Practice Meditative Thought
A High-Performance State
During the first quarter of this year, I invested in deep silence by joining a three-day retreat. In those days, I fasted from screens, meditated, and read the book Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis.
I wanted to share a tactic that has impacted me the most—practicing meditative thought.
Luke writes about the distinction between calculating thought and meditative thought.
Calculating thought is constantly searching, seeking, plotting how to reach an objective: to get from Point A to Point B, to beat the stock market, to get good grades, to win an argument.
Meditative thought, on the other hand, is patient thought. It is not the same thing as meditation. Meditative thought is simply slow, nonproductive thought. It's not reactionary. It's the kind of thought that, upon hearing news or experiencing something surprising, doesn't immediately look for solutions. Instead, it asks a series of questions that help the asker sink down further into the reality: What is this new situation? What is behind it? Meditative thought is patient enough to allow the truth to reveal itself.
According to Luke, while the calculating brain is only able to fit every new experience into existing mental models, meditative thought integrates those new experiences into a new framework of reality. Further, it helps us notice diverging possibilities instead of converging into one.
Using the System Lens, the mind is given the space to change paradigms, a leverage point.
On the second day, I decided to do this exercise. I poured myself a bottle of water and gazed at a tree for an entire hour, while being mindful of my environment. The goal was to not have a goal. Slowly, I noticed my calculating thought calmed down.
It was restful in a deep way.
I realized that working in tech trained me to have calculating thought as my primary mode. Every time I encountered a new idea, experience, or piece of evidence, I tried to fit it into boxes. I was stuck in a loop and had no clue how to get out. I needed to give space for meditative thought to discover desires that are enduring and fulfilling.
I want to fall in love with the process and let the outcome take care of itself. I need to shift the center of gravity from the model to the object so I can lose myself in the beauty of it. In essence, being autotelic. I desire to pursue the path of mastery, for it is its own reward.
Luke said that meditative thought is the antidote to a culture of hyperspeed mimesis. I would add that it is also a high-performance state.
Thank you to Raymond Ng and Carlo Zebedee Gualves for providing feedback on improving this essay.