Quotes
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Laozi.
“Everyone has a little madness on the inside. The skill is in understanding the madness, and then being at ease with it.” — Andy Puddicombe.
Insight
When we meditate we must orient our minds towards our experience in such a way that we are simultaneously relaxed, but not casual. Our posture must also mirror this orientation: we must sit in a way that we are both comfortable and alert. A very thin line is required to strike this balance.
The first part—relaxation and comfort—refers to the fact that we must not be tensed, either in our minds or in our posture. We are at ease, at rest, allowing our body and our mind to relax. We are not on edge, we are not waiting for something to happen, we do not have an agenda on the present moment. We are just sitting, just watching our experience unfold in each moment.
However, because we are relaxed and comfortable does not mean that we are casual and not alert in our practice. We must not be passive about our experience, we must not simply watch our experience pass us by. Instead, we must be curious about and interested in our experience. We must watch it very closely as it unfolds, paying close attention to what arises in each moment.
How does this play out in practice? Say, you are meditating and you notice anger begin to arise in your experience. We must first relax and be comfortable around the anger. We must accept that it has arisen. But we can’t just do nothing with it, we can’t just be casual. We must be curious about the anger and deconstruct it into its constituent parts: the thoughts, the emotions, the sensations, etc. And once this is done, we can see through the anger and it loses the power it had over us.
Further
I recently heard the quote, “be relaxed but not casual,” in a talk given by Joseph Goldstein. The actual talk was about an hour long and it was recorded at a meditation retreat. Unfortunately, I can’t share the actual talk, but here is a similar talk delivered by Joseph: First Day Morning Instructions (Retreat at Spirit Rock) (44 minutes).
That is probably the longest link I have shared. Still, I think it gives you a taste of what being on retreat would be like and Joseph is one of the clearest and most practical teachers around. So, why not?
On the subject of Joseph’s clarity, this is demonstrated in how he likens seeing through thought, to when Dorothy (in the Wizard of Oz) unveils a curtain to reveal the cause of a loud scary voice, only to see a vulnerable old man pulling levers (see the video below; 2 minutes). That is what its like when we see through thoughts and emotions: their power is seen to be baseless.
Disclaimer
If you experience any of these symptoms, please consider reducing the amount you meditate or potentially quitting altogether.
As always, thank you for reading 🧘🏾♂️
Thank you. Great read