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FOREWORD BY KELLY BOYS Life has a simple and fiercely kind invitation for us: to be as we are the in the face of what is. True meditation, an easily disappearing yet well-worn path on the journey home to ourselves, is both difficult to define and predictably trustworthy in its unfolding. It encompasses a genuine encounter with all of who we are, as well as all of who we take ourselves to be that won’t hold up in the light of honest, compassionate inquiry. The path unfolds along essential lines, along emotional and existential crevices and outcroppings that life displays within and around us. To accept the invitation to this essential journey home requires courage. Oddly enough, sometimes that courage shows up as a desperation, a surrender, an up-giving… or as total and complete ‘cowardice’ as we can’t bear to look, to feel, to experience whatever is here. And yet, here we still are. Asleep, awake, leaning in, leaning out, encountering this present moment. Just as we are.
This gesture invites us to embody a warm, holding presence, an unflinching capacity to fundamentally welcome and be all of the beautiful muck and mess of the human life. It is deeply intimate and leaves nothing out. It forsakes nothing, and includes everything. The moment itself contains within it the seeds of all we need to meet the moment. As we meet and welcome whatever comes, feeling our breath, bodies, the pulsing existence at our core, we become welcoming itself. We discover, as we lean in, that this welcoming presence is essential to who we are.
The clear seeing that comes from this kind of radical welcoming presence can usher in with it compassion, ease, shocking insight, laughter, loss of a sense of self and prior orientations, and relief. Deep relief—from the game, trap or prison of our minds. As we lean in to our breath, feelings, emotions, sensations, and thoughts, we discover things aren’t as we thought they were. The fear is less scary than it seems, the anger less threatening. Our disowned, unwanted, unloved parts begin to come home, to be just as they are in a space that does not refuse them. We offer them a place in our heart, mind, and being that is free from the violence of self-refusal. Even self-refusal is welcomed; in fact…
What I have seen and experience in myself and in others is that we share a longing for this simple welcoming presence in which to meet our tenderness, vulnerabilities, hopes, and fears. In the…
There is good news: a deep trust arises as we embrace this path. We learn, whether over time, or because we have no other choice but to learn quickly and suddenly, that trust comes in each step, each breath, each plunge we take into the present moment without our former scaffolding. It’s like falling back into your friends’ arms without looking—it’s scary but deep down you know you will have a soft landing. The truth of things, the rawness and reality of life in all of its display, becomes far safer, far softer, than our ideas ever were. The fear, the anger, the heartache may not…
Jeff weaves us into and out of every corner the mind creates to defend against the simplicity of this moment, displaying the tapestry in all its fullness so we’re sure to remember that life is so much wilder and more free than we could ever have imagined. These thoughtfully and bravely written pages include many invitations: to our aloneness, to our freedom, to our deep rest which we may have so long held at bay. His words beckon…
By being who he is: a poet, lover, and madman in the best sense of the word, Jeff offers words of encouragement whispered into our tired ears and minds, meant for our dazzled, wild hearts to receive.
The Light of meditation. The Light of Oneness. The Light of my true self. Mine is a story perhaps not dissimilar from your own. I believe we are all ultimately on the same journey back home… to the present moment. To the here and now.
I was exhausted all the time, profoundly tired on a very deep soul level. Entire school holidays I would spend hiding in my bedroom, numbing myself with computer games, movies and food, and generally longing for a different life. I ached and had tensions all over my body, which I saw as an enemy and was repulsed by.
I had given up on all my hopes and dreams. From an early age I had wanted to tell stories, make movies, inspire people, maybe even change the world, but I was petrified of failure and rejection, and dreaded my shameful insides being seen, and so I blocked off these risky creative passions. I lived outside of my body and outside of the present moment and in the fantasy world of the time-bound conceptual mind, in daydreams and nightmares, in convoluted philosophies and distant worlds, in pasts and futures, and always, always in regret and anticipation. I was homeless, divided from my true sanctuary and place of refuge. I had become separated from God, alienated from the Life Source, wrenched from the Divine Mother.
AI Summary
The Joy of True Meditation by Jeff Foster presents key insights from the Taoism tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.