The Simile of the Thermometer

Think of your sitting using a thermometer as simile. The mercury rises as you move through successive strata of mind, then falls again as you revisit the same strata of mind in reverse order. Some strata (temperature ranges) are pleasant, and some are not. Let's say you like 50 degrees and 70 degrees, but you hate 60 degrees. You may be grooving on 50 degrees and suddenly find yourself in an unpleasant condition. You may be tempted to think that you are doing it wrong. You're not! You're just moving up through the temperature ranges and you've come to a rough patch. You will eventually get to another smooth patch when your reach 70 degrees, but you can't get to 70 without passing through 60! In each and every sitting, you will have to pass through 60 degrees on the way up to 70 and on the way back to 50. Since you can't avoid the rough patches, the only reasonable thing to do is to come to terms with them. Don't try to avoid them. Allow them to be there and relax. This movement up and down through the temperature ranges is constant and dynamic. You are either heating up (ascending the jhanic arc) or you are cooling down (descending the jhanic arc). Let it happen and don't assume that any one sensation, no matter how pleasant, is indicative of progress. Your goal is to explore the entire range of possible temperatures. (cont)

(cont from above)

The more you practice, the more strata of mind become available to you (as represented here by upward movement on the thermometer). When you can move up and down the entire range of temperatures in each sitting, you will experience meditation as a natural flow. There comes a time when there are no more new strata of mind to uncover, and you can just relax into the flow without preferring one temperature over another regardless of whether the experience is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. This access to and acceptance of the entire range of temperatures (strata of mind) brings a previously unimaginable stability to both your practice and your life. When you are OK with "this," you don't have to expend so much time and energy chasing after "that."

Kenneth

"This access to and acceptance of the entire range of temperatures (strata of mind) brings a previously unimaginable stability to both your practice and your life. When you are OK with "this," you don't have to expend so much time and energy chasing after "that." - Kenneth"

Perhaps, I'm off base in posting response here, since I go with the direct approach practice. However, I can completely relate to what you said here. Finally, realizing that there is no "that" to chase after... there's nothing to look for!
Everything else... stages, measures of progress, etc. -- it's all "thingy-ness" and not meant to become things of preference or attachment. When the full range of temperatures are experienced equanimously, then the thingy-ness dissolves and the experience becomes boundless.

edited: added a few words.