The Donkey and the Rider: Why Meditation for Positive Energy is Already What You Are

There is a common story that perfectly mirrors the human condition: a man wanders the countryside, distressed and exhausted, searching everywhere for his lost donkey, completely unaware that he is currently sitting on its back. We smile at the absurdity, yet this is exactly how we approach the search for the absolute. We look for peace, for clarity, or for meditation for positive energy as if these were distant destinations to be reached through effort. But who is the one looking? And where could you possibly go to find what is already the ground of your being? We often speak of meditation as if it were a ladder, a tool to climb from a state of "un-enlightenment" to a state of "awakening." But let’s be frank among friends: there is no ladder because there is no height to achieve. If we use meditation for positive energy, it may indeed make the body-mind feel more harmonious. It can relax the nervous system, allow the blood to flow more freely, and even strengthen the immune system. These are wonderful horizontal improvements in the dream of life. However, they have nothing to do with the absolute. The absolute is not the result of a quiet mind; it is the space in which both the quiet mind and the chaotic mind appear. When we sit in silence, we are not practicing to become something else. Silence is simply what remains when the seeker stops seeking. It is like the screen in a movie theater. The screen doesn't become the film, and the fire in the movie doesn't burn the screen. Whether the movie is a tragedy or a celebration, the screen remains untouched, open, and aware. We are that screen. We are the silent presence that allows the noise of the separate self to exist. A friend recently noted that the "I am" often feels tied to the body-mind, a sort of psychological unit that functions in the world. This is true on a functional level. We need this unit to cross the street or study for an exam. But the aware presence that underlies this function is timeless. It is the silence that underlies the noise. You don't need to create silence; you only need to notice that noise cannot exist without it. Does the noise of a passing car "disturb" the space it moves through? Of course not. Space doesn't care. In the same way, the absolute doesn't care if the body-mind is meditating or if it is angry. We often think that liberation is something the "I" achieves. But liberation is never *of* the separate self; it is *from* the separate self. It is the realization that the one who wanted to be enlightened was just another character in the dream. If you are dreaming that you are sick and searching for a cure, the "cure" isn't found within the dream. The cure is waking up and realizing you were never that sick character to begin with. You were the dreamer, the bed, the room, and the sickness all at once. This is why we say there is no path. A path implies a distance between where you are and where you want to be.