What Meditation is Not

Meditation is not simply a matter of sitting in a particular posture or breathing in a particular way; it is a state of mind. We can meditate in a quiet place, and we can also meditate while working, walking or cooking dinner.

Meditation is not spacing-out or running away. In fact, it is being totally honest with ourselves: taking a good look at what we are and working with that in order to become more positive and useful, to ourselves and to others. There are both positive and negative aspects of the mind. The negative aspects - our mental disorders or, quite literally, delusions - include jealousy, anger, desire, pride and the like. These arise from our misunderstanding of reality and habitual clinging to the way we see things, our particular point of view. Through meditation we can recognize our mistakes and adjust our mind to think and react more realistically, more honestly.

Lifelong habits die hard, however. It is difficult enough simply to recognize our anger and jealousy, much less make an effort to hold back the old familiar tide of feelings, or analyze its causes and results. Transforming the mind is a slow and gradual process. It is a matter of ridding ourselves, bit by bit, of instinctive, harmful habit patterns and becoming familiar with habits that necessarily bring positive results to ourselves and others.

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