Meditation Amsterdam - The Power of Now Entry 1 - Words as Stepping Stones
Hi everyone and welcome to Meditation Amsterdam's first blog entry in nearly 9 months.
The creation of this blog post is a lesson in and of itself if we consider why I took so darn long to do it. The reason: perfectionism and trying to climb too big a mountain in a single go AND trying to climb it the way everyone else does.
I thought to myself: I will read the Power of Now from start to finish instead of listening to the Audio Book. Underline it all, bring out the key points and write about them. But there was so much to say even about the first few pages that I never got further, daunted by the task.
So I don't know how original an idea this is, but what I'll do instead (and which I ironically believe will be better for both myself and the reader) is to comment on the book as I go about reading it.
What a great way to assimilate it further and to bring you blog content all at once. The best part is, I'm eating that big elephant one bite at a time and preventing the size of the task from paralyzing me. As such this becomes more a commentary than a book review, but let's not get caught up in that.
Yet another great benefit of meditation that I love. The reduction of fear and ability to look at alternative ways of doing things, instead of the old linear route.
So now, without further ado, here goes the first few key phrases of the book, which ironically go straight into the heart of the matter and the reason this book is such a foundational piece of literature.
In his introduction Eckart mentions one small piece of advice that is easy to ignore by someone who becomes enthusiastic about a given system or doctrine:
As you will see later down the line, it turns out that lack of attachment doesn't only apply to words but extends to pretty much everything.
But if we evaluate this one for starters, it comes very close to the old Zen adage which tells us that the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.
How many of us get caught idolizing the finger to the point that we totally miss the moon? And what is a real life, less abstract version of this? I would say that organized religion is to me a prime example. There have been many sages, saints, holy men and perhaps even Messiahs that have walked the earth, bringing a message of love, enlightenment and wholeness (holiness).
What has been the reaction of the masses: to venerate the holy man, and parrot his words literally, missing the entire point. They get hung up on the exact words and even start wars around the comas in between them. They sanctify the sage and the way towards which he/she points becomes truly lost.
It's not a small irony how all these sages in one way or another have come to preach non-attachment and have ended up creating cults of followers who are nothing if not attached.
So Eckart has seen this through history and thus begins his book with the huge caveat of "please don't take me literally". The Messiahs, their words, their methods are only meant to show you the way, they are NOT the destination. The moment you turn them into the latter you have replaced your big worldly attachments, fears and obsessions with more esoteric ones and remain equally unenlightened and unfulfilled.
His advice doesn't just stop at the non-attachment. It also asks that we shed the words as quickly as possible. When was the last time you heard a politician, manager or religious leader saying: don't get hung up on my words, try to understand the message they convey and move on as fast as you can?
This brings us to another problem that I see in organized religion and much every other system which provides a strong scaffolding: it gives a solid structure under which you can build and grow, but once the construction is in place, the scaffold must be let go of for beauty and progress to continue.
If we follow this thinking to its ultimate logical conclusion we arrive at a very profound though rather obviuos conclusion, which is that in the end, every paradigm will be proven to be wrong.
Why? Very simple. Paradigms/ideas/concepts, are maps. They are simplifications of a reality that will forever be too complex and ultimately unintelligible for mankind. The ultimate fabric of reality is impossible to understand, and language is an utterly limited tool. And so a map is never the territory, thus by definition incorrect or at least incomplete. This is why you don't get obsessed about them or attribute them with a sense of self.
The Tao te Jing starts with this point: The Dao that can be mentioned (put into words) is not the eternal Dao. The moment you conceptualize something in your head, it's already different than the real thing and thus "not the truth". So, there you have it. One single line from the Power of Now, and we're already in extremely deep territory. This will probably be a long and drawn out book commentary. I wouldn't know how else to go about it!
Personally, I find much more trust in a teacher or writer that exposes ideas and instead of saying "take my word for it, I'm the expert", says: "don't take my word for it, go and try it out for yourself and become your own guru in the process". Real sages don't want to be revered or needed. What they do, they do out of love and not out of need for a following. They want to be surrounded by high level equals.
As to Meditation Amsterdam and why this is relevant to us, it's simple. The act of meditation is in one big way the act of detachment from thought. We therefore begin to observe our ideas, feelings and memories without holding onto them as if they were reality. Some of the great meditation benefits stem from the ability it gives us to observe a situation and observe our thoughts about it (the words) without "getting attached to the words".
That is to say, it's not the words that are the problem in all this, but the attachment that we create to them and to anything else in our mind. Meditation is an incredibly powerful tool to break that spell of attachment and in doing so creating space for healthier interpretations and actions.
The path of meditation is long, takes work and also depends on something that is implied here: the need for a responsible self-parenting attitude. Full ownership, full accountability for one's actions and one's ideas. There's no room for babyish "Because Eckart said so" responses.
