The Waking

  Some days I spend long periods staring quietly out of the window, just watching what’s going on. Today, an attempt to describe ultimate reality in one word came to mind as an alternative to doing some gardening or tidying up my flat, so... If I had to pick just one word to describe ultimate reality, based purely on my experience of looking within, then it would be ‘silence’.  If I could use two words then they would be ‘silent awareness’.  Having enjoyed and found the process of coming up with these words insightful, I wondered about three words. When I sat with this awhile, what popped up was ‘sat chit ananda’, three Sanskrit words that I previously read had been used together in some branches of Hindu philosophy, dating back to about 800 BCE, to describe ultimate reality. These three words seemed to pull together my meditation experience with religious / philosophical concepts in a way that felt quite satisfying. By the way, I should add that I don’t identify as Hindu...

This post is a small deviation from the main theme of this blog, which is about awakening to deeper insights into human possibility. This blog post is more to do with the potential of meditation to heal the mind. I write from both personal experience and also knowledge of the research showing that meditation is widely relevant and helpful. We know, for example, that meditation can play an important role in preventing suicide by offering individuals a powerful tool to understand and manage their thoughts and emotions. One of the fundamental principles of meditation is cultivating mindfulness, which involves observing one's thoughts and emotions without judgment. This practice helps individuals develop a deeper understanding that thoughts are transient and not necessarily true reflections of reality. By learning to detach from negative thoughts and observe them from a place of non-attachment, we can gain a more helpful perspective and recognize that these thoughts are not definitive ...