of our lives.” It’s not really impossible. It feels impossible until we get informed and empowered, and put into place a set of practices, the primary of these being meditation.

Meditation transcends time, the senses, and the subject-object relationships. By transcending these three, meditation takes us beyond the intellectual or rational level of consciousness. It is like looking through a screen; on one side of consciousness is all existence—thoughts, emotions, negativity, and our life patterns; on the other side is a very fine energy level—a deep meditative state. — Tarthang Tulku

Meditation is a first-person experience. It’s not looking at the world in the third-person. It’s not trying to understand our inner workings in the third-person. The first-person realm of meditation is holistic. It doesn’t cut reality up into pieces. It doesn’t need to understand how the brain works, to improve the workings of one’s mind. In meditation what’s known as the discursive mind can be disengaged. This is the mind that rambles. It’s unable to settle, to find its own depth. It remains on the surface, distracted and can’t get to the essence of things.

Whether it’s understood in terms of mind or being, our minds and our beings have a place that is calm and abiding. Calm abiding lives within us. It’s always there. There’s no app for it. There’s nothing to install. There is, however, an uncovering.

We have to uncover this lost place through meditation, and the application of meditative insight and orientation in daily living. Calm abiding is lost underneath all our pettiness, delusions and neuroses. The rational mind and the five senses informing it in their regular mode, give us only a partial and incorrect view of reality. This view keeps us trapped and attached. We’re operating within a limited informational field in daily living. In meditation, we have access to an informational field that penetrates the heart of reality.

It’s only from this wider and deeper field that we can make choices and decisions about how to best live, and to actually live well. It’s from this same field that we can positively influence the current state of affairs on our planet, and ensure a multi-generational sustainability of living and social systems.

When we talk about the techniques of meditation, these are techniques of life. — Sakyong Mipham

Meditation is a vast subject. Here’s some related material to help you with it. You may also add your input or ask questions in comments below. Often, answers tailored to your questions about meditation are the best way to get help with meditation.

Related:

Meditation reveals…

Put on the brakes with meditation

The Life of Meditation

Why Do Humans Meditate?

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When we think of meditation, we most often think of it as originating in the Indian subcontinent. This is fairly accurate, although not the whole picture.

The earliest known reference to meditation in the region is found on one of the seals in the ruins of civilizations which existed prior to 1500 BCE. Chinese forms of meditation have been known to exist long before the seventh century BC. Siberian and African shamanic cultures hold even earlier precursors to the Asian meditative arts. In the West, meditation took on the form of contemplative prayer, with an unbroken tradition of mysticism from the NeoPlatonists through the medieval mystics. In our day and age, meditation is being studied scientifically for its effects on the brain.

In Sanskrit the generic term for meditation is dhyana, which refers to both inner contemplation, and the intermediate state between concentration on an object (dharana) and complete absorption in it (samadhi).

The general consensus is that humans have been meditating for 5000 years or so, and probably even longer than that. Why? Why do humans meditate?

It is to answer the fundamental question of “Who am I,” and related to it, “What is the purpose of life?” Meditation is essentially the quest for understanding and meaning. It’s a way for humans to find their place both in a cultural and cosmical context. And it has the added dimension of self-understanding which leads to an improved life.

Meditation is the process of self-discovery. On one level the meditation experience shows us the patterns of our lives—how we have carried on our emotional characteristics since childhood. But on another level it frees us from these patterns, making it easier for us to see our inner potentials. — Tarthang Tulku

All traditions from which the meditative arts are sourced include in their core a profound psychology. This is a psychology which is part and parcel of the wisdom that these traditions hold, and which the practitioner can also access.

When we look backward at the patterns of our thoughts, we can sometimes observe and identify the deceptions created by our self-images. We can learn to see through the mind’s posturings and pretenses and through all our explanations and excuses. We can realize we are still just playing games and are far from genuine self-knowledge. — Tarthang Tulku

When we improve our own life within first, then outwardly this has a ripple effect in our own household and from there in expanding circles in the rest of society.

Meditation is actually prescribed by more and more doctors. And there’s interest in meditation as a way to curb heart attacks. At the same time, the real value of meditation seems to be in this:

The animal has no power to analyze its condition and its environment; only man has that rational capacity. As such, man is meant to use that power to improve himself and to get the most out of life. Superior intelligence was not given to the human being merely to be used to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner; marry and beget children. It was given that man might understand the meaning of life and find soul freedom…. Beyond all the books that are written, it is God’s Book of Nature that remains the most difficult to understand. But the whole creation, including the chapter of human existence, can be read when God becomes a teacher. — Paramahansa Yogananda

If the word “God” is challenging, replace it with anything else that works for you.

