Meditation in the Marketplace

An odd thing to start writing, when the title of this blog is 'Don't just do something, SIT there?' That's the paradox of meditation in the marketplace and a lifelong lesson from my spiritual root teacher, Osho.  Answering a disciple, Osho replied 'Meditation in the marketplace is my whole message.' 

How to be centred, in a non-dual resting place, when the world around me seems to be going crazy. Or is incredibly boring, not what I want it to be. For most, there's no retreating into a hermit life (or escaping to the Himalayas as Osho used to put it). We're here now, in this world of contradictions and separation. It can also be a world of joy, peace and fulfillment. Often it's not the content of an experience, but the way I respond which colours my feelings. Then operating in the marketplace can be a mirror, a mirror flickering and changing as the events, impressions and challenges of life impact me.

And who is it that observes this mirror? Well, just sometimes it is the unchanging core of my being that has always been here. The fruit of decades of not very disciplined meditation practice. Often it's the reactive 'me' with my lifelong preferences for this or that. I have been very addicted to my preferences, believing in a linear progress to achievement. Also spiritual achievement. In my late 30's, I even thought I had arrived at my destination. I was living in Amsterdam, creatively busy, able to do pretty much what I wanted, surrounded by like minded spiritual seekers.

Without realising it, I had been building up an identity as a spiritual seeker and now it had to crumble. That is the nub of spiritual materialism – using spirituality to get something. For millions that may mean spiritual safety or respectability in a particular religion and the promise of heaven. For modern seekers it is more subtle but no less dangerous; believing that you have achieved a spiritual level, false humility, dividing the spiritual from the material, my way is better than your way.

As my life began to unravel, I  turned inwards for guidance. A voice told me to go to Ireland and go by myself. My two trips there were a springboard to a complete life turnaround. It was a transformational time, but I realized I would be a stranger in Ireland. The call of Wales was drawing me closer. I had spent childhood holidays in West Wales, and more recent short-breaks in North Wales. I decided to take the plunge and move to Wales, leaving behind a boyfriend in love with another woman and a city that moved and buzzed too fast for me. I needed roots after so many years of living in different places and cultures. A life in remote West Wales was impossible to imagine, but I was going to try it.

I faced a new and uncomfortable solitude with no escape routes; familiar relationships, places and health were all taken away. Through the removal of preferences, I was now face to face with the mirror. It was an unexpected gift, forcing me to turn inwards even while struggling to accept this was now the 'marketplace' I now inhabited.

Marion Carlisle - aka: Marion Atmo        West Wales, UK