everything’s not about hacking
Σ life ≠ ⨊ hacks especially when it comes to meditation
It seems like part of the tech world, and probably overly generalized, most of the bay area, is obsessed with “lifehacking”* but recently I’ve started hearing this construct of “brain hacking” only to realize it was code for “meditation” — at this point I can only imagine that Buddha himself would be rolling in his grave if he heard some of the constructs of modern day “mindfulness”.
A search with a result but maybe not a question…
At a recent dinner I found myself holding court to a fine selection of entrepreneurs and young professionals in one of the most dynamic, pacy and potentially spirited cities in the world (San Francisco) only to find that the conversation wasn’t about new technology, a new start-up nor about a recent funding announcement but overtly focused on a deeper search — fortunately no-one thought they were hacking themselves (thank heaven).
The theme ever since the start of the year has become more and more prevalent and I found my experience doing the Vipassana seemed to have hit home to a lot of people who were looking for answers without necessarily defining the question they had in their minds.The intensity of the curiosity has definitely shaped a lot of my non-start-up-tech discussions with people of late and I found myself repeating key themes hence I thought why not write it down for others to maybe have a non-hackers overview to meditation.
Two things we MUST realize…
These two points are potentially counter-intuitive but understanding these is the basis for understanding the “question” and how meditation fits so well into the “answer”.
0. We are the cause of our own misery
Buddha said it best when he clearly said that no-one can make us miserable, sad, elated nor upset; we have that right and that control.
Yet in everyday life we have this notion that causality is defined by something outside of our control. This premise is what really starts our discussion and discovery of mindfulness & meditation.
1. We have holes
As human beings one of the things we must realize is that we have “holes” — call them impurities, insecurities or needs/wants/desires — in all conditions we have “holes” that we spend most of our life plugging — through relationships, material acquisitions etc. Even our relationships at a subconscious are largely motivated by everything other than love.
But for a second let’s step back and see the issue this causes; as we plug our holes by relationships and like we increase the “dependence” on the plug and thereby the fear of it being dislodged; we move from a state to wanting the plug to not wanting to lose the plug and our behavior changes to “protective” rather than “additive”, opposite end of the spectrum. If we simply realized we had holes and that they were part of our dynamic, vivacious character not something that is an impurity (every negative stems a positive) then we’d step into relationships with a still mind and not one racing.
Same could be applied with money — when hungry for it we focus on earning; when we have it — we are nervous of losing it and inherently we end up losing it.
The trouble starts in the subconscious
Here are some high level things that Buddha’s wisdom has developed — a key insight into any mindful meditation.
0. Wisdom is in the body not in the intellect
Our wisdom doesn’t exist in the intellect — it exists only in the body. The intellect is post-facto rationalization at best.
1. Our first 3 stages of a reaction
We have 6 senses (yes thought is a sense) and when one gets activated we decide whether we like it or not; and then the body reacts by either a strong or feeble reaction somewhere — its key to note every sense door creates a reaction, without fail. We just don’t feel them all.
A good analogy to the why we don’t feel is the sense you get when you listen to a fine violin player after having listened to a rock band compared to if you had been in silence for the last 1hr before the violinist played their finest concerto. Everything in our body works on the concept of relativity.
2. Our 4th stage of the reaction
The subconscious then reacts in one of the three ways it knows best, craving, clinging or averting. This plants the seed for the conscious reaction that may come mins, hours or maybe days later.
Meditation is designed to control this 4th state so that you act (not react) with a still mind.
3. Breaking the subconscious behavior
It’s great to have this realization without an apt ability to manage this and that is where the old tradition of “anapana” kicks in. As breathe is the only thing we do both consciously and subconsciously it is the only thing that lets us take control of our true mind (today it controls us).
Observation of breathe is the highest form breathing meditation as it requires the mind to be absolutely still — staying in the present and not past or future.
4. From observation of breathe to observation of sensation
And after you get comfortable observing your breathe and seeing how it beats, whether its cold or hot and which nostril is taking more in you move to sensation — this is where in the Vipassana — my mind was blown away as you started to touch on Wisdom beyond our notions of the intellect.
Bringing in some physics into this — the second law of physics says that every force has an equal opposite force — so one person is sending energy in whatever format to someone who is sending it also to them. Energy creates micro vibrations and the Vipassana will eventually let you feel this — an overwhelming since of internal understanding albeit initially hyper sensitivity to your surroundings by the end of 10 days of silence.
5. Everything is impermanent
Stay with me, when you get through understanding how you react, how your breathe connects you and how everything you feel is actually linked to a physical reaction/vibration you connect to the most profound thought — everything is “annicca” — impermanent (literally meaning this too shall pass).
And don’t just read this and intellectualize it — sit cross legged for 1hr and see what it feels like — you will get white pain in your thighs but don’t open them — just observe sensation and breathe — and watch the pain disappear and eventually pulsate — becoming lighter everytime till it eventually fades away. Normally we would have reacted by unfolding our legs so early on…
Not about hacking
Hopefully you see why this is not hacking — its so much grander, bigger. It questions the notion of self and ego, even Einstein said that the notion of self doesn’t exist as we are only borrowed material from the earth that has a set half life.
I’m not a preacher, I have many of my own issues but this technique help me get sanity after 10 years of almost pure insanity. More importantly — it’s given me control over my reactions so that life is a little more peaceful :)
And that’s a wrap if you want to learn more about my 10 days in the Vipassana check this out.
*lifehacking -( “a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one's time and daily activities in a more efficient way”)
