Mental Discipline essay--Complete Draft for DP Submission
And here's another. This one covers requirement #6 on mental discipline.
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Mental Discipline
By the time I began the Dedicant Program, I had already been meditating in the Buddhist tradition for over six years. So my task for the last twelve months was not to create mental discipline so much as to adapt it to an ADF way of life.
My first challenge was to translate what I’d already learned. The “Complete Breath” and “Basic Trance” meditations in the DP manual were virtually identical to the Buddhist method I’d been using (I tried each in ADF style a few times to be sure). So I felt comfortable connecting the dots between traditions.
The next challenge was to evaluate what meditation had actually done for me. Of the beneficial effects, I noted increased calm, concentration, and inspiration. It also tempered mood swings, and helped me conquer depression. Of the negative effects, I noticed myself becoming almost too calm, inward-focused, and detached. Other people could not always relate to me, or read my emotions, because common outward reactions had been replaced by inward discipline. I felt disconnected.
After this evaluation, it was time to sort out the different goals of the traditions, including my personal goals as a Neo-Pagan. Buddhist meditation’s goal is inward balance and non-attachment, while ADF’s is right-relationship with the Kindreds-very different. My personal goal as a member of an Earth-based religion was to connect more and more to my world, including the people in it, rather than becoming disconnected and unable to relate.
Finally, I had to find a method of mental discipline conducive to my goals. I tried many things over the last twelve months. On the Buddhist end, I went to a Zen monastery in Kyoto for a few days, as well as a ten-day meditation retreat in Thailand. The latter was life-changing, and I tried to adapt it to my ADF life. The “mindfulness of posture” entries in my dedicant journal were most amusing. On the Neo-Pagan end, I practiced the Two Powers meditation, and I also took a CC course on chakra visualization. Both of these I did daily for months. I even adapted the chakra “energy center” idea to a more Indo-European-style motif of three internal wells. I also did regular walking meditations near a river. However, none of these methods solved the problem of feeling disconnected from others.
Finally, I found a solution in chanting to the Kindreds. Chanting is warm, active, and rousing, but more importantly it is relational. That is to say, it is not just inward-focused, but it relates inner concentration to another being outside myself. It calls on me to relate to the Kindreds, and so I find myself strengthening my natural ability to relate to others. After morning chanting, I do not feel as cool and self-sufficient as after meditation, but I do feel calm, concentrated, expressive, and ready to relate to others. What’s more, it clearly cultivates right-relationship with the Kindreds, so chanting achieves my goals not only as a Neo-Pagan but also as an ADF member.
One chant in particular caught my fancy: the First Oath. I’ve chanted it every morning since January of 2006. I even wrote an article about it that made it onto the ADF web site (see “Chanting the First Oath Everyday”).
Working with mental discipline for the dedicant program has been a challenge and a joy. I had to translate, evaluate, adapt, and explore. Eventually, I found a suitable method. To conclude this essay, here are some relevant excerpts from my dedicant journal:
Posted on 2006.01.30 at 21:35 Today I experienced some of the first fruits of the practice. This morning before work I was having breakfast in fine style [a posture-based form of mindfulness meditation that I’d developed], and making a frustrated mess of it. Finally I bit into my banana without having fully peeled it yet. Talk about mindful. Well, when I did that something in me cracked open just a bit. I recognized the feeling from previous meditation and ritual experiences. Ego was beginning to loosen a smidge. I laughed. It felt great.
Posted on 2006.04.22 at 08:48 I find that for me, having a wide reportoire of different meditations and no absolute schedule helps greatly in keeping the practice alive. Some days I need more physical exercise, some more emotional pick-me-ups, and others more calming of thoughts. I've done the daily meditation with set times thing for many years and it always acquires the feeling of obligation and dullnes very quickly. I find if I just ease back a little and keep it limber, I do meditations every day out of natural desire.
When I don't meditate, I tend to get more and more absorbed in my thoughts, habits, and ruts, with higher and higher rush and stress as the days pass. Meditations help me keep perspective, openness, and pace.
Posted on 2006.06.12 at 09:08 Recently I stumbled upon a helpful technique in my morning meditations. I call it laughing meditation...
Every morning I chant the First Oath, but often my voice is still hoarse and cracking from sleep. So I thought maybe I should do some voice warm-ups before chanting. Never having taken music lessons and having no clue how to do it or even what a musical note is, I found myself laughing in the attempt. To make a long story short, the laughing ended up being the most useful part. Now, before I chant the First Oath, I take a moment to chuckle, first normal, then higher, then deeper, warming up my vocal chords but warming up my mood at the same time. It reminds me to not take things so seriously all the time.
