Alan Watts How to meditate

8/19/2019 Alan Watts How to meditate

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The First Reason We Meditate – To Get In Touch With Reality

The art of meditation is a way of getting in touch with reality. The reason for it is that most civilized

people are out of touch with reality !ecause they confuse the world as it is with the world as theythin" a!out it and tal" a!out it and descri!e it. For on the one hand there is the real world and on

the other a whole system of sym!ols a!out that world which we have in our minds. These are very

useful sym!ols all civilization depends on them !ut li"e all good things they have their

disadvantages and the principle disadvantage is that we can confuse them with reality. #ust as we

confuse money with actual wealth. $nd our names a!out ourselves our ideas of ourselves our

images of ourselves with ourselves. %ow of course reality from a philosophers point of view is a

dangerous word. $ philosopher will as" me &What do I mean !y reality' $m I tal"ing a!out the

physical world of nature' (r am I tal"ing a!out a spiritual world' (r what') $nd to that I have a

very simple answer * when we talk a!out the material world that is actually a philosophical

concept. +o in the same way if I say reality is spiritual that,s also a philosophical concept and

reality itself is not a concept.

Reality is -he !angs on a gong and we hear the noise resonate/- and we won,t give it a name.

%ow it,s amazing what doesn,t e0ist in the real world. For e0ample in the real world there aren,t

any things nor are there any events. That doesn,t mean to say that the real world is a perfectly

featureless !lan". It means that it is a marvelous system of wiggles in which we descri!e things

and events in the same way as we would pro1ect images on a Rorschach !lot or pic" out particular

groups of stars in the s"y and call them constellations as if they were separate groups of stars.

Well they,re groups of stars in the minds, eye in our systems of concepts they are not out there

as constellations already grouped in the s"y.

+o in the same way the difference !etween myself and all the rest of the universe is nothing more

than an idea it is not a real difference. $nd meditation is the way in which we come to feel our

!asic insepara!ility from the whole universe. $nd what that re2uires is that we shut up- That is to

say that we !ecome internally silent and cease from the intermina!le chatter that goes on inside

our s"ulls.

3ecause you see most of us thin" compulsively all the time * that is to say we tal" to ourselves.

%ow o!viously if I tal" all the time I don,t hear what anyone else has to say and so in e0actly the

same way if I thin" all the time * that is to say if I tal" to myself all the time * I don,t have anything

to thin" a!out e0cept thoughts. $nd therefore I,m living entirely in the world of sym!ols and I,m

never in relationship with reality.

The +econd Reason We Meditate – Meditation 4oesn,t 5ave $ Reason

This is going to !e a little !it more difficult to understand. We could say that meditation doesn,t

have a reason or doesn,t have a purpose. $nd in this respect it,s almost unli"e all other things that


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we do e0cept perhaps ma"ing music and dancing. 3ecause when we ma"e music we don,t do it in

order to reach a certain point such as the end of a composition. If that were the purpose of music

to get to the end of the piece then o!viously the fastest players would !e the !est. $nd so li"ewise

when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as we would !e

if we were ta"ing a 1ourney. When we dance the 1ourney itself is the point. When we play music

the playing itself is the point. $nd e0actly the same thing is true in meditation.

Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. $nd

therefore if you meditate for an ulterior motive – that is to say to improve your mind to improve

your character to !e more efficient in life – you,ve got your eye on the future and you are not

meditating. 3ecause the future is a concept6 it doesn,t e0ist. $s the prover! says &Tomorrow never

comes.) There is no such thing as tomorrow6 there never will !e !ecause time is always now. That,s

one of the things we discover when we stop tal"ing to ourselves and stop thin"ing6 there is only a

present – only an eternal now.

It,s funny then isn,t it that one meditates for no reason at all. 70cept we could say 8for the

en1oyment of it, and here I would interpose the essential principal that meditation is supposed to !e

fun. It,s not something you do as a grim duty. The trou!le with religion as we "now it is that it is so

mi0ed up with grim duties 8we do it !ecause it,s good for you it,s a form of self*punishment,. Well

meditation when correctly done has nothing to do with all that. It,s a "ind of digging in the present6

it,s a "ind of grooving with the eternal now. $nd it !rings us into a state of peace where we can

understand that the point of life the place where it,s at is simply here and now.

$nd some other good 2uotes from this tal"

9To go out of your mind at least once a day is tremendously important. 3ecause !y going

out of your mind you come to your senses. If you stay in your mind all the time you are

over rational. In other words you,re li"e a very rigid !ridge which !ecause it has no give

no craziness it,s going to !e !lown down in the first hurricane.9

9When you realize that you cannot control your mind you realize there is no controller.

