Is meditation in the west becoming a form of mainstream entertainment?

Image by Sarah Shakeel

Meditation in its truest form is not meant to be entertainment.

To be entertained means there is stimulus coming from the outside, whereas meditation is about being focused inward, so that our internal senses and awareness awaken. 

More and more often I’m noticing the word meditation is being used to describe mindfulness activities.

One example I’ve noticed is some really lovely spoken word over hypnotic visuals being called “meditation”. Whilst these are beautiful and I love them, and they have an important place - it’s not really meditation.  In this example the mind is still active and our energy is being externalised out, rather than going within. 

To be clear I love these videos and they have their place and help a lot of people, I just think calling them meditation is confusing.

Part of the problem is that we use meditation as an umbrella term in the west and people use mindfulness and meditation interchangeably which is not helpful. 

In other traditions there are many words to describe the different levels we go through before meditation. 

For example Dhāraṇā is concentration and is similar to mindfulness. This is where we have focused attention - it can be following our breath or being present with anything in life that is anchoring us to the present moment. 

Then in samadhi or very deep meditation there is no outside stimulus, you go 100% in.

Sadly most of us cannot reach this deep state, as without stimulus, most of us are not conscious enough to stay present and aware and fall asleep or get ‘bored’. 

Part of meditation is learning to awaken our Consciousness Awareness and inner senses that even without stimulus we can be aware and present - this is like a muscle we strengthen in our meditation practice which then helps with awareness in our day to day life. 

Now more than ever we live in a dopamine fuelled world (especially with social media); and so it doesn’t surprise me that meditation in the western term has now been turned into entertainment. I think the current trend is “gamification” to make everything like a game so it’s interesting to the mind. 

There’s nothing inherently wrong just as long if we consider these practices as a ‘bridge’ to something else; and don’t completely miss the point that meditation is a spiritual technology for our awakening rather than for our entertainment. 

It’s like being in Plato’s cave and the shadows are the entertainment aspect of meditation and we’re missing and not being aware of the source of it all.

Start with where you’re at and enjoy your journey. But as many Masters said, don’t get too stuck at any one point, it’s important to keep growing and deepening our practice. 

Where do you feel you could drop a little deeper into your practice? What are the aspects of going into yourself that you feel most blocked? Staying hungry and curious to this experience of life for me creates more magic than anything entertaining video/audio.