Skillful Meditation Project Monthly E-mail
VOLUME TWO, OCTOBER 2006
The response to the last email article on the word "recollective" was heartwarming. Most everyone felt that we should keep the word "recollective," and many found the word in the more comprehensive contemporary dictionaries. "Recollective" is still the most appropriate word to describe the process whereby a natural awareness is cultivated in meditation.
Here is how I have often explained the recollective process in relation to how it facilitates the development of awareness and discernment. What you become familiar with through recollecting becomes more easily known as it occurs.
What developing recollective awareness does is permit meditation sittings to go as they will without trying to control what is happening. This cultivates awareness without using force, aggression, or constant self-reminders to be mindful. Since there is no requirement to be mindful of each and every moment, whereby some kind of observer stance is being maintained, one can be open and accepting of the succession of experiences without interfering with them. Experiences that one is only slightly aware of can be recalled with greater clarity. This kind of awareness is thus recollective, as opposed to being "moment-to-moment." That recollective awareness leads to greater awareness of present moment experiences is something which can be tested and verified through one's own practice of recollecting meditation sittings.
To develop recollective awareness it is helpful to communicate one's meditation experiences to another or even write down one's meditation sittings, but it is not absolutely necessary. At the minimum all one needs to do is take a few minutes after each meditation sitting and recall what one remembers happening during that meditation period. The recollection does not need to be in sequential order, nor does it need to be exceptionally detailed or exact. Just the outline, the flavor, the texture, or tone of the experiences need to be recalled. And if nothing is retrieved from parts of the meditation sitting, then that is fine too. People's capacity to be aware in this way will grow over time and will extend into knowing areas of your experience which have been vague, diffuse, or void of memorable content.
If you would like to keep a meditation journal and talk to someone about your sittings, please take a look at the journal section of the web site. If you are interested in working with a teacher, please feel free to contact me or any of the teachers-in-training listed below. Lastly, if you would like to talk about your meditation experiences in a peer-group setting, please send me an email indicating your interest and stating where you live.
Jason Siff
© 2007 The Skillful Meditation Project