Questioning BeliefsThe Uses of Doubt
Doubt is treated as something to be cured. Practised deliberately, it is closer to a sense organ.
Contributing Editor
Meera Anand
Long-form essays on suffering, silence and the practice of attention. Twelve years of sitting, and increasingly sceptical of most of what is written about it.
10 published pieces
Questioning Beliefs
SilenceThe Futility of Forced Silence
Silence cannot be forced. It flowers when the mind is understood — which is why most meditation practice quietly becomes another form of noise.
Self-Knowledge
The unexamined life is not worth living
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Inner ObservationThe Room Without Mirrors
Imagine a week in which no one saw you. Not hidden — simply unobserved. Notice what you would stop doing.
SufferingWhy You Suffer Unnecessarily
Pain arrives on its own. Nearly everything that follows it is added by a mind doing what it believes is helping.
Reality vs Belief
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.
Questioning BeliefsThe Comfort of Belief
Beliefs are not primarily descriptions of the world. They are load-bearing structures — which is why arguing with one so seldom moves it.
Attention
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
FearFear Has No Object
Fear presents itself with a cause attached. Remove the cause and the fear finds another — which suggests the cause was never the point.
LivingThe Mind That Cannot Be Alone
A mind that cannot sit in an empty room is not restless. It is avoiding something, and the avoidance has become continuous.