WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE --- MINDFULNESS MEDITATION
IN EVERYDAY LIFE by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Hyperion, 1994
INTRODUCTION (pxiii-xxii)
Guess what? When is comes right down to it, wherever you go, there you are!
Whatever has happened to you, has already happened, so "Now what?"
In every moment of our lives, all we really have to work with is each moment. In every moment, we find ourselves at the crossroad of "here and now." This is the time we can contact the deepest in ourselves and it affords us our greatest opportunities for creativity, learning, and growing.
Not knowing that you have more opportunities and possibilities than the ordinary routines and habits in your life is what the Buddhists call "ignorance" or "mindlessness." But being in touch with this "not knowing" aspect of your life is called "mindfulness." The activity of waking up from the dreams or trances of ordinary routines is the purpose of meditation, which is the systematic cultivation of wakefulness or present-moment awareness.
This waking up is consistent with what we might call wisdom. It is seeing more deeply into cause and effect relationships and the interconnectedness of things. Then we are no longer caught in a false or limiting "dream-dictated" reality of our own creation. To find our way out of this trap, we have to pay more attention to each moment. It is the only time that we have to live, grow, feel, and change!
Mindfulness meditation is not some weird cryptic activity, as our popular culture often describes it. Instead, it involves becoming some kind of zombie, vegetable, self-absorbed narcissist, navel gazzer, cultist, mystic, or Eastern philosopher. Mindfulness meditation is simply about being yourself and knowing something about who you are. It is about coming to realize that you are on a path whether you like it or not. The path that is your life. Mindfulness can help you see that your path has a direction that is always unfolding, moment by moment. It is the realization that what happens now, in this moment, influences what happens next in your life.
Mindfulness has to do above all with attention and awareness, which are universal human qualities. But in our society, we tend to take these capacities for granted and don't think to develop them systematically in the service of self-understanding and wisdom. It is the process by which we go about deepening our attention and awareness, refining them, and putting them to greater practical use in our lives.
This book is meant to provide brief and easy access to the essence of mindfulness meditation and its applications. It is for both those who resist structured programs and for people who don't like to be told what to do but are curious and those who already meditate. Each chapter is a glimpse through one facet of the multifaceted diamond of mindfulness. Each facet is different and offered for all who would chart a course toward greater sanity and wisdom in their lives.
Sufficient instructions are included in the book for you to engage in meditation practice on your own terms without the use of other materials or supports, although audiotapes, which can be bought, are useful as you begin to establish new meditation habits.
"Be a light unto yourself!"
Quote on page xvii by the Buddha
"Only that day dawns to which we are awake!"
Quote on page 1by Henry David Thoreau from his book Walden
"People measure their esteem of each other by what each has,
and not by what each is. Nothing can bring you peace but your SELF."
Quote on page 194 by Ralph Waldo Emerson
PART 1 --- THE BLOOM OF THE PRESENT MOMENT (p1-99)
Explores the rationale and background for taking on or deepening a personal practice of mindfulness. It challenges you to experiment.
1) What is "mindfulness"? (p3-7)
Mindfulness is simply the art of conscious living.
Mindfulness is historically an ancient Buddhist practice which has profound relevance for our present-day lives. It's relevance has nothing to do with Buddhism as a religious or philosophical system as such, but it has everything to do with waking up and living in harmony with oneself and with the world outside oneself.
It has to do with being in touch with life. It has to do with examining who we are, with questioning our view of the world and our place in it, and with cultivating some appreciation for the fullness of each moment we are alive.
Mindfulness meditation helps us "wake up" from the extended sleep of automaticity and limited consciousness. It makes possible the opportunity to live our lives with access to the full spectrum of our consious and unconscious possibilities. It involves counterbalancing our cultural orientation toward controlling and subduing nature rather than honoring the fact that we are an intimate part of it.
The long Buddhist tradition has shown that by investigating our own minds through careful and systematic self-observation, we may be able to live lives of greater satisfaction, harmony, and wisdom. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way --- on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.
This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance of present-moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments. It is the exact opposite of taking life for granted, since that can diminish our awareness of the present moment and create other problems that could be driven by deepseated fears and insecurities.
Mindfulness provides a simple but powerful way to get ourselves unstuck. It can get us back in touch with our own wisdom and vitality. It is a way to take charge of the direction and quality of our own lives. This includes our relationships within our families, our relationship to work, and to the larger world and planet, and most fundamentally, our relationship with ourself as important persons.
Mindfulness has little to do with organized religions, except in the most fundamental meaning of the institution, which is to appreciate the deep mystery of being alive and to acknowledge being vitally connected to all that exists. When we commit ourselves to paying attention in an open way, without falling prey to our own likes and dislikes, opinions, prejudices, projections, or expectations, new possibilities open up and we have a chance to free ourselves from the straitjacket of unconscious habitual behavior. Mindfulness is being in touch with your own deepest human nature and letting it "flow" out of you unimpeded.
Mindfulness has to do with waking up and seeing things as they really are. It does not conflict with any religious beliefs or traditions since it is simply a practical way to be more in touch with the fullness of your being through a systematic process of self-observation, self-inquiry, and mindful action. It is a warm feeling way of being gentle, appreciative, and nurturing.
