What Is Meditation?

Someone once told me, after sitting quietly for a while: “The meditation did me good. My mind was cluttered, I dozed off a little, but it was good.” And I said what I’ll say to you now: you don’t need to wait for Monday evening to meditate.

“That’s true,” came the reply, “but it’s hard for me to gather myself.” And that is exactly where we begin.

So, what is meditation? It helps to notice that the word points to two different things. There is the practice we call meditation, and there is the state of consciousness we call meditation.

We can sit for twenty minutes each day to practice. But we can also live in a meditative state of consciousness, and when we do, the practice begins to make itself unnecessary, because we are already there.

What is a meditative state of consciousness? It is relaxed, alert observation. In English it has a lovely name: restful alertness.

On one side, I am fully awake to everything that is happening, just as in ordinary waking life, and nothing escapes my attention. On the other side, I am completely at ease: not reacting, not judging, not feeling threatened, not demanding anything from the experience. I simply allow it to happen.

For anyone who finds it hard to meet reality this way, there is the practice. Those twenty minutes are, in a sense, a simulation of that relaxed state of consciousness. Little by little we train the system, so that in the end this becomes our natural way of being, not something we switch on for twenty minutes, but the ground we live from.

This is especially so for anyone who chooses the spiritual path as a path of personal growth, and certainly for anyone walking the White Path as their own way. Meditation is simply part of the daily rhythm.

And if it doesn’t yet arise on its own, then sit. Twenty minutes. Practice it. Every day.