zerouniverse

touché

The notion in your first paragraph sounds like a reasonable assertion to me although it does presuppose the rather dogmatic notion that an omnipotent Creator would "demand faith" rather than "grant a gift of free will / gift of being able to forget he exists".

Sol Robeson: This is insanity, Max.

Maximillian Cohen: Or maybe it's genius.

It sounds like you're asking if practice makes a difference for me outside of the time where formal sitting practice occurs. The answer would be yes. My experience has been that there is a connection between the dimension of stillness which one arrives at in meditation and the phenomena known as intuition, and also the phenomena known as emotion. To put it into plain English, a regular practice makes me feel "less depressed", more patient, and creativity seems to flow more easily.

I realize that the description above may sound too general, or even like I'm describing a panacea, and perhaps I am, that's the thing.

In actual fact I did take a pill that did this for me.. that is.. thrusted me into a state of mind akin to some of what can be found in concentration states. That was what provided for me the impetus to explore meditation because after a certain MDMA experience I suddenly felt that "now I know" that there's a more clear, or natural feeling which conscious awareness can navigate to. It was unfortunately a fleeting experience, and taking more of the same substance did not guarantee a return trip to the same state.

I eventually discovered a way to approach this state without drugs, it has to do with studying the Buddha Dhamma and practicing based on the teachings preserved in the Pali cannon, safeguarded by the Theravada lineage.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.22.0.than.html ^ if you ctrl-f and search this text for the string "And what is right mindfulness?" then you will be onto something.

One should take into account the fact that Watts was presenting his material to an audience of western intellectuals who had been so deeply indoctrinated into "scientific orthodoxy" that one really had no chance of getting anything across if one did not choose to invoke science. I don't see this as any different than the Buddha choosing to give teachings using concepts familiar to the brahmins of his time.

The strange ritualistic culture is merely a means by which Zen propagates itself (forward momentum in time) and not the "thing" itself.

In my own words you should meditate because with practice one builds a refuge within stillness. Knowledge of this refuge changes the way you feel about circumstances and mental phenomena (motion). The change just feels right, like a lessening of burden, but it takes practice, that's the thing. The rituals and calligraphy are not the thing.