Meditation on a Spinach Pie

You know it’s good for you but does it bore you to tears?

by John B Levine, alphamusic composer

After many months working, sometimes around the clock, I am at last on holiday, in Greece. I have found a quiet corner of a florescent-lit café in downtown Athens. As I stare at my spanacopita (Greek for spinach pie), in no particular hurry to start eating it, I contemplate the meaning of life. We all know that spinach is good for us, but how many of us actually enjoy eating it? It is many decades since meditation was first introduced to the West, and by now the majority of us on the spiritual path know that the answer to so many of our problems is to meditate. Chanting OM is just one possible way of doing this. But how many of us, sometimes weeks, months or years following a spiritual renaissance or breakthrough, finally find ourselves secretly thinking (for we’d rather not admit it to our companions on the path to enlightenment…) that meditating and chanting OM is a bit of a chore, possibly even a bit dull, just another thing on our to-do list to fit around the myriad of other tasks we ‘have’ to do?

(for the full article and multimedia experience, click here:  OM-Times July 2010 Edition)

My thoughts toyed with the fact that I am no academic or guru in the meaning and interpretation of OM. For a moment I convinced myself I therefore best suggest that a Tibetan monk or nun would be better qualified to write an article on the subject. Then I had an about turn. Yes, there are learned wise men and women who are masters of the ‘OM’ and who could explain a lot more than I, probably complete with exact references to ancient texts. However what I can offer you is my human experience on the path of and towards ‘OM’, my un-edited story and journey. And I am, at least, an expert in the consumption of spinach.

So, why chant OM?

Even though I am a composer of Alphamusic, which helps thousands around the world with various physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological challenges, I have chosen to live a primarily western lifestyle and so only partially opt out of the ‘rat-race’. Come to think of it most of us in the West who are also following a spiritual path are living variations of such a life style.

Every moment is scheduled, it doesn’t matter if you’re part of a family or other social framework, in Sydney, Tokyo, New York, Paris or London, or even in the countryside. We get up to an alarm clock, work Monday to Friday 9 to 5pm, schedule time for family, friends, recreation, exercise, spiritual practice, cleaning and of course shopping and not forgetting the laundry…