Beyond a technique, meditation is an art of living. What does it mean to
live without conflict? First observe that we live more or less constantly
in a state of defense, of internal contracture. This habit is deeply rooted
in psychosomatic structure. We can observe that the forehead is contracted
as soon as some worrisome thoughts arise, that shoulders rise with the
rhythm of mental activity, that the abdomen does not breathe freely, that
the muscles of the arms have difficulties releasing their habit of grasping
and seizing.
Starting from this objective fact (the body does not lie), we continue our exploration to the level of listening and observation. To listen simply to what is, without qualifying, is a forgotten function. To look without naming or comparing, to feel the body without refusing or accepting are unusual attitudes. There is therefore a constant interference of the intellect in some functions as natural as breathing, feeling, listening and observation.
Our functioning is thus disturbed by the desire to escape suffering, to perpetuate agreeable moments or to grasp happiness.
Because happiness is perceived as something external, it is looked for in situations, beings and objects.
A more attentive investigation shows us that situations only catalyze something that is already in us. How could we look for joy or quietness if they were not already here?
Meditation is this conscious returning to this primordial quality of being that is the even source of harmony and plenitude. It concerns an up-stream ascent, as a boat that would sail against the current of a river. What we are seeking is already present The intuition of this will be used as a guide. The look searches in the world of forms, then returns to the world without form. It perceives there what it seeks. The quest ends. The body relaxes and the mind is resorbed in the silence.
Most of our actions have psychological motives : need of fondness, attention, desire of power or security. They therefore come from a state of suffering that we seek to pacify through the action and its result.
What would an action without psychological motivation mean? We are often confronted with situations that need an answer. The answer can come from an inner reaction of impatience or anger. But it can also come from the perception of a demand. The situation needs a reply, an action. Inwardly, there is no emotional reaction. No pleasure of acting, no displeasure, no waiting. What must be done is done. The personality is then in the background. The action is not related to an egocentric self-esteem. The action is lived in a neutral and non affective way. It is not an insensibility. A deep quietness lives in the comprehension. This quietness is not concerned with the action and its results. Quietness is present before, during and after the action. Quietness is beyond pleasure and displeasure, refusal and acceptance.
This immutable tranquillity, non affected by circumstances, is meditation. Present in action and non-action, it constitutes the foundation of an harmonious and adapted way of living. Free of conflict, free of suffering, I am what I am looking for. The seeker is the searched.
Abstract of a lecture. Conference on "Meditation and
Spiritual Tradition - Toward the essence of religion", Jerusalem, November
1994.