Meditation — Marketing. It doesn’t seem that there should be any connection between the two. Think of a meditator and you probably picture a person sitting serenely cross-legged on a cushion with his or her eyes closed, hands resting gently or holding a pose with thumb and middle finger lightly touching to make a circle. Perhaps the setting is a quiet meditation hall or under a spreading tree in a magazine-worthy nature shot.
Think of a marketer and the picture might not be so serene. Perhaps an underpaid desk jockey in India with a headset microphone, or a slick, aggressive Mad Men-type shyster trying to get people to buy things they don’t need.
But in reality we are all meditators and marketers, whether we realize it or not.
I ran across a discussion in a LinkedIn writers group recently that touched on this exact topic. One of the posters posited that even if we protest that we don't like marketing and don't want to have anything to do with it, all our public statements, including those on message boards and in person, are in fact part of our marketing and branding.
Writers who are too lazy to do the digging around to figure out what type of articles a market typically publishes, and simply email editors asking them to look at their website to ask what type of work they could get, are also marketing — in a negative way — to their intended audience. In essence, we can't escape marketing, so we might as well approach it consciously and productively.
Hmm ... you mean I’m always marketing myself, consciously or unconsciously? Yikes. Better watch what I put out there!
But what about meditating? Surely I am not meditating all the time.
Well, it depends on how you see the word “meditation.” Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the spiritual leader of Shambhala Buddhism, in his video clip, "Learning to Meditate," (also shown below) says the word in Tibet has roots in the word “familiarity,” and so it really means getting used to something.
“I always think that in a sense we are always meditating, meaning we are always getting familiar. Our mind is getting used to something. We may be getting used to the thought of anxiety, worrying, anger. Our mind is getting used to something. So in a sense we are meditating.”
It makes sense: whatever you place your mind on during the course of the day, you are getting familiar with. We can meditate on thoughts of being wronged, feeling impoverished or on our own fantasies and desires by constantly coming back to them during the day. Or, we can familiarize ourselves with kindness, curiosity and humor, and meditate on those.
Which kind of meditation and marketing would you choose?
I think your post does make a point, but isn't there an element of purpose and mindfullness involved? If our mental processes are jumping from one thought to another (what to wear, appointments, perceived slights, etc.) is that meditation? Or is it thought processes that meditation, in its usual understanding, helps us to rise above? The element of cousciousness is what makes the difference, and that certainly applies to our projection of self. If a conscious effort to have a sense of empathy with those with whom we contact is "marketing" then I think we need a lot more of it if done honestly and not deceptively.
Dad
Posted by: [email protected] | May 30, 2011 at 10:45 AM
My understanding from the Sakyong and other Buddhist teachings I've read is that we are always meditating on something, by that meaning placing our mind on something, even if it is for a short time and not what we would traditionally consider "meditating." Making a conscious decision on what we are going to meditate on, whether it is the ebb and flow of our breath or how to squeeze a few more nickels out of some unsuspecting sucker, is what determines the quality of our life and those around us in the greater world.
Posted by: Louise | May 30, 2011 at 09:14 PM