What’s in a Name? The Power of Defining Meditation

Before we even begin to talk about meditation first we have to figure out what exactly that means. 

Meditation defined:

That’s a horrible definition. 

It’s circular in the first place, defining the word with the word by changing the ending.  It’s also entirely missing the point.  There are lots of ways to spend time in quiet thought. I can be calculating my gross income for my 1040 tax form and be engaged in quiet thought.  That is not meditation.

So what is it? 

Medtation as we think of it and as it has been studied comes from the many and varied Eastern traditions, all the entangled branches of Buddhism, Hinduism, Tantric practice and more.  Each group has a bit of a different definition, but from my own reading and understanding it is primarily focused on what one might describe as mindfulness meditation.  This is commonly thought of as the “emptying of one’s mind” enlightenment through letting go of the ego or self and the process of learning how to live within the present moment.   This is hefty, powerful work and I think it benefits anyone to try this sort of meditation.    But I’ve come to believe that there is more to meditation than the calming of the mind.

I’ve meditated to calm and excite my mind. I’ve meditated to heal myself, to heal others, to connect to deity, to connect to the land, to do magic, to prepare for an interview, to cope with grief and sorrow, and to prepare to lead. 

I would argue that meditation is more than just the stilling of the mind. It is the basis of everything we call magic and a lot of what we call cognitive-behavioral psychology.  A common definition of magic is changing consciousness at will.  I see meditation as the skillset that makes that change happen.  Meditation practice helps build willpower, which is essential for success at any endeavor.  Neuro-Linguistic Programming is an incredibly modern viewpoint on meditation and it has some fascinating insights.  We know that the ancient Europeans also had practices that one might call meditation, The Celtic poets had a process to inspire poetry which involved sensory deprivation and breath control where they went into a cave, wrapped themselves in a hide and put a rock on their chest.   They effectively found a way to cut out sound and sight, and putting a rock on your chest is certainly a way to make you focus on your breath.   The point of the exercise was to come out of this extended meditation with the power of inspiration in order to write grand poetry and song. 

Some might argue that this is more like a trance technique than a meditation technique, but I would ask, what is the difference?  Both are physical and psychological adjustments to environment in order to create a certain mental and emotional outcome.    I would say that trance techniques are simply advanced meditation techniques.  If that is the case, then it makes perfect sense why so many teachers from various magical traditions suggest that meditation be a basis for practice.

Meditation isn’t just for Buddhists and it never was.

I would define meditation thusly:

Meditation is any of a large group of mental and physical techniques that willfully change the state of mind of a person.  This can include cognitive, emotional, and spiritual states of mind. 

That’s a pretty big category, isn’t it?

But I think it fits the evidence. I started meditating when I was pretty young. I didn’t even know that was what I was doing.  I had a babysitting gig the summer before high school.  The kids mostly weren’t home.  They went to their friend’s houses.  I was mostly there to answer the phone and make lunch.   I read and watched a lot of MTV.  Finally I got so bored that I just sat. I sat crosslegged in their living room bored out of my freaking gourd and did nothing. 

I found that nothingness was a place inside my head. It was profound.  In the moment between one breath and the next was a vastness that expanded in every direction.  It was beautiful darkness and I loved it. I’ve followed that beautiful darkness ever since that moment.   It was accidental meditation and I fell in love with that feeling.

It fits my definition as well as being pretty close to some of the other definitions that you can find around the internetz.  

So that is what I teach, and what exercise one and two are meant to demonstrate.  The first is a more traditional technique for calming the mind, the second is meant to bring it up to a quicker state of mind to ready the individual for something that engages logical thought.   These skills are incredibly useful and important.  Certainly, some people will be better at it than others, but like everyone needs to know basic math and reading, I think everyone should know basic consciousness changing techniques, aka, meditation. 

To name a thing is to begin to understand it.  Language has a profound impact on culture and by choosing to understand something in a certain way it becomes that thing.  I have heard it said that English doesn’t have words for many spiritual concepts, but we can.  Just like our ancestors did before us we can learn to integrate the new and the very old into our worldview.  We have the power to better ourselves if we choose to do so.  What do you choose, dear reader?