Spiritual Wisdom
Your Body Is a Vehicle, Not a Real Self
A glimpse into a meditation on no-self
When I meditate, I often feel compelled to get up and get on with the day's activities. My ego identity feels threatened when my thoughts and emotions settle, making for a momentary lack of “me.”
My ego identity wants to re-assert and re-solidify itself. It tells me, “To hell with quiet and space, get busy now!”
Yesterday, this verse came to mind in my meditation. It contains advice from a teacher to an older student who prioritized work over her spiritual practice.
“You are misdirecting your attention. You’re constantly telling yourself, ‘This is what is real.’ These administrative problems are real. Producing a magazine is my purpose in life.’ Your endless focus on these externals drowns out the subtle dimension. It’s time for your focus to shift and your awareness to expand, but you’re resisting.” — Panditji
His emphasis on how humans make everything in worldly existence so real especially stood out to me. It’s why I feel this pull to end my meditation prematurely and attend to my arm’s length to-do list.
This time, I just sat with the feeling of compulsion until it dissolved.
