Can meditation be a distraction?

[Psyche_92]

A Non-Duality teacher i'm following always claims that meditation or any other spiritual practice is just another distraction from the real work. He's saying that every practice is always a turn in the wrong direction, and that you can't find ultimate freedom by calming down yourself every time you feel tension or anxiety,.....
This makes somewhat sense to me, as i feel like you are putting bandaids on wounds that have to be examined and felt.

 

[vizual]

Literally anything can be a distraction, even meditation. The paradox of enlightenment is is that the "conscious" mind isn't the thing that gains the enlightenment. The conscious minds thinks it is doing activity A, B and C to climb the stairs of heaven. But it doesn't work that way. A better metaphor of the road to enlightenment would be that  you climb the stairs so long and intense that you realize you have been climbing an escalator(not stairs) that is going down just as fast as you are climbing it up. You reach insight when you look around and see that you are in the same exact spot as you were before you put in all that effort. 

But, the even bigger mindfuck is that you must put in that effort to see it. Just like in the Hero's journey, you have to go through all the trials and tribulations to realize that your pot of gold was at home sitting there all this time.

[Timotheus]

I believe meditation gets you in touch with being by calming your mind. And by being I mean the "I am - ness", the "I", "I am", "knowing", the (non conceptional) answer to the question: "am I aware"? Once you can access being whenever you like, then this should be your meditation imo. Just being. Be - in every situation. The "I am" is what you are looking for, what you already are, it's just that your mind convinces you otherwise.

And of course everything can become a distraction from being.

Edited January 12, 2018 by Timotheus

[Faceless]

Depends on what u mean by meditation

[student]

Meditation can be a distraction if you don't know what you are actually doing. You will feel the need to meditate, to stay in silence as you'll grow.

If the practice the individual is doing is just that, a "practice", a habit, then, indeed, he/she will undoubtedly turn the meditation itself into confusion. The potential of it will never come to the surface.

"This makes somewhat sense to me, as i feel like you are putting bandaids on wounds that have to be examined and felt."

Traumas, conditionings, getting rid of all the toxic beliefs, inevitably require much more than meditation, even if it still remains one of one's most reliabe refuges. 

[Nahm]

@Psyche_92 So, that teacher has never practiced meditation? Or self inquiry? Or contemplation? Or years of Yoga?  Or took psychedelics?  Yet, they are enlightened, are in a non dual state?

I’m very interested in what, if anything, he or she did do that lead to their enlightenment. Care to share? 

On unwanted emotional experiences, I find only awareness will cure it. It’s all self imposed, and rooted in fear. A lack of awareness and self honesty is required for it to be reoccurring. 

[eputkonen]

4 hours ago, Psyche_92 said:

A Non-Duality teacher i'm following always claims that meditation or any other spiritual practice is just another distraction from the real work. He's saying that every practice is always a turn in the wrong direction, and that you can't find ultimate freedom by calming down yourself every time you feel tension or anxiety,.....
This makes somewhat sense to me, as i feel like you are putting bandaids on wounds that have to be examined and felt.

 

Yes, meditation can be a distraction too.  Ultimate freedom is seeing through the "me"...and so often practices (of any kind) just reinforce the illusion of a "me".  A "me" doing practices, a "me" making progress, etc.  What can a "me" do to see through the "me"?

Upon awakening, you clearly realize that all of that time you spent in the process of freeing yourself from bondage was the delusion of bondage itself.

Edited January 12, 2018 by eputkonen

[Joseph Maynor]

Everything kind of depends on where you are in your own personal journey in this work.  I’ve fallen in and out of every practice.  Right now I’m big into meditation and psychedelics.  But there were other times where I get really into the theory.  So, I just let my authentic-self tell me what to do, and I follow that.  Think of all these practices like tools in a toolbox.  Let the authentic-self tell you what fix it wants at any given time, and that will govern what tool you use.  The fix my authentic-self wants right now is to be the watcher, the observer of reality.  So, that makes the tools of meditation and psychedelics very useful for that kind of work.

Edited January 12, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Znib94]

Well what should we do then? 

[Psyche_92]

1 hour ago, Znib94 said:

Well what should we do then? 

Exactly what i'm wondering. I'm always going for a good period, only to stop and start meditating again. Now i feel the urge to meditate, but i don't want to anymore, because i'm sure that i'm doing it to get somewhere.

[Psyche_92]

19 hours ago, Nahm said:

I’m very interested in what, if anything, he or she did do that lead to their enlightenment. Care to share? 

He was a teacher in spiritual healing before becoming a "Non-Duality teacher". But he said that it wasn't necessary for his awakening.

 

 

[Leo Gura]

Meditation as a form of relaxation from stress can certainly be a distraction becuase the real problems aren't being consciously explored, but merely molified with a pleasant, serene state.

Mechanical meditation can also be a distraction.

But that is not serious meditation. That is sorta like Western yoga classes. They have been defanged.

Real meditation is just being highly conscious of everything in the present moment, which helps a lot with enlightenment, cause how else are you gonna have a deep insight??? You gotta put awareness on it.

Of course the devil will try to co-opt meditation to serve his devilish ways. But if you meditate well, you should be able to catch that.

[Nahm]

@Psyche_92 Does he say anything about what preceded his awakening? 

[Psyche_92]

11 hours ago, Nahm said:

@Psyche_92 Does he say anything about what preceded his awakening? 

Not really, at least not that i know of. If you are interested, here is an English interview:

 

 

Seems like he talks about his awakening in this one. Haven't watched it myself yet.

Edited January 14, 2018 by Psyche_92