Meditation is a thing that you do with your attention. When you pay attention or concentrate or get distracted, that’s you doing a thing with your attention. And that’s obviously important stuff in your life and the world. Meditation takes it further.
We basically have 2 kinds of meditation.
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Concentration meditation, which is plain ol concentration taken to a higher level.
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Zen meditation (aka shikantaza), which is another thing to do with your attention, kindof a left turn from concentration and is a bit esoteric.
So there you go.
So, do you have a more-experienced meditator that you meet with regularly, or do you meditate on your own?
I meditate on my own
Is there a principled reason why you do not consult with other meditators, or did it just work out that way?
No principal involved. The way I see it, I have this thing before me and addressing it seems to be a personal one-man job. So ya, I never felt drawn to consulting like that. But when I find somebody else who meditates I do like to talk to them. Sometimes intensely.
That makes sense. There’s been an enormous amount of meditation work done over the centuries, in the Euro-American world we tend to be unaware of it. I kinda feel like I should encourage you to seek out meditation centers and temples. But if what you’re doing works for you, then awesome.