Thank you for this very thoughtful, well-written article. I need to do a better job of consistency in the practice of this mindful meditation. I think of it more as tuning into (listening) to the one infinite creative divine Mind, creator of the universe, ever present and omnipotent, which we call God. This tuning into and listening for direction to this powerful, spiritual source certainly stops, at least for the moments of tuning in, the chatter of our many sub-minds which can get us in heaps of trouble and discomfort, but not everyone is comfortable with the one-Mind, God concept, so what you write about is another approach that may be more acceptable to others. I certainly acknowledge that the human mind, left to its own devices, absolutely dissolves into multi-minded chatter and bicker at the blink of an eye, often to the great dismay of its owner, which is not a happy way to exist. And one might call it a "spiritual discipline" to then firmly decide sit one's self down, meditate on one's breath, but then turning to a higher power in those minutes would certainly be a huge step forward in the right direction because you would then be tuning into a power so much higher than the human mind can even comprehend, far beyond our mortal reach.
Meditation has a lot of benefits but I would try to drop the thought that "I need to...." It's important not to turn it into an obligation of some sort. I would also add, that while I love mindfulness meditation - that is more of the vipassana type. Unification of the mind is traditionally better achieved with samatha - single pointed concentration meditation. Though meditation is mysterious and there are many paths so I can't rule out achieving unification with mindful techniques.
Thank you for this very thoughtful, well-written article. I need to do a better job of consistency in the practice of this mindful meditation. I think of it more as tuning into (listening) to the one infinite creative divine Mind, creator of the universe, ever present and omnipotent, which we call God. This tuning into and listening for direction to this powerful, spiritual source certainly stops, at least for the moments of tuning in, the chatter of our many sub-minds which can get us in heaps of trouble and discomfort, but not everyone is comfortable with the one-Mind, God concept, so what you write about is another approach that may be more acceptable to others. I certainly acknowledge that the human mind, left to its own devices, absolutely dissolves into multi-minded chatter and bicker at the blink of an eye, often to the great dismay of its owner, which is not a happy way to exist. And one might call it a "spiritual discipline" to then firmly decide sit one's self down, meditate on one's breath, but then turning to a higher power in those minutes would certainly be a huge step forward in the right direction because you would then be tuning into a power so much higher than the human mind can even comprehend, far beyond our mortal reach.
Meditation has a lot of benefits but I would try to drop the thought that "I need to...." It's important not to turn it into an obligation of some sort. I would also add, that while I love mindfulness meditation - that is more of the vipassana type. Unification of the mind is traditionally better achieved with samatha - single pointed concentration meditation. Though meditation is mysterious and there are many paths so I can't rule out achieving unification with mindful techniques.