Before You Try to Meditate
Anyone who has taught any form of meditation, t’ai chi ch’uan or one of the many other spiritual paths knows that this is absolutely true:
“All too often the mistaken belief that enough sincere practice of prayer or meditation is all that is needed to transform their lives has prevented teachers and students from making use of the helpful teachings of Western psychology. In an unfortunate way, many students of Eastern and Western spirituality have been led to believe that if they experience difficulties, it is simply because they haven’t practiced long enough or somehow have not been practicing according to the teachings. . . .
In truth, the need to deal with our personal emotional problems is the rule in spiritual practice rather than the exception. At least half of the students at our annual three-month retreat find themselves unable to do traditional Insight Meditation because they encounter so much unresolved grief, fear, and wounding and unfinished developmental business from the past that this becomes their meditation.”
–Jack Kornfield (American Meditation Teacher in the Theravadan Buddhist Tradition, 1945-)
Barriers to Spiritual Practice
Anyone who has taught any type of meditative discipline – including yoga and t’ai chi has quickly discovered that the biggest barriers to making progress have nothing at all to do with the practice itself, but comes instead from all the unresolved issues that people bring with them. They may be physical, psychological, social and/or energetic. That is one of the reasons why it is so important to work with guides and teachers who can help to address the “whole of you.”
Much as I value CDs and DVDs that can teach you the basics of different techniques – particularly for folk who cannot go to a class or workshop – there is often a limit to how far you can go without a competent guide.
Here a teacher whom I respect highly has a few words to say about one aspect of the challenge that we all face:
“All too often the mistaken belief that enough sincere practice of prayer or meditation is all that is needed to transform their lives has prevented teachers and students from making use of the helpful teachings of Western psychology.
In an unfortunate way, many students of Eastern and Western spirituality have been led to believe that if they experience difficulties, it is simply because they haven’t practiced long enough or somehow have not been practicing according to the teachings. . . .
In truth, the need to deal with our personal emotional problems is the rule in spiritual practice rather than the exception.
At least half of the students at our annual three-month retreat find themselves unable to do traditional Insight Meditation because they encounter so much unresolved grief, fear, and wounding and unfinished developmental business from the past that this becomes their meditation.”
–Jack Kornfield (American Meditation Teacher in the Theravadan Buddhist Tradition, 1945-)
What Do Value Most Deeply?
“Where do we put our time, our strength, our creativity, our love? We must look at our life without sentimentality, exaggeration, or idealism. Does what we are choosing reflect what we most deeply value?”
–Jack Kornfield (American Meditation Teacher in the Theravadan Buddhist Tradition, 1945-)
Losing Connection
“When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world we lose connection with one another and ourselves.”
–Jack Kornfield (American Meditation Teacher in the Theravadan Buddhist Tradition, 1945-)
