> I've done meditation retreats and the like. I do find it slows down my mind, but can also surface things that frankly I'm perfectly happy to leave under the surface.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but to me, that sounds less like meditation and more like sitting with your eyes closed. If thoughts arise that cause feelings of fear, anger, shame, panic, etc… those thoughts and feelings can be noticed and observed (just like breathing or any other sensation). Once you do notice them, the experience is very different.
> Sometimes the best sanity-preservation mode is to ignore it until enough time has passed when we have the mental tools to face it.
I think Eugene Gendlin[1] put it best:
> What is true is already so. Owning up to it doesn't make it worse. Not being open about it doesn't make it go away. And because it's true, it is what is there to be interacted with. Anything untrue isn't there to be lived. People can stand what is true, for they are already enduring it.
– "The Listening Manual" in Focusing (1978), p. 138.
Agree that in a meditative moment you can observe and let these thoughts go, but they've still surfaced and that can have repercussions.
I like the quote :), but I also believe there's value to postponing interacting with said truth. IMHO sometimes the best medicine is avoidance, at least until enough time has passed that the horror and truth can be acknowledged without causing one to lose their mind.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but to me, that sounds less like meditation and more like sitting with your eyes closed. If thoughts arise that cause feelings of fear, anger, shame, panic, etc… those thoughts and feelings can be noticed and observed (just like breathing or any other sensation). Once you do notice them, the experience is very different.
> Sometimes the best sanity-preservation mode is to ignore it until enough time has passed when we have the mental tools to face it.
I think Eugene Gendlin[1] put it best:
> What is true is already so. Owning up to it doesn't make it worse. Not being open about it doesn't make it go away. And because it's true, it is what is there to be interacted with. Anything untrue isn't there to be lived. People can stand what is true, for they are already enduring it.
– "The Listening Manual" in Focusing (1978), p. 138.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Gendlin