(ACIM-W-324: 1:3-4)
I read this line in my ACIM lesson for today and it hit home. It spoke to not only finding our way down Life's many paths but I could also see it applying to meditation.
Wandering Away From Home
We can never actually lose this peaceful state that is within us for it is who we really are. We can, however, wander away from it at ego's urgings. We can allow our minds to become cluttered by mental modifications and a need for 'more' of something. We can grasp, and seek, and cling, and fight and defend our way along paths that take us away from this natural state. We can wander away from home.
But we will eventually return...that's a given...even if it isn't until we die. It is assured we will return to this peaceful state because it is home. Home is always there with its bright warm lights welcoming us back and we need do nothing but turn towards it and chose not to wander off any longer.
Meditation: A Training that Keeps Us in the Property Lines
I see meditation(and mindfulness) as practice, a learned thing, that will stop us from wandering off so we can eventually reap the benefits of being home.
Our desire to run off away from home/ truth/ our peaceful state leads to suffering...or Dukkha. Yet, like the animals we are, we are often compelled to seek more out there in a world we made up in our heads.
What can we do?
We can train ourselves to recognize that home is where we want to be and that wandering away causes pain.
Have you ever seen those electric fences used to train dogs who naturally like to wander off, following their five senses (especially the nose) in search of something 'more', to stay within the property lines? An invisible fence is created around the perimeter and guideposts are set up to let the dog know he is getting close to leaving home. The first sign of wandering is met with little white flags and the dog who is wearing a collar will hear a buzz when he gets close to that. Another buzz will go off in his ear when he goes beyond it and if he makes it to the actual fence he will get a gentle shock. (Believe me the gentle shock hurts a lot less than the impact of a vehicle would.) Eventually with enough practice the dog will learn to be aware of the signs and will avoid exposing himself to unnecessary suffering. He will learn that leaving this present state causes unnecessary discomfort.
He will begin to explore instead the yard he is in, finding all kinds of wonderful satisfying things there . He will discover that everything he needs is already where he is. He doesn't have to search; he doesn't have to wander or risk things like fast moving traffic that could damage or kill. He doesn't have to get lost. He doesn't need to be chained or tied, either. He can wander freely around home.
In meditation practice, we can remember that. We can remember that our peaceful state is here within us, going nowhere. Everything we need is here. We are already everything we need to be. Dashing through the busy traffic of our minds is not only dangerous but it can never give us what we truly want...what home provides.
Until we remember we want to be home, wandering off is going to happen. It is human nature. Our minds are so conditioned to followed our noses, our five senses, and ego's lead into thought and feeling. No big deal. We need to learn to expect that we will wander.
Training the Wandering Mind
The thing is we can train ourselves to stay home so we do not wander off into the illusionary world thought creates. We can learn to calm the mind-stuff.
It is not easy at first. Minds wander. We can, however, gradually learn to recognize the signs we are wandering off. We can begin by realizing that Life has already set up the perfect learning tool.
Maybe every minor discomfort we experience, every feeling of confusion and questioning as we step close to the end of property lines...are like the white flags and gentle buzzing offered to dogs. Maybe Life is signalling that we are getting close to straying from home. Many of us will ignore the white flags and the buzzes, so convinced that what we need is "out there.". We will keep going despite the buzzing in our ears.
We will walk right into the shocks offered by Life and suffer the sudden pain as circumstances and loss and illness gets zapped through our experiences. Still, after the shake of the head and the falling down, we may get back up to "push past it"...We will learn to endure it, ignore it, live with it...convinced that what we want and need is out there somewhere. We won't learn from the pain. We keep going.
Then some of us require getting struck my those fast moving vehicles before we realize that we do not want to suffer anymore. For many of us...it takes that sort of crisis or suffering to get us to turn and look towards home.
So to assist Life in the learning of these valuable lessons...we can practice meditation and mindfulness. We can learn to be present.
We will likely start with finding ourselves in full fledged suffering again and again as we begin a meditation practice. (We will keep hitting that fence and finding ourselves running terrified out into the noisy, busy, unsettling traffic). We retrace our steps. Eventually we learn to recognize the outer buzz of warning before we get there and next the inner buzz and then the white flag blowing gently in our mind's eye as we make our way back home.
In other words we begin to catch the mind wandering and then coming home step by step, practice after practice, "Oh I am going off again. " We keep wandering, keep recognizing the signs that we are wandering and we either chose to endure the fence or come back into home. That is what the practice entails...what the training requires.
Eventually, we realize that home is the place to be. We no longer need the fence or any of the reminders. There is nothing out there that we need or want to make us whole. Searching for it just causes unnecessary suffering. We settle where we are and find pure peace, joy and contentment. We can never lose the way because home is the way. Unlike the dogs we are not being confined against our wills...we are being freed to be who we really are.
Meditation can be like an electric fence that trains us to stay within the property lines of our natural state of being. It is all about awareness. The more we practice, the more we learn to observe the signs we are wandering off so we can come back home. Wander, come home...wander, come home...wander, come home... until we decide not to wander anymore, not to suffer anymore.
All is well in my world.
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