Sum up the meaning of life in one sentence.

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Since I have no formal training or reasonable knowledge of meditation I cannot sensibly comment on the process. My quiet times are not necessarily peaceful. They involve internal conversations on what I do and how I act and questioning about how I behave. This is not peace in any sense. It is internal weighings and revaluations and planning and although it may have the external appearance of non-action it is very active indeed and has nothing to do with mental drifting though foggy concepts.

I have the same existential catal prod to my back - when things are *really* still I'm constantly thinking about where my life is coming up short, trying to come up with new solutions on how to improve it here and now to get what I want out of life, usually I'm much happier when I do have the actual processes of self-improvement built into my day, I haven't worked out or attended my martial arts since Tuesday this weak, have a pretty bad cold, but I guess if I spend the whole day on Guild Wars - I have to figure that I need to take my rest when I can as well (although yes - things still nag at me).

I think what most people are saying about meditation though is its a deliberate set of actions taken to quiet the internal existential panicker inside of them. For a lot of people it works. I can't do it because, quite honestly, trying to utterly clear my mind is stressful - its not letting go so much as trying to hold two postive magnets together for 15 minutes and the very struggle of that makes me tense. What does recharge me in the way meditation does some people, music. When I'm on youtube checking things out, listening to the right kind of music - its really like vitamins, nutrition, in a psychic sense its like taking a 5 hour energy - I feel connected to something much greater or 'transcendental' (ie. its a feeling - I really don't care 'what' it is at the bottom line, with my nervous system and knowing how it works - certain things do work, certain things don't, I kind of just have to go with it in that sense), this is what seems to recharge me and as I admit most people don't have thousands of hours of music like I do (especially in one esoteric underground genre) I also can theorize that just like the things that really put me at peace or center me would drive another person crazy (and I can observe from other people's behavior that yes - other things do indeed stoke their fires) I can easily imagine that some people will get that sort of recharge from say sports, watching TV, socializing (with aspies we still get that I think though we're more particular on the people), and for enough people meditation seems to do the trick.

techstep - When you say we're all self-actualisers do you mean we all have free will? haha! Sorry, I just never expected the issue of free will to come up in as many discussions as it has - I guess it's always been a concept I've taken for granted. So feel Free (! !) to slog me with some comebacks if you Will(! !) hehe

And I'm sorry to be so excluding in my description of meditation because one can indeed still meditate whilst taking drugs, having sex and listening to music - and anything else for that matter! I was just saying that a peaceful activity such as meditation can actually rival those activities in achieving bliss.

Sand - There is a difference between analytical or contemplative meditation and single-pointed meditation. Generally if you consider yourself to have healthy thought patterns and are content with your life you probably don't need to exert any more effort into this. Actually it sounds as though you already engage in analytical meditation - probably why you seem so together in a lot of your posts.

From what I gather its main function seems to be to practise engaging in healthy thoughts. In my tradition 'meditation' is synonymous with 'familiarisation' in this respect. And then once healthy thought patterns are established one then stills the mind to practise making them more ingrained. One doesn't need to be concerned about other thoughts entering the mind - this is only to be expected - especially at first. Instead one practises observing the thoughts and this somehow distances one from *the emotion* of the thoughts. So basically it allows one more control of how we react to things. (Except this actually doesn't work for me because my emotions are hardly ever synchronised with my cognitive processes. So my emotions still remain a mystery to me that I mostly choose to ignore! haha!)

Meditation is also used as a relaxation technique which I think a lot of people find useful because they have to deal with a lot of stress in everyday life. Focusing on the breath is common but my tradition discourages this because of the belief that the consciousness continues after we die. The idea is to practise so that at the time of death we can still keep meditating. If our practice in life is focused on the breath - once it stops during the death process we'll have nothing left to focus on!! There are several cases of practitioners remaining in meditation posture for up to 2 weeks after they have clinically died. Their bodies don't rot in that time either. Our tradition determines the actual time of death to be when the consciousness leaves the body, not when the breathing stops.

