Meditation is the cultivation of intimacy… that’s the key. It’s not about emptying your mind, but about getting deeply, personally familiar with the here and now.
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Meaning
At its heart, this quote reframes meditation from an act of escape to an act of connection. It’s about building a close, friendly relationship with your immediate reality, whatever it contains.
Explanation
Let me break this down because it changed my whole perspective. Most people think meditation is about fighting your thoughts, right? Battling distraction. Goleman flips that. “Cultivation” – that’s the first clue. It’s a gentle, patient process, like tending a garden. You’re not yanking out the weeds, you’re just preparing the soil.
And “intimacy with the present moment.” That’s the real genius. Intimacy. It implies a deep, accepting familiarity. You’re not just tolerating the present moment; you’re getting to know it. The sound of the traffic, the tightness in your shoulder, the random memory that pops up. You’re not pushing any of it away. You’re leaning in, with a sort of curious, gentle attention. That shift, from combat to curiosity, is everything.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Category | Life (320) |
| Topics | intimacy (7), mindfulness (31), presence (80) |
| Literary Style | poetic (635) |
| Emotion / Mood | peaceful (147), warm (182) |
| Overall Quote Score | 87 (185) |
Origin & Factcheck
This comes straight from Daniel Goleman’s 1988 book, The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience. It’s a foundational text, written before he became a household name with Emotional Intelligence. You sometimes see this quote floating around unattached or misattributed to Buddhist teachers, but its home is right there in Goleman’s early, crucial work.
Attribution Summary
| 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 (530) |
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
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 is the cultivation of intimacy with the present moment |
| 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 4: Insight Meditation |