Meditation –Thursday 1st July 2021
Hello and welcome to our meditation for Thursday the 1st July, the half-way mark through 2021. A reminder to look at the Carmelite Centre website for their latest offerings, www.thecarmelitecentremelbourne.org
Reflection
Tonight let’s look at self-examination……
Although many of us inherently know the value of meditation I find it a useful exercise to occasionally appraise its effect on my life. This does not mean making a judgment about the so-called quality of meditation.
This is a useless pastime that may bring heartache.
Ask yourself, what are the fruits of a long-term commitment to meditation?
How has this commitment changed me? Has my life become calmer, more peaceful?
Do I understand that any experiences during my formal periods of meditation are transitory and that the ultimate fruit of these periods is how they affect my life?
Do I think I’m a wiser person? – Meditation helps us on the path to a liberating wisdom that breaks the crippling bonds of unhelpful attachments.
The great 13th century Zen Master, Eihei Dogen wrote, “To meditate is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self.”
A note of caution. The practice of meditation must never inadvertently lead to the promotion of a passionless, distant attitude to life.
The very idea of detachment can be annoying to our families and friends. It must never become a spiritual exercise that leads us to hide in the artificial tranquility of an imaginary monastery of the heart and it must never lead to any alienation from family and friends.
Meditation is life and the unexamined life is not worth living.
And now let’s meditate in the fashion that we are accustomed to….
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MEDITATE for up to 20 Minutes