A secular approach to mindfulness meditation
Personal Context#
I have been a lousy meditator since my late teens. My problem has always been the motivation to develop a habit for which the gratification is very delayed, and over such a long time horizon that it is practically undetectable from day to day. I realise now that this craving for instant gratification is precisely one of the causes of suffering meditation seeks to remedy. I meditated on and off with little success until I stumbled upon the brilliant app Brightmind which was my first introduction to the teachings of this book’s author, Shinzen Young.
Shinzen’s system - Unified Mindfulness#
The calming and reassuring benefits of meditation are well known societally, but less discussed are its clarifying and focus related benefits. Shinzen’s system aims to cover all aspects of mindfulness meditation in a secular manner.
The meditations are aimed at improving the three core ‘mental muscles’:
- Concentration
- Clarity
- Equanimity
These mental muscles are the essence of mindfulness. The ultimate goal of mindfulness practice is to achieve happiness independent of external conditions.
Concentration#
To strengthen concentration means to be better at sticking to the task at hand. It is easy for our mind to wander or be distracted from the object of practice. The act of noticing that the mind has been distracted and returning to the object of focus helps ’exercise’ this muscle. Improved concentration can help to reduce suffering as it can help you be more present, rather than wandering off into worry about the past or future.
Clarity#
Suffering is usually multiplicative, rather than additive. By improving our clarity we can distinguish the thoughts and experiences that contribute to our suffering. By understanding ourselves and our mind we reduce the multiplicative effect of suffering.
Equanimity#
This is the ability to accept sensory experiences as they are, without craving or suppression. Equanimity is rooted in impermanence. Nothing lasts forever, and acknowledging this allows us to reduce suffering and increase fulfilment. All bad experiences come to an end, just as all good experiences do.
Noting and Labelling#
We can increase concentration, clarity, and equanimity by noticing sensory experiences that arise and categorising them as we see fit
Focus Space#
Shinzen’s system splits sensory experience into three categories:
- See
- Hear
- Feel
And the practitioner clarifies these experiences as happening externally or internally (in the mind), and therefore subdivides these three categories into six modalities of experience:
- See in
- Hear in
- Feel in
- See out
- Hear out
- Feel out
The act of labelling a particular experience increases clarity, focusing wholly on the noted experiences increases concentration. And being egalitarian regarding which experiences are noted and labelled increases equanimity - with special attention paid to the tone of labels, aiming to address each experience with the same calm matter-of-fact-ness.