Meditation and Transcendence

Ever try to meditate with four kids in the house?

It's not for amateurs. They tell you to "observe" your mind--and as thoughts come, acknowledge them and then let them float away. This is more like my thoughts . . . .

Breathe in, exhale slowly. Breathe in--What the h*ll was that crash upstairs?--listen . . . no screaming . . . no one must need stitches or an ambulance--breathe in--but I wonder what WAS that crash?--exhale . . . or was it breathe in?--peace . . . exhale . . .--MOM!--Interrupt peaceful thoughts to scream--WHAT?--"The baby took off his diaper and is peeing on the floor!"--one minute--breathe, exhale, breathe--MOM! (this time said as two-syllable word)--COMING!

So much for meditation.

So more often than not, I pause BEFORE my day even begins. I read a spiritual passage in anything from the Bible to The Quotable Einstein to . . . the Dalai Lama to . . . and then I think about it. Then I pray. I remember all the people I promised to pray for, I think of my friends with loving kindness, I think of people I don't like very much with loving kindness, like my mother-in-law, and try to send good vibes to invade her Fortress of Evil And Wrath. And THEN, I think about my books. And my characters.

And somewhere along the way, I transcend. By that, I use the definition more closely associated with "beyond the range of ordinary perception."

Because in the books that really flow for me, that's what's involved with my characters. I have read many authors who dot the i's and cross the t's. But somehow, the author didn't make a connection with me as reader, and usually it boiled down to what I can only think of as an esoteric "the book didn't have any soul." It's sort of like jazz. There's jazz. And then there's Django Effing-Amazing-Transcendant Reinhardt.

So when my characters transcend, somehow they are beyond my ordinary dot the i's perception. They start living in some three-dimensional, quantum physics sphere where they LIVE and have a life of their own. They decide their own paths. I may tweak with the qanatum mechanics, but they react in that world.

And so, no . . . can I sit like Buddha above and meditate? Not so much.

But are my books a bit of meditation and transcendence?

I hope so.

Thoughts?