If you’re wondering how to meditate, consider this. You’ve heard the expression “lost in thought.” How often does that describe your experience? You can realize you’re not lost when you reclaim the simple role of observer.
Unencumbered By Rational Thought
Often, every thought that arises in consciousness can seem so enthralling that you feel you must follow it. There is another way. Your natural insight and presence, as Click and Clack like to say is “unencumbered by rational thought.”
Clearly, rational thought has its uses and value, yet surprisingly, it can also be an encumbrance. Here’s why. Just as classical Newtonian physics accurately described the world for centuries, when more sophisticated instrumentation appeared, a deeper level of reality was discovered.
The limitation of rational thought says Alan Watts, is that we are always reasoning from the known to the known. Rational thought is a construct. When we read or say the word “red” we understand we are representing the color. As Shakespeare remarked, a rose by any name smells as sweet. So we need to dissociate language and reality to perceive and experience directly.
The Direct Experience
The direct wordless experience of an idea or problem reveals vistas heretofore unknown. Continue reading