Martin Buber wonders
why at the opening of the Book of Genesis
did God ask Adam,
“where are you?”
this question concerns all of us
it challenges us
to take responsibility for our own existence
at each moment the biblical text raises the question
where are you?
endlessly preoccupied with changing the world and things
with submitting them to their own design
human beings are oblivious of themselves
they go through life
without ever raising the essential question
what is the being of the one who is constantly busy?
when meditation is considered a technique
a skill to be mastered
it simply becomes a means of projecting oneself
into the future
into the imaginary
when meditation is made to serve an ideal
the practitioner searches for himself
where he is not
in calmness and peacefulness
when experiencing fatigue, agitation, and worry
meditation becomes a place where one loses oneself
it is only possible to find oneself
within the reality of what is happening
at each moment
the spiritual path is an invitation
to reveal ourself
but it can also be a means of escape
by getting lost in an ideal of perfection
to which we aspire ever more strongly
as we try to evade ourselves
the meditator’s being is at stake in meditation
if he is willing to hear the question
where are you?
to consider meditation as a technique
is another means of hiding behind an activity
Stanislavski recounts that during rehearsals
of Molière’s Tartuffe
an actor, who had enthusiastically engaged
in the discussions about the various characters
showed great resistance to going onstage
to inhabit his character forced him to reveal himself
he preferred to hide in glib conversation
it is common to go through life
endlessly obsessing about an unfinished work
death does not attend upon our uncompleted tasks
that is what philosophy teaches us
in this endless busyness
the essential is forgotten
the very being of the one who struts and frets
meditation unveils this being
it does not require inactivity
but another way of being in action