Recently I was asked a question by one of our leaders that really got me thinking, so I decided to address it in this weeks blog.
The question was:
Before we begin our meditation session, is there something we can do to protect ourselves?
I began thinking about various traditions, beliefs and spirits, and I realised that my main thought was that meditation itself is probably the biggest protection of the mind that we have.
To show my point I want to share a story about my children.
In our house, we have a token system for behaviour. If the kids do extra jobs, they will be given a positive token, and if they do something they shouldn’t, they will be given a negative token. The positive tokens can be used on screen time or other activities they want to do.
Essentially, a 15 minute job can earn them a positive token, and an act of violence or being caught in a lie, will result in a penalty of 5 negative tokens.
Recently my son came to me and said that the system wasn’t fair. He said:
“we work half a day to earn 5 tokens and then in a matter of seconds we can lose them all just like that”.
And isn’t that the reality of life for most of us?
I have previously studied in the buddhist tradition in which it is very difficult to get good/white karma, but it is extremely easy to lose the karma that you have worked so hard for. In a flash of anger, we are able to do so much damage by striking out at someone or something. Damage which can take weeks to repair, or cause irreparable harm to our relationships.
Meditation enables us to avoid those flashes of anger, and personally, meditation has helped me keep an even keel, so I am not prone to sudden anger.
In that way, meditation itself protects us against negative actions which can have long lasting damage on us and others around us.
This brings me back to the question I was asked on protecting ourselves before we get started. Some religions and sects believe that if you are going into meditation that you are opening your mind up to the devil, which is something I have written a post blog about here. Other beliefs, such as some Hindi traditions believe that spirits are something we should open ourselves up to at specific times.
Personally, I believe that perception is projection. If you think that spirits are going to bother you, then chances are, they will. If you believe they will cause you trouble, you will be more prone to it.
My biggest tip for protecting oneself is always our motivation and our intention for doing anything. If we have a positive intention, I believe that it motivates and protects.
This question truly got me thinking, so I appreciated it being sent through and the chance it gave me to share my thoughts on the subject. I hope you have been able to take something away from it!