My dad was always extremely skeptical of things like this but amazingly he agreed to let me teach him meditation when he was dying of cancer. It was probably just an excuse to spend some time with me idk. But it gave him something to do whilst he was waiting in hospitals, confined to his bed, or enduring nasty so-called therapies. He was not strong enough to read books or to have conversations - so all he had was his mind. Meditation was basically just a tool to help him die as peacefully as possible. I guess it can be as flexible as we choose to perceive it.

techstep - I hope your cold goes away soon.
And jojo - a world obsession with peace sounds good to me!! !
Also I'm sorry - it looks like this post is rather long - I could delete some stuff but I can't find anything I want to delete. And if I don't hit 'submit' soon I'm only going to keep adding to it!! lol
I hope you have a lovely evening everyone!!

How does one prepare to die? It is, at my age, something to seriously consider. Of course the process is bound to be rather uncomfortable unless it occurs without warning and in a state of relative unawareness. Meditation it would seem to me, if it means concentrating on one overwhelming approaching event such as this, would probably only make things worse. It seems to me, at the moment, that it probably would do one best to ignore it, but it is not something one can practice.

Aw man - such a big massive question!! !! How much space am I allowed to take up?! I love this question and death is the specialty of Tibetan buddhism. It's not considered something to be afraid of, or unpleasant. Yes there can be unpleasant experiences felt by the body which is why they focus on the mind. Focusing on the body would make things worse because we can't necessarily control what goes on with the body. But with training we can control what goes on in the mind.

There are visualisations one can practise every day that are a similitude of the actual images we experience at the time of death. There are 8 in total and interestingly we experience the same images as we fall asleep and as we experience orgasm. But they are so subtle and happen so fast - we aren't aware of them unless we slow our minds down. The final image is a vision of clear light. People who have had near-death experiences actually report seeing this image. The idea is to practise these stages so that at the time of death one's mind can remain with that vision of clear light for as long as possible. The idea is to experience a profound sort of unity with this vision which can bring a lasting peace. So that's why death is not regarded as frightening.

Although if throughout one's life one is habituated to negative thought patterns it only makes sense that these thoughts will continue to arise during the death process. And that would indeed be quite frightening. So if nothing else, if one trains their mind to focus on positive thoughts such as compassion and loving kindness throughout one's life - then at the time of death one would most likely experience peace. It only makes sense that our mind's experiences at the time of death would resemble the experiences of our mind whilst we are alive. And the beauty of life is that it's never too late to accustom ourselves to more positive thought patterns.

Sand-Well meditation can be simple and as difficult as one chooses it to be, but the idea is to control the mind so it will not control you...of course there are the "getting rid of desires so one will not reincarnate" part of it too, but I cant really get too excited about doing nothing for the rest of eternity. I focus on the mental extersizes that benifit me in real time. As far as death goes...there is a meditation where you visualize your self dead...the processes of your body decaying from flesh to dirt...and it is difficult at first, but through familarization the fear of death vanishes, but I would not try that unless you gain some control of mind through breathing meditation.

But as far as meditation being lofty concepts...breathing mediation is great...you do not think anything but hyperfocus on your breath going in and going out...and each time you get distracted gently recenter your concentration...in doing that you control your thought process so unneeded or unwanted thoughts dont run amuk in your head when you are not meditating
It sounds kinda far out...but scientific studies show it works well for ADD/ADHD, OCD, and PTSD, so there is some backing to it as well

Ohh and Spontan...thank you

What's incompatable? We're self-actualizers and there's no free will? Tell me what your seeing.

I guess just telling yourself that you're going where everyone goes and that its quite likely, even with today's population, that the people who've reached that point include a larger number than those who haven't - its both joining the ultimate majority as well as the ultimate wedding of one's self to both history and the life they led. No free will just means that for all of us, our lives and our actions, everything we experience - its all on lease from the universe, the only thing that seems like it's been unneccessary in all this is consciousness but, we have it for whatever reason.

