In a previous post,
meditation was defined as,
“the intentional and sustained focusing of attention.”
Like any definition, this one is limited and incomplete;
it conveys something about the
mechanics of medit-
ation, but little about other aspects of the phenomenon -
aspects such as the feelings, thoughts and images
experienced during meditation.
Defining an experiential state, however, is not easy;
it is a task perhaps best left to poets, poets like
Walt Whitman.
The soundtrack of the video below is an excerpt
from Whitman's
To the Sun-Set Breeze.
The poet's words provide a description of a
state often experienced during meditation and
an answer to the question,
"What does meditation feel like?"
The above is an excerpt from PBS's
Walt Whitman,
which can be seen in full
here.
To the Sun-Set BreezeAh, whispering, something again, unseen,
Where late this heated day thou enterest
at my window
Thou, laving, tempering all, cool-freshing,
gently vitalizing
Me, old, alone, sick, weak-down, melted -
worn with sweat;
Thou, nestling, folding close and firm yet soft,
companion better than talk, book, art,
So sweet thy primitive taste to breathe within--
thy soothing fingers on my face and hands,
Thou, messenger--magical strange bringer
to body and spirit of me,
(Distances balk'd--occult medicines
penetrating me from head to foot,)
I feel the sky, the prairies vast -
I feel the mighty northern lakes,
I feel the ocean and the forest -
somehow I feel the globe itself
swift-swimming in space . . .