Meditation beyond apps
Meditation
One beautiful spring morning I was visiting the Gardens of the Gods in Colorado Springs. There were others taking in the sights and crisp morning. As I came across [describe the landscape] I saw a group of people pointing up at the rocks and talking about an owl that had a nest up in the rocks. I joined them in looking up to find the owl. At first I thought I saw it but after a few seconds I realized that I had gotten it wrong. I was just looking at some rocks and seeing an owl. I said “I don’t see it”. A kind man from the other group joined me in looking up at the rocks. He pointed up at a rock formation that was quite distinct. “Do you see that big rock at the edge there?"
"Yeah!”, I said.
”Now go directly to the right and you’ll see what looks like a little cave” he said. I followed his instructions and exclaimed. There it was. A [What species of owl would be there?]. It looked like the owl had a nest there.
My experience finding the owl is a good analogy for what meditation instructions can be like just sped up. We come upon everyone pointing at this tradition and results that seem like an incredibly important. Soon trackers and trainers are on every device we own. Every magazine cover and celebrity instagram is filled with this thing that seems incredibly useful. Is it the latest craze like capri pants [what is a more relevant long term fad]
Everyone is pointing out something that seems obvious but it’s easy to see something that doesn’t quite resonate with us. So we try looking for a while and move on. It may even seem to work for us for a while and then it appears to stop working for us.
But every now and then we can get pointers to look at things that shift our perception. I think meditation especially has this challenge. We’re all looking for the owl and we think we see it. But meditation takes hold when we can see past the rocks and it catches our attention.
[Alan Watts quote on people pointing it out.]
This essay project arose from my own discovery of the pointing out that helped me. I first captured these thoughts in classes I taught and then decided to turn this into a living essay. One that I can keep up to date.
Why point out?
How we learn things is a combination of procedural and experiential knowledge. At first someone has to show us the steps or procedure to do something. Think about learning addition. We were taught the rules of adding numbers and carrying over when the sum goes over 10. Once we learn, drill, and practice these steps our knowledge of addition is complete. We are “done” learning addition because there are a finite number of rules.
But there are other types of knowledge that are less procedural and more experiential in nature. Think about how you were taught to ride a bike. The instructions for riding a bike are straightforward. Pedal, turn, and don’t fall off. The last part is really hard to do in the beginning. And if you’re never done it watching someone else do it looks magical. We know it’s possible but we can’t do it yet. In these situations the experience is the teacher.
You might be wondering are these distinctions between procedural and experiential knowledge real? Don’t. These are mental models. Pointers that serve in being useful even if they aren’t completely true.
If you’ve been in a yoga class and the teacher asks you stretch your right arm to touch the ceiling they don’t literally mean touch the ceiling. It’s a pointer that gives you a feeling for the level of stretch that they want you to experience.
The Buddha once said to treat his teachings as a canoe to cross a river. Once you’re on the other side there is no value in carrying the canoe around. Use it for when it’s useful. Extending his analogy, there might be different pointers for different points in your life. Use them as they seem useful and discard them.
- How we learn things is a combination of procedural and experiential knowledge.
- Procedural: Adding 2 numbers. You follow the rules, and you’ll get the same result every time. Learning is about learning the method.
- You have to learn the algorithm. Learning it is binary.
- Once you know it, then you can apply it, but the application doesn’t vary
- When you are tired 2+2 =4 and when you’re full of energy 2+2 =4
- You can be “done” learning addition. There are but so many rules.
- Experiential: It’s a physical experience like bike riding, playing tennis, or a sport.
- The instruction is easy “Take the top spin on the rise”
- But how do you do it? It depends. You’re never done.
- You might do the right thing, but you might not be in the right position.
- You’re never really done playing tennis.
- Meditation instruction is procedural. But you meditate with your body.
- The instruction says, “If your mind drifts from your thought, calmly bring it back”
- But when you are revved up, that’s unlikely to happen. Just like chasing a 100-mile serve. You can know what to do, but that doesn’t mean you can do it every time.
- You have to learn the algorithm. Learning it is binary.
- In the beginning you have the procedural knowledge.
- But you don’t have experiential knowledge.
- People can tell you to “balance” but how do you do that? That is the experiential knowledge you don’t have yet.
- Most skills are like this. Driving a stick shift, for eg. How do you know how much to press the throttle
- How do you show experiential knowledge?
- You learn by watching someone bike or drive a stick shift.
- In meditation, that’s really hard.
- You can’t know another person’s experience. All you can do is talk about, and talking about something so subjective is incredibly hard.
- You can provide mental models or pointers.
- If you’ve taken a yoga class, you might have a teacher say stretch your right arm to touch the far wall.
- It’s not accurate, but it’s an exaggeration that helps you think of the length of the stretch.
- Caveat: All models are wrong. Some are helpful.
- If it’s not helpful, let it go. Also, don’t hold on to it too dearly. All models outgrow their usefulness in their own way.
- the map is not the territory
- If you’ve taken a yoga class, you might have a teacher say stretch your right arm to touch the far wall.
- Use your intuition as you learn
- Experiential skills develop by trying things and using your intuition.
- You learn by watching someone bike or drive a stick shift.
- You learn by doing and by repetition
- Like anything you learn, you’ll feel like you suck at first. That’s normal.
- When I first did yoga, I thought I sucked at it. I wasn’t flexible, but I met a teacher who was less flexible than I was.
- It’s not a binary switch.
- You have to learn to be bad at something before you can learn to be good at it
- The hard days are when you learn the most.
- Desirable difficulties
- Procedural: Adding 2 numbers. You follow the rules, and you’ll get the same result every time. Learning is about learning the method.
About Me
but as we start this journey, it might be best to know a little about the tour guide - the person pointing things out. As of 2024, I’ve been meditating for [can this be dynamic?] 25 years. I stumbled upon meditation during a difficult time in my life where I was undergoing transitions in various aspects of my life. As the emotions of the transitions threatened to overwhelm me I found a book in a used book store in Austin that caught my eye. The title was “The Tao of Pooh” and featured the joyous Pooh holding a balloon.
The premise of this short book is that we’re like the creatures inhabiting the 100acres woods. Some of us are like Eeyore, seeing only disaster everywhere. Others get frightened like piglet at every loud noise.