Abusing Meditation?

It can be so very sad to see folks abusing meditation. What are some of the ways folks could abuse meditation? Some abuse meditation to separate from their thoughts. Some abuse meditation to separate from their emotions. Some abuse meditation to separate from their body. Some abuse meditation to separate from their circumstances and the people in them.

Come on now, could that be so very bad? Yes, yes it could. The great sufferings in our life come NOT from the mere presence of minor circumstantial, social, physical, mental or emotional unpleasantness. The great sufferings in our life come from our subtle, automatic and habitual Grasping at that circumstantial, interpersonal, physical, intellectual and emotional unpleasantness.

How? What are some of the ways we could Grasp at those unpleasantness? We Grasp at them by striving to Push them away. Sometimes we strive to push unpleasantness away with violence, dramatics, by abusing illicit substances, by abusing harmless substances or even by abusing meditation.

The goal of meditation is NOT to stop our: thoughts, emotions, bodies, circumstances or the people in them; as if we were striving to find the “pause” button on some great, cosmic, VCR. Because if we do, if we succeed in pausing our thoughts, and emotions, if we succeed in pausing our bodies and their sensations, if we succeed in pausing our circumstances and the folks who populate them then we’re not healing anything. And we’re not modifying anything.

I’d rather see a bear on T.V., then look over my shoulder and see one chasing me as I run, for my life, through the forest. But if we were being chased by a bear through the forest our fear could grow with each step. So could our stupidity. Our desire for the bear to stop chasing us could de-evolve into the defeated hope that the bear would just stop chasing us for even a few moments. But even if that pathetic and defeated wish came true it wouldn’t solve anything. The Chase would resume and so would our problem.

Even if we get good at abusing meditation to “pause” the sufferings of our mind, emotions, body, circumstances and their denizens; it will NOT make those sufferings go away. It could only serve to postpone our inevitable mauling.

I don’t want to be mauled, how about you? I don’t want the bear to get me, how about you? I don’t want the bear or the mind, or the emotions, or the body, or the circumstances or it’s denizens to get me. So how could meditation be used to prevent this?

The proper application of mediation, and it’s sister contemplation, is not to pause sufferings, but to tame suffering’s tyranny and harness their energy so we could progress even further upon Buddha’s path of: love, peace, insight and happiness.

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