Meditation is not an escape from life; quite the contrary. The total understanding of the whole complex process of living from day to day with all its variations, pressures and strains is part of meditation. To observe what we are doing, our thoughts, our deep inward activities, without any distortion, is part of this meditation. It is distortion that brings conflict in life. It is distortion that makes for separation, brutality and violence. It is distortion that brings about aggression, competition and the continuous craving for pleasure. It is distortion that prevents the mind from seeing exactly âwhat isâ. To observe without distortion, not only the external happenings but the inward movement of thought and motives, is part of meditation. There is distortion when there is the observer. The observer is the whole content of consciousness. It is this content that divides. This content is the factor of distortion because it is conditioned. This conditioning is belief, opinion, personal attitudes and temperament. Meditation is the understanding of all this, for if this is not completely understood, distortion will remain, and so illusion. It is the distorted mind that gets caught in the many varieties of pleasurable happenings and entertainments, whether they are religious or secular. Meditation is to observe this fact of distortion and all its complicated ramifications.
From Can the Mind Be Quiet?
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