Meditation is something that is very easy to experience but very difficult to
explain in any way that is understandable. Historically, things that man could
not explain on his own get attributed to gods. As such, religious texts that
describe meditation can be very difficult to understand without context in the
religion in question.
I would like to change this and make meditation more accessible. As such, I
have created the [`When Then Zen`](https://github.com/Xe/when-then-zen)
project. This project aims to divorce meditation methods from the context of
their spirituality and distill them down into what the steps to the process
are.
## A better way to teach meditation
At a high level, meditation is the act of practicing the separation of action
and reaction and then coming back when you get distracted. A lot of the
meditation methods that people have been publishing over the years are the
equivalent of what works for them on their PC (tm), and as such things are
generally described using whatever comparators the author of the meditation
guide is comfortable with. This can lead to confusion.
The way I am teaching meditation is simple: teach the method and have people do
it and see what happens. I've decided to teach methods using [Gherkin](https://github.com/cucumber/cucumber/wiki/Gherkin).
Gherkin can be kind of strange to read if you are not used to it, so consider
the game of baseball, specifically the act of the batter hitting a home run.
```
Feature: home run
Scenario: home run
As a batter
In order to hit a home run
Given the pitcher has thrown the ball
When I swing
Then I hit the ball out of the park
```
As shown above, a Gherkin scenario clearly identifies who the feature is
affecting, what actions they take and what things should happen to them as a
result of them taking those actions. This translates very well when trying to
explain some of the finer points of meditation, EG:
```
# from when then zen's metta feature
Scenario: Nature Walking
# this is optional
# but it helps when you're starting
# physical fitness
As a meditator
In order to help me connect with the environment
Given a short route to walk on
When I walk down the route
Then I should relax and enjoy the scenery
And feel the sensations of the world around me
```
## Philosophy
At a high level, I want to not only have the `When then Zen` project be an
approachable introduction to meditation and other similar kinds of topics.
I want there to be a more "normal person" friendly way to get into topics that
I feel are vital for people to have at their disposal. I understand that
terminology can make things more confusing than it can clarify things.
So I remove a lot of the terminology except for the terms that help clarify
things, or are incredibly googleable. Any terms that are left over are used
in one of a few ways:
1. Not leaving that term in would result in awkward back-references to the concept
2. The term is similarly pronounced in English
3. The term is very googleable, and things you find in searching will "make sense"
Some concepts are pulled in from various documents and ideas in a slightly
[kasmakfa](https://write.as/excerpts/practical-kasmakfa) manner, but overall the
most "confusing" thing to new readers is going to be related to this comment in
the [anapana](https://christine.website/blog/when-then-zen-anapana-2018-08-15)
feature:
> Note: "the body" means the sack of meat and bone that you are currently living inside. For the purposes of explanation of this technique, please consider what makes you yourself separate from the body you live in.
You are not your thoughts. Your thoughts are something [you can witness](https://github.com/Xe/when-then-zen/blob/master/meditation/noting.feature#L41).
You are not required to give your thoughts any attention they don't need. Try
not immediately associating yourself with a few "negative" thoughts when they
come up next. Try digging through the chains of meaning to understand why they
are "negative" and if that end result is actually truly what you want to align
yourself with.
If you don't want to associate yourself with those thoughts, ideas or whatever
you don't have to.
### Expectations
At some level, I realize that by doing this I am violating some of the finer
points behind the ultimate higher level reasons _why_ meditation has been
taught this way for so long. Things are explained they way they are as a
result of the refinement of thousands of years of confused students and
sub-par teachers. A lot of it got so ingrained in the cuture that the actions
themselves can be confused with the culture.
I do not plan to set too many expectations for what people will experience.
When possible, [I tell people to avoid having "spiritual experiences"](https://github.com/Xe/when-then-zen/blob/master/meditation/quantum-pause.feature#L12-L16).
The only point in the project where I could be interpreted as telling people
how to have a "spiritual experience" is probably the [paracosm immersion](https://github.com/Xe/when-then-zen/blob/master/skills/paracosm-immersion.feature)
