One of the things that people say about meditation is that you shouldn't buy into the content of your thoughts. Instead just be a witness to them - watch them arise and pass away. The ironic thing about this instructions is that becoming present and still leads to the arising of creative thoughts and new ideas. Almost without fail, I will be sitting there and some great idea pops up, maybe an observation that I want to tell somebody about, an academic research idea, or even an idea for a blog post. My first instinct is than to immediately try and flesh it out in my mind, but of course, then, I am not meditating any more. I haven't really seen anybody talk about this or discuss what to do (with the exception of Jason Siff. He wrote a book Unlearning Meditation which I am hoping to read). I guess a strict Buddhist perspective would be to see it for the emptiness that it is and let it go immediately. Since I also must live and act in the world, hopefully skillfully, I have preferred a middle ground where I allow the idea to marinate for around a minute, and then let it go with faith that it will be available later when I might think and act on it. Usually this marination doesn't involve much rational thought, it is more of a feeling out of the idea, gaining an intuitive understanding.
No comments:
Post a Comment