Is Meditation Egoistic

[B_Naz]

Hello all, and I hope you are having a lovely day

So today I had an exam. Before I left off for the exam, I did my daily meditation to help me calm down and focus for it. I focused on awareness since I thought this could help me with my exam where awareness was key (by increasing my observation of everything). It was also to calm me down, and clear my mind of any worries.

But I felt like I was in a paradox. I felt like I was using my meditation habit rather than selflessly doing it. I felt like I wanted an actual return from meditation and not in the sense of self-improvement results but more like "if I meditate now, I will do better in the exam" which to me seems ego since I only care about me?.

Quesitons

Is meditation egoistic? Is it about "me me me"? Do I meditate for my egoistic needs? If the answer is no, then why do I meditate, could improving ones self be egoistic since I am improving "me". Could self-actualized hide some aspects of egoism that I need to be aware of?

By all means I am not criticizing or telling anybody to stop meditation or self-improvement works. I will carry on until I die  I hope this post wasn't negative

 

[zoey101]

wow, I can see the conflict. I'd love to know what people say on this too.

[Preetom]

The whole ultimate point of meditation (if used for Truth seeking/Enlightenment, not for relaxation or lifestyle choice etc) is to go deeper and deeper and actually inquire and banish the shit out of the fictional story that you are repeating called 'me me me'. Then the true self will reveal itself.

So yeah..in this sense meditation is THE MOST SELFISH and EGOTISTICAL action you can undertake because you are solely observing and unraveling the very self (ego) around which every moment of your life revolves and you are focusing on nothing else. And yet paradoxically true meditation is not regarded as an action in the first place.

 

 

[Psyche_92]

How is anything not egoistic, unless you are enlightened?

[B_Naz]

49 minutes ago, Preetom said:

And yet paradoxically true meditation is not regarded as an action in the first place.

 

 

So meditation is not an action, it's a being, it's a selflessness state? It's not something we can do, it's some we are?

The meditation I did today is not true meditation then. It is when periodically clearing my mind and stopping the thoughts. But I was being aware to benefit myself, being aware for a return, for a better mark. Not for being? I've done it all wrong haha.

Ultimately. I need to stop manipulating my meditation sessions into benefiting me. 

[B_Naz]

51 minutes ago, Psyche_92 said:

How is anything not egoistic, unless you are enlightened?

Yep. I've hit a wall  We're becoming enlightened by being egoistic though? That doesn't seem right to me

[Nahm]

Meditate for truth, and truth will set you free, beyond selfish, selfless. 

[B_Naz]

4 minutes ago, Nahm said:

Meditate for truth, and truth will set you free, beyond selfish, selfless. 

So what should I do with situations like this? Where I want to meditate to help me calm down for an event, or become anxious over something. Where I want to meditate to help me for a specific instance?

[zoey101]

I don't think using tools that you have learned to help you survive through daily life is wrong. I mean, yeah we are supposed to live selflessly, but we also have a life in the "ego world" to make it through. Anxiety is pretty common nowadays and I can't help but feel like if you found something to calm you then stick with it. 

I could be wrong, but it doesn't feel like it should be wrong to use your strengths to your advantage

[B_Naz]

Just now, zoey101 said:

I don't think using tools that you have learned to help you survive through daily life is wrong. I mean, yeah we are supposed to live selflessly, but we also have a life in the "ego world" to make it through. Anxiety is pretty common nowadays and I can't help but feel like if you found something to calm you then stick with it. 

You can say that those tools are helping you close off the ego world as well. But I don't know, I have this weird feeling that meditating to control anything in my life is deeply rooted in ego... I should just flow, so perhaps meditating for those specific purposes (anxiety and stuff) is a way flowing with the world? Like you said, getting through the ego world  Great insights

[Nahm]

@B_Naz Yeah. Same thing. The truth is, there’s nothing to be anxious about. 

[ZZZZ]

Like @Nahm said above, perhaps the meditation gives you a temporary clarity/higher level of consciousness that allows you to clear your mind and drop the anxiety associated with your exams (that you are mustering up on your own). Your reasoning for doing so may be rooted in ego, but I do not see why you should view all meditation in this way. The positive habit has obviously beneffited you in some way... No need to worry further  

[zoey101]

@B_Naz No prob  I'm just learning with you so don't feel obligated to give any value to what I said lol

[B_Naz]

3 minutes ago, ZZZZ said:

Like @Nahm said above, perhaps the meditation gives you a temporary clarity/higher level of consciousness that allows you to clear your mind and drop the anxiety associated with your exams (that you are mustering up on your own). Your reasoning for doing so may be rooted in ego, but I do not see why you should view all meditation in this way. The positive habit has obviously beneffited you in some way... No need to worry further  

You are right. I mean, it is only one meditation session when this really hit me, so it can't be applied to the entire practice. Just need to make sure I'm on the right path  

[Nahm]

Some would say a life unactualized is a life unlived, and the ego world is an excuse for perpetuation of conditioning; that it’s a projection (a very convincing one). Some people would even say that anxiety is an exception, a temporary grosse addition to the eternal peace, a belief in a past & future which aren’t present. But we can look around us right now, and know that, is all there is. It make sense that China exists while you’re standing in Australia, but the Truth doesn’t make sense, the “brain” does.  People say a lot of weird shit though. 

[veqsms]

That is instinct to self survive. A person is going to do anything just to survive, so if meditation is supposed to help us ( e.g mental health, emotional health etc) it is ego.

nevermind that is the reason i started it either.

[B_Naz]

52 minutes ago, veqsms said:

That is instinct to self survive. A person is going to do anything just to survive, so if meditation is supposed to help us ( e.g mental health, emotional health etc) it is ego.

nevermind that is the reason i started it either.

So yeah, it's egoistic. We need to stay clear minded, be aware of ourselves, and become one with the Truth. It's something we need to work on hard. Nothing makes sense, but go with it  

[veqsms]

B_naz.  THe best quote I ever seen is " I know only one thing, that I don't know anything" Socratis

I really do not understand what the hell is this world nor wher did I come from or where I am going to be after death. These questions really scary me. Poor me haha 

[B_Naz]

41 minutes ago, veqsms said:

These questions really scary me. Poor me haha 

But we're going to have to face them one day. Face the fear I guess

Edited May 9, 2018 by B_Naz
Misquoted

[ajasatya]

@B_Naz if "me" is what comes to the mind during meditation, it just means that there's still illusion.