Having first-person knowledge about our own workings, the workings of Nature, and to be free from bondage to pain, suffering and delusion is invaluable, the ultimate prize. Meditation imparts real, useable wisdom. It lets us know we’re not little egos stuffed into physical forms that are designed to perish. With meditation we have a way out of our maddening thoughts and burning emotions. Our sojourn here is not a dicey game.

When we spend conscious time with our breath on a daily basis, with our consciousness, and our heart, we relate to life as a part of life, instead of separate from and afraid of it. This brings about a knowing that compassion is a worthwhile investment, awareness and consideration of ‘other’ whether other is human, species or planet, is beneficial for all and the entire journey can be enjoyable, meaningful and beautiful.

This is the world in which I want my child to have his future. How about you?

Each post for the Reiki Help Blog can take anywhere from 1-5 days to write/research, proofread/edit, and post with an appropriate image and formatting. If you leave this space with any value, knowledge, joy or understanding, please consider making a donation of your choice.

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The average person, adult or child, isn’t exposed to meditation in our culture. Although the word is commonplace, there are now many scientific studies, and there’s a familiarity with it from media, meditation is still considered marginal, difficult, and too exotic to mean much.

This is unfortunate, because meditation is natural to life and the human experience. It’s natural, but because of conditioning it may at first seem challenging. It’s considered marginal or exotic, but the body-mind states it uncovers for us are all the various states we seek through other activities, both healthy ones and not so healthy ones. The benefits of meditation are lasting too. It doesn’t require special equipment, there’s no need for a student loan, you don’t have to go anywhere to meditate, and it enhances your days unlike anything else.

Our culture values hard work, success, family, fitness, entertainment, and possessions. These too are a part of life. Only a part. Not all of life. We become educated, trained and retrained to have and be all of these things. However, as Andrew Cohen puts it, “Meditation is training for life.” Life includes all the above, plus the human being, this breathing, feeling, pulsing, sensing entity. And Life in all its dimensions is also included in our days: The life of the planet (nature) and the cosmos, and the very source of Life as well. What addresses the totality of Life?

Civilization changes a person on the outside. Meditation softens a person from within, through and through. — Bhante Gunaratana

An essential ingredient of living is to have some meaning to it. We need meaning to feel alive, have purpose and feel it’s all worth something other than what’s on our bank statement. We also seek understanding. We seek to understand ourselves, and life in general. This is often accomplished through art, psychology, science, reading and documentaries. These of course have value. They can come up short when it comes to understanding our own nature.

Meditation is the natural state of mind, and the whole nature of the mind can be our meditation. — Tarthang Tulku

And…

Meditation is actually a process of seeking truth or understanding, of trying to discover the nature of existence and of the human mind. — Tarthang Tulku

It doesn’t have to feel foreign. Meditation doesn’t have to look or be any particular way. You don’t need ochre robes or flexible joints to meditate. You can keep your belief system. You can still go to your job in the morning, and tuck your kids into bed at night. With meditation, it’s still your life… only, it’s brighter and fresher. There’s a sense of well-being, better flow and greater contentment. You feel clearer and your heart is naturally full. Anxiety melts, stress dissipates and you don’t crash on weekends.

Meditation isn’t a panacea, at least initially. Your challenges and bothersome personal traits don’t disappear overnight, especially if you don’t make time for it. It doesn’t have to be a whole lot of time. Twenty minutes once or twice a day, and a willingness to let the fresh awareness it uncovers filter through into your days. Really paying attention to that awareness as it’s freed up of all the entanglements it’s usually caught up in.

Once we have touched meditative awareness, our questions dissolve, for both the questions and the answers to them are within the meditation. — Tarthang Tulku

Open yourself to the possibility that you can enhance your living substantially in a simple way with an all-encompassing practice that is natural and abiding. Find a method that appeals to you and commit. Give it three weeks, daily. You won’t even need to think about making it longterm after that.

Meditation is a way to quiet the mind so you can practice all day long wherever you are; see when there is grasping or aversion, clinging or suffering; and then let it go. — Jack Kornfield

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