Meditation and Self Awareness

For one who is following a self awareness, or enlightenment path, meditation is like a training ground. There are many different types and styles of meditation. From a self awareness training perspective, those styles of meditation that focus on creative imagery or relaxation will serve no purpose beyond a calming or relaxing effect.

The overall goal of meditation from a self awareness training perspective is to learn to be fully aware and in control of ones thoughts, and to retrain the mind to put an end to the useless chatter of mind theatrics and discursive thought. In other words teaching the mind that conventional thought, that which occurs in our mind as words and/or pictures, should be nothing more than a tool that we take out and use for a specific job or purpose and put away when we are finished.

A mind thus trained will abide in silence. I once had a teacher who told the class that if the mind ever stopped thinking, it would be because we had deceased. This is a total fallacy. A mind that never stops is a mind that is in danger of spiraling out of control. A great number of people suffer from this problem, they crawl into bed at night, dead tired, and can't fall asleep because the useless chattering voice in their head won't subside.

Retraining the mind from a meditation/self awareness viewpoint is a three step process. The length of time this practice will take is directly proportional to the effort put into it. Regardless how long it takes, it is worth every bit of effort required to gain a mind that can best be described as free.

The first step is to learn sustained focus, often with a meditation object such as the breath,  a mantra, or visualization of an object. The goal is to be able to remain focused on the object. When the mind wanders, which it will quite often for beginners, learn to catch yourself and pull back to the meditation object. Learning to catch the mind wandering and pulling back to the meditation object is the most important skill to learn at this stage. We are learning to be able to observe thoughts as they occur without being pulled into them, to observe them objectively without "going along for the ride" as well as to catch ourselves when we do. The idea is to keep bringing the mind back to the meditation object until it is able to remain there.

Initially, we may get lost quite deeply in thought before realizing it has happened, but with repeated practice we can catch the wandering mind earlier and earlier in the thought process. Eventually we will catch the thought just as it begins to occur.

With persistence and practice this becomes easier and easier over time, much the way an athlete seems to be able to perform with great ease compared to a beginner. Practicing with diligence and enthusiasm, as well as regularity of practice are the most important factors in accomplishing this goal.

When one has properly developed the ability to sustain focus as well as recognize when they have wandered off, they are ready to begin transitioning to the second stage, objectively observing thoughts.  This next level of practice can be very tricky if one has not properly developed the ability to recognize when the mind has become lost in thought.

The skill to be learned at this stages is to be able to allow the thoughts to flow freely, coming and going without engaging in them.You allow thoughts to emerge, but rather than trying to follow them, you merely observe and watch as they then fade away when you don't indulge in them. When thoughts are not engaged, they quickly lose energy. Practicing in this way one realizes than we are not our thoughts, we are separate from them. We learn to become the observer of thought.

In observing thought objectively, we quickly recognize that free flow thought has both a repetitious and mostly useless nature. Most of these thoughts occur in a feedback loop process being re-fueled by whatever new thoughts, judgments, and emotions we add to the thought when we "go along for the ride". In simply observing the thought and recognizing that they are occurring, they tend to quickly dissipate, but of course the next thought will then try to emerge. The goal here is to learn to be able to allow the thoughts to come and go without indulging them, without becoming caught up in them. Of course, if we do become engaged in them, we must be able to apply our previous skill of catching ourselves, and pulling back to the observer position.

Once we become proficient at objectively observing thought, the third stage of practice begins. We "capture" a thought mid stream much like a child catching a bug in a jar. We freeze frame the thought, look at its content, and examine its causes and effects.

Is this thought part of a recognizable repetitive pattern? If we acted upon the thought, what are the many possible outcomes? How many of the outcomes have the potential to be harmful to us or others? Do they add to anxieties or fears or any other unwanted feelings or emotions? What is behind the thought? Why does this particular feedback loop of the mind keep re-occurring? Is there something deeper within us that is driving it?

After examining and contemplating the thought, just like the kid with the bug in the jar, let it go and wait for the next one to come along. Continue practicing in this way. If you find yourself often getting lost in thought, return to a previous stage of training for a while to reinforce your skills.

The cumulative effect of observing thought in this manner is that the feedback loops that drive the repetitive thought patterns begin to break down, and with repeated effort and determination at observing them, they occur less frequently.

The wonderful paradox of this practice is that as we continue to break down these feedback loops, we create spaces or gaps between thoughts. As these gaps become wider, the contrast between thinking and not thinking becomes more apparent, and it becomes easier to recognize when a discursive thought appears.

The end result is a mind that is able to rest in peacefulness, quietude and equanimity.

Michael L. Fournier