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Theory of the "Naturals,"
Five Key Definitions
A Course in Meditation,
2007
by Theodore K. Phelps ©
2007
-from Chapter 8, "The Naturals" selected quotations
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Web readers please
note: this text is offered for your information, not as a replacement
for a course of instruction. The text is directly excerpted from the
book, and certain references do not make sense out of context.
1. Meditation
Can we make a sufficiently broad definition for ...
the formal sitting meditations that have long anchored the great
religious and spiritual meditative traditions? It is not easy. Here is
my attempt: (I number the five definitions presented in this talk).
[1] Meditation: the act of engaging an agenda of
mental and bodily actions or postures, usually minimal and
repetitive in form, designed to influence the direction of
attention, usually inward, or the content of thought and perception,
in order to refine subtle functions of body and mind or to express
or participate in a subtle reality.
Phew! That’s a mouthful—and a mindful.
Clearly, teachers wouldn’t use this definition to teach people how to
meditate. It is an academic definition attempting to include a wide
range of methods while excluding programs that most of us would not
consider meditation. It defines a big tent.
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2. Meditative Function
Long before people invented the acts we call
meditation, nature or the Creator built something into human
physiology and psychology that would make meditation possible. This
wiring might have been in humans from the beginning, before
civilization and before any culture we have a name or history for.
Regardless of its history—maybe it arrived only 5,000 years ago—we
have it inside us now. We have it regardless of upbringing,
culture, religion, or philosophy. What is it?
Within minutes of starting a non-striving form of meditation—it
works best with that kind of meditation—the body slows and the mind
opens and settles down. A complex, intelligent, and effective function
arises as naturally as sleep, given the right conditions.
The function has been studied scientifically for
several decades and is often called the "relaxation response," a term
coined by Herbert Benson, M.D. of Harvard Medical School in the mid
1970s. I call it the meditative function and will explain why
in the third talk (Chapter 8).
It is our second definition:
[2] Meditative function: a suite of natural processes of the human
mind and body, distinct from those of waking and sleeping, that arise
naturally during periods of intentional non-striving, generally while
sitting in non-striving forms of meditation.
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3. Nature-supporting meditation
The meditative function can emerge slightly during quiet
moments without our giving it a name, caring about it, or even knowing about it.
But like all natural functions, it takes time to fully blossom. In this case, it
takes 10 or 15 minutes of uninterrupted, intentional sitting with eyes closed or
lowered. Those conditions rarely exist outside of meditative settings. Also, the
conditions that most support and encourage the meditative function do not appear
equally in all methods. The higher the degree of personal control, the lower
will be the natural effect. I like to think of the meditative function as a
patient, highly respectful servant or employee who will only enter the boss’s
office when invited or allowed to do so. Therefore, methods that best support
and encourage the meditative function invite or allow the meditator to get out
of the way and let nature work. They have these features:
1. Clear intention to be in meditation.
2. Ease in the body. A safe setting. Sitting comfortably.
3. Ease in the senses. Eyes closed or lowered. Quiet.
4. Ease in the ego. Not competing with nature.
Notice the theme? Ease pervades meditation methods
that support and encourage the meditative function. Since not all methods do
this with equal efficiency, I give a name to the ones that are good at it. It is
our third definition:
[3] Nature-supporting meditation: meditation methods with prescribed
mental and physical actions that support and encourage the meditative
function.
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4. natural meditation (lower case)
A nature-supporting meditation might not have the meditative
function as part of its conscious design or aims. Its traditions and purposes
may be elsewhere. But its method, or the way the person holds that method, must
provide the conditions of ease in body, sense, and ego. For example, a
meditation might be a "training the heart" method with repetition of a thought
about God’s mercy. If the method is handled with ease, the meditative function
will turn on, even though the meditator has interests that lie elsewhere.
When a meditation method is designed to support the
meditative function, its designers intentionally keep the method spare. This is
because any flourishes can snag the meditator’s habits of personal striving. So,
here is our fourth definition:
[4] natural meditation: (lower case) a meditation designed
specifically and minimally to be a nature-supporting meditation.
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5. Natural Meditation (upper case)
The nature-supporting method I designed, Natural
Meditation, was intended specifically for culturally neutral,
non-religious, self-paced settings such as A Course in Meditation.
I designed it to be welcoming for people who want to avoid practices
based in foreign cultures, philosophies, and religion. The method is
especially minimal to avoid cultural snags. It has what is needed to
support and encourage the meditative function, but nothing more.
[5] Natural Meditation: (capitalized) a specific form of natural meditation designed in 1994 by Ted
Phelps for use in a non-cultural teaching method by the same name.
I will return to these ideas in more detail in my next talk and
present a way of classifying meditation based not just on what the
teachers say, but on what actually happens with the meditator.
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