
Meditation in the Time of Disruption - prostoalex
https://www.theringer.com/tech/2018/10/25/18010314/meditation-headspace-insight-timer-apps
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bootsz
_A man travels to live at a Buddhist monastery with the hopes of learning to
become enlightened.

Upon arrival he meets the head monk and asks “How long will it take me to
reach enlightenment?”

“Hmm...”, says the monk, “...perhaps 10 years.”

Feeling this was far too long to wait, the man replies: “But, what if I work
twice as hard? Devote myself twice as much to the practice? How long then?”

“20 years,” replies the monk.

“What? I do not understand,” says the man. “If I’m willing to try even harder,
surely that should mean I can attain enlightenment faster?”

To which the monk says, “I think for you it will probably require about 30
years.”_

I heard this story during a talk from the Audio Dharma podcast. I don’t
remember it exactly but this was the general gist of it. Felt relevant here.

~~~
ma2rten
I heard a similar quote recently, I don't know the source:

"I meditate one hour every day, except when I'm busy; then I meditate two
hours."

~~~
kristiandupont
This is the variation that I have heard and enjoy: you should always meditate
20 minute per day. Unless you don't have the time, in which case you should
meditate for an hour.

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X6S1x6Okd1st
I'm not sure what the take away was, but I really enjoyed the article. That
seems appropriate.

I've been doing unguided mediation by myself for short periods (sub 30m) for
years. Never really took much instruction in terms of what type of mediation i
should do.

I think this article is the first thing that really made want to seek out
instruction.

Any personal recommendations for books/other material for someone that's
familiar with the concept of sitting meditation and can get into daily habit
of 10m sessions without a huge amount of trouble?

~~~
grumdan
The Mind Illuminated by John Yates (aka Culadasa) helped me a lot on how to
structure my practice and how to deal with specific issues arising during
meditation. I also find it quite well-written.

~~~
jrowley
I’ll second this recommendation. It makes meditation feel more accessible.

~~~
justinpombrio
Thirded. It reads like a ~500 page technical manual for the mind. I don't know
of any other book that states things as plainly, or in as much detail.

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kranner
I don't know how adequate the 10-minute sessions promised by apps like
Headspace are in the long run. In my experience, a 20-minute session feels a
lot more effective than 2 10-minute sessions, and so on for 40 minutes over 20
minutes, and so on.

I found Headspace and similar apps to be a good introduction to meditation for
the first week or two, but they really are 'meditation lite' compared to
reading some of the classics and sitting in unguided meditation for at least a
30-minute session everyday.

~~~
beatgammit
Do you have any good suggestions for "the classics"? I've read "Siddhartha",
"Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", and I'm just about done with "Mindfulness in
Plain English".

I'm pretty new to the whole idea of meditation, and I'm still a bit skeptical
about it, but I'm willing to go all in for a few weeks to see how it goes.

I feel like reading will help me keep going. I've heard it's good, but I'm
really not sure what the goal is, so perhaps further reading will help me
"stay on the course" or whatever.

~~~
kranner
Other than Culadasa's 'The Mind Illuminated' which others have recommended
here, I can recommend Michael Taft's 'The Mindful Geek'. There's also Chade-
Meng Tan's 'Joy on Demand'.

If you don't actually meditate regularly, much of what even the best
meditation books talk about can sound faffy and repetitive. So please, give
the actual practice at least a month or two before deciding to drop it.

Even 10 minutes a day is OK if you don't skip more than a day or two over
several weeks. Practicing everyday builds aptitude and sensitivity during
concentration meditation a lot better than longer sessions with gaps of a few
days.

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truth_seeker
In my experience at least, I have not found any meditation apps transform or
transcend my situations. All they provide is temporary solace.

No-mind and Dynamic meditation by OSHO proved very impactful in my life. All
it needs is 21 days of sincere effort.

Dynamic - [https://www.osho-meditation-festival.com/english-1/osho-
medi...](https://www.osho-meditation-festival.com/english-1/osho-
meditations/osho-dynamic-meditation/)

No-mind - [http://www.oshomeditations.com/no-mind-
therapy](http://www.oshomeditations.com/no-mind-therapy)

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everdev
A practical benefit I see for meditation is being able to move through
stressful situations faster. I still feel stress but I'm able to notice it
faster and recover faster. The number of stressful situations per day is
probably consistent, but I'm just spending less time recovering and processing
them.

For me, practicing without a guided voice has been really helpful in this
pursuit as it makes it easier to quickly meditate in or after a stressful
moment without having to escape the situation.

~~~
maroonblazer
Same for me.

Someone - I don't remember who - made the analogy that life is like a fast
moving river where you're pulled along by the currents of your thoughts,
feelings & experiences. Meditation enables one to stand on the bank of the
river and observe the current as opposed to being in the river and swept up by
it.

I think a more accurate analogy is that you're always pulled into the river
but meditation helps you get out of the river more quickly, stay on dry land a
bit longer, before eventually being pulled back into the river again.

~~~
scns
Interesting, reminds of Hermann Hesses Siddharta who found enlightenment after
sitting on the bank of a river for some time.

~~~
tshanmu
The path he took to get to the river bank is equally important for him
attaining enlightenment.

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0n0n0m0uz
I Am That: Nisargadatta Maharaj

~~~
curo
Absolutely. I'm happy to see Nisargadatta's name here. For some reason self-
inquiry hasn't taken off in the US like Zen, TM, or Vipassana has.

These are also gems:

* The Truth Is by Papaji

* Be As You Are by Ramana Maharshi

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tychomaz
I did transcendental meditation for 17 years. If you want to open the door to
deceiving spirits in your life, go ahead and meditate.

~~~
subpixel
I'm curious to know more. But I also think it's important not to paint all
meditation with the same brush. Transcendental Meditation® is it's own weird
thing.

~~~
nsomaru
Meditation and yoga have taken the ‘Western’ world by storm. This is because
they are extremely easy to instruct. Close your eyes, breathe evenly, etc.

Those who know (yah pasyati, sah pasyayi - are initiated in scripture and are
able to ‘see’) understand that meditation is the end portion of a spiritual
path, the last stage before enlightenment.

Every single canonical text mentioning meditation mentions how essential it is
to control the mind first, before meditation. Yet most people end up using it
as a way to calm down which is not the intended use. It is unsurprising that
they end up hurting themselves. Most can’t continue the practise long enough
to do that anyways because for a beginner your mind will be jumping within 5
seconds or less.

It doesn’t matter much anyways. Most people are not Really meditating when
they attempt to do so, more just relaxing.

Source: Scholar of important ancient Indian texts.

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steve-benjamins
This is beautifully written.

