Meditative Self-Inquiry with Oda Lindner, April 16, 2026
We met at Esquimalt Gorge Park Pavilion. The exploration began with the question, “Can there be an intent in meditation?” and whether meditation can be something we decide to do, or whether intention already introduces a goal that moves us away from what meditation actually is.
Very early in the dialogue, sport was used as an example: noticing how, in the middle of playing, one can become emotionally involved, caught in winning, losing, and reaction, and yet also be aware of it, and how that awareness changes the quality of the experience.
Participants were then guided through a short body meditation. Afterwards, one participant shared how thoughts were distracting him from simply being with the body, such as noticing the feet, breath, and other sensations.
From there, the dialogue looked at what happens when we say “I want to meditate” and whether that already introduces effort, direction, and a sense of doing. This led to the question, “What is it that we do not do?”
A central inquiry emerged: “Can awareness look at awareness?” and whether awareness can exist without an object of attention at all.
The discussion then turned to the sense of self: “Who is the me who wants to improve myself?” and whether this “me” is anything more than a thought attempting to reorganize itself. Earlier in the dialogue, a question, “What benefit is there in having a ‘me’?” was raised. It opened into the broader question of fragmentation as a possible source of suffering. Another key question was “Does awareness suffer?”, or whether suffering belongs to identification, memory, and fragmentation rather than awareness itself.
The dialogue closed with an open inquiry into whether such seeing, without the interference of the “I”, remains purely individual, or whether there is a possibility of a shared group awareness.
- Anastasia Shtamina
