I’m reading a book called “How to Want What You Have” by Timothy Miller and it’s got the best rationale for meditation that I’ve ever come across. He calls it Soto-Zen style meditation. It’s most visible difference is that it’s practiced by facing a blank wall, eyes open.
The basic premise of any meditation is “self-realization,” a term I’ve always found to be more than a little strange. Miller’s premise is that self-realization is a unique human goal, unlike any other because it means that you understand in your bones that your desires are not important, that they’re actually the source of suffering. Meditation is a continual process of challenging this. (“Abandon the idea that meditation is the spiritual equivalent of jogging or push-ups.”) It’s quieting the mind, then a distracting thought comes along that reflects a desire for More, then you realize “Oh, that’s not imporant” and go back to just breathing and thinking of nothing, until another distracting thought comes along and you notice it and renounce it, and so on. It complements Compassion, Attention, and Gratitude, his three principles for “wanting what you have,” i.e., for living a satisfying life.
I did this type of meditation this morning for about 10 minutes. I liked it a lot better but it’s too soon to tell. I like this guy. He’s got a plain style and he includes plenty of excerpts from his journal that reveal his own struggles. I searched around the web for him but other than a companion workbook published in 1998, I couldn’t find anything. The email list cited in the back of the book is dead, and the phone number disconnected. Dang.