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THE MANY PATHS
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There are hundreds of different kinds of meditation – all designed to suit different types of people, so that everyone can find the kind of meditation which suits them and which is easy for them to do. All of these types of meditation can be grouped into seven categories, and in each of these there are many different variations. These categories are: Breathing Meditations, Visualisations, Mantras, Movement Meditations, Contemplations, Meditations on Body Energies and Insight Meditation. All of these are taught and described in detail in our courses. In the same way that the meditation tradition lays out these many different kinds of meditations, so it recognises that people will follow different directions and come to understand things in their own way. This depends on their natural abilities and the way they learn. It seems that people can learn about and experience the world in three different ways. Therefore there are three quite distinct paths which are integral to learning about and practising meditation. There are those who like to do things. These are the people of action, who learn and understand by experiencing things through their bodies. There are those who understand through their feelings and learn through their relationships. And there are those who like to think about things. The first personality type I like to call ‘The Do-er”. They are definitely ‘hands on’ people so something only makes sense to them once they have touched it, got the feel of it and tried it out to see what it actually does. It’s only through the actual physical reaction of their bodies that they ‘get it’. In meditation, all of their inner experiences are played out physically. Of course this can be quite unnerving if they are not guided properly by someone who understands what it happening. Quite naturally they can be convinced that things are going wrong with their bodies and might go to the doctor. Of course, the doctor can’t find anything wrong, and so both they and the doctor are right – they really were experiencing these things, and there is nothing really physically wrong with them. I meet many of these people as clients and once they understand what is happening and are given meditation exercises which allow them to open up to their experiences they can see and understand exactly what is happening, and their physical symptoms disappear. The second personality type I like to call ‘The Lover’. These people tend to identify with their emotions – they feel everything deeply, are passionate about things and are devoted. Their relationships play the dominant part in their lives and they love communicating. Their contact with the world and with themselves is made through their feelings and their aim is to ‘feel at one with’ or ‘feel connected to’ or ‘be in union with’ others, the world and eventually the universe. They are very much heart people. The third personality type I like to call ‘The Seer’. They are the kind of people who like to think about things and their path is the path of knowledge. They like to ask the big questions, the ultimate questions about where things come from and where they go, how and why we happen to be here, who we are, and how our minds and the universe work. They are the visionaries. Both the Do-ers and the Lovers like to work with all the different kinds of meditations, the Do-ers concentrating on those that give them plenty to do, and the Lovers concentrating on those which build relationships, like visualisations and mantras. The Do-ers come to understand truth through their actions and the experiences of their bodies and their lives. The Lovers literally feel their way to the truth by opening their hearts to the love of others. The Seers, however, usually focus directly on Insight Meditation where they can open up to seeing clearly and directly the truth. Eventually these three different paths come to the same point where, although their ways of learning are very different, they discover that they have come to see the same truth in different ways. In the tradition this is called the path of ‘no more meditation’ because their meditation practice and their lives have become completely integrated. Their inner and outer lives are in harmony.
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