Interviews

Addiction and the 3 Principles – Meditation

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An interview of Alex Mill by Greg Suchy from “Hope for Addiction using the 3 Principles.”

In this conversation, we talk about:

  • Meditation, mindfulness, Buddhism, and the 3 Principles (and how they’re related).
  • The voices, thought, insights and Authentic Nature.
  • The distinction between attention and awareness.
  • The thought cycle process that reveals how we stay stuck in suffering.
  • How self-hate is the ultimate addiction.
In lovingkindness,


If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume One).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume Two).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume Three).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, A Shift to Love: Zen Stories and Lessons by Alex Mill.

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Meditation and Reinventing Yourself.

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, The Zen Life: Spiritual Training for Modern Times.

 


  Alex Mill trained in a Zen Buddhist monastery for nearly 14 years. He now offers his extensive experience to transform people’s lives and businesses through timeless Zen principles.

He is the creator of three powerful 30-day programs, Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring, Help Yourself to Change, and Your Practice, as well as the online Zen meditation workshop, Taming Your Inner Noise (now offered as The FREE Zen Workshop).

Alex has also written seven books on Zen awareness practice. The latest are entitled A Shift to Love: Zen Stories and Lessons (Get it for FREE here) and the 3-book series Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness.

He is a full-time Zen Life Coach who offers guidance and life-changing support to his private clients worldwide. Book a call.


 

2 thoughts on “Addiction and the 3 Principles – Meditation”

  1. Alex Mill I enjoyed this conversation immensely. As both a long-time meditator and a someone that has been influenced by 3P stuff as a coach, I find it a wonderful thing to hear your point of view. I find there is an orientation in the 3P’s to be almost “anti-practice”of any sort. This “already and always enlightened” orientation, while fundamentally true IME is also best supported by meditation and even other types of practice. I wonder what you would say to someone that is 3P but coming across as anti-meditation in some way? I see this quite often.

    1. Ryan, thank you so much for watching the interview and thank you for your question:

      “I wonder what you would say to someone that is 3P but coming across as anti-meditation in some way?”

      I actually had a conversation once with Aaron Turner from One Solution (a 3P organization) where I was talking to him about meditation. I got it that he viewed meditation a lot like most people I run into think about meditation. That it’s some technique to “fix yourself.” That there’s some desired end result it’s intended to produce. I hear that a lot in the Mindfulness in the Workplace and Mindful Leadership posts I read. It’s hard to convince people who are running around like chickens with their heads cut off to stop for something if they’re not guaranteed an R.O.I. (Read the irony in that!).

      People in the 3P world call meditation “outside-in” and feel that somehow dismisses meditation from being valid. Well eating, sleeping, working out, and brushing your teeth are “outside-in” too. Good luck separating them from your life!

      I told Aaron that meditation was for the mind what lifting weights was to the muscles, what brushing your teeth was to the teeth and food was to nourishment of the body. Meditation (Zen meditation) helps train your attention to stay where you want it to. So that it doesn’t get lost in the voices (where it habitually wanders when unattended). That skill naturally produces a happier life. It’s a byproduct of practicing meditation. It’s the “result” without there needing to be anything wrong with you in the first place to fix.

      The arguments being made by the 3P community for the “already always enlightened” position resemble much of the old dialogs from Zen stories. It’s like the ego needs to rehash the same arguments to defend itself. Yes, of course you’re already enlightened. But you don’t know it! You are still having so much thinking about your thinking about your thinking about your thinking to see where you are (more irony!).

      These people will likely also renounce teachers at some point too. Because what is the use for teachers if you’re already enlightened?

      I would certainly not convince them toward meditation. Or anyone for that matter. Those who are skeptical or who believe they are “right” tend not to be open enough to inquire for themselves. They’d rather parrot what others have told them or turn to that trusted authority in their own heads to guide the way. That’s fine.

      I prefer to spend my time engaging with people who want my assistance and want meditation. Trust me, as you’re likely aware, there are plenty of them!

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