Contemplation vs meditation: I am too addicted to Questioning to meditate

[r0ckyreed]

Title says it. I love questioning reality deeply. Some of my most profound insight have come to me when I was observing something and wondering about it. I have question and critically think or contemplate it. I was on the verge of grasping something like infinite or eternity, but then it slipped away.

I have tried meditation and I have found it highly useful for stress and concentration, but as far as insight goes, I haven’t found meditation as useful as contemplation.

 

My favorite contemplation is distinguishing between actuality and concept. I have done this exercise to the point in which the distinction between concept and actuality itself is just more concept. But I am not sure what this means quite yet.

 

Any pointers? What do you all think about contemplation vs. meditation? Why meditate at all when we can contemplate? 

Edited November 21, 2020 by r0ckyreed

[Eph75]

@r0ckyreed

The one feed into the other. Meditation helps with hightening the baseline of calmness of mind and lowering the baseline of intangible, indistinct noise and interfereing thoughts. 

That in itself helps to let, shall we call it the inner light of infinite creativity, to shine through into your awareness layer and change the dynamics between you and mind, making new connections, see things in new light, notice what could not be seen before, gaining new insight through a-ha moments, flipping switches in ones mind and so on.

Some people are naturally [i.e. conditionally already setup to be] better at such deep contemplation without meditation.

I myself have always been a deep contemplator since as long as I can remember, very small child age and beyond.

With beginning meditation it still added something new to the mix, in a sense the ability to go where I had not gone before, and in such sense, with less self-biased than otherwise would be through more circular reasoning.

The letting go of mind through meditation, or even, through inquire and explorations within meditation is naturally complemented with deep contemplation outside of meditation.

Also the mind is working hard and baking at ideas and thoughts in the subconscious. Setting us up for new insight when we are ready for them.

That's why a general calmness of mind through-out the entirety of our waking-and-sleeping hours is important for the development of cognitive and consciousness abilities. If the mind is noisy, it's baking at stuff that won't benefit us, with increased distraction as a result. 

Edited November 21, 2020 by Eph75
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[Leo Gura]

Yes, this can be a big problem.

As some point you gotta shut off the contemplation and just sit in silence. This is a crucial skill to develop.

If you're good at contemplating, now you must learn silent concentration. Sit in silence, empty your mind, and rivet your attention on pure awareness/existence/I AMness itself. And just sit like that for as long as possible. With time you will get better at it.

[electroBeam]

as both Eph75 and Leo pointed out, contemplation has its limitations. Getting over those limitations is necessary not optional.

As a contemplator, you could say your strength is curiosity. Research heaps of different meditation and yoga techniques, then find which one really draws your curiosity. Then follow that curiosity and see what you discover. This is the least effort way for a contemplative/curious/scientifically minded sort of seeker to go beyond contemplation. 

Edited November 21, 2020 by electroBeam

[TripleFly]

Because stillness is the way. The realizations and experiences, the understandings, they are all just achievements for the ego, there will come a time(perhaps already) that all of those experiences will be seen as as fragile as a day dream..

 

Your mind is already primed for Jnana(Wisdom/knowledge). Mine is like yours too, I have questioned and doubted a lot in my life. So you will get much benefit from something of the polar opposite, Do Nothing.

Edited November 21, 2020 by TripleFly

[Hello from Russia]

How can you question anythng for real without some sort of meditative state and truth alignment? I'd say your questioning would be severely limited, while good meditation faculties would tremendously enhance it

[r0ckyreed]

7 hours ago, Eph75 said:

Some people are naturally [i.e. conditionally already setup to be] better at such deep contemplation without meditation.

This is me. I have been a contemplative for quite a long time. I questioned God and religion since I was like 4 or 5 years old after my dad told me that Jewish people don’t believe Christ was son of God, and some people don’t believe Christ existed. I have been contemplating for pretty much my whole life, but not on nearly as deep as I do after I studied philosophy.

Meditation is something I learned 2 years ago when I took Eastern Philosophy. So it doesn’t quite come naturally.

Also I do have ADHD so it is a challenge to sit in stillness, but I think it helps improve concentration. The longest I have ever meditated was one hour. 

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

As some point you gotta shut off the contemplation and just sit in silence. This is a crucial skill to develop.

True. I typically incorporate contemplation into my meditation. I use this analogy in that contemplation is asking God a question, but meditation is listening to God (or stillness) for the answer. 
 

I think one of the things that has held me back from doing a retreat is the belief that meditation is a waste of time, but I realized that all the times that I don’t meditate are waste of time.

Thank you all!  

Edited November 21, 2020 by r0ckyreed

[Michal__]

Concentration meditation + contemplation during daily activities.

Asking & answering why you are doing whatever you are doing at the moment alone increases your consciousness noticeably.

If you get used to it you could probably get to a point where contemplation during daily activities is as powerful as a formal session.

[r0ckyreed]

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

If you're good at contemplating, now you must learn silent concentration. Sit in silence, empty your mind, and rivet your attention on pure awareness/existence/I AMness itself. And just sit like that for as long as possible. With time you will get better at it.

@Leo Gura yeah. I’ve been mostly observing my hand and just being with my hand, along with contemplation about hand, visual field, actuality, concept, etc.

Another practice I have been doing to quiet my mind is breath/sound awareness meditation (noticing breathing and sounds as they arise and dissipate).

Another meditation I have done is to just stare into the darkness of my close eyes and watch the movies of my mind that play.  I will try Do Nothing meditation.

 

[r0ckyreed]

So I usually meditate by looking at my hand or closing my eyes. I also use have been using The Waking Up app at times by Sam Harris. 
 

He recommends alternating between meditating with eyes open and eyes closed. What do you all think, or find to be most effective for you? I think eyes open may be easier to find the no-head that Douglas Harding and Sam Harris seem to be talking about. 
 

I am going to start meditating by using the Headless Way by Douglas Harding and Richard Lang. I think it is very interesting way of attaining enlightenment. It helps you see yourself as the entire world and everyone in it as part of yourself.

Edited November 21, 2020 by r0ckyreed

[Bando]

Try staring at a candle and focus on belly breathing, thats what I found works best for me

[The0Self]

@r0ckyreed One of the most effective for me was just sitting and just intending to enjoy the present moment as much as possible. No matter how sparse the pleasant or neutral sensations seem, just soak up as much enjoyment from them as possible. This does not mean increase pleasure as much as possible -- rather, increase the enjoyment as much as possible. What starts as a humble kindling fire can grow and grow until you feel so rapturous it's almost like you're about to pass out.