[su_quote]Things have independent proprieties and are there if we are looking at them or not. Why not believe this?[/su_quote]

It seems to fit with our experience of reality – I look at something, turn around, and it’s still there when I look again.

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]T[/su_dropcap]here is mutual agreement between many people on the proprieties of various objects, the description of experience.

Take the earth for example, there is now common consensus that it is round.

From this perspective, it”s not such a far leap to conclude that there must be something fundamental about “reality” – something that has nothing to do with me – something that I just come in contact with … right?

Not so fast!

From the stand point of a radical empiricist it’s important to explore what it is that we really experience.

[su_quote]What do we really perceive – the object itself or our mental relationships to it?[/su_quote]

Do we perceive water or are we aware of the sense perceptions that our interaction with the water creates?  This is subtle but if reality is made up of matter, independent of our perceptions, I’d like to be shown evidence from something outside, I’d like some non-perceived evidence. Has anyone seen this matter?

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]A[/su_dropcap]toms and molecules are theories – concepts based on scientific frameworks and modes of inquiry. All we know of them is what we can write down, say in relation to our sense perceptions, and information that we can extract from them.

So what are we left with?

A reasonable conclusion might be that physical reality is empty of inherent existence – it doesn’t exist all-by-itself, and all there really is our mind and perceptions…

But wait! Not so fast. How do we account for the changing of the seasons, the growing of a plant, the decay of organic matter. That happens on its own without any obvious mind needing to perceive it.

If there is only mind, who has ever seen this mind?

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]W[/su_dropcap]hen we practice meditation we look deeply into the nature of the mind itself. What does that mean?  When you can attend to the mind with awareness and concentration, you can ask, if and where there is a mind independent of concepts – independent of perceiving.

[su_quote]Is the mind something solid that you can hold on to?[/su_quote]

When we apply the same consideration to mind as we do the physical world, we ultimately come to the same conclusion:

Mind is also empty of inherent existence – even it does not exist all-by-itself.

What are we left with? No matter.. no mind.. Is reality nothing at all?

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]T[/su_dropcap]his is where the wisdom of the middle way comes in. Let us not ask questions that are unknowable in principal – we will never be able to know of matter and mind independent of our own conceptual framework of them, because that is all that is available to our experience.

[su_quote] If we are having sensory experience – internal, external – there is always an observer, an object being observed and a relationship between them.[/su_quote]

If any one is missing the other two can not exist.

What emptiness is telling us, is that things are dependently originated (they don’t exist by themselves but only in relationship).

Meaning, mind and matter neither exists nor do they not exist. They arise together, interconnected.  They cannot be thought of as something independent of our interpretation of them.

[su_quote]Our very perception make mind and matter what it is and at the same time and in the same way that mind and matter create our perception. The two can not be separated.[/su_quote]

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]Y[/su_dropcap]ou may ask, “Who cares?”

Well, good question! These fundamental assumptions lie at the very root of and directly impact how we perceive ourselves and the world.

If we believe that our mind and the world have an independent inherent existence, meaning they just “are” the way they are and there is nothing we can do about it; that we have to just put up with external circumstances, because, after all, they are “really” out there, whether we like them or not; then we live our lives as victims to circumstance.  THIS IS INCREDIBLY DIS-EMPOWERING.

We may never question this – never think there could be another way.  Indeed many people do not.

If, however, we come to see, through direct experience*, that our minds and the world are empty, meaning they only exist in relationship to an observer perceiving them and our conceptual understanding about them THEN THIS IS INCREDIBLY EMPOWERING.

It gives us freedom, it gives us choice. We see directly that we can transcend our experience as an observer observing phenomena, and then we do.  We transcend our conceptual understanding and in this way we become free from our minds and the world.

We also see directly that if we change “this” observer, if we restructure our conceptual understanding based upon that direct experience – then we literally change our minds and the world without anything needing to be different “out there” or “in here”.

When we change our relationship to experience, the power is in our own hands and there is freedom.

*Direct experience is a reference to the kind of understanding that we know from meditation and mindfulness – an understanding that is not conceptual or abstract – an understanding that we know with certainty for ourselves and that we can trust and rely upon.

“Integrated meditation practice is like a healthy diet  which is indispensable for maintaining your vitality and resistance to disease.  Likewise, a balanced meditative practice in the course of a socially engaged way of life  heightens your psychological immune system, so that you are less vulnerable to mental imbalances of all kinds.”Alan Wallace

As a general framework of the spiritual path, we can think of all practice as a way to achieve greater balance in 6 core areas that are common to all frameworks of spiritual practice.

The middle way philosophy is an attempt to find a balance between the two extremes of eternalism (self and world are inherently real and self existent) and nihilism (self and world are not real and do not exist at all). It is by finding this balance, seeing that there is another option which is neither eternalism or nihilism. Seeing that self and world are a codependent arising, meaning they exist only in a interconnected web of relationship.

As we find our self in imbalance we may fall in one of three categories; too much, too little and wrong. Having an excess, a deficiency or a incorrect view that does not accord with reality. For example, regarding attentional balance, if we have too much we might call that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).  If we have too little we might call that attention deficit disorder (ADD). If we apply our attention in a wrong way we primarily direct our attention in ways that contribute to our own and others’ suffering.

