Meditation begins when we stop trying to change our experience… and that’s the game-changer. It flips the script from doing to being, transforming your entire practice from a chore into a discovery.
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Meaning
The core message is that true meditation isn’t about forcing a state of calm, but about cultivating a non-judgmental awareness of whatever is happening right now.
Explanation
Look, here’s the thing most people get wrong. They sit down to meditate and think, “Okay, now I have to empty my mind and feel peaceful.” So they fight every thought, every itch, every bit of background noise. They’re in a constant battle with their own experience. Goleman is saying that the real shift, the moment meditation actually begins, is when you lay down your weapons. You stop being a warrior and start being a curious scientist of your own inner world. The goal isn’t to have a blank mind; the goal is to know that you’re thinking without getting swept away by the story. It’s a subtle but profound difference that changes everything.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (4134) |
| Category | Spiritual (277) |
| Topics | acceptance (83), experience (35), observation (5) |
| Literary Style | didactic (394) |
| Emotion / Mood | calm (552), gentle (196) |
| Overall Quote Score | 81 (272) |
Origin & Factcheck
This gem comes straight from Daniel Goleman’s 1988 book, The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience. It’s often misattributed to random spiritual gurus or even the Buddha himself, but nope—it’s pure Goleman, a psychologist and science journalist who was breaking down meditation for a Western audience long before it was a mainstream wellness trend.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Daniel Goleman (125) |
| Source Type | Book (4747) |
| Source/Book Name | The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience (60) |
| Origin Timeperiod | Modern (889) |
| Original Language | English (4134) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4747) |
Author Bio
Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and bestselling author whose journalism at The New York Times brought brain and behavior science to a wide audience. He earned a BA from Amherst and a PhD in psychology from Harvard, and studied in India on a Harvard fellowship. Goleman’s research and writing helped mainstream emotional intelligence, leadership competencies, attention, and contemplative science. He co-founded CASEL and a leading research consortium on EI at work. The Daniel Goleman book list includes Emotional Intelligence, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Primal Leadership, Social Intelligence, Focus, and Altered Traits.
| Official Website
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | Meditation begins when we stop trying to change our experience and start observing it |
| Book Details | Publication Year/Date: 1977 (originally as The Varieties of Meditative Experience, revised 1988 as The Meditative Mind); ISBN: 9780874778335; Last Edition: Tarcher/Putnam 1988; Number of pages: 320. |
| Where is it? | Approximate page from 1988 edition, Chapter 2: The Psychology of Meditation |