What happens when we sit in mindful meditation? Life happens. It is always happening, but we rarely pay attention to it. When we sit in mindful meditation, we sweep away all of the little activities that normally occupy our attention and leave just one thing before us: the activity of life.

A research investigation published in the July 4 issue of Science magazine took a look at how people respond to having nothing to do with themselves (“Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind”, Wilson et al.). Budding psychologists might want to read the full article, but the editor’s summary tells us a lot: “Nowadays, we enjoy any number of inexpensive and readily accessible stimuli, be they books, videos, or social media. We need never be alone, with no one to talk to and nothing to do. Wilson et al. explored the state of being alone with one’s thoughts and found that it appears to be an unpleasant experience. In fact, many of the people studied, particularly the men, chose to give themselves a mild electric shock rather than be deprived of external sensory stimuli.”

One might ask how “being alone with one’s thoughts” is any different from sitting in silent meditation? Intent is probably the difference. Support is another. The study’s participants were mainly told what they could not do and then they were isolated from other participants. As a result they quickly felt bored and deprived (in fact, many of them cheated on the instructions when they thought they could get away with it).

Meditators, by comparison, have something to do (pay attention) and we can enjoy the support of a group as we practice. Of course, ‘paying attention’ won’t keep us from thinking (thinking is part of life), or from ever being bored and annoyed (these feelings are part of life too), but it teaches us to see these experiences in a new light. By practicing the ‘task’ of seeing what life is like moment-to-moment, we learn that life itself is always changing and that it doesn’t become locked on any particular experience. And by practicing with others we learn that this is the universal condition of humanity. We are not alone in our experience of life.

Wilson et al. concluded, “The untutored mind does not like to be alone with itself.” This sounds right to me (especially given their use of ‘untutored’ and ‘alone’), but I suspect that this conclusion is based on the wrong question. Instead of asking participants to rate their experience after it was all over, they might have asked participants to evaluate what was going on moment-to-moment. It is possible that a much more nuanced picture would have emerged.