I find this model a useful one in order to categorize the core areas that must be balanced in a well rounded spiritual/mystical practice. Each area has various techniques from various traditions that may aid to achieve balance. Which technique and which tradition is not important, what matters is finding what works for each individual and that balance is actually achieved. I could be wrong, but as far as I can tell through my own study and practice I see these 6 areas as necessary. Where issues occur in one’s own practice is where there is not a balance between the 6, only emphasizing a few and ignoring the rest.

Here is a brief explanation of each area of balance:

Conative balance has to do with our intention and motivation, a way of life that is rooted in ethics and virtue. We can’t expect to be emotionally balanced ourselves if we are living a life that creates emotional imbalance for others.

Attentional balance is making our mind serviceable. Being able to direct our attention at will. To think when you want and be able to keep the mind still when there is no need to think. To some extent we all suffer from OCDD (Obsessive Compulsive Delusional Disorder). We have a constant stream of thoughts running through our minds, we tend to identify with these thoughts and we think they are the truth and nothing but the truth. To attain attentional balance is to rid our selves of this disorder and have a mind, instead of the mind having you.

Cognitive balance allows us to see reality as it actually is.  By removing our cognitive bias and distinguishing what is actually being presented to our senses and what we are super imposing on that experience. To not identify with every thought or emotion that happens to us with out our asking. To see that all phenomena are impermanent, not intrinsically satisfying and not who we are.

Emotional Balance is the result of having attained some level in the other categories. If we are working in all the critical areas Emotional balance comes for free  although there is something we can do to specifically strengthen the emotional balance that is present on the foundation of Conative, Attentional and Cognitive. By intentionally cultivating positive states such as Loving Kindness, Compassion, Empathetic Joy and Equanimity. Familiarizing our selves with these qualities of mind so that they occur spontaneously.

Physical Balance is having a healthy functional body. It is true that we are not our bodies but as long as we are alive we still have to deal with one. So why not be as kind and gentle with it as we can. They main goal of physical balance is to develop the strength and flexibility needed to have a stable and comfortable meditation posture. We might not have the luxury of being totally free of pain, but we can use the intelligent science of Yoga to work with what we have and make it as optimal as we can.

Energetic Balance is having a healthy and functional subtle body. Most of the difficulties that end up in the physical body stems from and imbalance in the subtle body. The subtle body is where we store all of our emotional and physical trauma collected over our entire life. It is helpful to become aware of what the subtle body is, how it affects us and how we can heal it. By developing energetic balance we are in a better position to explore the depths of the mind with out being disturbed by the fluctuations of energetic imbalance.

Lets start with some of the root words that have been translated into meditation;

From a yogic perspective, in Sanskrit, dhyāna, is often translated as meditation, but it is important to distinguish the difference between it and dharana. Dharana refers to a state of initial concentration or concentration with effort. In this initial stage of the practice there is a sense of doing, the mind wanders and it is intentionally brought back. Eventually you reach the stage of dhyāna, where the concentration becomes effortless; it is less of a something you do but more of something that happens to you. Dhyāna will eventually lead to states of complete absorption and merging with the object of focus.  This is called jhāna. As this state is maintained and insight is gained it leads to samadhi.  Samadhi is the goal of the classical yogic path, but the mere beginning of the tantric yogic path. So when meditation is referred to with in a modern context of yoga it usually encompasses dharana,  dhyāna and samadhi, as well as the practices and path that lead you through each stage.

From a Buddhist perspective the sanskrit word for meditation is bhāvanā literately means “to cultivate”. Just as a farmer cultivates a field, one must cultivate the field of the mind – training ourselves to recognize a weed out harmful tendencies toward ourselves and other beings. This represents a developmental approach to meditation that suggests stages of development as the mind is cultivated into a state free from klesha or metal afflictions.

The Tibetan word for meditation, gom, has a slightly different context – literately meaning “to become familiar” – to become familiar yourself with an object of meditation, and with positive states of mind. This represents a discovery approach to meditation that suggests our minds are already free, we just need to discover that which is already there and become more familiar with it.

When speaking of the practice of meditation, three categories generally come to mind.

1. Discursive, analytical meditation includes practices that set an ethical foundation and open “the qualities of the heart”.  Examples of these qualities include: the yama and niyamas, the four thoughts that turn the mind, the four immeasurables (loving kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity), Nurture positive (Basic Mindfulness) etc …

2. Single pointed concentration develops a mind that is stable and clear. It transforms the mind into a functional tool that can be directed at will to its chosen object without distraction and grasping. These practices include: shamtha (calm abiding), dharana,  dhyāna, Selective noting (Basic Mindfulness), etc …   

3.  Practices of insight into the nature of reality, or vipassana, use a stable and clear mind to remove ignorance and delusion by seeing through appearances to primordial underlying truth. These practices include; the four applications of mindfulness, Basic Mindfulness, Zen, samadhi etc …

So meditation includes everything discussed here so far – both the developmental and the discovery models; the intentional cultivation of a pure mind and open heart; the stabilization of the clarity of mind; and the familiarization of one’s self with the truth that liberates us from suffering.

As the Buddha said “Commit not a single unwholesome action, Cultivate a wealth of virtue, To tame this mind of ours, This is the teaching of all the Awakened ones.”