My cousin Derek came over with my Uncle George for a visit the other night. All three of us have some experience with meditation. Uncle G. does yoga. Derek has been part of a Buddist community center, and I've done Taoist style qi gong standing meditation.Derek said that he didn't understand the point. Stillness in and of itself is interesting, but he didn't want his whole life to be so still and calm. He's a professional musician. He loves the chaos of a solo. He felt that he couldn't be chaotic when he's been meditating. And vice versa. When he's playing beautiful crazy unordered music, his life became disordered as well.
I pointed out that meditation is not an endpoint, but learning a skill. You want to be able to move from stillness to chaos at will. He'd never thought about the balance of yin and yang in everyday life and the role that meditation plays in this.
1 comment:
i think its a good point you make there. meditation can be a means of mastery over oneself. ultimately even according to some buddhist thought, you eventually befriend the "demons" in the process of meditation...meaning all of oneself (including perhaps the chaos) is eventually embraced and under one's control. the "demons" are not vanquished at all by buddha; they become his friends and assist him in his journey.
-priscilla
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