Why We Meditate : Part 2

How to Meditate: A Guide to Self-Discovery
by Lawrence LeShan

(Page 2 of 3)

It is certainly true that there are a good many individuals who identify themselves as mystics who fit these criteria. However, if we look carefully at the larger number of those who are classified or who classify themselves as mystics we find a curiously different picture. We see that the two main characteristics of this group are their high level of efficiency at what they do (Western mystics are especially noted for their proficiency in business)1 and the serenity, good human relationships, zest, peace and joy that fill their lives. Further, their agreement on major issues - the nature of man and the universe, the ethical standards of life, and the like - is very strong no matter what time and culture they live in. All mystics, wrote de St. Martin, "come from the same country and speak the same language." Speaking to this point, C. D. Broad, the British philosopher, has written:

To me, the occurrence of mystical experience at all times and places, and the similarities between the statements of so many mystics all the world over, seems to be a really significant fact. "Prima facie" it suggests that there is an aspect of reality with which these persons come in contact and largely fail to describe in the language of daily life. I should say that this "prima facie" appearance of objectivity ought to be accepted at its face value unless and until some reasonably satisfactory explanation of the agreement can be given.

Evelyn Underhill, herself both a serious mystic and an outstanding student of the literature of mysticism, wrote in this regard:

The most highly developed branches of the human family have in common one peculiar characteristic. They tend to produce - sporadically it is true, and often in the teeth of adverse external circumstances - a curious and definite type of personality; a type which refuses to be satisfied with that which other men call experience, and is inclined, in the words of its enemies, to "deny the world in order that it may find reality." We need these persons in the east and the west; in the ancient, medieval and modern worlds . . . whatever the place or period in which they have arisen, their aims, doctrines and methods have been substantially the same. Their experience, therefore, forms a body of evidence, curiously self-consistent and often mutually explanatory, which must be taken into account before we can add up the sum of the energies and potentialities of the human spirit, or reasonably speculate on its relations to the unknown world which lies outside the boundaries of sense.

Mysticism, from a historical and psychological viewpoint, is the search for and experience of the relationship of the individual himself and the totality that makes up the universe. A mystic is either a person who has this knowledge as background music to his or her daily experience or else a person who strives and works consistently to attain this knowledge.

The results of this attainment are a capacity to transcend the painful and negative aspects of everyday life and to live with a serenity, an inner peace, a joy and a capacity to love that are so characteristic of the lives of the mystics. The best of mysticism also provides a zest, a fervor and gusto in life plus a much higher ability to function in the affairs of everyday life.

All other definitions of mysticism and mystics are the definitions of one particular school or religious group. They may be adequate definitions for that particular religious group; they are not adequate for the basic meaning of the term.

The mystic regards this search for knowledge of his relationship with the universe (and for a very deep sense of the union of himself and the All) as a search for a lost knowledge he once had and for a way of being that is the natural one for man. The root of the word "mystic" is the same root as the word "to close." The mystical search is training in closing off all those artificial factors which ordinarily keep us from this knowledge, this birthright we have lost.

Mystics are individuals who have worked long and hard at meditation and who have had their perception of their ability to participate in reality changed by the work that they have done. Much of each mystic's specific views about reality are colored by the culture he or she grew up in, but behind the fa?ade of different terms and specifics, there are deep, vast areas of agreement.

In the classical Western tradition, there are two alternate paths to mystical development in addition to the via meditative, the way of meditation. These are the via ascetica and the via illuminata.

The via ascetica, the way of assault on the body and ego, is of little applicability today. Never very useful in itself, its long years of fasting, self-flagellation, etc., are simply not going to be followed much in Western culture as we know it. The via illuminata, the sudden tremendous change in personality integration and understanding, has been the source of some mystics' development. However, it happens so rarely that there is really no point in holding your breath waiting for it. If you are on the right part of the road to Damascus at the right time - congratulations! Otherwise, you better get to work meditating if you are interested in this sort of growth. In addition, of course, it has been generally reported that followers of both these roads have done a great deal of meditation.

There are two major common results reported by mystics the world over and that all mystical training schools (such as Zen, Hesychasm, Yoga, Sufi, Christian mysticism, Hindu mysticism, Jewish mysticism, and so on) aim toward. These are greater efficiency in everyday life and comprehension of a different view of reality than the one we ordinarily use.

Great Efficiency in Everyday Life

Nowhere is the usual stereotype of the mystic as wrong as it is in this area. The mystic is usually seen as unworldly and dreamy. It is a strange concept, almost as if anyone who trained regularly and in a disciplined manner in a gymnasium were to be considered as belonging to a group whose members were regarded as unmuscular and uncoordinated. Much of the work of any form of meditation is in learning to do one thing at a time: if you are thinking about something to be just thinking of it and nothing else; if you are dancing to be just dancing and not thinking about your dancing. This kind of exercise certainly produces more efficiency at anything we do rather than less.

Tuning and training the mind as an athlete tunes and trains his body is one of the primary aims of all forms of meditation. This is one of the basic reasons that this discipline increases efficiency in everyday life.

© 1999 by Lawrence LeShan

About the Author

Lawrence LeShan, a pioneer in exploring the therapeutic and ethical implications of meditation, is a practicing psychotherapist. He lives in New York City.