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Meditating While Driving

Jul 292010

Like many people, I never seem to have the time I’d like for meditating and spiritual development. I’d like to begin each day with spiritual practice, but sometimes I’m running late and don’t get to it. Since I have a long commute, I’ve sometimes tried to listen to meditation tapes while driving, but this can be dangerous. Wayne Dyer’s Japa meditation CD, for example, had me in such an altered state that the physical world I was driving through lost importance – which is not a good state for driving.

This morning I tried something different – adapting mindfulness or walking meditation to driving. This seemed like a good match, since it actually makes you MORE aware of your surroundings. Rather than going within, your focus is on being fully present in the situation.

The technique is very simple. Start driving. Turn off your radio or music. Focus entirely on the sense impressions of driving. Be fully present in the experience of driving your car, and don’t focus on any inner dialog or thoughts. If you become aware that you are thinking about something other than the experience of driving, gently return your focus to the road in front of you. Don’t judge yourself for your thoughts, but keep returning your focus to the road, the car and your driving.

Naturally, you should continue to check your mirrors, watch your blind spots and follow good driving practice. In fact you should be more intently aware of your surroundings than usual. Be aware of the road and your surroundings with the same calm intensity of a cat watching a mouse hole. This is probably a better technique to practice on a routine drive, like a commute, than when you are trying to find a new location, although it would probably work with any kind of driving.

No two meditations are alike, and no two meditators are alike – so don’t judge your own experiences. What you experience is what you experience, and it’s fine. But here are a few observations on my own meditation this morning. First of all, it was a bit tiring. Being mindful in a complex situation like driving can be slightly overwhelming. The trick was to relax and be aware of all the experiences in general, rather than trying to shift a laser focus of awareness between all the various things going on.

I also discovered that I have a habit of giving myself verbal mental directions while I’m driving, telling myself where to turn and when to shift. That was a bit odd. But at times during the meditation I felt a wonderful sense of joy. Life seemed so good. Happiness was staring me in the face, waiting for me to shut up long enough to notice it. During these times, I had the odd sensation that I was driving on a route I had never seen before. I actually wondered for a moment if I was lost. The truth is, I suppose, that I had NOT seen it before – not really SEEN it. In fact, the day before this experiment, I had one of those frequent experiences of arriving at a particular turn on my route and being unable to remember how I had arrived, because my driving was on autopilot while I was lost in thought.

The experiment seemed like a success to me. At the very least, I think it won’t hurt my driving at all. It may improve it. Give driving meditation a try and let me know how it works for you.

A Gnostic Experience

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Jun 042010

I usually don’t share my meditation or religious experiences, but I had an experience this morning so powerful for me personally that I wanted to attempt to record it and share it. It was an encounter with God unlike any I’ve had. It began with my reading last night of some passages from Karen Armstrong’s book The Case for God, which is turning out to be a profoundly good read, by the way.

Karen was discussing the interplay of cataphatic and apophatic theology. For those unfamiliar with these terms – cataphatic theology is an approach to God which focuses on what God IS – what can be affirmed about God, whereas apophatic theology focuses on what God is NOT, what is denied about God. For example, in the concept of the Trinity, God is one (cataphatic) but at the same time, God is NOT one, but three (apophatic). And yet he is not three (apophatic) but one (cataphatic). In the process of moving back and forth between these two, affirming something about God, only to deny it – we reach a state of abandoning human concepts and resting in the ineffability of God beyond human reason.

No human concept applies perfectly to God. The human intellect is like a sword – with human concepts being as much about what something is NOT as what it is. The book is here, but not there. It exists now, but it did not exist five years ago. It is red, which means it is not blue. By cutting away what something is NOT, the human intellect arrives at a definition of what it IS. But with God, none of that works. He is here, and there. He exists now, and then. There is nothing to cut away. And because our concept of “existence” relies on this cutting away, it is not even possible to say that God “exists”. It is equally impossible to say that he does NOT exist. Not because, like the agnostic, we aren’t sure – but because the word “exists” breaks down when we try to think about God.

As I continued to meditate on God as beyond existence and non-existence – beyond good and bad, beyond desire and change, I was suddenly struck with the idea that all our human ideas of meaning and purpose which so drive our religious and spiritual quests might be nothing more than misapplications of our biological drives for survival. It was a very arid and even atheistic thought, in which the whole of human existence seemed like something of a sad joke. The ultimate object of concern – God – seemed on reflection to lack real purpose or quality. He simply is – take it or leave it.

And then – suddenly, I felt the presence of something that felt very remote, and yet full of inexpressible love and goodness. I had the distinct impression that this presence was observing me from a great distance, with total acceptance, but with some disappointment at my situation of having to exist in the material world. It was as if “God” were a slightly cruel boy tormenting the ants in his ant farm with a magnifying glass (I being one of his ants), while his older and much kinder brother looked on with disapproval from behind him, reaching to intervene and snatch the magnifying glass away.

It felt very “Gnostic”. My sense of the material world was very negative, but I felt very intensely the presence of a remote goodness what was totally unconnected with the material world – something to which I immediately felt and expressed love and loyalty.

