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Fall 2006   Vol. 23 #1
Fall 2006   Vol. 23 #1

The Dharma & the Drama

Why I Meditate (after Alan Ginsberg)

By Wes Nisker

 
 

I meditate because I suffer. I suffer, therefore I am. I am, therefore I meditate.

I meditate because there are so many other things to do.

I meditate because when I was younger it was all the rage.

I meditate because Siddhartha Gautama, Bodhidharma, Marco Polo, the British Raj, Carl Jung, Alan Watts, Jack Kerouac, Alfred E. Neuman, et al.

I meditate because evolution gave me a big brain, but it didn’t come with an instruction manual.

I meditate because I have all the information I need.

I meditate because the largest colonies of living beings, the coral reefs, are dying.

I meditate because I want to touch deep time, where the history of humanity can be seen as just an evolutionary adjustment period.

I meditate because life is too short and sitting slows it down.

I meditate because life is too long and I need an occasional break.

I meditate because I want to experience the world as Rumi did, or Walt Whitman, or as Mary Oliver does.

I meditate because now I know that enlightenment doesn’t exist, so I can relax.

I meditate because of the Dalai Lama’s laugh.

I meditate because there are too many advertisements in my head, and I’m erasing all but the very best of them.

I meditate because the physicists say there may be eleven dimensions to reality, and I want to get a peek into a few more of them.

I meditate because I’ve discovered that my mind is a great toy and I like to play with it.

I meditate because I want to remember that I’m perfectly human.

Sometimes I meditate because my heart is breaking.

Sometimes I meditate so that my heart will break.

I meditate because a Vedanta master once told me that in Hindi my name, Nis-ker, means “non-doer.”

I meditate because I’m growing old and want to become more comfortable with emptiness.

I meditate because I think Robert Thurman was right to call it an “evolutionary sport,” and I want to be on the home team.

I meditate because I’m composed of 100 trillion cells, and from time to time I need to reassure them that we’re all in this together.

I meditate because it’s such a relief to spend time ignoring myself.

I meditate because my country spends more money on weapons than all other nations in the world combined. If I had more courage, I’d probably immolate myself.

I meditate because I want to discover the fifth Brahma-vihara, the Divine Abode of Awe, and then go down in history as a great spiritual adept.

I meditate because I’m building myself a bigger and better perspective, and occasionally I need to add a new window.

 

 

∞

 

 

From the Fall 2006 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 23, No. 1)
© 2006 Wes Nisker

 

Topics

Beat Generation, Intention, Humor, Meditation, Poetry, Self-Reflection


Author

Wes “Scoop” Nisker is an author, radio commentator, Buddhist meditation teacher and performer. His books include the national bestseller Essential Crazy Wisdom (Ten Speed Press, 2001). His CDs, DVDs, books and teaching schedule are available at www.wesnisker.com, where he also continues to publish blog posts. Nisker cofounded Inquiring Mind in 1984. 

Author

Wes “Scoop” Nisker is an author, radio commentator, Buddhist meditation teacher and performer. His books include the national bestseller Essential Crazy Wisdom (Ten Speed Press, 2001). His CDs, DVDs, books and teaching schedule are available at www.wesnisker.com, where he also continues to publish blog posts. Nisker cofounded Inquiring Mind in 1984. 

 
 
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