I have meditated and written down my reflections for nearly 15 years. Some of the most useful scribblings have been the pointers I’ve left myself—my orientations to the highest truths, or what Rob Burbea called “ways of seeing that free.”
Contemplation often brings profound yet tantalising insights. One moment it all makes sense, and the next day you feel robbed. Yet, certain words and phrases can “bind” the insight and deliver us back to the understanding. The process of putting words to these experiences is often downplayed, with some justification: it’s easy to reify our insights and so divorce ourselves from what is actually happening now. But the power of the right words offered in the right mindset is not dissimilar to an incantation, and we must practice wisdom for it remain alive.