I find this a bit confusing. Previously, I have believed that there is a progression in spirituality from nature mysticism to causal mysticism to non-dual mysticism. One first sees God in nature (Pantheism or Paganism) and then sees God as above nature (Monotheism) or even against nature (Gnosticism) and finally sees God as both in and above nature at the same time (non-duality). I have had spiritual experiences and episodes of all these mystical states. But now I’ve had what seems a more intense and advanced spiritual experience, and the flavor is definitely Gnostic.

It may be that my earlier experiences were simply intellectual counterfeits, or “light” versions of real mysticism, and now I’m working my way through the series at a more intense level. Or I may have to re-evaluate the whole progression thing.

It feels like some sort of breakthrough, but I’m not quite sure yet how to deal with it.

Transcending Fear

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Feb 172010

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.. (1 Jn 4:18 NKJV)

While fear is less and less a part of my life, there are still several situations that can cause me to panic. One is hypodermic needles. That’s improving. Another is sudden financial problems. The other day I opened my bank account online expecting to find a healthy balance only to find myself severely overdrawn. It turns out that when I had tried to make an online payment for $100.00 I had instead typed in 100,00 (a comma instead of a period). The company had processed a payment for $10,000.00 instead of $100.00 It took a week to straighten out, and my immediate reaction was panic to the point of having trouble breathing.

Fear is an instinctive reaction designed to make us alert and cautious in the presence of danger. This may be a very useful reaction when crossing a savanna teeming with lions. Unfortunately, our modern minds can create the mental experience of danger when there is no real physical threat. In the case of my mangled bank account, the actual situation was a matter of some pixels on a screen. There was no immediate threat or danger. My fear was the result of mental scenarios that my mind began to construct as it tried to process the implications of the error. Unfortunately, the mental reaction of fear was totally unhelpful in this situation. I needed a sense of perspective, clear objective judgment and cool reason. Instead I got tunnel vision and a body prepared to jump up a tree to escape a lion.

The spiritual roots of fear are even more destructive. Our ego, convinced of its separation from everything and everyone else, and conscious of its own mortality, constantly fears its own annihilation. The mind under the dominion of ego lives with a persistent background noise of existential fear. How do we escape it?

Since fear originates in the mind, practice in quieting the mind is a very helpful discipline to control fear. Meditation has many benefits, and this is one of them. A mind disciplined by meditation, like a well-trained horse, will not panic and throw its rider at the first sudden noise. Even if the horse jumps, like my mind did at the first sight of my negative bank balance, it can quickly be brought under control by the steady hand of consciousness. Meditation also shifts our consciousness away from the fearful ego and toward the greater Self, which is immortal, indestructible and beyond the reach of fear.

The passage from 1st John at the beginning of the article also suggests another spiritual practice that can help us. The way to escape the fear that torments us, says the author of John, is through perfect love. The Greek word for love here is “agape”, which is a rather difficult word to translate. It is not a simple human love. It is a divine, selfless openness and acceptance. It is a complete and total lack of resistance to the reality of the present moment, a surrender to the wisdom of God and the universe. It is a pure love for all that is, including the present situation.

In a post I did earlier, quoting from David Hawkins, I mentioned that this unconditional and universal love and acceptance is the first step to enlightenment. As a side benefit, as you perfect it, fear begins to disappear in your life.

There are other spiritual practices that can help transcend fear. People who have had near-death experiences report that the experience leaves them with a complete lack of fear. While we can’t deliberately have a near-death experience simply to cultivate this benefit, many of the same benefits can occur when we master astral travel, or out-of-body experiences. By having first-hand experience that we are more than just our physical bodies, and that our consciousness transcends our physical life, we lose some of our fear of physical dangers.

For particular phobias, hypnosis and self-hypnosis can also be helpful tools to rearrange our mental wiring.

Have you had good success with a particular method for overcoming fear? Share it with us in the comments.

Finding the Quiet

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Jan 142010

For a long time, I’ve been on the lookout for a really good book to recommend to a beginner wishing to learn meditation. This is that book. Finding the Quiet by Paul Wilson is a perfect introduction to meditation practices.

There are a lot of good books available (several that I own by Wayne Dyer) that teach a particular KIND of meditation, and do it well. This book teaches several kinds of meditation, encapsulating the essence of all the meditation traditions in general, in a wonderful style. Wilson is a student of a wide variety of meditation traditions, and he has done a great job of stripping away all the complexity and tradition-for-its-own-sake and streamlining the heart and soul of meditation. These are a set of hybrid techniques that take the most useful parts of all traditions and leave the rest.

Paul Wilson was apparently a natural mystic from the time he was a child, where he learned to find the quiet in the isolated Outback of Australia. Later, he took these lessons with him into the city and became a meditation expert – known as the “guru of quiet”.