This is therefore an invitation to grow the hell up. As such is not a system that many are ready to adopt, especially those who still want to be called part of a "flock". No room for sheep in the path to self-realization, you're on your own and you find your guides where you can, but you do not attach to them or their words.
Namaste
Pablo Bran
meditationamsterdam.com
The creation of this blog post is a lesson in and of itself if we consider why I took so darn long to do it. The reason: perfectionism and trying to climb too big a mountain in a single go AND trying to climb it the way everyone else does.
I thought to myself: I will read the Power of Now from start to finish instead of listening to the Audio Book. Underline it all, bring out the key points and write about them. But there was so much to say even about the first few pages that I never got further, daunted by the task.
So I don't know how original an idea this is, but what I'll do instead (and which I ironically believe will be better for both myself and the reader) is to comment on the book as I go about reading it.
What a great way to assimilate it further and to bring you blog content all at once. The best part is, I'm eating that big elephant one bite at a time and preventing the size of the task from paralyzing me. As such this becomes more a commentary than a book review, but let's not get caught up in that.
Yet another great benefit of meditation that I love. The reduction of fear and ability to look at alternative ways of doing things, instead of the old linear route.
So now, without further ado, here goes the first few key phrases of the book, which ironically go straight into the heart of the matter and the reason this book is such a foundational piece of literature.
In his introduction Eckart mentions one small piece of advice that is easy to ignore by someone who becomes enthusiastic about a given system or doctrine:
"Don't get attached to any words. They are only stepping stones, to be left behind as quickly as possible".
But if we evaluate this one for starters, it comes very close to the old Zen adage which tells us that the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.
How many of us get caught idolizing the finger to the point that we totally miss the moon? And what is a real life, less abstract version of this? I would say that organized religion is to me a prime example. There have been many sages, saints, holy men and perhaps even Messiahs that have walked the earth, bringing a message of love, enlightenment and wholeness (holiness).
 |
| Bruce Lee was a Daoist who preached this concept |
What has been the reaction of the masses: to venerate the holy man, and parrot his words literally, missing the entire point. They get hung up on the exact words and even start wars around the comas in between them. They sanctify the sage and the way towards which he/she points becomes truly lost.
It's not a small irony how all these sages in one way or another have come to preach non-attachment and have ended up creating cults of followers who are nothing if not attached.
So Eckart has seen this through history and thus begins his book with the huge caveat of "please don't take me literally". The Messiahs, their words, their methods are only meant to show you the way, they are NOT the destination. The moment you turn them into the latter you have replaced your big worldly attachments, fears and obsessions with more esoteric ones and remain equally unenlightened and unfulfilled.
His advice doesn't just stop at the non-attachment. It also asks that we shed the words as quickly as possible. When was the last time you heard a politician, manager or religious leader saying: don't get hung up on my words, try to understand the message they convey and move on as fast as you can?
This brings us to another problem that I see in organized religion and much every other system which provides a strong scaffolding: it gives a solid structure under which you can build and grow, but once the construction is in place, the scaffold must be let go of for beauty and progress to continue.
 |
| A rather famous spiritual scaffold |
If we follow this thinking to its ultimate logical conclusion we arrive at a very profound though rather obviuos conclusion, which is that in the end, every paradigm will be proven to be wrong.
Why? Very simple. Paradigms/ideas/concepts, are maps. They are simplifications of a reality that will forever be too complex and ultimately unintelligible for mankind. The ultimate fabric of reality is impossible to understand, and language is an utterly limited tool. And so a map is never the territory, thus by definition incorrect or at least incomplete. This is why you don't get obsessed about them or attribute them with a sense of self.
The Tao te Jing starts with this point: The Dao that can be mentioned (put into words) is not the eternal Dao. The moment you conceptualize something in your head, it's already different than the real thing and thus "not the truth". So, there you have it. One single line from the Power of Now, and we're already in extremely deep territory. This will probably be a long and drawn out book commentary. I wouldn't know how else to go about it!
Personally, I find much more trust in a teacher or writer that exposes ideas and instead of saying "take my word for it, I'm the expert", says: "don't take my word for it, go and try it out for yourself and become your own guru in the process". Real sages don't want to be revered or needed. What they do, they do out of love and not out of need for a following. They want to be surrounded by high level equals.
That is to say, it's not the words that are the problem in all this, but the attachment that we create to them and to anything else in our mind. Meditation is an incredibly powerful tool to break that spell of attachment and in doing so creating space for healthier interpretations and actions.
 |
| Meditation and Attachment |
The path of meditation is long, takes work and also depends on something that is implied here: the need for a responsible self-parenting attitude. Full ownership, full accountability for one's actions and one's ideas. There's no room for babyish "Because Eckart said so" responses.
This is therefore an invitation to grow the hell up. As such is not a system that many are ready to adopt, especially those who still want to be called part of a "flock". No room for sheep in the path to self-realization, you're on your own and you find your guides where you can, but you do not attach to them or their words.
Namaste
Pablo Bran
meditationamsterdam.com
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