Meditation as Relationship
I really like what Akincano Marc Weber says about meditation — that it is about establishing a relationship with your mind.
“…It is meeting your mind, engaging your mind, inquiring into the dimensions of your mind, finding out what your mind needs….
“It’s what you do in relationship. You don’t just go in, shake hands, and let rip with your project or with your plan. You establish a relationship. You say Hello, How are you, Where have you come from, Have you slept well, Where are you staying…. You establish a relationship…..
“Your mind has a life of its own. I think you will agree with me on this after some meditation. What is happening in your mind will need your skillful response, your attuned response. You can’t just go in there and give orders.
“You can’t just go in there and follow along, either. We’re not doting on all our whims and fancies. But as meditators, we do want to know what the mind has as this life of its own. We do want to know its images. We do want to know its desires. We do want to know what makes it calm, what makes it anxious, what makes it scattered, or collected. You do want to know all these things. And to find this out requires a skill. And that skill is a relational one.
“It has something to do with curiosity. And it has something to do with kindness. It has something to do with patience. And a tolerance for your mind to be different from what you expect it to be, from what you think it should be. A tolerance for what is baffling, surprising, bewildering to you…..
“You will need the skill to meet what is presently arisen. Take what you find from where it is and turn it into a wholesome direction, cultivate from there, refine from there. Some things will need to be strengthened. Some things will need to overcome. That is a relational skill.”
(For a link to the entire talk, click here.)