What you too" to !e the thin"er of thoughts is 1ust one of the thoughts.9

9$s you start meditation you allow your !reath to run 1ust as it wills. In other words

don,t do at first any !reathing e0ercise. 3ut 1ust watch your !reath !reathing the way it

wants to !reathe. $nd notice a curious thing a!out this. :ou say in the ordinary way I

!reathe !ecause you feel that !reathing is something that you are doing voluntarily 1ust

in the same way as you might !e wal"ing or tal"ing. 3ut you will also notice that when

you are not thin"ing a!out !reathing your !reathing goes on 1ust the same. The curious


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thing a!out !reath is that it can !e loo"ed at !oth as a voluntary and involuntary action.

:ou can feel on the one hand I am doing it and on the other hand it is happening to me.

That is why !reathing is a most important part of meditation !ecause it is going to show

you as you !ecome aware of your !reath that the hard and fast division we ma"e

!etween what we do on the one hand and what happens to us on the other is ar!itrary. +o

that as you watch your !reathing you will !ecome aware that !oth the voluntary and

involuntary aspects of your e0perience are all one happening. 9

The practice of meditation is not what is ordinarily meant by practice, in the sense of

repetitious preparation for some future performance. It may seem odd and illogical to

say that meditation, in the form of yoga, Dhyana, or Za-zen, as used by Hindus and

Buddhists, is a practice without purpose in some future time because it is the art of

being completely centered in the here and now. !I"m not sleepy, and there is no place I"m

going to.#

$e are li%ing in the culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-

called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-

powerfully causati%e past and an absorbingly important future. $e ha%e no present. &ur

consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and e'pectation. $e do

not realize that there ne%er was, is, and will be any other e'perience than present

e'perience.

$e are therefore out of touch with reality. $e confuse the world as tal(ed about,

described, and measured with the world which actually is. $e are sic( with a fascination

for the useful tools of names and numbers, of symbols, signs, conceptions, and ideas.)editation is therefore the art of suspending %erbal and symbolic thin(ing for a time,

somewhat as a courteous audience will stop tal(ing when a concert is about to begin.

*imply sit down, close your eyes, and listen to all sounds that may be going on without

trying to name or identify them. +isten as you would listen to music. If you find that

%erbal thin(ing will not drop away, don"t attempt to stop it by force of will-power. ust

(eep your tongue rela'ed, floating easily in the lower aw, and listen to your thoughts as

if they were birds chattering outside mere noise in the s(ull and they will e%entually

subside of themsel%es, as a turbulent and muddy pool will become calm and clear if left

alone.

lso, become aware of breathing and allow your lungs to wor( in whate%er rhythm seems

congenial to them. nd for a while ust sit listening and feeling breath. But, if possible,

don"t call it that. *imply e'perience the non-%erbal happening. /ou may obect that this is

not !spiritual# meditation but mere attention to the 0physical0 world, but it should be

understood that the spiritual and the physical are only ideas, philosophical conceptions,

and that the reality of which you are now aware is not an idea. 1urthermore, there is no

!you# aware of it. That was also ust an idea. 2an you hear yourself listening 3

nd then begin to let your breath !fall# out, slowly and easily. Don"t force or strain your

lungs, but let the breath come out in the same way that you let yourself slump into a

comfortable bed. *imply let it go, go, and go. s soon as there is the least strain, ust letit come bac( in as a refle'4 don"t pull it in. 1orget the cloc(. 1orget to count. ust (eep it

up for so long as you feel the lu'ury of it.


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5sing the breath in this way, you disco%er how to generate energy without force. 1or

e'ample, one of the gimmic(s 6in *ans(rit, upaya7 used to 8uiet the thin(ing mind and

its compulsi%e chattering is (nown as mantra the chanting of sounds for the sa(e of

sound rather than meaning. Therefore begin to !float# a single tone on the long, easy

outbreath at whate%er pitch is most comfortable. Hindus and Buddhists use for this

practice such syllables as &), H, H5) 6i.e. H59:7, and 2hristians might prefer );9 or

++;+5I, )uslims ++H, H&&, and ews D&9I< it really ma(es no difference, since

what is important is simply and solely the sound. +i(e Zen Buddhists, you could use ust

the syllable )&&&. Dig that, and let your consciousness sin( down, down, down into the

sound for as long as there is no sense of strain.

bo%e all, don"t loo( for a result, for some mar%ellous change of consciousness or satori<

the whole essence of meditation-practice is centering upon what I* not of what should

or might be.

The point is not to ma(e the mind blan( or to concentrate fiercely upon, say, a single

point of light although that, too, can be delightful without the fierceness

1or how long should this be (ept up 3 )y own, and perhaps unorthodo', feeling is that it

can be continued for as long as there is no sensation of forcing it and this may easily

e'tend to => or ?> minutes at one sitting, whereafter you will want to return to the state

of normal restlessness and distraction.