The book focuses on both physical and spiritual aspects to meditation, and offers a variety of techniques that can be incorporated into anyone’s spiritual tradition without causing conflict. Wilson is especially conscious of the difficulties many Christians have in reconciling meditation with their religion, and offers techniques drawn from the Christian and other theistic contemplative traditions. Ultimately, Wilson believes, all these techniques lead to the same place, which he calls the Quiet. But the path may be slightly different. Since I have seen a lot of Christians get opposition even to so innocuous a practice as centering prayer, I appreciate Wilson’s efforts here.

The book is pleasantly neutral in regard to spiritual traditions. The beginning chapters establish the groundwork of what to expect and teach postures and other physical techniques for preparing for meditation. Next is an explanation of the three broad kinds of meditation. The the last section, which deals more with the spiritual aspects of meditation. But these spiritual considerations are entirely optional. All you need to start meditating is the first part of the book.

Along the way, Wilson unobtrusively introduces explanations of the science behind meditating and the brain function behind it. Hopefully this will make meditation more appealing to those who dislike all the unfortunate associations the New Age movement has burdened it with.

Highly recommended.

Meditations for Manifesting

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Dec 212009

Continuing on the theme of my own personal spiritual practices, let me introduce an audio CD by Wayne Dyer, Meditations for Manifesting. The CD contains a simpl explanation of a morning and evening meditation using vocal sound. The intent of the mediation is manifestation – ie causing the things you want and need to appear in your life.

The major portion of the CD is a live walk-through of the morning and evening meditation. The intent is that you follow along with Dr. Dyer as he performs each of these meditations for about 15 minutes. You can continue to use the CD in this way – following along with Wayne every morning and evening, or, once you get the hang of it, you can simply use the same method on your own.

First of all, let me say that this CD was very helpful to me during a time when I had to make a difficult decision regarding changing jobs. I needed to quit my job when I basically had nothing to turn to in it’s place – while supporting a family. But Dr. Dyers books and this CD gave me the courage to strike out into the unknown. And indeed, a better situation was waiting for me when I did.

I found the program very transformational even aside from it’s potential to manifest good things in your life. After 15 minutes of the morning sound meditation, I felt completely lifted above the physical world. I was more spiritually grounded for the entire day.

I should warn that some people who were great fans of Dr. Dyer found this CD a bit of anomaly. They found his voice distracting, or were hoping for more lecture content instead of the long sections of “meditate with Wayne”. The CD is short on explanation and long on demonstration. As for myself, it was just what I needed. It was quite unlike any meditation I had done previously and I don’t think I would have persisted with it without the CD to help me.

So if you are interested in manifesting – if, for example, you are a fan of The Secret, and want to do some serious work with it – this CD can be a very helpful product. I’ve just begun using it again recently and hope to have interesting things to report.

Centering Prayer – Christian Meditation

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Dec 202009

Someone recently asked me about my spiritual practices. I practice several forms of prayer and meditation, but one of my favorites is “centering prayer”. Although called “prayer”, centering prayer does not involve speaking at all. There is no petitioning or list of requests. It is closer to what most people would think of as “meditation”.

It is, in fact, very similar to many eastern forms of meditation, although it was actually derived from a long history of Christian mystical tradition – largely forgotten and neglected. The fact is that mystics of all religions tend to encounter many of the same inner experiences. The Trappist monk Thomas Merton discovered that he was able to share many experiences with his Buddhist friends regarding meditation and contemplation.

Most modern Christians aren’t familiar with what “contemplation” means in the ancient Christian mystical texts. It does not mean simply “thinking” about spiritual topics. Contemplation is a special spiritual state in which the soul opens itself to union with God.

Father Thomas Keating is the one largely responsible for reviving the practice of centering prayer in recent years.

There are a number of resources online that can teach you centering prayer, but here is a brief outline of how to begin.

First, you will select a word that will be used as a focus of the prayer, to represent your intention to approach God. Popular choices include “God”, “Jesus”, “Peace”, “Abba”, “Love”, “Being” etc. Any word that is meaningful to you will do, and you can change your word if you need to, but it helps to settle down on a single word, as soon as you can in your prayer practice, as your mind will learn to associate the word you choose with the state of contemplative prayer.

Once you select the word, you close your eyes, focus on feeling peace and love toward God, and begin your prayer by directing your attention to your chosen word. When you notice that your thoughts have drifted off, you gently return your focus to the chosen word.

It’s important to understand that you don’t repeat the word over and over. It is not a mantra.. It is simply a symbol of your intention to approach God. You return your focus to it only when you notice that your attention is wandering. And it is important to be gentle with yourself. Do not beat yourself up when you find that your attention has wandered. Gently return your focus to your chosen word, and once your attention is centered, let the word fade into silence and open yourself to that silence.

It’s not necessary to assume any particular physical posture for centering prayer. Most people prefer to pray in a seated position. It’s probably better not to attempt centering prayer while lying down, as it will be too easy to fall asleep.

Try to work up to at least 20 minutes of prayer, and devote the last two minutes to simply resting in silence, slowly coming back to your normal state of mind, but trying to bring the silence with you into your waking life.

Below is a short video introduction to centering pray from Father Thomas Keating, the most well-known modern instructor in the practice.

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