Tuning in or zoning out?

We drop into our bodies; our awareness drops into the earth beneath us. We root ourselves for a good thirty or forty minutes. And we stay rooted for the rest of the two hours. Lately, one thread amongst spiritual capitalists spins the web by asking: are we escaping reality by meditating.

Instead, our group sits again in relative silence. Our gentle attention moves from the centre of our crown on an epic journey through the body (usually full to the brim with sensational stories of such nuance) to the ever-faithful ground. Our gratitude comes unbidden, as natural as rain falling.

Before our gathering, I had been too busy to notice just how substantial a support this earth is, how we are so deeply connected. It's an easy relationship which holds us in perfect sway: we are still able to go about our busi-ness without floating off, but we are not held so tightly, we cannot move. The earth is like the perfect parent. And so it is that, at times, it feels great to reconnect with such devotion.

So, returning to the question: is this a form of tuning in or zoning out? Reflecting on many such sittings spanning twenty or thirty years, I do see a part of myself essentially escaping. The grip of an unfriendly force lessens, thanks to meditation. Balance is restored, and, in this place, I arrive. This conscious state is alive and it feels like home. So perhaps it is more pertinent to ask: what stops us from living in perfect balance with what is natural to us? And when can we come home, if not now?