I have actually been getting quite a bit of angry email as of late. From journalists and yogis, yogic reporters and meditation practitioners, demanding an explanation as to why I want to tear down the beautiful tradition of meditation.
The answer is simple. It is my Simple Truth.
I DO NOT!
In modern meditation we are not trying to reinvent meditation, we are rethinking how it is applied in today's world.
Ever since my own recovery from my soon-to-be 9 brain tumor surgeries, after seeing how meditation has helped me manage my health and well being, after seeing the impact meditation has had on those who practice it, I am looking at new ways to apply meditation to cure the world's ills.
No small feat.
I am seeking ways to layer meditation so that it provides a richer, deeper experience for the stress-induced, fear-based masses. I am incorporating the findings of neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology -- they all come into play in terms of creating a meditation practice for the contemporary world.
It is the a cause I have dedicated my life to. It is why I chose this path. It is also why I will continue to search for the connections between the sciences and the philosophies of the world. For it is in those connections that balance, calm, enlightenment, and even transcendence lies.
No, I do not have a Ph.D. No, I was not educated in a traditional meditative practice. No, I am not a Buddhist. But sometimes the world, even the meditation world, needs an outside point of view if it is to change for the better.
After all, meditation is a wonderful 3,000-year-old practice. Something tells me it is strong enough to continue on its own. But for those who are caught up in the world we created, maybe, just maybe, the practice of meditation can be refined those that those unfamiliar or unwilling to wait for the patience the traditional practice calls for.
What do you think?