am I escaping reality or not?

[Egil137]

Hello everyone,

I have a question about the ultimate goal of mindfulness meditation and maybe someone can take me out of confusion. I feel that there is a vague distinction between trying to do everything mindfully and escaping reality, as in the case of boredom: for instance, if I decide to listen to music because I'm feeling bored... am I necessarily escaping my reality? I could still listen to the music mindfully, right? so I feel there is a bit of a contradiction in this.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated

[JonW]

Hi Egil,
One definition of mindfulness is simply being with what is, from moment to moment. One can be mindful with a state of boredom, just as one can be mindful listening to Mozart (or The Ramones).
We can never escape reality. Reality is what is. Mindfulness teaches us to be more at ease with what is arising from moment to moment.
That's not to say that we can't decide, say, to stop listening to Mozart because we're finding it boring and stick on Leave Home by The Ramones instead.
Boredom is a fact of life. If we examine it closely we see that it's just another fleeting sensation. When we start examining it, maybe we'll find that boredom is not actually boring at all. Maybe boredom is simply the space between one interesting moment and the next. Like everything, it comes and it goes. Nothing to get attached to.
All best, Jon

[Egil137]

Hello Jon,

Thank you for your reply, you've got a good point: there's no way of escaping reality. I went too far with that haha, I meant more like rejecting reality; that would make more sense, right? As you say, one can still decide to try to stop paying attention to a headache, but then one is simply not training to become more at ease with them.

Best regards,

[JonW]

Hi Egil,
I guess it comes down to the difference between pain and suffering. There's no escaping pain in life, whether it's a headache or heartache. But we're conditioned to grasp onto pleasurable experiences and push unpleasant thoughts and sensations away. When we push these things away, we suffer. Mindfulness teaches us to be with what is, from moment to moment.

[Cheesus]

Hi Egil

I had some very similar questions to you not so long ago. I got some really great answers too! Check out this thread:

http://www.everyday-mindfulness.org/for ... f=3&t=3441

I hope this helps
Alex

[Egil137]

Hello Cheesus,

That did help a lot and also clarified other questions.

Thank you!