Is Meditation Just a Tool?

There is a lot of misconception regarding meditation. As meditation and other forms of mindfulness continue to grow in the American and Western European imagination, it’s going to continue to run into a whole range of misconceptions. One of the most common objections people have to meditation is that is some sort of religious experience. That somehow, some way, if you practice meditation or meditation paired with yoga, you are basically converted into a different religion. 

 

Of course, there are many different layers of intentionality to this. Some people are saying that, the moment you meditate, you are consciously trying to become a Hindu or a Buddhist. Other people say that even though you don’t intend to follow these spiritual paths, that’s exactly what you’re doing in practice. 

 

Both of these ideas are wrong. You have to understand that meditation is not a destination in of itself. This is where all these misconceptions get it wrong. They think that you’re meditating because you want to be spiritual. Meditation, in their eyes, is a goal. This is wrong. Meditation is a tool.

 

When you buy a hammer, it’s not because hammers mean the world to you. It’s because you want to nail something to the wall. Similarly, if you buy a saw, it’s because you are a big fan of saws from all over the world. Instead, you buy a saw because you’re trying to cut some wood. The same applies to meditation. 

 

While there is quite a bit of elegance and beauty in the different practices and steps that make up meditation, at the end of the day, it is just a tool. That’s all it is. It’s something that you use to get to where you want to go. What is this ultimate destination? Well, it’s all about personal clarity. If you are feeling stuck, frustrated, discouraged, in any way, shape or form, it’s because of your thought patterns. 

 

Would it be great to think in such a way that the whole world opens up to you? It’s as if everything that you have found confusing, challenging, or even downright outrageous, about your life, has somehow become clear. That’s precisely the kind of mental and emotional state you can achieve with meditation. 

 

It does this without resorting to some sort of hocus pocus or magic. This is not some sort of religious activity. Instead, meditation really is a set of practices, discovered throughout thousands of years, that tie into how our minds work. Now, wrap your mind around that phrase. I said “how our minds work,” as in how it currently works, not how it could work or how it should work. 

 

I’m talking about how it currently works, right here, right now. The reason why people struggle and are dealing with all sorts of past traumas and worries is because they let their mind work against them instead of for them. Your mind is just a tool. You are always in control. You shape your world with your choices and how you think impacts your choices. 

 

Meditation is a tool for clarifying your thinking processes. You become aware of your decisions. You become aware of your ability to choose. You become aware of the impact of how you choose to think has an impact on your world. That is real power. But meditation in of itself is not the destination. That is not the goal, so don’t get it twisted. 

 

Use it for the tool that it is, so you can take your life to the next level.