I am not a traditionalist. I believe in doing what works, not what has always been done for its own sake. Humans have a way of ritualizing behaviors that produce positive outcomes. We find something that works, then dogmatically stick to that approach out of fear of failure. The problem with that approach is that it may both lock in superfluous practices, but also discourages experimentation and innovation. The following two anecdotes highlight the potential risks surrounding unquestioning obedience to tradition…

Once we have some experience with mindfulness meditation, we can begin to explore different types of awareness and expand our practice in unique and interesting ways. Up to this point, the meditations and glimpses in this book have been object based. That is, we choose a meditation object, like the breath, a mood, or a sound, and repeatedly return our attention back to that object when our mind wanders…