29) Meditation --- not to be confused with "positive thinking" (p93-95)
PART 2 --- THE HEART OF PRACTICE (p101-169)
Explores some basic aspects of formal meditation practice, which means that you create some specific periods of time in which to purposefuly stop other activities and engage in particular methods of cultivating mindfulness and concentration.
PART 3 --- IN THE SPIRIT OF MINDFULNESS (p171-270)
Explores a range of applications and perspectives on mindfulness.
6) Your own authority (p191-194)
Developing an attitude of participation and trust in the healing process means authoring one's own life and, therefore, assuming some measure of authority oneself.
Mindful inquiry can heal low self-esteem, for the simple reason that a low self-estimation is really a wrong calculation, a misperception of reality. You can see this very clearly when you start to observe your own body or even just your breathing in meditation. You quickly come to see that even your body is miraculous. It performs amazing feats by the moment with no conscious effort. (p192-193)
Our esteem problems stem in large part from our thinking, colored by past experiences. We see only our shortcomings and blow them out of all proportion. At the same time, we take all our good qualities for granted, or fail to acknowledge them at all. Instead of seeing in a balanced way, we frequently persist in the habit of projecting onto others that they are okay and we are not. (p193)
7) Wherever you go, there you are (p195-200)
12) Interconnectedness (p213-216)
18) Selfing (p236-240)
The inevitable and incorrigible tendency to construct out of almost everything and every situation an "I," a "me," and a "mine," and then to operate in the world from that limited perspective, which is mostly fantasy and defense is called "selfing" by Larry Rosenberg of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center. Hardly a moment passes that this does not happen, and since it is so much a part of our daily lives, it goes completeley unnoticed. (p237)
Most people are not familiar with this constructed aspect of our identity process. This makes it easy for us to lose our balance and feel vulnerable and inconsequential when we are not propped up and reinforced in our need for approval or for feeling important. We are likely to continually seek interior stability through outside rewards, through material possessions, and from others who love us. In this way we keep our "self-construct" going. (p238)
Yet in spite of all this self-generating activity, there may still be no sense of enduring stability in one's own being, nor calmness in one's mind as one continues repeating the process of selfing. Perhaps we would be happier and more relaxed if we could only recognize the process of "selfing" as an ingrained habit and then give ourselves permission to stop it, to stop trying so hard to be "somebody" and instead just experience "being." (p238)
24) Is mindfulness spiritual? (p263-270)
The dictionary definition of the word "spirit" is "to breathe" from the Latin word, spirare. The inbreath is inspiration and the outbreath is expiration. From these brief definitions come all the profound associations of spirit with the breath of life, vital energy, consciousness, and the soul. Also they are often assumed to be divine gifts given to us in some mystical way. In the deepest sense, the breath itself is the ultimate gift of spirit.
The work of mindfulness meditation is waking up to vitality in every moment that we have! In the experience of wakefulness, everything inspires us. However, it may be best to avoid using the word "spiritual" altogether since it is not useful nor necessary nor appropriate in the work of helping people wake up and relax and focus on their own being. The vocabulary of spirituality creates more problems than it solves since the words are often used with misguided connotations. Therefore, the words "consciousness discipline" are better than "spiritual practice," because it evokes different connotations in different people. (p263-264)
Hopefully, you will understand that the practice of mindfulness is not about getting anywhere else at all, not even to pleasant or profound spiritual experiences. Mindfulness is beyond all thinking, withful and otherwise, since it is only in the present moment that the benefits unfold. Perhaps, ultimately, the word "spiritual" simply means experinecing wholeness and interconnectedness directly in the present moment. It is the inner experience that counts. (p264-265)
The idea of "transcendence" --- of pain, suffering, and the responsibilities of the world --- can be a great escape, a powerful delusion. This is why in the Buddhist tradition, especially Zen, that the ordinary and everyday, or what they call "being free and easy in the marketplace" is the goal of meditation. This means being grounded anywhere, in any circumstances, neither above nor below. It is being simply present, but fully present. It is what is meant by the provocative and irreverent saying, "If you meet the Buddha, kill him!" This means that any conceptual attachments to Buddha or enlightenment are far from the goal of mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness is about the groundedness of the base, rooted in rock, a willingness to sit and be with all conditions, such as fog, rain, snow, and cold. Or, in terms of mind, depression, angst, confusion, pain, and suffering. Rock is symbolical of soul rather than spirit. The soul feeling is rooted in multiplicity rather than oneness, grounded in complexity and ambiguity, eachness and suchness. But the fully developed human being embodies the unity of soul and spirit, up and down, material and non-material. During this time, inwardly, a new development is taking place, a maturation, a metamorphosis, a tempering, which culminates in the emergence of a fully developed human being. A being that is radiant and golden and also wise to the ways of the world, no longer a passive and naive weakling.
The mindfulness meditation practice itself is a mirror of the journey of growth and development.
MINDFULNESS MEDITATION PRACTICE TAPES --- SERIES ONE (p271)
MINDFULNESS MEDITATION PRACTICE TAPES --- SERIES TWO (p273)
MINDFULNESS MEDITATION PRACTICE TAPES --- ORDER FORM (p275)
REFERENCES (p257-278)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (p279)
ABOUT THE INSTITUTE OF NOETIC SCIENCES (p280)
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