Meditation is not Contemplation
Contemplation is to continuously think on a given topic. Mind loves contemplation and it can contemplate on any topic for hours and hours. But contemplation is not meditation. Contemplation is all about using our intellect for solving a problem. Whereas meditation is all about witnessing our thinking and the contemplation process.
So, one who contemplates is using his mind and it makes the mind more active. In contemplation we make use of the mind. Whereas Meditation is to put the mind aside and give it a rest. Meditation is a higher dimension than the contemplation because meditation is not about using mind but it is to go beyond the mind by putting it aside.
Sad thing with Contemplation is that it never leads to any fruitful result. No matter how much time we spend in contemplating on an issue, In the end we will still be confused and indecisive about the issue. Reason for the confusion is the mind who contemplates. Mind is always divided and confused. Confusion, division and indecisiveness is the very nature of the mind.
If mind is able to find one reason in favor of the issue then after some time it will find another reason opposite to the issue. All depends upon the state of mind and which is always fluctuating. Mind is never stable and it can not be stable. That's why only those people who goes beyond the mind have clarity in their vision. Living in mind is to live a confused life.
Mind moves from one extreme to another. It is like a pendulum clock which moves from one extreme to another and if somehow we can stop the pendulum in the middle then the pendulum stops and that is what is meditation is all about.
Living in the present moment is meditation. Mind is either in the past or in the future. Mind can never stay in the middle -that is the present moment. Meditation is going beyond the contemplation and see from the no-mind state which has the clarity to see things in a right perspective. All eastern religion have given important to meditation and discarded contemplation. Contemplation never transforms any thing in us and it only add more confusion.
What ever we are going to think is based upon our conditioning and experiences in life. In every life, our conditioning changes, thus our thinking also changes. So our thinking has nothing to do with truth but has more to do with our mind conditioning. Meditation is the eternal thing and to see truth one has to meditate and not contemplate.
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