Meditation

One of my "cloistered brothers" taught me a method of meditation that really works--for me, anyway. Oddly, this is the same "cloistered brother" who showed me how to do SUDOKU.  He has the knack to reach me.

What I used to do, that never worked, was try to rid myself of distractions.  My meditation time was spent at war, fighting off distractions, or using distractions in inventive situations.  Now, I'm trying to place myself in the most distracting place I can think of.  The noise will be background noise or white noise.  It's just there.

The most distracting place I can think of is the city.  So I'm in Boston.  I need to sit, so I sit on a bench.  There're benches in the Common, but that's not THE most distracting.  There's the Garden, but that's not distracting.  There's Washington Street, Commonwealth Ave. and Beacon Street, where's there are benches along the Fens, but the traffic is too slow.  I'm picking Storrow Drive.  I sit on a bench looking at the traffic go by, not the Charles River.

Swish, sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish, sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish.  All the horns and noise are in the background.  People walking pets, runners, nannies with carriages, etc. are in my periphery.   Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish. I think I'll look at the people inside the cars:  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish. I try to count them but can't.  They're too fast and too many.   Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish.  I'm counting just red cars.  Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish, etc.  I pick out one approaching red car and focus on that one car, only.  I follow it approach, come closer, pass me, and travel on, and on, and on, and...until it's out of my sight.  I do it again.  And again.

My focus pulls me with the red car towards God.  All the other cars pass us.  Everything is white noise.  All the cars and everything pass by.

All is passing.  God alone abiding.   Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,   sw-sw-sw-ish.  All is passing.  All.  God alone abiding.  All is passing.   Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish.  Passing--all--all is passing.  God alone abiding....