Would it be alright to discuss the Tradition and the Traditional Metaphysics that underlie and guide Traditional Practices of Meditation?

The irony is that on asking the question and saying what I will, I’d already be doing that thing I am asking if I am able to do here. lol. So, if I have overstepped, please let me know in the comments. I will remove my post immediately upon knowing I have overstepped.

That said.

From what I understand about Meditation, an essential and universal conception of Meditation would be one where it is understood as an activity. It is an activity for particular ends. And the ends and the means that this activity is partaken in are one guided by a Metaphysics. What is meant by Metaphysics is what is considered to be the case about the nature of existence. Metaphysics is about what is and what can be about existence and that which is of concern. If my conception of meditation is believed to be one that is mistaken, please do correct me in the comments.

Now, the ends of meditation as such via all the World Religions seem to be generally the same. Again, if I am mistaken, correct me. By the World Religions, I am talking about Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Generally, the ends are:

To actualize a still mind and consequently a clarity of thought.
To actualize a realization or realization that changes one’s being (how one thinks, feels, and behaves).
To actualize a still mind and clarity of thought that will nudge or facilitate realization as has been stated.

The activity in general seems to be one of attention management as such, the use of invocation, listening to sounds as such, and/or physical activity. There are many practices on how one is to proceed with one’s thought, feeling, and behaviour that make meditation what it is.

Traditions have institutionalized their own Meditation Practices, and their respective Meditation Practices proceed from their Tradition’s Metaphysical Perspective.

What initiated me to say all this, and ask what I have is because I came by a YouTube vid that I thought might be enjoyed here, and discussed within the context and concern of Meditation. It is a short talk titled “Sacred Silence: Pathway to Compassion”. It’s a talk given by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, who is a professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University. Nasr is of notoriety for a number of reasons. Too many to list out and explain in a single post. So I won’t bother.

In this talk, Nasr explicates a Metaphysics via an Islamic Language that is to guide meditation. And he also makes references to the other World Religions to describe common ground.

What is said in the video (in very broad strokes) is:

Silence is a symbol of the unmanifest of the supreme reality. And thus, when one gives one’s attention to the supreme reality via such concern, it’s a sacred silence. And then, he proceeds to talk about how the supreme reality “breaks its silence”, and how that “breaking of silence” is a compassion itself. In the sense of giving modality to it being witnessed. Thus, there being a relationship between silence and compassion. Thus, existence is like an ocean of compassion because of the sound that is the breaking of silence that witnesses the supreme reality. And what spiritual realization is is the undoing of that act that we come from; where we go back, return, from sound to silence. Meditation is like the sound that returns us back to silence. And he concludes with every religion having its own means of returning us back to silence. So the bringing forth of existence is compassion, and the return is also compassion. Because the reality is witnessed from beginning to end. He provides examples for respective tradition’s practices of returning to silence. Finally, somewhere in the middle of the vid, he makes a sharp turn to addressing social issues that were present when the video was filmed. He makes the point that there cannot be compassion without truth; that one cannot be silent in the face of error. And that to stay silent against error is to keep oneself returning to the sacred silence. And, he stresses that one cannot separate compassion from justice.

That’s about it, really. I have shared the video. If y’all like, y’all may watch it. And if possible, perhaps we can discuss not only meditation practices and approach, but also the tradition and metaphysics that guide meditation’s deliberate practice in this community?