A Sense of Totality.

“In meditation practice, not only are you aware of your breath, your posture, and your thought process, but you are fundamentally mindful and aware. There is a sense of totality. You are aware of the room; you are aware of the rug; you are aware of your meditation cushion; you are aware of what color hair you have; you are aware of what you did earlier that day. You are constantly aware of such things. Beyond that there is nonverbal, nonconceptual awareness that doesn’t talk in terms of facts and figures. A sense of being—experience without words, without terms, without concepts, without visualization—takes place. It is unnameable. We can’t call it “consciousness” exactly, because consciousness implies that you are evaluating or conscious of some sensory inputs. We can’t even call it “awareness,” which could be misunderstood. It is not simply awareness. It is a state of being.” ~ from Ocean of Dharma by Chogyam Trungpa, edited by Carolyn Rose Gimian

The point of meditation is to familiarize ourselves with this basic state of being.

One of the world’s greatest living masters, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, describes this basic state of being and its relationship with the practice meditation.

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