Understanding The Popularity Of Meditation
Jul0
Learning how to meditate as a way of life has a great deal to offer today’s hectic and divided world. It is just as valid today as it was a thousand years ago and as valuable in London as in Khatmandu. The sixties saw the rebirth of a mass quest for spiritual values, predominantly among the young.
It was exuberant and vociferous, often seeking to escape from the materialistic values of its elders. The movement certainly created shock waves as it changed mass consciousness. Amidst the slogans and the excesses there was a deeply felt need for a new value system. Out of the melee of the sixties has come a more realistic and stabilized sense of purpose. The flower children have grown up and put down roots. They have handed on the torch to the next generation. Those heady days are over, but the legacy lives on in a more restrained form. The flamboyance and excess have gone but the essential inner spirit is still alive, for which we can all be thankful. The society which loses sight of the quest for meaning and purpose is inwardly dead.
The particular climate of the sixties prompted many to pack their bags and take refuge in the fabled lands of India and Nepal. They hoped to meet a spiritual master on the road and perhaps some did. What they found was a totally new way of life with a different orientation. Many discovered meditation as an integral part of life. Some returned with faith revitalized, carrying new-found treasure to share with others. Others came back disappointed having discovered that the spiritual life is not to be found in the external world but within. Others did not come back at all.
The last century has witnessed many changes in thought and knowledge from the scientific and technical to the psychological and metaphysical. Growth psychology has established itself as a valid movement for realizing human potential. We are beginning to understand the importance of personal exploration as a means of releasing creativity and untapped resources.