I've been thinking about how to get people started in meditation/contemplation in a way that encourages consistent motivation. I like that this endeavor affects me directly too. In David Rock's book, QUIET LEADERSHIP, the relevant chapter is called "Dance Toward Insight". He uses the term "reflection", but this is generally the same as contemplation. In hectic lives, this important sort of introspective state often gets lost in the hubbub.
Rock makes the point (p106) that illumination is most often preceded by turning one's attention away from external stimuli towards what is occurring internally. Eugene Gendlin (focusing.org) has interesting and applicable commentary on this as well, a few good descriptions of HOW to do that when one chooses to. How many times when we are looking for some breakthrough insight do we just try to run faster or do more? The flipside of this mistake is to believe that trying to stop all internal "chatter" or thinking will result in what we're looking for. Somewhere between a silent meditative state and a hectic mode of pushing forward lies this fertile ground for contemplation and insight.
In my experience, practicing focused meditation has helped me be able to actually step away from the hectic mentality when I've wanted to, but it's not quite the same as brainstorming or contemplation either. While a focused or balanced state of meditation removes my sense of being connected to or limited by whatever problems are current, it doesn't necessarily help me solve those problems or connect to other people. It just creates the space to allow those possibilities.
I believe that most people are less interested in meditation than they are in solutions, insights, and the inspiration that insights bring. If this is the case, then figuring out how contemplation works to remove mental-emotional obstacles to insight fits easily with a "Stages of Change" model of progress. The Stages of Change model developed by Prochaska and DiClemente provides one way of situating how contemplation and insight relates to meditation. In comparison to an easy and profound stillness, contemplation fits with a sense of desired progress and inspiration. Particular types of contemplation can focus on removing the particular emotional obstacles and misleading beliefs that stand between us and an invigorating sense of motivation or passion.
Familiarizing oneself with internal awareness and insight makes us less likely to be impulsive and sporadic in our sense of inspiration and seems to be a key component of feeling alive and brilliant as opposed to feeling confused and worn down or strung out. With the right personal technology, we can learn how to removes obstacles, embrace clarity, and apply that sense of meditative clarity to whatever we do.
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Wow! How simply this seems to tie things together for me, and provide a real reason to meditate, like something just *clicked*. While contemplation is necessary for real world solutions, so much confusion results when I'm locked into an emotionally charged motivation that doesn't move. The mental space that results during meditation allows for clarity during contemplative states, where solutions arise naturally, flowingly. Being able to move comfortably within these almost overwhelming emergent processes removes the panic I often feel when confronted with how we can achieve things like world peace or what I'm supposed to do with my life. My objections to meditative/spiritual traditions have frequently come because it felt as though the answer to every question was that we all just needed to meditate/pray more! "As though that will fix the problem" I'd say to myself cynically, absolutely removing any emotional drive to embrace these ideas further. I didn't want the "wisdom of do nothing" if that's what it had to offer. Still, I couldn't leave it alone, knowing there was something for me in these ancient traditions, and that it was more than just a sense of peace. Replace ambivalence with a drive to meditate: emotionally charged by love, care, and a desire for effective solutions that move with our changing world. While I've got a lot to learn, I'm beginning to embrace my path.
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