I just got done meditating. I’ve had a fairly consistent meditation practice for the past 4 years or so and I’ve written about my experience at length in previous posts. Meditation is nothing if not infinitely challenging. Today was no exception.
People use different methods for their meditation. Some just focus on their breath. For me, I’ve been consistently using the same mantra, or symbolic phrase, to help guide me. I’ve found that using this consistent mantra, one that has a deep meaning for me, has been a great help. I’m able to get focused more quickly and easily.
At the same time, I’ve often wondered why it would even be necessary to use any mantra at all. This was the topic of my mind’s endless chatter today. After all, if the goal of meditation (if you could even say there is one) is ultimately just to”be,” completely aware to the present moment, than concentration on a mantra or one’s breath seems like the opposite of this goal
I had a realization during my mediation experience today. I flashed back to high school, and then to our cafeteria (yes, I was hungry before I started) where we used to get milk served to us in bags.
These bags were pretty much indestructible. You could sit on them, put your chair on them, throw them….but they wouldn’t bust. Occasionally someone would manage to get one to explode (who knows how….) but that took some serious effort.
Despite the resilience, you could easily puncture it with the sharp end of a small straw and suck the thing dry. There is my answer!
The purpose of an object of concentration (provided through a mantra, breath, etc.) is just to serve as a tool (and a necessary one at that) to help you pierce through your mind’s endless chatter so you can arrive at your ultimate goal (absolute present moment awareness, happiness, whatever you get out of meditation). Without this tool, you’d just keep pressing up against massive resistance.
OK, now that I’ve learned something for the day, I can go eat 
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Metaphors like this one are so much fun! Thanks for it!