Nobody Meditation

The instant you open your eyes in the morning there is a dialogue running, half consciously, about who you are, what you're feeling, where you've been, where you are going, what you have to do, how you feel about doing it, who said this or that etc. This is the way we reinforce the illusion of 'self'; a sort of propaganda we use on ourselves to convince us that we exist. The dialogue has its good parts and its bad parts, moments that shine and those that are dull; dialogues that make you feel safe and those that make you feel nervous, usually though it will eventually fall back to being pessimistic and cause angst.

It is helpful, perhaps imperative, to force yourself to pay attention to your internal dialogues and purposely round them off with words of encouragement; such as, ‘Hey you’re right, what a wonderful thought,’ or even something banal like, ‘You’re doing great, keep it up!’ This will work to give you a more positive general outlook on life but you may want to go a step further, if you do not wish to remain entranced by the world of appearances. If you have an interest in developing spiritually and gaining a more enlightened perspective, it becomes desirable to ignore your internal dialogue from time to time. This doesn’t mean trying to switch it off altogether, only that you take a back seat and let it freewheel along on its own.

According to both Taoism and Buddhism, exploring the self is very much like peeling an onion. Every time we learn something new, deep and meaningful about our personality, we strip off another layer. What you find when you reach the core, however, is nothing. What you are is nothing more than a collection of habits; habitual ways of thinking, feeling and acting – sustained by constantly reminding yourself such things as: ‘This is where I live, this is my job, this is my car, these are my friends.’ And so on. If, instead, you can accept what you really are is a momentary collection of energy and can thus stop taking yourself personally; nothing much can disturb your peace of mind.

One Taoist method that is of huge benefit to anyone who feels things are getting too much is to pick a busy street and walk down it, being nobody. This is called the ‘Nobody Meditation’ and as you walk along you tell yourself, ‘I am not my job. I am not my partner. I am not where I live. I am not my status. I am not my mind. I am not my feelings.’ And so on. As you do this you will feel yourself become physically lighter, as though someone has removed a burden from your shoulders. And with the release of the physical comes escape from the psycho-emotional, which ironically makes you feel like a real somebody, but somebody altogether new and improved.