In sitting for meditation, it is best to use a substantial cushion on the floor, to (eep the

spine erect but not stiff, to ha%e the hands on the lap palms upwards resting easily

upon each other, and to sit cross-legged li(e a Buddha-figure, either in full or half !lotus#

posture, or (neeling and sitting bac( on the heels. !+otus# means placing one or both

feet sole upwards upon the opposite thight. These postures are slightly uncomfortable,

but they ha%e, therefore, the ad%antage of (eeping you awa(e@

In the course of meditation you may possibly ha%e astonishing %isions, amazing ideas,

and fascinating fantasies. /ou may also feel that you are becoming clair%oyant or that

you are able to lea%e your body and tra%el at will. But all that is distraction. +ea%e it

alone and simply watch what happens 9&$. &ne does not meditate in order to ac8uire

e'traordinary powers, for if you managed to become omnipotent and omniscient, what

would you do 3 There would be no further surprises for you, and your whole life would be

li(e ma(ing lo%e to a plastic woman. Beware, then, of all those gurus who promise

!mar%ellous results# and other future benefits from their disciplines. The whole point is

to realize that there is no future, and that the real sense of life is an e'ploration of the

eternal now. *T&A, +&&, and +I*T;9 @ &r shall we say, !Turn on, tune in, and drop in# 3

story is told of a man who came to the Buddha with offerings of flowers in both hands.

The Buddha said, !Drop it@# *o he dropped the flowers in his left hand. The Buddha said

again !Drop it@# He dropped the flowers in his right hand. nd the Buddha said, !Drop

that which you ha%e neither in the right nor in the left, but in the middle@# nd the man

was instantly enlightened.

It is mar%ellous to ha%e the sense that all li%ing and mo%ing is dropping, or going along

with gra%ity. fter all the earth is falling aruond the sun, and, in turn, the sun is falling

around some other star. 1or energy is precisely a ta(ing of the line of least resistance.

;nergy is mass. The power of water is in following its own weight. ll comes to him who

weights.


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9Too many people !elieve that everything must !e pleasura!le in life which ma"es them constantly

search for distractions and short*circuits the learning process. The pain is a "ind of challenge your

mind presents;will you learn how to focus and move past the !oredom or li"e a child will you

succum! to the need for immediate pleasure and distraction'9

"A person who thinks all the time, has nothing to think about except thoughts. So, he

loses touch with reality. And lives in a world of illusions. By thoughts I meanspecically ! chatter in the skull. erpetual and compulsive repetition of words. #f

reckoning and calculating. I$m not saying that thinking is bad. %ike everything else it$s

useful in moderation. A good servant but a bad master.

And all so called civilised peoples have increasingly become cra&y and self!

destructive ! because through excessive thinking they have lost touch with reality.

'ost of us would have, rather money than tangible wealth, and a great occasion is

somehow spoilt for us unless photographed. And to read about it the next day in the

newspaper is oddly, more fun for us than the original event.

(his is a disaster. (o get in touch with reality, there is an art of meditation. #f what iscalled yoga or )ana in India, chan in *hina, and &en in +apan. It is the art of temporarily

silencing the mind. #f stopping the chatter in the skull. #f course you can$t force your

mind to be silent. (hat would be trying to smooth ripples in water with a at iron.

-ater becomes clear and calm when left alone.

What I learned from 10 years of meditation

This is going to !e a long post.

There will !e no long ela!orations.

#ust a lot of short and simple sentences.

4ivided into su!1ects.


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What I got wrong

:ou shouldn,t !uilt a ha!it of doing mediation.

:ou should !uilt a ha!it of !eing in that state.

4on,t !e dependent on anything e0ternal to meditate 7verything from popular !ut false !eliefs

a!out meditation/

4on,t !uild your ego around meditation.

4on,t force it on others.

:our way may not !e the way for someone else.

It,s irrelevant what "ind of mantra you use. +ound visual or !reath.

There is no !est mantra only what wor"s for you.

4on,t try to get in touch with you thoughts !ut with you consciousness as whole.

How I see meditation today

I don,t set time to meditate.

Meditation is not something that I do.

Meditation is a state that am in more than am out of it.

I meditate all the time. 7ven when I am tal"ing to someone.

4e!ugging code is easier in meditation state.

+olving comple0 pro!lems is easier in meditation state.

It,s natural as !reathing.

:ou !reath all the time right'

Therefor am meditating all the time..

$m sharper and calmer.

It,s a state not an action.


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Meditation itself is 1ust a tool.

Tool to focus your Intention.

It,s not the end point !ut a starting point.

>alming your thoughts is the starting point.

What I learned

7go is your intellect trying to rationalize the fear you are not facing

so that you feel !etter a!out yourself.

7go manifests itself as thoughts feelings words actions etc.

%ot all thoughts and feelings are ego !ased.

7go is not the pro!lem.

7go is the symptom of a !igger pro!lem.

7go points the way to the fear.

Fear is the real pro!lem.

Without fear there is no need for ego.

Growth is in the intentionnot in action/.

There is a difference !etween what you do and why you do it.

Good moral decisions are not !ased in action !ut motivation.

=ltimate 2uestion to as" yourself if you want to grow is not what am i doing this !ut why am I

doing it.

Focusing on how you want to !e will greatly help you achieve it.

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Alan Watts How to meditate