{"id":2214,"date":"2014-11-25T19:14:46","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T19:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/becoming-truly-alive-through-meditation\/"},"modified":"2014-11-25T19:14:46","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T19:14:46","slug":"becoming-truly-alive-through-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/becoming-truly-alive-through-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming Truly Alive Through Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Becoming Truly Alive Through Meditation<\/h2>\n

Last night, I decided to do an experiment. I wanted to see if I could channel directly from my unconscious. I asked myself:<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most important benefit of meditation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what came out (with minor editing for readability and flow):<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

The most important benefit of meditation is that it lets you LIVE. It puts you in the\u00a0place where you\u00a0are<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Before I started meditating, I lived in a world of clouds. I didn\u2019t know it at the time, but my mind was clouding my eyes. And my ears, for that matter. And my sense of touch. I didn\u2019t notice any of my external senses, not for real, anyway.<\/p>\n

So, here I am. Sitting in a room. There is air around me. I am breathing it. There is space around me. I am looking through it.<\/p>\n

In a life without meditation, I wouldn\u2019t be sitting in this room. I might actually physically be doing the same thing \u2013 to an outside observer it might appear exactly the same \u2013 but it wouldn\u2019t be, to me. I wouldn\u2019t be able to see the space in the room, I wouldn\u2019t be able to see the air. I wouldn\u2019t be able to hear the ticking clock in the way that I hear it now. There is a richness to life that is only visible, no, only experience-able when you enter the richness of The Now. Vibrance is another word that describes it well.<\/p>\n

This vibrance, I would say, is the greatest benefit of meditation.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cvibrant\u201d in Latin means, literally, \u201calive.\u201d People usually associate this feeling of \u201caliveness\u201d with\u00a0themselves<\/em>. They say something like \u201cIt makes me feel alive.\u201d Well, through meditation, this vibrance is not only associated with \u201cme.\u201d It\u2019s associated with life itself, with the ticking clock, with the air, with the plants, with the dwindling twilight of the setting sun. Time is passing, fluidly. Time itself is alive, it\u2019s a living entity that is pushing everything forward.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing this article not from my head but from my heart. Sitting here, I asked myself \u201cWhat is the most important benefit of meditation?\u201d And this is what\u2019s flowing through my fingers. It\u2019s not that it \u201ccures depression,\u201d it\u2019s not that it makes you smarter (which it does, actually, true on both counts), but it places you in a sharper reality than what you were in before. Everything is clearer, everything is more, well, alive, for the last time! And for the first time. Everything is new. Everything is beautiful. Shiny. Alive.<\/p>\n

Meditation also puts me in contact with my body. I feel alive. I know that I\u2019m alive. Without meditation, there is unpleasantness. The mind is running around, and my entire reality just becomes my mind. It\u2019s just a grey world of thoughts\u2026 almost confusing. In fact, it\u2019s mildly painful! There can be headaches associated with the thinking, but even without them it\u2019s still painful.<\/p>\n

Then, all the clouds clear up! Beautiful light pours in through the eyes and washes away the clouds of thought. Beautiful air flows in the nostrils and sweeps the clouds away, out through the nostrils and into the air around me. And all of a sudden I\u2019m sitting in peace, in stillness, in a wonderful place where I am safe and secure and happy. Even if I were in a place of great danger, I would still be at peace, and simply do what the situation asked of me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written this article as an inspired flow with minimal structuring and editing; I hope it\u2019s coherent. I hope that you gained something from this\u2026 let me know if you did, and I\u2019ll write on inspiration more often.<\/p>\n

Thanks.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n