Meditation as Death

You've seen it before - whether on TV, a movie or even in real life. When someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness and they're given only a short time to live (of if they've come back from a near-death experience), suddenly their whole perspective changes. Every little thing - a pile of snow, a snag in the carpet, a bird on the barn roof, a bitter cup of coffee - becomes miraculous and amazing.

This is what meditation does. You emerge into the void, into a "little death." When you come back out, all of life's forms spring out from that emptiness and maybe - if you're just careful enough not to go immediately back into everyday (un)consciousness - you experience every-thing as astounding.