Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Elster
Hi Graham,
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Question: Is the purpose of meditation to marshall thoughts or to clear one's mind of them?
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Martin, Thanks for your kind comments - and helping me realise Mercury's night side does get way cold (-183 degrees C, from +427 degrees C on day side). When I wrote the poem, I hadn't imagined that level of cold, from other considerations, but evidently the long 'night' and lack of blanketing atmosphere do allow a drastic cooling even of the day-heated surface.
On 'marshalling thought' in meditation - I had in mind the sense 'to place [one's thoughts] in proper rank or position' - whatever that should be (as opposed to thoughts running haphazardly and unrestrained, the thinker being led by them). I should explain I mean 'meditation' actively (a conscious focussing on something seen as worthy of sustained contemplation), rather than passively (an attempt to blank the mind of thought - if even possible, to what end? A bafflement to me.) But either way, I reckon regulated breathing to be often associated with regulated thinking - whether as cause or effect, or a bit of both, not mattering in my poem! Thanks for posing the question, prompting me to think a bit more about it.