It’s always interesting how destructive expectations can be
Particularly in the event that reality fails to meet them
That’s the secret
Have low to no expectations
And if reality happens and you feel demoralised by it
Then it’s a sure sign there are expectations present
It’s better to take each step as it comes
And not get ahead of oneself
But you can use your suffering
To identify
Where your expectations lie
Lower your bar to zero
And instead approach life with a curious and open mind
Free from any hopes or expectations
Creativity requires presence
Nowness
Flow
Not outcome-seeking
Not getting ahead of oneself
Stay in the pocket of the Now
What’s unfolding now
What’s immediate
There’s a fine line
Walking the sharp-edged blade of now and next
If you try to jump steps ahead
And lose your living connection to the emergent
Then you’ll suffer
Keep it real
Keep it present
Keep it now
It’s like the secret to life and living
It’s about being the needle on the record
You need to stay with that single present-moment point of emergence
Keep your attention here
And if you try to attend to somewhere further along
Or on what’s already past
You lose touch with the power of the present
With What-Actually-Is
Bring your attention to bear on the living moment
The fullness of it
The breadth of it
The richness of it
The sufficiency of it
The joy of it
Stay with the song that’s playing
Don’t go trying to play another song
From the past or the future
While this one’s playing
That only creates discord and confusion
Dance to the music that’s playing
I’m reminded of Nietzsche’s quote:
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
Is it because people are so caught up in their own projections
That they’re oblivious to the living music all around?
Life is music
It’s orchestral
It’s symphonic
Tune in, turn on…
If the spiritual ‘destination’ is the present moment
Minus one’s limiting beliefs
Then where is this path I hear talk of?
And there’s not even the need for a shortcut
If you’re already there
It’s just a recognition
A realisation
Of what’s already the case
Question:
Do you need to meditate after awakening?
There are many aspects to this question
Let’s see how we go…
The first thing to recognise is that after true awakening there’s no-one left to meditate and there’s nothing to attain. So meditation as an instrumental action performed by a person to achieve a particular goal no longer applies.
We could say that a key function of meditation for a seeker/practitioner is to (re)familiarise themselves to their own ground of being, the boundless field of awareness. And for the seeker the experience is typically that of ‘in and out’; alternating resting as awareness, lets say, and normal waking consciousness where awareness of awareness isn’t recognised as ubiquitous.
So from a seeker’s perspective meditation is about alternating between two apparent ‘states’ of consciousness – transcendental consciousness and the waking state.
However after awakening, and indeed by definition, the transcendental state of pure consciousness is realised to be ever-present, ubiquitous. It’s experienced throughout all other nominal states like waking, dreaming, deep sleep. So in that condition, to what end is meditation?
So that’s one aspect.
Another aspect though is that after awakening or enlightenment even though there’s no person, no agent who performs activity, activity as such continues as a function of universal consciousness. And just as sleep and waking, etc. are functions of the organism so too is the spontaneous withdrawal of attention from the mind and senses into the silent unmanifest mode of being – samadhi.
This is extremely restful for the organism and very healing. And this kind of spontaneous ‘meditation’ or swooning can happen quite naturally after abiding awakening.
The fact is that post-awakening most of the physiological functions and activities continue on as before. The main difference is that the embodied misapprehension of the existence of a personal agent is absent. Instead nondoership is realised and all activity is recognised as the spontaneous functioning of consciousness-being itself.
So in short, yes, meditation can still happen after enlightenment, but there’s no-one doing it.
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