Meditation for Thursday 17th March 2022
There is a wisdom and creativity that arises from contemplative practices such as meditation and mindfulness that help us to live a reflective life. The wisdom and creativity is made to be shared, so rather as is often perceived that it is a self- centred practice it should be approached as a communal action that reaches out in service to the community.
We remind ourselves of this fact when at meditation there is the suggestion that we might like to dedicate our meditation to some cause that is dear to our heart. This simple act is a reminder that we meditate not only for our own well-being but for the well-being of others.
We tend to compartmentalise action and contemplation but this is incomprehensible to the person who knows that “turning inward” goes hand-in-hand with communal responsibility.
It’s true that some people who come to meditation are looking for a technique to relax; a few have serious illness and others all sorts of problems in their lives. The motivation for coming is inconsequential as ultimately a faithful practitioner will become conscious that meditation and its external manifestation mindfulness constitute the hub of a wheel around which circle various components that constitute our lives, including compassionate outreach and advocacy.
So many people perceive those of us who meditate as people withdrawing from life. The true and faithful meditator is not less interested in what goes on in the world but more interested, keen to see ways in which change can bring about a more just society. Meditation sharpens one’s intuition and perception, a fact which is being progressively supported by science.
Meditation brings awareness or a knowing, but in an entirely different way from what many are accustomed to, not by instruction, but by experience. In the silence we may not realise but we are listening, a hearing without hearing, seeing without seeing, knowing without knowing.
Now let’s meditate in the way in which we are accustomed……
Meditation
Reminder to check out the zoom programs offered by the Carmelite Centre at www.thecarmelitecentremelbourne.org