Once again, I’m wondering why it is such a big secret. It took me a long time to realize that awareness is such a rich source of pleasure. Meditation can be so pleasant. But that pleasant aspect is so seldom emphasized or even mentioned. Meditation and the many forms of awareness seem to be undersold as something forced, strict and constrained. The opposite is what I experience: it is relaxed, pleasant and free.
I certainly employ meditation as something useful. It is a training ground for my mind. My mind develops a habit of awareness. It makes it almost effortless to become aware throughout the day. It is a micro-dosing of deep concentration that endures and serves me whenever I intend to become more aware.
But it is so much more than an effort of training and preparation. For me, it has become a focus of the pleasurable delight that comes from a concentrated mind. The pleasant awareness alone has become sufficient reason to pause and give my my attention to anything. It is such a pleasurable experience.
It also paves the way to a deeper awareness that for me is on the way or closely akin to absorption. It simply makes it more attractive and easy.
I no longer am sure what is meant by the cautious comments about “sensory delight.” Sensory delight is often represented as undesirable, or at least a distraction. My experience is less of a distraction than a reminder to move from involvement with the sense experience to an awareness of it. Mindful eating can be a pleasant taste and sensory experience but the awareness of it is even more pleasant.
Sensory experience is more than the softness of touch, it is the pleasure of being aware of touching, aware of the object of touch. Lovely music is more than the experience of pleasant sounds, it is also the pleasure of being aware of the sounds.
I wonder about the meaning of all the warnings about desire. I think the caution is more aptly directed not at the object of desire, but the disturbance, grasping, and distraction associated with desire.
A relaxed and focused mind is a flowing source of pleasure. Giving my attention over to any object is a fountain of deeply experienced pleasure. My attention could be on a description of how rivers change their channels, it could be on the taste of an avocado wrap, it could be the sight of a friend walking down the street, it could be the pressure of a friend’s shoulder against mine while we sit in an atmosphere of music.
I can see that being aware is more than the simple pleasure of hearing or seeing or touching. The awareness of a concept, of food or of a person is more than simple attention. It can be a pleasant surrender to absorption and an experience of intense pleasure.