So this is what I call laughing meditation these days. It's not a bad practice. But I don't know what my neighbors think of me!
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Mental Discipline
By the time I began the Dedicant Program, I had already been meditating in the Buddhist tradition for over six years. So my task for the last twelve months was not to create mental discipline so much as to adapt it to an ADF way of life.
My first challenge was to translate what I’d already learned. The “Complete Breath” and “Basic Trance” meditations in the DP manual were virtually identical to the Buddhist method I’d been using (I tried each in ADF style a few times to be sure). So I felt comfortable connecting the dots between traditions.
The next challenge was to evaluate what meditation had actually done for me. Of the beneficial effects, I noted increased calm, concentration, and inspiration. It also tempered mood swings, and helped me conquer depression. Of the negative effects, I noticed myself becoming almost too calm, inward-focused, and detached. Other people could not always relate to me, or read my emotions, because common outward reactions had been replaced by inward discipline. I felt disconnected.
After this evaluation, it was time to sort out the different goals of the traditions, including my personal goals as a Neo-Pagan. Buddhist meditation’s goal is inward balance and non-attachment, while ADF’s is right-relationship with the Kindreds-very different. My personal goal as a member of an Earth-based religion was to connect more and more to my world, including the people in it, rather than becoming disconnected and unable to relate.
Finally, I had to find a method of mental discipline conducive to my goals. I tried many things over the last twelve months. On the Buddhist end, I went to a Zen monastery in Kyoto for a few days, as well as a ten-day meditation retreat in Thailand. The latter was life-changing, and I tried to adapt it to my ADF life. The “mindfulness of posture” entries in my dedicant journal were most amusing. On the Neo-Pagan end, I practiced the Two Powers meditation, and I also took a CC course on chakra visualization. Both of these I did daily for months. I even adapted the chakra “energy center” idea to a more Indo-European-style motif of three internal wells. I also did regular walking meditations near a river. However, none of these methods solved the problem of feeling disconnected from others.
Finally, I found a solution in chanting to the Kindreds. Chanting is warm, active, and rousing, but more importantly it is relational. That is to say, it is not just inward-focused, but it relates inner concentration to another being outside myself. It calls on me to relate to the Kindreds, and so I find myself strengthening my natural ability to relate to others. After morning chanting, I do not feel as cool and self-sufficient as after meditation, but I do feel calm, concentrated, expressive, and ready to relate to others. What’s more, it clearly cultivates right-relationship with the Kindreds, so chanting achieves my goals not only as a Neo-Pagan but also as an ADF member.
One chant in particular caught my fancy: the First Oath. I’ve chanted it every morning since January of 2006. I even wrote an article about it that made it onto the ADF web site (see “Chanting the First Oath Everyday”).
Working with mental discipline for the dedicant program has been a challenge and a joy. I had to translate, evaluate, adapt, and explore. Eventually, I found a suitable method. To conclude this essay, here are some relevant excerpts from my dedicant journal:
Posted on 2006.01.30 at 21:35 Today I experienced some of the first fruits of the practice. This morning before work I was having breakfast in fine style [a posture-based form of mindfulness meditation that I’d developed], and making a frustrated mess of it. Finally I bit into my banana without having fully peeled it yet. Talk about mindful. Well, when I did that something in me cracked open just a bit. I recognized the feeling from previous meditation and ritual experiences. Ego was beginning to loosen a smidge. I laughed. It felt great.
Posted on 2006.04.22 at 08:48 I find that for me, having a wide reportoire of different meditations and no absolute schedule helps greatly in keeping the practice alive. Some days I need more physical exercise, some more emotional pick-me-ups, and others more calming of thoughts. I've done the daily meditation with set times thing for many years and it always acquires the feeling of obligation and dullnes very quickly. I find if I just ease back a little and keep it limber, I do meditations every day out of natural desire.
When I don't meditate, I tend to get more and more absorbed in my thoughts, habits, and ruts, with higher and higher rush and stress as the days pass. Meditations help me keep perspective, openness, and pace.
Posted on 2006.06.12 at 09:08 Recently I stumbled upon a helpful technique in my morning meditations. I call it laughing meditation...
Every morning I chant the First Oath, but often my voice is still hoarse and cracking from sleep. So I thought maybe I should do some voice warm-ups before chanting. Never having taken music lessons and having no clue how to do it or even what a musical note is, I found myself laughing in the attempt. To make a long story short, the laughing ended up being the most useful part. Now, before I chant the First Oath, I take a moment to chuckle, first normal, then higher, then deeper, warming up my vocal chords but warming up my mood at the same time. It reminds me to not take things so seriously all the time.
So this is what I call laughing meditation these days. It's not a bad practice. But I don't know what my neighbors think of me!