Let GO of the eGO: A New Meditation Method

If I were a licensed psychiatrist and you came to see me, I would tell you there is no need for such a formalism and I would immediately prescribe to you a week of doing nothing at all and thinking about nothing any more in a secluded area whether it is by a beach or a mountain.

Unlike my previous trips that aim at breaking the record of how many thousands of things I can do, see, taste and experience per day, last week has known nothing more than a couple of beaches by a natural reserve in Corsica. For a week, I would spend a whole day on the beach, with monotonous observations and no particular thoughts until I would start to remember my childhood memories -- memories so foreign that they seem from a dream or from a different life. 

This kind of meditation must certainly have a name and practitioners, otherwise I shall call it Al's Meditation Method (AMM) and it consists of experiencing one action, that could be tied to your childhood, repetitively and over a long period of time.  It could be  swimming, dancing, playing with animals, spending time with your parents or relatives... eventually, you would start to recall a huge deal of your childhood that will in turn set you free. You must be prepared for terrible childhood memories that you might have suppressed as a child. As a kid, like many kids, I did nothing but play. I had no issue with changing beach or exploring various sites. I would be happy to spend the whole summer on the same beach unknowing of an alternative which was blissful. If it is social networks that make us always unsatisfied with the plethora of choices we cannot afford to live, then we need to disconnect and let go of the ego. 

One day, I spent 7 hours in a park watching kids play, love each other, fight, be jealous. Kids are so natural. They never try to be other kids. They just do what they like and they would cry otherwise.  I have even been involved in the play as I fell asleep on one of the merry-go-round-ish swings that several kids have attempted to swing. I kept my eyes closed and enjoyed the ride. 

Volatile memory extension nostalgic excitement and freedom price inflation

Yesterday, I had a skype call with a good friend, who is reading this today. He mentioned me citing a quote in this blog, but having forgotten about it, I came back looking for it and checking the context in which it was placed. It is not surprising that I have forgotten all about it since I write to forget. In fact, writing is analogous to freeing your volatile memory since you can always refer to an extended memory to chase down your fleeting ideas and develop them at later stages. But it happens that the extended memory at hand is an ephemeral blog of volatile properties and decentralized servers in unknown locations. The only alternative of quasi-ancient pen-and-paper writing techniques require tremendous amounts of indexing and localization that are costly and can only be stored in our volatile biological memory which beats the purpose. One of the fleeting ideas I could vaguely remember from yesterday's volatile conversation can be exampled by the following observation:

I have very much enjoyed my skype conversation yesterday which makes me wonder why was it not something I desired or demanded? Why is it not something I have anticipated with huge joy and high expectations knowing it is with a good friend I have not chatted for a while? How much must I have been betrayed by my expectations and my fluctuating mood that I have given up on anticipation, looking forward and projection? Is the very awareness of these factors a curse or the absence of unknown factors a blessing? Have I reached a certain point of involuntarily suppressing excitement fearing it will be followed by disappointment? Similarly, I have a wonderful thanksgiving dinner last week which brought back great memories from my past 8 years in the USA. I even dared highering my expectations and anticipating that thanksgiving dinner even though I did not know the host or most of the invitees. I then wondered whether I should seek more expats to revive the good old days.


Another fleeting idea concerns freedom that often comes at a high price, not only the price for owning it but also for maintaining it. When free one is paradoxically more a slave of whatever fears he has of loosing this freedom. The price for freedom has been inflated such that all can access it even if for a flavour of freedom or a mere sense of fake freedom. The market is overwhelmed with a myriad of freedom products that are all demanded and consumed. Many live in the deception of freedom often symbolized by a big mansion, life insurance... but rarely are the conditions of mortgage or the quality of life questioned.   Is freedom of fear the ultimate of all freedoms? How can one master it? Is the fear of freedom the very opposite of freedom?