Eh, I think that sometimes one sets out in search of calm, and may learn, through meditation, that calm wasn’t what was needed.
It reminds me of a concept/quote that I learned from a friend:
" “A person should always be involved in Torah even she’lo lishmah, for from she’lo lishmah he will come to lishmah”
She’lo lishmah translates as “not for its own sake” and “lishmah” means for its own sake. So that line roughly means that “(even though you’d think that studying Torah is an intrinsically good thing (within a Jewish framework) that one should study it for its own sake), it’s actually okay to study Torah if you’re not doing it for its own sake (I.e as a means towards other, less noble ends), because being involved in Torah will inevitably transform the student into someone who appreciates it for its own sake”
I’m not Jewish, but as someone who can be overly objective focussed, I really appreciate this way of thinking about things. It makes me reflect on what I think are intrinsically good things that have transformative potential even if one only acknowledges the superficial good parts of a thing. Meditation is probably the biggest example that comes to mind here
The funny thing about meditation is that even having the thought “Oh! I’m doing it!” is enough to tear you from that state of meditative calm.
There is no calm. If you meditate to calm, you are not meditating.😏
Eh, I think that sometimes one sets out in search of calm, and may learn, through meditation, that calm wasn’t what was needed.
It reminds me of a concept/quote that I learned from a friend:
She’lo lishmah translates as “not for its own sake” and “lishmah” means for its own sake. So that line roughly means that “(even though you’d think that studying Torah is an intrinsically good thing (within a Jewish framework) that one should study it for its own sake), it’s actually okay to study Torah if you’re not doing it for its own sake (I.e as a means towards other, less noble ends), because being involved in Torah will inevitably transform the student into someone who appreciates it for its own sake”
I’m not Jewish, but as someone who can be overly objective focussed, I really appreciate this way of thinking about things. It makes me reflect on what I think are intrinsically good things that have transformative potential even if one only acknowledges the superficial good parts of a thing. Meditation is probably the biggest example that comes to mind here
Mind isn’t self. Those thoughts eh…