On the Act of Meditating

(I've written more on meditation here)

Article Overview by Mr. J. Igwe and Co.

"On the Act of Meditating" is a well-crafted article that delves into the complex and often paradoxical nature of meditation. The author's personal journey since 2011 offers a unique touch, presenting meditation as a process of self-discovery and transformation.

This authenticity resonates with readers, making them feel as though they are being guided by someone who understands both the joys and struggles of meditation.

The article presents meditation as both relaxing and stressful, clarifying yet alienating, and insightful yet sometimes uncomfortably revealing. This nuanced view encourages readers to embrace meditation with an open mind, allowing for the discomfort that can sometimes accompany true self-reflection.

The tone is both accessible and intellectually stimulating, making the article feel conversational yet insightful. Phrasing such as “seeing beyond the prison bars of the mind” and “entering the matrix of mass psychosis” effectively combines evocative imagery with deep concepts, creating a lasting impression.

This approachable, yet intellectually engaging style has the potential to attract a wide audience, from beginners to seasoned meditators, inviting them to ponder meditation’s role in their own lives.

In conclusion, "On the Act of Meditating" is a thoughtfully crafted piece that stands out for its philosophical depth and personal authenticity. It offers readers a balanced exploration of meditation’s joys and difficulties, inviting them to see meditation as both a tool for relaxation and a pathway to deeper self-awareness. In summary, "On the Act of Meditating" is a thoughtfully crafted piece that stands out for its philosophical depth and personal authenticity.

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Part I: Origins of My Specific Understanding

Meditation has been an on-and-off aspect in my life since 2011, so you can say I have a partial experience in this field, mainly stemming from being an auto-didact.

Furthermore, I used to research this topic as part of a school project in middle school. Picking my own subject to do a research project on has revealed to be more productive than having subjects picked by the ministry of education.

Other than that, an anonymous philosophy professor helped me with meditating at the time, so we meditated together from time to time in the privacy of his home.

The Hidden Logic of Meditation

It was a weird experience, meditating, yet very rewarding, as a lot of meditation has to do with who you really are inside. Ironically, while it is often argued that meditation is relaxing, the act of meditating can also be very, very stressful.

I have found, for example, that, when repressing so much of who you are, meditation helps you in re-discovering who you really are from within. As such, unveiling the very things about yourself that you've been repressing for years, can be a very stressful experience.

Furthermore, I'd like to theorize that meditation may affect you differently based on your brain. In autism, for example, some people (like myself) may find coffee very relaxing, rather than energizing. Not being able to look beyond conventional standards, ruins our understanding of how reality, and people, are truly diverse.

Intermission: An Ever-Changing World

Philosophical exploration, therefore, should not be attacked, nor be used as a way to prioritize attacking viewpoints that have yet to be optimally understood. What philosophers should do instead, is to criticize the very conventions in their thinking that prevent them from being not only better critical thinkers, but also better explorers of ideas.

Consider the fact life is more abnormal than you might think, and in theory is even becoming more dystopian. Societal injustices being more and more normal, can be regarded as morally abnormal. Norms are not eternal constructs, as life is always prone to change. For good, and for worse. As such, humans, being able to survive by adapting to abnormal lives, may deviate from conventional findings of humans, even in the field of meditation.

Consider the fact that awkwardness is more normal than you think, using deductive reasoning. Furthermore, awkwardness might also be a mutual reaction. It is stemmed from the idea that conventional research and methodology can often fail you, despite supposing to help you understand reality.

After all, methodology that is used to understand reality, must focus not on simplicity, but on the fact that reality is dynamic. Far more dynamic than it seems, as even the concept of time itself can have its own problems.

Ad-Hominem can easily fail our understanding as a result, especially when the methodology you're using discards the integration between mutual learning and lifelong learning.

Part II: Actions As Interactions Between Person and Process

After all, we need to remember that, in meditation, it is always an interaction between the meditator and the very act of meditating. Of course, in interaction, "Tango requires two". Being unable to see the inner, mental workings of the actor, will always create an uncanny sense of mystery in abnormal people, who lead abnormal lives.

Finally, given that brain flexibility (neuroplasticity) is largely-driven by experience, means that people leading unique experiences, may experience meditation differently. That is along with many other mundane tasks.

Saving people from their own hands successfully, for example, or even finding themselves developing savant syndrome due to an accident, implies that their mental reality is only going to grow more and more eccentric.

By "eccentric", I also refer to, more and more incomprehensibly, leading to many unique understandings of the human mind and its interactions with the same physical reality other minds interact with...

Part III: Influence as Individual and Intricate

Even though I do not meditate on a regular basis, I am very familiar, from experience, with the power and influence of meditation on both our mood and mental state. Using deductive reasoning, this influence can reveal to be more zany than you might think, as you use the insights you've received from such a unique deed, to further realize how unique you are compared to others. That is at least my experience with meditation.

I am well aware meditation may help people feel more connected to their surroundings, due to mindfulness. I have experienced it myself... However, this also revealed to me the depth of alienation in humanity. The depth of disconnection between individuals, as we grow less and less understanding of people both distant and close from us at the same time.

