The Myth of the Seeker and the Illusion of Guided Meditation Programs

Stop performing. For just a moment, let go of the weight of being a creator, a professional, or a productive unit in a digital machine. We are often exhausted by the social performance, drained by a hyper-connectivity that leaves us feeling utterly disconnected from the essence of life. We seek a state of action without effort, yet we turn that seeking into another job, another goal to achieve. We look for **guided meditation programs** as if they were ladders to a higher floor, but what if there is no upstairs? What if the "you" that is trying to get somewhere is the very illusion that prevents you from seeing where you already are? In the quiet of a shared space, perhaps with a camera on but audio off, we find ourselves protected by silence. We are seen, yet we don't have to appear intelligent, productive, or "spiritual." This is the beauty of a shared presence that doesn't demand anything. In this space, we might notice a strange expression: it is like searching for the donkey while you are already riding it. We look for "being," for "presence," for "the absolute," as if these were destinations in the future. But who is the one looking? And where could you possibly go to find what is already the ground of your existence? Liberation is not of the separate self; it is from the separate self. We often think that by practicing enough, by following the right **guided meditation programs**, this "I" will eventually recognize what you already are. But the separate self is not an entity that can be improved until it reaches divinity. It is a function, a relational mode of the body-mind that organizes our experience in time and space. It is like a character in a dream who spends the whole night looking for a cure for a disease, only to wake up and realize they were never the sick person, but the dreamer of the entire dream. The dreamer is the doctor, the patient, and the hospital. In the same way, the absolute includes everything: the perfect and the imperfect, the generosity and the exploitation, the silence and the noise. We often hear that we must meditate to reach a state of peace. It is true that meditation can make the body-mind feel better. It can harmonize our internal states, sharpen our focus, and provide a much-needed rest from the burnout of remote work. These are horizontal improvements, and they are perfectly valid. If you want to learn the piano, you practice. If you want to calm the mind, you might engage with **guided meditation programs** to cultivate a sense of quiet. But do not be fooled into thinking this is a path to the absolute. The absolute is vertical; it is here right now, whether you are stressed or calm, whether you are a "saint" or a "sinner." The ocean does not become more of an ocean because a wave decides to be still. The wave is already the ocean, even when it is crashing violently against the rocks. Think about the moment you wake up in the morning.