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Getting to Where You Are: The Life of Meditation

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If you liked Steven Harrison's book "Doing Nothing" you will no doubt love "Getting to Where You Are". This new book by Harrison, much of it written with unrelenting humor, looks at meditation by stripping away all of the foolishness that has accumulated around the spiritual culture. Harrison finds little difference between the materialism of the general culture and the spiritual narcissism of the meditation culture. This is a radical book requiring a radical reader to match -- if you are one of these I highly recommend this book.

After years of meditation and studying, the Buddha was asked what he had learned from it all and he replied with one simple word - "awareness."

Meditation is thought to be the way to achieve enlightenment or awareness so it seems natural to explore what meditation is and how it is done. Besides different techniques of meditation, there are also different types or goals of meditation. This book explores the differences between concentration, awareness and devotional meditation.

Another type of meditation espoused by Steven Harrison is actuality meditation. According to the author, "getting awareness is as simple as getting to where we already are." There are no meditation techniques to practice. Awareness is a fact of life that can't be started or stopped. He tries to tell us "how to be in the moment."

This book touches upon some good insights about meditation, even if one does not accept the author's conclusions and the basic thesis of his book.

The word "scathing" has been used to describe Harrison's writing, and in this book he mercilessly skewers the pretensions of the "spiritual person". I couldn't stop laughing as I read his commentary on "the knowing look of the senior meditation student" (anyone who's spent any time in a spiritual group knows the type), the human condition ("born naked, cold, and hungry--then it gets worse"), and "awareness, that annoying time between naps." But don't be fooled by the humor. What the author has to say about spiritual practice and the human proclivity to complicate the essence of simplicity is far-reaching and profound. There are no sacred cows here. Be ready to examine and discard your fondest notions of what a spiritual life may be.

I found this book a rather clever critique of the modern day quest for enlightenment and the teachers and teachings that are now a big business. I have a MA in Comparative Religion (Religion and Culture) and while I cringe at many popular writers' terribly superficial analyses of religion and cultural issues, I really enjoyed Harrison's irreverent yet insightful look into why the search for Enlightenment seems so obviously crazy or goofy. In a way, this book provided an explanation to me as to why I hesitate to even think about anything to do with spiritual questing anymore (even the word "spiritual" is a cultural artifact of our day). I found for myself that just taking care of and paying attention to my day to day business and responsibilities was enough for me to satisfy my search for meaningfulness. I let go of looking for the profound and I feel more connected to life itself. Searching for Enlightenment made me more uncomfortable. The dualistic separation of the spiritual from the non-spiritual just seemed idiotic and this book put it into words in a poetic, humorous, yet informative way.

This is my first time in reading this author's work. I purchased the book with the idea that it might have to say something from the perspective of one who has practiced (yes, practiced) meditation for some time. Instead I got a very confusing, disjointed, and - borrowing from another reviewer - clumsily written piece. The problem is he's taking on a huge topic and throwing generalizations around as if his words encompass the whole. While there may be bits of truth, there is as much to say that totally contradicts his points. And in doing so he behaves exactly as the spirituality industry he seems to have a gripe about. He writes, "Without humility, the use of meditative techniques will not bring about anything than the accumulation of more information." This is precisely my problem with this book: it lacks humility. It lacks precision and regard. Instead, it generalizes and is often inaccurate. And in doing so it became for me a noisy gong page after page.

An example: "There is nothing to practice, but practicing nothing is something we all can do. If we are not asleep, we are awake. If we are awake, we must be aware. If you can read this, you are certainly awake. The nap is over, and this annoying thing called awareness is occurring." Or, "Those who find this sublime world of wonder and caught there usually end up as spiritual teachers. They teach us how to find our way to Wonderland." I read this over and over and am bewildered by it's shoot-from-the-hip take on the process. To me, it was not written with much awareness. This happens many times in this book as it misrepresents its choice of words, its "symbols,"
time and time again.

Perhaps it is because in my experience I have met so many devoted people who are not looking for "Wonderland" but just simply want to bring peace and kindess to what's in their life.

There are so many better books than this; too many to name.

An in depth exploration of the problems and pitfalls of technique oriented meditation and the problem of spiritual seeking itself. A deep unique and profound work. A careful reading and you just might end up where you are.

What is meditation? I was meditator myself for many years and it is exactly true what Steve Harrison says about meditation. It comes to us prepackaged by teacher, religion or philosophy with a promise for better future. We want the outcome of it because we don't know better. Meditation promises results, that is just another big No-thing. Meditation is a word just as God is a word, a word that points to something that we could not possibly know in its entirety, and that is because the word does not represent anything concrete. Some people find the book boring because they look for another meditation method; meditation is a mind concept a thought that is in the field of mind. Nothing more but a healthy trance, good luck enjoying it.

Getting To Where You Are: The Life Of Meditation by Steven Harrison is a compelling examination of the practice of meditation - including its benefits, what it can and cannot help with, and expressions of daily spirituality through the machinations of life itself. A thought-provoking series of essays carrying a transcendental message about what it means to be in touch with oneself and the quest to better understand both the physical and the spiritual realms, Getting To Where You Are is enthusiastically recommended reading for students of spirituality who seek to employ meditation as a means of acquiring all that this ancient practice has to offer them in our modern times.

This book does a good job of explaining the unexplainable. This is a very unique and effective contribution to non-dual literature, since he dares to criticise the whole guru business and puts in perspective all misconceptions around in the field of spirituality and enlightenment. I would recommend readers of his book also to take a look at Tony Parson's book, "As It Is".

Jan Kersschot, author of "Nobody Home"

I was intriqued by the reviews and the gist of the message. However, this book, like other books by Harrison, is sheer agony to read. He's a tedious and clumsy writer very taken with his own imagined cleverness. There are other books of the neo-advaita strain that are infinitely better ... Tony Parsons's AS IT IS, for example.