I’ve dithered on naming conventions. A koan is by definition a word or set of words. My primary meditation now is wordless. Koans are just secondary triggers to maximize meditation uptime. I think I’ll call the wordless meditation the Way.
In a previous post I wondered what exactly doing the Way all the time sacrificed. It was unclear because I hadn’t tested it in a non-suffering state. Now that I have more abundant energy, the sacrifice becomes clear. I have to love the Way more than anything else. Otherwise another mental entity will inevitably dominate consciousness at some point, thus losing the discipline of the Way.
That means loving it more than thought, pain, pleasure, worry, a person, God, anything. Flirting, sex, working, whatever, it always has to be primary.
I’m fine with it. It’s the only thing I can actually possess. It’s what enables me to actually serve God usefully. So I don’t think it sacrilege to put it first; rather, a religious duty.
The benefits for frame control and inner imperturbability are obvious. A primary source of dominance is inner unaffectedness. Breath and heartbeat are the fundamental biological arousal indicators. Any attempt to simulate unflappability is doomed if these are not regulated. Thus unaffectedness cannot be faked; it must be managed at the subconscious level – via the Way.
I modified the trigger to remind me of this: “I only have/love chains.”
It’s no coincidence that using this meditation produced my fastest individual reaction score ever on the Seth Roberts test, and an overall performance of 96th percentile despite not being at biological peak.
It seems that applying this uncompromising rubric of absolute love for the Way leads to a more freestyle meditation, a more immersive experience than the more rigidly rule-based practice I used before.