One of the amazing benefits of meditation is its ability to show the practitioner the subtle incongruencies of their mind. While my goal may be to be a good friend or loving family member, my reactivity to a specific situation may have the exact opposite outcome, and I may not even notice it. Meditating daily forces me to deconstruct my actions and correct and align any missteps.

People notice this authentic effort and are attracted to this loving intention. They may have questions about my perspective and eventually Vipassana. Nurturing both the blossoming friendship and the seed of dhamma within this person is essential to walking on this transformative path together. When this budding connection is fractured by strong boundaries like needing to sit a 10-day course before being able to sit together, that friendship never has an opportunity to grow.

I’ve found tremendous value from Goenka’s 10-day courses and the expectation to meditate two hours a day, but I’ve struggled to transform this personal growth into a community of societal changemakers. I understand the organizational intention to protect these teachings for future generations, but the issolating nature of the Goenka tradition has caused me to take a few steps back. The technique has been transformative to my life and the Centers have provided a place for deep personal work. Now I want to see if I can attend to the nuances of the social connections in my life with the same determination that the organization has to protect these teaching.

I understand that my goal of creating a loving community with the help of Vipassana is different from the organizations goal of preserving and sharing the technique of Vipassana. I’m hopeful that there can be synergy between these goals rather than division. I look forward to continuing to nurture my personal practice and the social connections in my life. Time to meditate.