When we think of meditation, we normally think of sitting motionless in a quiet place away from the distractions of daily living. This is actually sitting meditation. By limiting sensory input during sitting meditation, we are able to calm our minds and reach the meditative state more easily. But meditation is not just limited to sitting in one place doing nothing. We can meditate by simply doing the ordinary things we do everyday with mindfulness. What we want to achieve in meditation is stillness. Stillness does not necessarily mean physical inactivity or even mental inactivity. In anything we do, be it eating, walking, driving, washing dishes, and so on, we have a capacity for stillness.

While the mind is fully engaged in physical activity, it is less likely to wander away from the present moment. While washing dishes, for instance, we attune our awareness to the moment-to-moment bodily movements and sensations involved in the chore. While the mind is preoccupied with the physical actions and sensations, it is less likely to be thinking, “Oh, this is such mindless drudgery; I have better things to do with my time!” Thoughts and feelings will continue to come and go, but as long as we can manage to hold our attention on the small details involved in getting the dishes cleaned, our minds will be attuned to the present moment. Dishwashing then becomes our object of meditation.

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One of the most persistent struggles of life that it seems that the more we know about something, the more we realize we have to learn. As knowledge can become a constant source of stress and frustration in life, it might make more sense to discard the knowledge we already have and espouse ignorance, instead.

If ignorance is the answer to problems created by knowledge, then a person who has never attended a day of school in his life would be the ultimate sage.

That is not quite true.

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Why do we meditate?

People meditate for different reasons. The reason I meditate (or at least attempt to) is to perceive reality in a more objective way. Human perception is subjective since it does not give a particularly accurate picture of the world around us, or the world within us, for that matter. For instance, the human eye is capable of detecting a very narrow range, namely the visible spectrum, of the electromagnetic spectrum. That’s why doctors use x-ray to see our bones and internal organs.

If our eyes were capable of x-ray and infrared vision, which themselves are but small ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum, objects would appear entirely different from they do normally; our perception of the world would change fundamentally. As all of our perceptual organs are similarly limited, what we perceive is a really only a conceptualization of the world around us, not what it really is. So, there’s more to the world than meets the eye, so to speak.

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When I was a young boy I used to enjoy staring blankly at the wall whenever I had a few minutes to spare. It was a pastime to which I would return time and time again. It gave me a sense of peace and happiness that I could not really describe. I was not sure if there was a name for such an activity and wondered if other people also indulged in it.

Despite having visited the Buddhist temple with my family on a regular basis, I had a very vague understanding of meditation. I thought it was a special magical practice done only by the monks. Their unintelligible chants seemed to be some form of communication with the higher realms to which only they had access. Meditation was definitely not for the lay people, let alone a young child.

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Multitasking has become a way of life in today’s fast-paced, profit-driven corporate world. There is an assumption that efficiency and productivity are increased by having a few workers do the work of the many. Our performance in the workplace is tied to our job security, our material well being, and ultimately our sense of self-worth.

While having a sandwich on lunch break, we may find ourselves making a business call or planning next week’s presentation and forget altogether that we are eating. As if our hectic schedules are not enough, we must make time for our families, friends, and religious and civic obligations. In the West (and perhaps the industrialized East), the fast-paced, high-pressure life that revolves around material accumulation is one made necessary by economic and technological progress. Lagging behind is our capacity to make sense of our chaotic lifestyles and to find meaning in the hustle and bustle of everyday living. This kind of life may give us financial security and good social standing but yet leave us in a spiritual vacuum.

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