Meditation and Intoxicants: Letting Go

On One’s Own Wings – “Eudaimonia”

The meditation teacher must be able to capture the attention of the student, only to release it again afterward. This applies to the meditation lesson, but the idea is also applicable more broadly. From time to time we find ourselves in the position of having to offer some form of spiritual or mental guidance to someone else.

We can only help others by walking ahead of them and trying to pass on something of our experience and knowledge to those who might be able to use it. What we must avoid, whether as coach, buddy, meditation teacher, or physician, is becoming domineering. The temptation will always be great when we come into contact with fellow human beings who are, in some way, weaker or less developed than we are.

Children, the sick, the elderly—and in my own field especially psychiatric patients. As helpers or coaches we find ourselves in a delicate relationship that is unequal in terms of power: we know more and can do more. What we attempt to do is transmit knowledge and methodology in order to improve the quality of life of the person who calls upon our competence.

As a physician I try to reduce a complex request for help to a few practical choices: the treatment, but also other aspects. As a meditation teacher I leave my medical role aside and try to bring the minds of the participants to a place they have not yet visited.

The ultimate and underlying goal is a state of “eudaimonia.” This is an old Greek term that has largely fallen out of use. Eu means “in order,” and a daimon is a spirit. For the ancient Greeks your soul was “in order” when all the spirits dwelling within you were brought into harmony.

A kind of inner concord among all the contradictory feelings and desires that swirl within us. The Greeks called them spirits; we might call them drives.

We can truly mean something to others only if we ourselves are happy. That is why we must strive for inner balance, and meditation can help us build that balance stone by stone.

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