Expert: Joe McSorley - 4/18/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hi
I'd like to ask you about meditation.I've heard that the longer you do it.It can change your brain chemistry.Can you tell me more about that? If may ask also,when it comes to keeping aligned,focused within.What would you recommend? I know that meditation is one. And how do you bring yourself back into aligned with yourself.When have drift & get caught up in negative words,people etc...

THANK U SO MUCH

ANSWER: Conas atá tú Julie-ann?
   There is a lot of research on how meditation affects the brain.  There is a book entitled “Zen and the Brain” by James Austin that deals deeply with the brain and the effect Zen has on it.  It is interesting but understanding this has little to do with any real Zen insight.  Knowing the pebbles in the path does not necessarily lead you to where the path goes.
   I am not a meditation teacher and I know that the primary focus of Zen is meditation however my emphasis, as always is, it has to be the right kind of meditation.  Just quieting your brain is not what Zen is about.  It is about overcoming the dualistic process of human consciousness in a total and thoroughgoing manner.  So if you want to keep your mind focused you need to understand that the mind itself creates your problems.  It is not just the idea of thought, negative or positive, but the way the mind works that causes our problems.  The goal in keeping focused or aligned is to overcome the mind in total and awaken as a ‘new’ self.
   One of the ways to do this is to disregard your own opinion, your likes/dislikes and desires.  Realize that your opinion of things is not the truth and you will no longer carry those thoughts.  We commonly think that what we think is real or important.  We make judgments about everything and everybody.  This is the constant chatter or our brains.  When you truly realize how wrong this is you will steadily work to stop doing it. You will want to stop doing it. Your mind will be seen like an annoying barking dog that you no longer want to hear.  By simply paying attention to the world, not thinking about what is around you but just seeing it, you can begin to develop a deeper seeing.  We make judgments about what is beautiful and what is not, especially when it comes to people. Babies all see their mothers as beautiful and good.  Are they wrong?  No, they see their mother as they are without all the trappings of a mind that has grown up in human society.  There is nothing more beautiful then their mother to them at this time. The baby is not troubled with an ego, it just sees purely.  At each moment the world is new to it unfettered by past thoughts and judgments.  It reacts positively or negatively to what is appropriate and does not prejudge.  The baby’s consciousness is not the same as enlightened consciousness but there is an unbroken ness there that is more wholesome then our adult consciousness.  
  Practice being aware, just seeing and perceiving with all of your senses at once and do it all of the time and this might help bring you a deep insight into yourself.  Should you slip away you just start over.  Don’t chastise yourself or become angry, just do it again.  It’s like playing music; you do it over and over again until you become it.  Be patient and don’t worry about progress or the outcome, things will change in due time.
   I hope this has helped you.  Take care.  Lá Fhiéle Pádraig Sona Duit!
         Joe


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: HI Joe
 Thank you so much for yr reply.If I may ask you,how can I defeat projecting my thoughts/emotions on to situations in my life.Thay say how you see the world & how the world really is,is two different thigs.Also,I'm interested in acting & I see that people that are acting.I notice that they are carrying around their own life story.That seems to give them promission to do what is asked for.In acting out the part & expressing the emotion.That may not even be in them at the time.It seems to just flowing through them,it seems to act as a support for them.And they,in what ever scene they do, is done with no resistance.They express them selves not a thought given to how it will look or what reaction they may get from people watching.They do the emotion that is asked for in the scene.Fulling & with no hesitation.For me,it's that opposite there is resistance and I don't understand.I feel so strongly about expressing myself but my mind blocks me.Is it my true self i need to discover to break down this resistance? What would be going on with my mind that won't allow me the freedom?  THANKING U DEEPLY

Answer
Hello Julie-Ann,
  
 This is a good question and it shows that you are thinking about this deeply.
Often what appears as effortless performance is really just the fruit of arduous work.  If you don’t mind me using some Irish idioms here let me try to explain it.
If you are watching Michael Flatley or Jean Butler dance you might observe the dance as pure flowing and unselfconscious.  The question is, how did it get there?  It was the conscious practice of technique and exercise that allowed their bodies to freely express the dance.  Without practice this could not have been achieved and yet practice alone does not guarantee that you move onto inspired performance.  It is the same in any art form.   When I watch Matt Malloy play the flute it both inspires me and depresses me because I will never have the time to practice and be that good at it.  What is effortless and flowing now is the result of years of arduous practice to overcome the instrument and the player.  I am sure it is the same with acting.  You must commit yourself to the task and hope that you become the task; that there is no separation between you and the art form you are trying to master.  You do technique to overcome technique.
  There is a famous story about Sir Lawrence Olivier starring in a play on Broadway and one night after a stellar performance his is heard  in a rage in his dressing room.  Someone asked what was wrong since this was one of the best performances of a lifetime and asked  why he was  upset.  He replied, “ I know it was a great performance but I don’t know how I did it!”  He lost himself to the performance which allowed him to purely be the part.  He didn’t know how to regain that performance.  In this loss of self he was no longer Olivier but was the part.  He was in fact Olivier but unconscious of it.  Him wanting now to be conscious of it is what creates the resistance.
   The idea of overcoming yourself to become the art is known in Chinese philosophy as wei-wu-wei, to do without doing, and it is precisely the practicing of a form to overcome the form that this is describing.  You become so engaged in the practice that you lose the practice.  Since this is a loss of self it sometimes evokes fear in the individual.  It also evokes ecstasy so it is a double edged sword.  Here the paradox of losing the self to become the self arises.  Your fear is that of losing what you know to be yourself even though you don’t really know yourself.  “Das Hund sie kennst” in German, it’s the dog you know and so you are more comfortable with it.  So you stand in the way of you by wanting to be conscious of yourself.   The only way to overcome this is to practice doing it, it being whatever discipline you are involved in.  Eventually you will overcome the technique and act freely.
   This is similar but not identical to the Zen quest.  In the everyday wei-wu-wei you return to the normal conflicted consciousness.  The goal of Zen is to fundamentally destroy the conflicted consciousness so that a new consciousness arises.  One of the ways to help this happen is to learn to disregard your view of the world, to just see it.  Try to still the mind of all its opinions and ideas and see clearly and purely.
  I hope this helps you.  Take care,
        Slan!
         Joe