Yesterday, talking on the phone with the elder of my two sons, I was informed that he was taking a swing at "meditation." He came to it, he said, by way of reading the bios of various successful men, each of whom included a meditation component to their panorama ... you know, the "mindfulness et al." schtick.
I felt simultaneously surprised and not surprised: Surprised because in all my years of pursuing a spiritual number, I had never run any of it on my kids outside a Sunday trek for a couple of hours of zazen in my robe and in the zendo on Sundays. Unsurprised because, what the hell, everyone (even my own kids) feels the lash of doubt and uncertainty and unsatisfactoriness ... there are no exemptions, even for my kids.
I think my flaw lay in imagining that I was somehow seminal in his choice instead of realizing that it was just life running its usual number, with or without my help.
We chatted a bit about it, I sent him a couple of things I thought might be useful ... and all the time prayed within that my participation would not screw whatever pooch he had chosen to adopt. On the one hand, I was the dad and seemed to want some sort of linked validation. On the other, life is far more interesting than I find myself.
For all that cud-munching ... how about them apples?!
I felt simultaneously surprised and not surprised: Surprised because in all my years of pursuing a spiritual number, I had never run any of it on my kids outside a Sunday trek for a couple of hours of zazen in my robe and in the zendo on Sundays. Unsurprised because, what the hell, everyone (even my own kids) feels the lash of doubt and uncertainty and unsatisfactoriness ... there are no exemptions, even for my kids.
I think my flaw lay in imagining that I was somehow seminal in his choice instead of realizing that it was just life running its usual number, with or without my help.
We chatted a bit about it, I sent him a couple of things I thought might be useful ... and all the time prayed within that my participation would not screw whatever pooch he had chosen to adopt. On the one hand, I was the dad and seemed to want some sort of linked validation. On the other, life is far more interesting than I find myself.
For all that cud-munching ... how about them apples?!
Most likely you're just out of the Yoga Practice / Meditation loop. I sense a generational difference in interest.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that today's meditators are not Bodhidharma Zen Flesh / Zen Bones caliber. But they aren't fantasizing that they are either. Old school Western Zen students would likely view the current interest in "meditation" as Bompu Zen, a meditation practiced with the belief that it can improve both physical and mental health. As good a place as any to start, I suppose.
I fear what is being called "meditation" is, for the most part, "10 minutes to day dream." But it could just be me.