You know, when Daniel Goleman says “Meditation is a laboratory…” he’s really onto something. It’s not about emptying your mind, but about getting a front-row seat to how it actually works. It’s the ultimate tool for self-discovery.
Share Image Quote:At its core, this quote means that meditation provides a controlled, observable space to study the inner workings of your own consciousness.
Okay, think about it like this. In a lab, you test hypotheses. You observe reactions under a microscope. Meditation is that for your mind. You sit down, and instead of getting swept away by a thought or an emotion, you just… watch it. You see the chain reaction. A thought arises, then a feeling, then a story, then a physical sensation. And you see it all without getting tangled up in it. That’s the lab work. You’re not trying to *stop* the chemical reactions, you’re just finally seeing them clearly. And that changes everything.
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3669) |
| Category | Education (260) |
| Topics | mind (39), practice (38), understanding (119) |
| Literary Style | analytical (121) |
| Emotion / Mood | curious (37) |
| Overall Quote Score | 67 (29) |
This gem comes straight from Daniel Goleman’s 1988 book, The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience. It’s a key concept from his early work, long before emotional intelligence became a household term. You sometimes see it misattributed to other mindfulness teachers, but the source is definitively Goleman.
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Daniel Goleman (125) |
| Source Type | Book (4032) |
| Source/Book Name | The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience (60) |
| Origin Timeperiod | Modern (528) |
| Original Language | English (3669) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
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
| Quotation | Meditation is a laboratory for understanding the mind |
| 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 |
Goleman wrote this after diving deep into the scientific research and the actual practices of meditation across different traditions. He was making a case to a Western audience that this wasn’t just spiritual fluff; it was a rigorous, systematic process for investigating the self. He was framing meditation in a way that science and psychology could understand and respect.
I use this all the time. For instance, when I’m coaching someone who’s struggling with anxiety, I tell them, “Don’t fight the anxiety. Just get curious. Use your meditation as a lab to see what anxiety *actually* feels like in your body, what thoughts tag along with it.” It completely reframes the experience from a battle to an investigation.
It’s perfect for:
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Theme | Concept (265) |
| Audiences | educators (295), psychologists (197), researchers (65), students (3112) |
| Usage Context/Scenario | academic essays (5), lectures (11), psychology discussions (19), spiritual introductions (1) |
Question: So if it’s a lab, what are the experiments?
Answer: The experiments are your life! You bring your daily frustrations, your joys, your triggers into the lab of your meditation session and you just observe what happens. The experiment is paying attention.
Question: Does this mean I need to analyze my thoughts during meditation?
Answer: Great question, and no, not at all. That’s the key. The scientist in the lab doesn’t judge the chemical reaction, they just observe it. Your job is to witness, not to analyze or judge. The insight comes from the observation itself.
Question: How is this different from just thinking?
Answer: Thinking is being *in* the reaction. Using meditation as a lab is watching the reaction from a safe distance. It’s the difference between being a participant in a riot and being a scientist watching it from a balcony. Completely different perspectives.
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