The first step
to meditation is to sit down and to become aware.
Usually we
are so caught up in our stream of thought that we are not aware of our body and
of what is around us. Most of the time we think we ARE our stream of thoughts.
The philosopher
Decartes stated: cogito ergo sum. I think
therefor I am.
The
meditator rejects this statement. If the meditator would have to formulate a statement
it would be: Behind the stream of thinking, I am. I
would like it if someone could put that into Latin for me.
Google Translate says: Post flumine cogitandi, ego sum
Google Translate says: Post flumine cogitandi, ego sum
Every meditation
session starts with becoming aware. This becoming aware of the sensations in
the body and the stimuli from the outside can be seen as taking the ores to row
to the other shore; awareness is a tool, not a goal.
Awareness
creates the first gap between thoughts because one cannot be aware and caught
up in the stream of thought at the same time.
The laugh of
a child, the touch on the skin of a breeze, the passing of a car, the weight of
the body on the pillow, a slight pain in the knee, the smell of dust… there is
so much going on around us all the time that is blocked out by our stream of
thoughts, that inner chatter.
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