The Meditation Pill

If I can connect with what I am doing, I can stay grounded and pay attention to those reactions, see them and not get carried away with them. It doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the good times or despair the bad times. But if I stay grounded, connected with something beyond my likes and dislikes, then there is some stability and clarity in my life because I am not jumping all around getting lost in my reactions.

If somebody calls me something that I don’t like and that raises my anger, I then start acting out of my anger and lose any clarity that I may have found. I am in a dream of anger. I know from my own experience, I end up responding in ways that are usually less constructive and more likely just add fuel to the fire. But if I can keep connected with something and not get lost in the dream of my anger, I might be able to actually see what is happening in the moment and deal with it.

But if I think that my meditation is this pill that I take, then I’m holding on to this idea of meditation: “I’ll just get back to my meditation and that’ll do it! I’ll feel better!” And maybe I’ll feel better while I’m doing it. But unless I am cultivating an awareness of being in the moment and being able to really perceive the moment, I am still going to get tossed around by everything that happens.

By Zen Master Bon Soeng