Meditation: The Notebooks of Paul Brunton, Part 1

"The Notebooks of Paul Brunton" - as stated in the editors' introduction - is a compilation of insights by a teacher of meditation that was reserved for posthumous publication. While the fact that these writings were reserved for posthumous publication might seem intriguing and/or ominous, I have found this particular element of this compilation very meaningful. As a student of meditation, I have certainly witnessed my own ever changing understanding of what meditation is and have learned to remain preferably silent or, if necessary, highly tentative about sharing the ever-evolving personal definition of meditation. While I am not entirely sure what P.B.'s motivations for reserving the publication of these notes about meditation posthumously were, I'd like to think that, perhaps, P.B. was remaining tentative, maybe, holding off to sign off on his final understanding of meditation until the last possible deadline. The compilation itself is a thorough summary of personal, empirically- and anecdotally-validated insights about meditation practice, sub-divided into a convenient organization of contents. The insights are presented as laconic aphorisms which are easy to digest and ponder, and are numbered for easy reference. Introspections are nuanced and phenomenologically face-valid. Perhaps, the only limitations of this volume is its occasional redundancy, which, for some, might be reframed as useful repetition. As a psychologist in private practice, I have used some of P.B.'s observations about the dynamics of the mind in the context of meta-cognitive training for anxiety disorders. For example, such observations as "the so-called normal mind is in a state of constant agitation..." and "as the mind relaxes, the number of thoughts is reduced, the attentiveness to them is increased" (P.B., Fundamentals, p. 131) have been handy quotations with clients. On a final note, a secular reader should be cautioned against P.B.'s religious, albeit idiosyncratic, worldview that serves as context for his writings about meditation as a tool of spirituality. This spiritual context aside, the book is a valuable resource for a secular or non-secular student of meditation. Pavel Somov, Ph.D. Pittsburgh, PA USA