We don't choose our thoughts. They arrive unbidden, sometimes colored by feelings, but they always pass and get replaced by, again, more thoughts and feelings. They are temporary, but the consciousness that experiences the stream of thoughts is not. We are that consciousness and meditation is largely just allowing our attention to rest in our fundamental being, that of awareness. There is no objective goal meant to be found in mediation as I know it. It is the absence of intent and seeking in favor of just being. The idea that mediation requires us to quiet the mind is anti-meditation to me. The mind becomes quieter the more I've stopped trying to shut it up. Trying to make my mind's chatter go away only provides it with the attention that fuels it. There is no sound without silence. There is no activity without stillness. It is possible to feel within awareness that you are that stillness and silence, that it is not other or objective, but a core part of your being perhaps worth exploring
We don't choose our thoughts. They arrive unbidden, sometimes colored by feelings, but they always pass and get replaced by, again, more thoughts and feelings. They are temporary, but the consciousness that experiences the stream of thoughts is not. We are that consciousness and meditation is largely just allowing our attention to rest in our fundamental being, that of awareness. There is no objective goal meant to be found in mediation as I know it. It is the absence of intent and seeking in favor of just being. The idea that mediation requires us to quiet the mind is anti-meditation to me. The mind becomes quieter the more I've stopped trying to shut it up. Trying to make my mind's chatter go away only provides it with the attention that fuels it. There is no sound without silence. There is no activity without stillness. It is possible to feel within awareness that you are that stillness and silence, that it is not other or objective, but a core part of your being perhaps worth exploring