Does Contemplation Need To Be A Formal Process?

[The White Belt]

Hello, everyone!

 

Basically, I feel like i've been contemplating for years and years, since i've been a teenager.

Contemplating my life purpose, contemplating society as a whole, culture and more recently, reality.

I mostly do this when i'm walking somewhere, occasionally i'll switch to mindfulness, I will also do this listening to music, 'watching' TV, etc.

Should good contemplation need to be sat in a chair twiddling your mustache, or can it be as powerful when it's this informal?

 

Thanks, 

;-)

[Danielle]

i think it's equally powerful when it's informal. I personally do it both ways and most of the time good contemplation just happens on it's own, it doesn't really matter wheter if it's formal or not  

[Leo Gura]

I once asked Peter Ralston how long he's been contemplating. He said, 24/7, his entire life from toddlerhood.

Try to imagine 100,000 hours of contemplation.

Now you get a taste of the magnitude of the achievement of the highest masters. It's inhuman.

[Guivs]

@BeginnerActualizer Hello ! 

Sure, try to contemplate in every instant, but in my opinion, some sort of formal sitting practice is necessary at the start, in addition to informal contemplation. But informal contemplation is way better than no contemplation at all  !:)

Hereunder is a conversation between a master and his student that seems to adress the point  : 

S :  But since most of our time is spent in movement,  why not use movement as a form of meditation ? 

TR  :  I think you can't do that. At this point I have to be very orthodox. (Because the student is not yet advanced enough). You can't do that because it would be very convenient and there would be no discipline. Fo example, you have to set a time for sitting practice that is especially allocated for that practice. Whereas with the approach you suggest, you could just say , "Well I'm going to visit my girlfriend and I have to drive, so on my way to my girlfriend's, I'll use driving as meditation." 

S: But as long as it's mindful, why couldn't it be done?

TR: That approach of mindfulness becomes too utilitarian, too pragmatic-killing two birds with one stone. "That way I meditate and I get a chance to see my girlfriend at the end too". But something has to be given up somewhere. Some renunciation somewhere is necessary. One stone kills one bird.

 

Bear in mind this is provisional teaching, and when you're peter ralston there is no more difference between formal meditation and informal meditation so this is a teaching of provisional meaning

Edited January 27, 2017 by Guivs
Typo

[cetus]

@BeginnerActualizer No it doesn't need to be formal at all. What is most important is the subject of your contemplation. Here is a great example of Allen Watts's thoughts after much contemplation.https://justpaste.it/TheArtOfContemplation

[outlandish]

That Alan Watts essay was really good ^  wow. Thanks for sharing it @cetus56

[cetus]

@outlandish Thanks. That was one of the first things I read on spirituality and it always stuck with me. It opened that first door to something much bigger than my mind could ever imagine. I read it again every so often just to recharge my spiritual batteries.

[outlandish]

Yeah I've bookmarked it and plan on going back to it too. Watts was a really wise man, at least when he spoke publicly and wrote. It's too bad he destroyed himself with booze.

[Space]

On 26/01/2017 at 10:21 PM, Leo Gura said:

I once asked Peter Ralston how long he's been contemplating. He said, 24/7, his entire life from toddlerhood.

Try to imagine 100,000 hours of contemplation.

Now you get a taste of the magnitude of the achievement of the highest masters. It's inhuman.

This is slightly misleading though, because Ralston didn't start pursuing Enlightenment until he was 21 (according to the Enlightenment Intensive book). I was surprised to read that he reached Enlightenment (on the questions What Am I? and What is Life?) on the Enlightenment Intensives. My impression was that he did it all on his own in solo contemplation. I'm guessing the bulk of his deeper contemplation was done after that?

[The White Belt]

@Reality but you can contemplate existence without actually committing yourself to 'pursuing' enlightenment. 

[Martin123]

@BeginnerActualizer Everything can turn into a contemplative practice.
I used to contemplate through art and maths when I was a young lil cute child.
Contemplation in a sense goes beyond thoughts. The base from contemplation is coming out of the void, direct experience.