The Myth of Meditation for Spiritual Growth and the Reality of What You Already Are

We often find ourselves caught in the movement of searching, as if the absolute were a distant shore and we were sailors lost at sea. We are told that we must embark on a journey, that we must refine the body-mind, and that we must utilize meditation for spiritual growth to finally arrive at a state of peace. But who is it that is trying to grow? Who is this separate self that believes it can move closer to the totality? It is like a man out in the fields, frantically searching for the donkey he is already riding. He looks under every bush and behind every tree, asking everyone he meets where his mount has gone, never realizing that he is already supported by the very thing he seeks. The idea that we can use meditation for spiritual growth implies that there is a "you" that is currently incomplete and a "there" that is better than "here." It suggests a horizontal movement in time, a ladder we must climb to reach a conscious presence. But the absolute is not at the end of a corridor. It is vertical. It is the silent screen upon which the entire film of your life is projected. Whether the movie is a tragedy of war or a beautiful romance, the screen remains untouched, unstained, and perfectly present. We are so distracted by the flickering images of the body-mind—the thoughts, the emotions, the "good" and "bad" actions—that we forget we are the screen itself. We speak of liberation, but liberation is never *of* the separate self; it is *from* the separate self. It is the falling away of the illusion that there is an independent pilot at the helm of this body-mind choosing its next move. When we look closely, we see that things simply happen. The mother produces milk because of a hormonal system; the child cries because it is hungry; the adult acts out of a complex web of conditioning that they did not choose. We think we are making choices, yet even a genius like Einstein could be wrong about the very nature of reality. If such a mind can err, who are we to claim we are in control of the "path"? There is a common frustration among those who have spent years in spiritual circles. You might feel tired of the noise, the guided voices, the new-age music, and the spiritual separate self that often permeates these groups. You seek a space to simply be, before words intervene. This is because, at some level, there is a recognition that the "conscious presence" we are does not need to be taught anything. It cannot be improved. It is already the totality. Meditation, in this light, is not a tool for achievement. It may bring comfort now, it may help the body-mind feel better in the moment, but it is not a bridge to enlightenment. There is no bridge because there is no gap. If meditation appears in a life, it is simply a manifestation of the absolute, just as a storm or a sunset is. Some people meditate, some do not. Neither is closer to the truth. One person might be seeking to purify the mind, while another is simply living their life.