Americans have no
legitimate context for meditation, Zen, or Buddhism. In fact, meditation seems
to fly in the face of many American values and traditions. We value endless
hard work, strength, and action. John Wayne never meditated in between
shootouts with bad guys. And as far as the religious aspect goes, Buddhism
still hasn’t made much of a dent in the U.S. population. But to be fair, even
countries where there is a cultural and communal context to meditation, like
Japan, have had decreased participation in Zen and Buddhism. It appears that
modern culture is somewhat antithetical to meditation.
I explain all of this
to help explain why it might be difficult for many to learn to meditate and
keep the habit going, which is really a critical part of learning to
meditate—self-discipline. So when reading about situated learning, I thought of
how difficult it is to learn something, like meditation, out of the situated
places that created the practice (i.e., Eastern cultures with long histories
and practitioners). I was raised LDS and grew up in Utah, where the majority of
the population (save certain areas of Salt Lake City) is Mormon. Growing up
there was a vast array of supporting learning about the religion, including
traditions, beliefs, rules, language, and on and on. Every aspect of the small
town I grew up in contained within it some form of support or reinforcement:
our neighbors, the churches, our church leaders, the way our parents
interacted, the activities we were expected to do every Sunday, Monday, and
Tuesday night. I’m sure I could go on forever. Being in that situated learning
experience, it would be nearly impossible to not learn a great deal about the
LDS faith. Even my non-LDS friends new a great deal about the beliefs, culture,
and traditions of Mormons.
I’ve been thinking
about this while I struggle to force myself to sit for 25-30 minutes every
morning to meditate. Because I used do much more as member of the LDS religion
than I’m required to do to meditate, and it never felt this difficult. I guess
part of the problem is not having a community of support or example. When I
used to wake up to go to church on Sunday morning, I didn’t complain because it
was just the thing that we did—it was expected of me. And while I do have my
weekly meditation class, I don’t feel the same expectations being placed on me,
and I start to feel like I’m the only person in the world really doing this
wacky stuff. I really believe that I would have an easier time meditating, if I
saw other people meditating in the front yards on my way to work. Or if people
at school talked about their meditation sessions, like they talk about church
meetings and celebrations. I feel like we’re wired to learn this way, but when
you attempt to learn something so unsituated to your culture, you run into
challenges.
So, as a quick
update, I will say that I’ve been able to sit longer, but I still have
challenging meditation sessions. With both school and work coming to a fevered
pitch in the last week, I’ve been pretty distracted, and it crosses over into
my meditation. It’s funny, in a way, because when you most need the relaxation
and release of meditation, it’s the most difficult time to do it. Quite
honestly, I have learned quite a bit about Zen and Self-Hypnosis, but in the
end, this learning project is really about gaining self-discipline and delayed
gratification, which I’ve always struggled with. But what I’m beginning to
understand is that habits are learned.
You don’t flip a habit on or off like a light switch. You work hard and build
on your previous skills to obtain a higher competency and a clearer awareness
of your self. So I still feel like I’ve been learning, although I’m not
regurgitating a laundry list of facts.
In fact, I think learning a new habit is really difficult, up there with
learning a new language.
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