Meditation explorations

**A comment came in about an entry I made in 2007 quoting a poem by Wes Nisker:

"Why did you leave out the last line? This poem ends this way: I meditate because I want to discover the fifth Brahma-vihara, the Divine Abode of Aw, and then I'll go down in history as a great spiritual adapt."

Actually I didn't leave out the last line, which is not the one cited above. It is this:

"I meditate because I want to discover the fifth Brahma Vihara, the divine Abode of Ah
And then I’ll go down in history as a great spiritual abbot
I meditate because I am building myself a bigger and better perspective
And occasionally I need to add a new window."

There also appear to be several versions of this poem around the Internet.

I spent a day at a Nisker retreat and even got to say a few words with him. I'm still not able to make the leap to that practice, though I've been reading several books about it, the most recent being Sam Harris's "Waking Up." I've also recently read "10% Happier" and "Training in Compassion." Still not convinced.

Wes Nisker: Why I Meditate

Why I Meditate
(After Allen Ginsberg)

I meditate because I suffer
I suffer, therefore, I am
I am, therefore, I meditate
I meditate because there are so many other things to do
I meditate because, when I was young, it was all the rage
I meditate because of Siddhartha Gautama, Bodhiharma, Marco Polo, the
British Raj, Carl Jung, Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg, Alfred E. Newman, et al
I meditate because evolution gave me a big brain, but it didn't come with
an instruction manual
I meditate because I have all the information I need
I meditate because I want to touch deep time, where the history of humanity
can be seen as just an evolutionary adjustment period
I meditate because life is too short, and sitting slows it down
I meditate because life is too long, and I need an occasional break
I meditate because I want to experience the world as Rumi does,
or Walt Whitman or Mary Oliver
I meditate because now I know that enlightenment doesn't exist,
So I can relax
I meditate because of the Dalai's Lama's laugh
I meditate because there are too many advertisements in my head
And I'm erasing all but the very best of them
I meditate because I have discovered that my mind is a great toy
and fun to play with
I meditate because I want to remember that I'm perfectly human
Sometimes I meditate because my heart is breaking
Sometimes I meditate so that my heart will break
I meditate because an Vedanta master once told me that in Hindi my
name "niskar" means non-doer
I meditate because I'm growing old and want to become comfortable
with emptiness
I meditate because Robert Thurman calls it an evolutionary sport
And I want to be on the home team
I meditate because I'm composed of a hundred trillion cells, and
from time to time
I need to reassure them that we're all in this together
I meditate because it's such a relief to spend time ignoring myself
I meditate because my country spends more money on weapons than all the
other nations in the world combined
If I had more courage, I'd probably immolate myself
I meditate because I want to discover the fifth Brahma Vihara, the
divine abode of Ah
And then I'll go down in history as a great spiritual abbot
I meditate because I'm building myself a bigger and better perspective
And occasionally I need to add a new window.

Wes Nisker

Can you meditate to rock?

** Today during my workout I set my iPod to repeat "Mockingbird" by Carly Simon and James Taylor. Must have heard it 20 times - and really got into a zone. These words especially grabbed me :

Hear me now and understand
He's gonna find me some piece of mind
And if that piece of mind won't stay
I'm gonna find myself a better way
And if that better way ain't so
I'll ride with the tide and go with the flow

and

Listen now and understand
She's gonna find me some piece of mind
Yeah if that piece of mind won't stay
I'm gonna get myself a better way
I might rise above, I might go below
Ride with the tide and go with the flow