Dedicant’s Path Through the Wheel of the YearWeek 32: Meditation Reflection and Final Essay : Dedicant’s Path Through the Wheel of the YearWeek 32: Meditation Reflection and Final Essay Presented by
Rev. Jessie “Medb” Olson
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Based on Our Own Druidry and The ADF Dedicant Path Through the Wheel of the Year
Review : Review How is your work with nature going?
Have you been working on your books?
How is your work with your home shrine going?
Related to Requirement : Related to Requirement Related to Requirements:
#6 – Mental Training;
#10 – Personal Religion
Introduction : Introduction At this point, the meditation you began in week 7 has been going on for five months.
This is the minimum you are asked to do for the Dedicant Path documentation.
This week, we will look at your notes from the past 26 weeks, and piece them together in an essay for submission.
Criteria : Criteria An essay or journal covering the Dedicant's personal experience of building mental discipline, through the use of meditation, trance, or other systematic techniques on a regular basis. The experiences in the essay or journal should cover at least a five months period. (800 words min.)
Criteria : Criteria Inadequate
Word length inadequate
Plagiarism
Period of time inadequate
Lack of real effort
Unwillingness to try something new
Lack of any reflection whatsoever
Criteria : Criteria Adequate
Word length adequate
Time period adequate
Willingness to try
Includes either journal entries OR detailed essay
Criteria : Criteria Excellent
Publishable quality reviews
Deep/unique insights
Observable progression and spiritual growth
Excellent reflection and analysis of process
Discussion : Discussion This is requirement is the one that trips the most Dedicants up, mainly because they can't continue meditating for 26 weeks.
If you've gotten this far and meditated at least once per week, you're well ahead of the game.
If you have not finished the meditation, simply continue to meditate.
At this point, we're only part-way through the year, so there's no rush.
But I would encourage you to meditate as much as possible and to write it down as often as possible.
Save this lesson until you have 26 straight weeks of meditation.
Discussion : Discussion “An essay or journal covering the Dedicant's personal experience of building mental discipline, through the use of meditation, trance, or other systematic techniques on a regular basis. The experiences in the essay or journal should cover at least a five months period. (800 words min.)”
This requirement asks for a few things.
First, it requests that whatever you turn in include your "personal experience" in "building mental discipline" using some sort of "systematic" technique on a "regular basis"
Discussion : Discussion Wow, that's a lot. What's it all mean?
According to the requirement, as it's listed above, you can simply turn in your meditation journal and be done with it.
It must be pointed out, though, that you will not gain as much from the journal as you would from an essay that reviews and analyzes the meditation you have done.
Because of this, we greatly prefer to receive a reflective essay, and we hope that you will prefer this as well.
There is also the issue of many Dedicants not wanting to turn in their meditation journals because they include private thoughts.
To that end, I will list a general set of things to cover and think about in your essay.
Make sure you get out your journal, though, because you can't write this essay without it.
Discussion : Discussion That said, to begin with, you need to discuss what you were doing from a generally objective perspective
You also need to show that what you did was "systematic" and "regular".
Discussion : Discussion Begin by talking about what you started out doing.
Did you use a breath count?
Where did you meditate?
Did you create a meditation seat?
What techniques did you try, and how long did you try them for?
If you failed at something, how long did you work at it before either it worked, or you gave up?
If you settled into one technique toward the end, what was it?
Please be as specific as possible when describing your techniques.
Remember, you're looking to show that your meditation was "systematic", not "erratic".
Discussion : Discussion As for "regular", if you write down all the dates you did the meditation exercises and average them up, how many times per week were you meditating?
Or is it more appropriate to ask how many times per day?
The more the better, of course, but if it was only a couple times a week on average, remember that everyone meditates at a different rate.
Discussion : Discussion The requirement also asks that you show "personal experience."
One of the advantages that the essay has over just turning in your journal entries is that you can hold back some of your more private and personal experiences.
Meditation is an intensely personal experience, and sometimes we do not wish to share every detail.
Still, to complete this requirement, some personal experience will need to be shown.
Remember, we're not asking for all the details you have; rather, we're asking for a level of detail that shows that you worked hard at this and that your experiences with this have aided you in your spiritual growth.
In the essay, you might quote or intersperse the essay with journal entries (or parts of them) to show this personal experience.
Discussion : Discussion The essay must also show that you have "built mental discipline."
This doesn't mean that you've managed to lift things with your mind.
It means that you've come to an understanding of how to quiet your mind and think clearly, how to use the skill of opening to nature in ritual, or how to see with greater clarity into the Otherworld.
In the end, it doesn't matter so much what mental discipline you build (it may simply be the ability to sit for an hour each day and be bored yet quiet), but it does matter that you build it.
Discussion : Discussion Kind of going along with the "building of mental discipline" bit, you might talk about plans to continue your meditation journal, or to work with new and interesting ways of meditation that you haven't tried yet.
Finally, if you have been working your tail off, trying to find some way to make meditation "work" and you feel you've failed miserably, tell us that!
Meditation isn't for everyone.
It may not work for you at all.
This could be for any number of reasons: the techniques that you try don't work for your brain; you can't meditate indoors and haven't tried it outdoors yet; or you're just too fidgety to sit still for an hour.
Whatever the cause, the important thing will be that you have tried, and done your best to finish this requirement.
Some of the best essays are from people who never managed to meditate, but had a lot of fun trying.
Discussion : Discussion We do suggest you continue working with meditation.
Remember: this requirement was meant to help you grasp key concepts in ADF Druidry: the Silence, being open to nature, etc.
If you don't quite have them down (and very few people do at five months), keep working!
Homework : Homework Remember to continue your meditation.
Go to your special spot in nature.
Keep reading your book!
Keep working with your home shrine.