Passive or Active / Meditation

Another way to classify the techniques is to divide them into passive or active. In a passive exercise we limit ourselves to letting the mind wander, without consciously directing it. We observe our thoughts without doing anything with them. This is much more difficult than it seems. The temptation to follow a spontaneous thought, thinking and analyzing it actively, is practically irresistible. In any case, some people think that this is the easiest technique to start.

Most active beginners find simple exercises, among which there are innumerable techniques. In this type of exercises each one chooses, or in some courses they choose for the beginner something to concentrate on.

It seems that the interruptions and distractions of the mind have two origins, perhaps, there is really only one, with two techniques. The unconscious emits a thought bubble about every ninety seconds. Many times we do not notice them because our mind is occupied with something else. When we have a less busy mind, we can use those bubbles as seeds of daydreams or build from them elaborate castles of thoughts. The truth is that when we try to meditate, they interrupt frequently and are often unbearably visible. So it is so, that sometimes it seems as if they come equipped with striking neon lights.

In passive exercises, we just look at the thought bubbles without getting involved with them. In the active techniques we ignore them, or at least we try, keeping the attention on the point of concentration chosen in the exercise.

In addition to that inner producer of thought bubbles, we have in our mind a perpetual whisper that wants to be busy and have something to talk about. If you do not have anything else, list lists and suggest possible and impossible plans for the future. Active techniques give you several things on which to work a word, a sound, a mental image, or an object on which to concentrate. In passive exercises, we try to silence the perpetual whisper, letting the conscience rest in thought bubbles.

Both types of exercise are intended to produce inner silence. In a passive exercise, we ask the perpetual whisper to be quiet while paying attention to thought bubbles, but since we do not really engage in those thoughts, the mind stops producing them for a few moments. If then the perpetual whisper is silent, we get that rare thing, a deep and true mental silence, and we become like a deep and calm sea.

When considering which type of technique is most convenient for each one, you have to ask yourself which will be easier to control, thought bubbles or the eternal whisper, and choose the exercise that focuses on the other. If, for example, a person finds it relatively easy to silence the mind's comment, but the thoughts fly in unexpected directions, he can choose the passive technique.

Another factor that should be considered is whether you are an active or passive person. For an introverted person who finds it easier to passively observe the future of the world without taking an active part, the passive technique may be easier, while an extrovert probably develops better with active techniques. In the same way who already knows a technique, perhaps wants to try the opposite, to reach a greater balance. Everything depends on what each one considers more appropriate at that moment.