meditation is

Meditation is the relocation of consciousness from the periphery to the centre,
from the noise to the silence, from the perturbation to the stillness

The word meditation is used in two quite different senses. In one sense, meditation is something which we do. We might sit in a certain posture, we might follow a particular discipline such as bringing the awareness to the breath, or watching our thoughts without becoming involved in them. In such ways we practise meditation. We use effort, discipline, control, in an attempt to bring about some change within us. By practice, of course, we mean this is not the real thing. When we practise something we are preparing for the real thing, we are in training for the real thing, but the practice is somehow not the real thing. So it is, when we try to meditate.

There is another sense in which the word meditation is used. In this second, deeper sense of the word, meditation is something that happens to us. It is a change in our consciousness, it is a shift, a movement of our consciousness from the periphery to the centre of our being. The periphery is our thoughts, our senses, perceptions, our emotions, feelings – all of this is on the surface. There is nothing wrong with the surface, but there are deeper parts to us which are also to be explored, enjoyed, lived. Meditation, when it happens to us, is the movement into these deeper realms within us. Ultimately to our very centre, to our essential being. Here there is silence and stillness. In this silence and stillness there is found a great spaciousness and an immense potential. This is the deeper meaning of the word meditation, movement of our awareness, our consciousness, away from thoughts, senses, perceptions, emotions, feelings – all the surface things with which we are ordinarily occupied. This is the deeper meaning of meditation.