Depth in Simplicity

The irony of this stems from the fact that all it takes to realize such a simple understanding is the simple act of sitting with a mind that is not cluttered. The irony intensifies when you realize how easy for many humans is to be relentless with their quests for success, to the point of compromising their own happiness... Yet, they easily relent at the mere thought of sitting in solitude with only your mind and reality to interact with, no screens.

An extremely lonely epiphany, as you also realize how people merely act as if their perception of you, is the real you. You observe their actions after your own weird experience with meditation and realize people simply act connected, therefore act as if their mental dimension is clearly connected with yours.

It is a very ironic thing, if not paradoxical, since it appears unbelievable to the inexperienced eye, as to what meditation can do to us on both the short and long run. After all, meditation is just being mindful of something beyond the sea of thoughts we are regularly in.

At the same time, this very mindfulness, depending on the mind, is something that can greatly increase your clarity, without even needing to waste time and money on academic degrees...

Part IV: Into the Mechanism of Mindfulness

You have power over your mind -- not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. -- Marcus Aurelius

Are we really our thoughts, our emotions? In the absence of a critical and self-doubting mind, we will see our thoughts and our emotions, and believe they are us. What if the greatest manipulator is from within? Specifically, the hidden mind that governs us without our awareness?

Contrary to popular belief, being spontaneously mindful of something does not need to always have a specific form...

In other words, sitting in a far-eastern fashion is not the only way to meditate. I even meditated once by mistake when I lay in bed and easily paid attention to the beatings of my heart.

I have never met such people that can meditate whenever and however they want, but I won't be surprised to discover that such people exist. I refuse to kill time on being surprised by anything. I prefer investing that time in research. After all... much of our own qualia is deceit.

How come? The reasoning is that I aspire to see beyond Quasi-terminology, or Quasi-specific terms. Doing so as a habit, can more and more help us break the fabricated layers of our own uncritical, societal making, AKA "The Matrix".

The matrix, a mass psychosis that prevents us the blissful gift of clarity. How can others be clearly honest with us, when we fail being clearly honest with ourselves? With what we refuse knowing? With our conscious, and unconscious denials towards the world beyond our minds? The world we merely think we have a sufficient understanding of... in our hubris? The very same hubris that exploits it in the name of "progress?" of "Innovation?" Such is the folly of the Eggman Philosophy...

Not Enough Explored, Therefore "Absurd"

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar. -- Nhat Hanh

You can know you are meditating when your mindfulness of something, such as a mantra or your vicinity, creates one or more unique feelings that appear mostly if not only in meditation. I'm talking about deep love towards nothing in particular, or a sense of inner cleansing.

Never in my life have I felt such obscure sensations beyond the field of meditation. It is something I call, Solitarus. The love of solitude. The love of being alone from society... but one with the universe's consciousness.

I do not know much about these feelings; why they arrive, what they symbolize, why they are unique to meditation, and so on. What I can tell you is this....

Once you become accustomed to meditation, it can make you think that little else is needed in life. These sensations rarely exist even in the most gratifying of so-called "earthly" pleasures.

Understanding this, and seeing for yourselves by practicing meditation, can allow you to realize the folly of hedonism, which often contributes to world corruption...

After all, why fall to the joys of evil, when you can enjoy meditation, without causing harm to the very planet that hosts your existence?

Across Religion and Spirituality

I am in no way a religious person, but I can understand why asceticism and hermit-hood were largely religious in human history.

Prayer can theoretically be seen as mantra meditation, and if this assumption is correct, then even irreligious/atheistic people can have similar experiences as religious folk simply by choosing a mantra of their liking and repeating it in a spontaneous, yet mindful manner.

I won't even be surprised to discover that some animals such as cats can meditate by being "one" with their purring. Their minds are hidden from us.

In Taoism there is the concept of "Wu Wei" -- effortless endeavor. When things are done naturally, the "spirits", AKA unique sensations, are far more likely to arrive and "heal" yourself than when you become unwillingly aware of something you do not "feel" like doing.

Final Musings

Meditation can definitely be seen as returning to your childish self; the one that enjoys wholeheartedly doing something; the one we learn to detach from ourselves as we grow up.

Why is there a need to be spontaneous when meditating? It is because forced mindfulness ruins the experience.

You might be weirded out, but I don't believe that the term "meditation" fits this act. It's because this word is more synonymous to "contemplation" than it is to said act. You don't even have to put much thought into meditating. It's a natural flow, not a conscious construction and evolution.

Even when we ask ourselves something while meditating, the answer does not come from contemplation but, again, with little cognitive effort.

Where does the answer come from? I am uncertain, but probably from the subconscious... A great key. "The Third Eye".

Conclusions

It is still ironic that so much can come from such a simple act. Don't be overconfident, though. It is very hard for most people to exit the constant chatter of the mind and just "be" there. There, in the solitude that exists beyond your lifelong companionship of your mind and its countless thoughts.

Have I never had a thought for at least a moment?

You can know that when the main focus exits from the mental prison. It's not something you put a thought into at the same time you do it, and this is also why I partially disagree with the usage of this term.

If you have never meditated before, or rarely have done it, you are missing a lot. Not only is it healthy, but it can improve your mood as well.

Maybe in the future, when asking a philosophical question, the answer could be found within, as well, when meditating on said question.

With all the mysterious benefits of this ritual, it could be worth a shot.

Remember: Exit from the mind, see and sense beyond the prison bars.