The Fundamentals of Meditation

"The reason why you suffer
is because you unconsciously
avoid this moment.

You are unconsciously
but constantly resisting
this moment;
separating yourself from
this moment.

So the path of awareness in meditation
is to get you back to this moment.

And the first part of meditation
is to sit still.

Because the most
physical way you avoid this
moment is by being restless
in the body.

It does not mean
that you cannot be present
while moving.

But for this meditation,
the first part is to sit still
and allow that resistance
to sitting still
be burned away
in awareness.

The second and
main way you avoid
this moment
is through identifying
with your thinking.

You are sitting still
yet you are thinking
about what you have
to do tomorrow.

The thought itself
does not take you out of this moment,
but your identifying with the thought
does.

The thought arises
"I have to go to work tomorrow"
and you are the "I" in that sentence.

And like you are in a dream,
you are lost in the imagination
of tomorrow.

You have successfully
escaped this moment.

This is identification.

Even thinking about
being present
keeps you from being present.

So then the second part
is to learn to either
witness your thinking,

let go of your thinking,

inquire into what is here
beyond thinking,

rest your attention on the bliss
that is here beyond thinking

or to even focus thought
by repeating a mantra.

Any of these methods
are to help keep you present
or at least give you a taste
of the present moment.

But the truth of it is that
you cannot be present.

The "you" who you think you are,
is that which is separate
from the present moment.
It is the very resistance
to the present moment.

So another way to look at it
is that you relinquish the idea of yourself
to realize the present moment,
to realize your are the present moment

and in this
you are free from suffering.

For however long
you can remain
free from thought identification
resting in your natural state
of pure awareness
there is peace.

And every time
you drop into pure awareness
this peace expands
and floods into
all aspects of your life.

Blessings,

Kip"