Spontaneous Meditation

We live in a world that is self-centric. Human propensity (and culturally condoned narcissistic tendencies) dictate the belief in individuality, promoting that each of us is the center of the universe. So, we have "my life.... my community.... my meditation practice", and so on.

Lately, I have had the sublime experience of frequent spontaneous meditations; a 'sitting' period in the middle of somewhere (not my usual morning cushion), at a time of day when I'm not used to partaking in this activity.  What has surfaced over these unusual (for me) occurrences, is the realization I take false ownership of this thing I call meditation, and how usually there is a lack of mutuality with the energies around me, the divine, the relationship with Other-- that which is unseen and largely unknown.

Meditation in the past has in good part been 'work', self-discipline, occasionally agonizing.  Someone in me often labels meditations as:  a "good" sitting, a "difficult" sitting and everything in-between.  Rarely, is this naming habit self-questioned, this attitude that marks my internal experiences noted.  So, to have these spontaneous occurrences of connection to more of myself and to that which is around me and the enjoyment of the movement of the accompanying energies inside and outside of me is surprising.  It's not work, it's not self-disciplined and it's definitely not agonizing.  It brings to me the question, what in me sits:  wants to sit, needs to sit?  This is a feeling, a sensation not a thought.  Is the value of it usually a mental exercise of what I think is good for me (and maybe the world outside of me)?  This experience of a spontaneous meditation, feels organic, natural, unforced, not premeditated (no pun intended).  It also has a quality of connection that isn't self-centric.  It's not for me, about me, nor is it mine.  It's an engagement of another order.

This is not to judge the decades of the other qualitative types of sittings I've known.  It's probable that one type of connecting to oneself builds on the other efforts made which prepares the ground for yet other types of self-relatedness to be in existence.  So all is good; no effort goes unwasted, as it is said.

Which brings me back to the notion of being and acting from value not obligation, discipline and duty.  The quality of the experience is enhanced with the former.  An opening transpires, curiosity and  interest carry me with a buoyancy.  One's sense of aliveness is palpable,  When I value and feel the worth of the Stop, the breath, the stillness, the what Is, my connection is very different.  I become relatable, the attention is softly acute.  It's a state somewhat removed from the ordinary, unattached to my usual human struggle.

Obligation, duty, discipline-- there is a place for them, in meditation and elsewhere.  As I am finding with many practices, even diet awareness and exercise, when I approach them with excitement and curiosity or engage out of enjoyment instead of duty something else happens besides the accomplishment of a healthy meal, an exercise routine done or a morning meditation completed.  An experience, often transcendent, occurs.  I have more Life.  I have an experience which is more connected to myself and more related to the subtle energies that surround me.

The Collective: Group Energy

"No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.  John Donne, Meditation XVII

Whereas, we ultimately are responsible for our own "arising", the conundrum is, it is impossible to do so without the help of others.  Almost everything is impossible without help of one sort or another from at least another being (or environment).  Although we have these amazing, efficient organisms that are designed to regenerate and renew, there is something so incredibly potent about what happens en masse, with the energetic influence of the Collective.

Gandhi would not be Gandhi the icon without his thousand-fold of followers walking diligently behind him across the many miles of Indian salt lands in their non-violent tax protest.  Martin Luther King's power was made serious by the tens of thousands of people traveling long distances to march with him, validating and supporting the cause of civil rights. Mother Teresa's strength was not only in her solidly persistent quest to provide care for the marginalized, but in the waves of others that organized in tiers to mark her vision of inalienable healthcare rights for all.  Nobel prize winners deserve the accolades they receive, but their important work is only possible with the myriad of often invisible others that perform, enhance and actualize it, and those that went before them (dead and alive) and their findings.  All of these famous figures are notable and will go down in history.  But their greatness was completely dependent on others, and in all the before mentioned cases, sometimes tens of thousands of others.

And so it is with our own individual efforts.  In the case of meditation, the energy of consciousness or that of a universal influence is minute when done singularly.  The possibilities exponentially increase when done with others.  The Collective. Would the impact be so deep if only one (instead of a dozen) black-clad Israeli grandmothers showed up at the Palestinian border to witness the behavior of the soldiers at the border-crossing? No.  The presence of many female elders standing still in silent observation is a powerful statement, a powerful prayer for peace and justice.

What energetically transpires when there are numbers of others present making similar efforts, aligned in self, together? Vibration increases, which significantly boosts and conjoins the collected energy made by the shared vibration.  This can be seen and felt in large orchestra/symphony efforts versus  (even imminent) solo artists.  This can be experienced listening to a lone ranter taking his turn on a soap box in Temple Square, Dublin versus a political speech on a fully occupied Washington Mall in DC.  The vibration is entirely of a different magnitude. And that simply is due to the numbers.  The number of resonating, vibrating body energies in close proximity that interface, join and rejoin.  The Collective. There is power in numbers. Rioters know this.  Church/temple-goers know this.  Occupy Wall Streeters know this. Flash mobs know this.  Do we who sit day after day on our meditation cushions in our quiet places know this?

We need each other.  Whatever it is that we most desire and need is not possible without the aid and support of others.  The Collective provides help in  many guises.  It might be a forest of trees in a Massachusetts wood that supports an awakening,  nature's group energy needed for the inspiration for Henry David Thoreau to write Walden (as well as Emerson's generous gift to Thoreau of a cabin in same wood which helped create the conditions). Or a time spent on a long crowded bus ride for someone with a lot on their mind to provide a clarification.  The need for mutuality and an interfacing of (sometimes silent) energies cannot be denied.  It is our human legacy to each other.

"The eye cannot say no to the hand, 'I have no need of you!'
And the hand cannot say to the feet, 'I have no need of you!'
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; 
if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."  Saint Paul, I Corinthians