Really hope none of this seems naive or insensitive, true that I'm only 30, at the moment though these are the best answers I can come up with for myself. Also, I can't even begin - like my dad who's 73 at the moment, to imagine what it was like living through such a wild transition of our world culture. True, it's not like seeing the entire stretch of evolution from the enlightenment forward to the digital age but its a witness to the most profound stretch of it in terms of structure and culture. Part of that, strangely, almost leaves me somewhat envious of many slightly pre-baby boomers; they saw something that I'll never fully be able to relate to and something of the like that we may never see again and no doubt never saw before in earth's history.

I am. at the moment in good health but at the age of almost 84 I am not persuaded by the nonsense of positive thinking or find any delight at being shunted down that last chute to oblivion with a multitude of others. The joy in life is being alive, accepting sensation and acting at its behest. It's bad enough to lose precious friends and family members, a sensation I am quite familiar with, but to lose the most entrancing experience of simply being alive is certainly nothing to celebrate in any manner whatsoever. There is no way to soften that final demise and I don't make the effort. I just hope it is not a tortured experience.

That's just it - I'm not seeing anything! Thank you for asking!! What's this incompatible business - this stuff is entirely new to me. So please help!

To me it makes sense that a self-actualiser would be equivalent to having free will.

Main Entry: in·com·pat·i·bil·i·ty
Pronunciation: \ˌin-kəm-ˌpa-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural in·com·pat·i·bil·i·ties
Date: 1611

1 a : the quality or state of being incompatible b : lack of interfertility between two plants
2 plural : mutually antagonistic things or qualities


Even when its already accounted for and built into a set program in very strict and specific ways? Ways that aren't our choice? That's what I think it ultimately comes down to.

I think at that rate my values are too different to be of much help. On the bright side I'm sure someone of the same persuasion must have written a book on the topic from the perspective your thinking from.

But what are we talking about that is actually incompatible?! ! But thanks so much for the assistance in pronouncing it!!

And if you say that we are self-actualised doesn't that mean we ourselves determine who we are? Choices may be limited - but there are still choices.
Anyhow - we debated this the other day and I don't actually want to change your view on this whole free will thing. You seem to have found a view that works for you in your life. I'm just surprised to encounter so much discussion on the issue. And have never really been challenged on my opinion on free will. So yeah - I'm mainly just surprised. So far no one seems to have a convincing argument to change my opinion though.

I can only conclude you have not thought very intensively about it. A decision, to be meaningful, must be made on the expectation of an outcome and that expectation is thoroughly predetermined by experience and your basic makeup.

So then how do new experiences come about?
How do people accomplish things that have never been previously accomplished?
Yes we may base our decisions on an expected outcome - but there can be several choices of decisions and several choices of outcomes. What causes the selection of an outcome over another outcome if it's not our own free will?

I wasn't meaning to be condescending, I think I spelled it 'incompatable' to begin with which was my bad.


No, we have hopes, dreams, and fantasies of making the most of ourselves and we act on them. It would be one thing if we came up with those hopes, dreams, and fantasies entirely on our own - in the way I explained reality as a Heron play, there's no such thing as coming up with anything on your own really. You individually may have a thought or vision or idea that very few, possibly no one else has had, but it has nothing to do with breaking paths with predestiny - its what happened and its what would happen if you replayed a carbon copy of the scenario over and over again ad infinitum.


Choices have the semblance and appearance of 'choice' every waking day of the hour, its the contingencies their based on that make them something other than free will.

Also, when I say this I really mean it - if someone can prove me wrong, I'll gladly embrace reality otherwise. I don't need or want to manufacture illusions really, just that after 12 years at least of pouring excruciating amounts of energy into solving existential riddles - this is what I've come up with in terms of understanding time and how anything works that operates within time, its a practical conclusion rather than any kind of security blanket first and foremost.