<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">Why I Meditate </div><div dir="auto" class="">(after Alan Ginsberg)</div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I <a tabindex="-1" style="color: rgb(56, 88, 152); cursor: pointer;" class=""></a>meditate because I suffer. I suffer, therefore I am. I am, therefore I meditate.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because there are so many other things to do.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because when I was younger it was all the rage.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because Siddhartha Gautama, Bodhidharma, Marco Polo, the British Raj, Carl Jung, Alan Watts, Jack Kerouac, Alfred E. Neuman, et al.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because evolution gave me a big brain, but it didn’t come with an instruction manual.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I have all the information I need.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because the largest colonies of living beings, the coral reefs, are dying.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I want to touch deep time, where the history of humanity can be seen as just an evolutionary adjustment period.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because life is too short and sitting slows it down.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because life is too long and I need an occasional break.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I want to experience the world as Rumi did, or Walt Whitman, or as Mary Oliver does.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because now I know that enlightenment doesn’t exist, so I can relax.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because of the Dalai Lama’s laugh.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because there are too many advertisements in my head, and I’m erasing all but the very best of them.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because the physicists say there may be eleven dimensions to reality, and I want to get a peek into a few more of them.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I’ve discovered that my mind is a great toy and I like to play with it.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I want to remember that I’m perfectly human.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">Sometimes I meditate because my heart is breaking.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">Sometimes I meditate so that my heart will break.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because a Vedanta master once told me that in Hindi my name, Nis-ker, means “non-doer.”</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I’m growing old and want to become more comfortable with emptiness.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I think Robert Thurman was right to call it an “evolutionary sport,” and I want to be on the home team.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I’m composed of 100 trillion cells, and from time to time I need to reassure them that we’re all in this together.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because it’s such a relief to spend time ignoring myself.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because my country spends more money on weapons than all other nations in the world combined. If I had more courage, I’d probably immolate myself.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I want to discover the fifth Brahma-vihara, the Divine Abode of Awe, and then go down in history as a great spiritual adept.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">I meditate because I’m building myself a bigger and better perspective, and occasionally I need to add a new window.</div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Wes "Scoop" Nisker</div><div dir="auto" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> (1942-2023)</div></div></div></body></html>