From: farris@ruhets.rutgers.edu (Lorenzo Farris)
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental
Subject: Re: How do I meditate?
Date: 8 Nov 92 19:30:12 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <np+qxa5#@aix01.rz.fht-mannheim.de>, mw%ki.fht-mannheim.de (Marc Wachowitz) writes:
:You don't need to make "having no goal" a goal, that's just what many people
:do (have you ever _tried_ to be spontaneous?)
:
:: To give a more concrete recommendation on getting into meditation:
:You may not believe it, but what I "proposed" is very practical.

I certainly disagree here. Correct me if I am wrong, but you seem to
be of the line of thinking wherein we are all already enlightened.
Maybe you are aware of your enlightenment. I'm not aware of mine.
The original post asked how to get into meditation. Not how to just
be, etc., etc. 
:
:: The basic idea is to develop focus.
:No agreement between us here. Focus, concentration, means excluding something
:from your awareness. It can work after a long time, but it has risks and needs
:much more effort than necessary. Maybe you need the feeling of having done
:something for it, though :-)

I feel your recommendations, for the beginner, are so vague and
obvious at the same time as to be useless. The practice needs to be
geared toward the person. With the hope that there will develop the
flexibility to change. 
For example, you can't tell the victim of an uptight Christian upbring
to just hang loose and let it flow. You need to give them something
structured to begin with, and as they learn something from that, move
on to the next thing before they cling to that bit of structure. 
You don't just put a guitar in the hand of someone that has played
before, and expect them to be unselfconscious enough to just start
playing whatever comes to their fingers. It might happen, but it is
very rare. 

I think the question that comes up here is: why do you do whatever it
is you do? Why does the original poster ask how to meditate? Why does
he want to meditate? 
I was drawn to meditation because it just felt right. I continue to do
it because, in conjunction with the associated practices, it makes my
life happier and cleaner and clearer and tighter everyday. And with
the imposition of certain 'restrictions' on my behavior and my
thoughts, I feel far freer than when I just did "whatever".

:
:: In both these cases, it is recommended that you find some sitting
:: position in which your back is straight.
:Sitting is not strictly important, but a straight back and the ability to
:relax (not sleep) is ceartainly beneficial.

I get tired of standing, and I fall asleep laying down. That about
covers the range of positions available. Although I can't say I ever
tried meditating in gravity boots. ;)

:
:: It will indeed become an end in itself.
:But it can as well become a drug and a cage for yourself. Be careful.

Anything you take too seriously becomes this. Even 'spontaneity'.

:
:: If you get too hung up in talking about it, you miss the point.
:Yes.
:
-- 
"Once upon a time men were possessed    ******************************
by devils. Now they are not less        *  Lorenzo Farris            *
obsessed by ideas" -CG Jung             *  farris@ruhets.rutgers.edu *
					******************************