MEdiatation: Balance, intervened

Meditation and mediation.  They almost beg to be combined into a single concept, don’t they?

Meditation is an active pursuit, but it is aimed inward.  The disparate, warring elements of the psyche are brought to heel by the focused, directed thinking of the mind.  Mediation, on the other hand, is also an active pursuit, but one that is aimed outward, onto the world.  The disparate, warring elements of life are brought to heel by the directed intervention of a third party.  Using mediation to achieve meditative goals, this, my friends, is the way forward. This is “mediatation”.

Confused?  Don’t be, it couldn’t be simpler.  Let me lay down a little scenario for you.

You’re you. Average, frustrated, unenlightened, uninspired you. You long for the balance, spiritual enlightenment, and personal completeness that only meditation (or Xanax combined with Pink Floyd) can provide. But all that sitting and nothingness just doesn’t do it for you (and Xanax is $5 a bar out there). You’re a person of action, and all the Enya and wheat candles in the world won’t change that.  What now?

It’s time to mediatate.

Find an argument, a source of conflict in your life.  It doesn’t have to be big; not everything is Palestine. But say your roommates, let’s call them “Bill” and “Dave”, are in it deep over which one should wash the dishes.  This is your big chance for oneness.

As you grab a plate in each hand, explain to your roommates that this kind of bickering doesn’t solve the problem, it only exacerbates it.  As you smash a plate deep into Bill’s zygomatic arch, empathize with his frustration over the disproportionate number of times that washing the dishes has fallen to him.  When you crash the second plate into the horrified, unbelieving expression on Dave’s face, explain to him that even though he feels like he does other chores around the house, doing the dishes is something everyone needs to pitch in on.