When Stillness Becomes a System

When Stillness Becomes a System

Meditation is practically part of the landscape here in Vermont. You’ll find it in school curriculums, on community center bulletin boards, and woven into yoga classes in every small town. There’s a quiet culture of reflection here—a shared sense that slowing down matters. In fact, Vermont ranks among the top states where meditation is commonly practiced, with high participation compared to national averages.

But as meditation grows more mainstream, especially in medical and academic settings, a debate is stirring. A recent study raised concerns about its potential side effects: increased anxiety, episodes of depression, even rare cases of psychosis. These are not frivolous claims. They deserve thoughtful discussion. But the response from some institutions has been to move quickly toward regulation and clinical control—medicalizing a practice that, for most of history, was deeply personal and spiritual.

It’s worth asking: should meditation be treated like a pill or a treatment plan? And if so, who gets to decide what kind of inner work is “safe,” and what isn't?

Lessons from the Past

In the 1500s, Paracelsus—a Swiss physician, alchemist, and iconoclast—publicly rejected the teachings of Galen, a man whose ideas had dominated medicine for centuries. Paracelsus didn’t just disagree; he threw Galen’s books into a fire, adding a lump of manure for emphasis. His message was blunt: real healing can’t be boxed in by outdated authority.

He went on to reshape medicine by introducing chemical remedies and pushing for autonomy from religious and academic institutions. He believed that medicine—and by extension, any path to self-understanding—should belong to the individual, not to the gatekeepers.

The Problem with Pathologizing

As meditation becomes a clinical tool, some are wondering whether we’re seeing a modern replay of the same old story: institutions trying to contain and control what was once a personal journey. While medical support is crucial when someone is in crisis, it’s also true that inner work—whether through meditation, contemplation, or quiet mornings in the garden—can’t be standardized without losing its soul.

It’s a strange thing to watch something sacred become a chart note. Just as alchemists once protected their practices from inquisitive forces, we have to pay attention to how easily spiritual autonomy slips away when it becomes too convenient to monitor, label, and monetize.

A Powerful Practice, Not a Passive One

Meditation isn’t always calm. Sometimes it opens things you weren’t ready to see. Sometimes it makes you cry for reasons you don’t fully understand. That doesn’t mean it’s broken—it means it works. But it also means people need guidance, not bureaucracy. Support, not diagnosis.

In traditional alchemical terms, transformation wasn’t just about refinement—it was about endurance. You had to withstand the fire. And you had to do it of your own will. No one could walk the path for you. That’s why it mattered.

Letting People Walk Their Own Path

If we turn meditation into a system with intake forms and compliance metrics, we risk losing the very thing that makes it powerful: its ability to wake something up inside you. Something that can’t be measured. Something that doesn’t always make sense—until it does.

This isn’t to say that everyone should dive into deep spiritual work alone. But it is to say that people deserve the freedom to approach it in their own way, in their own time. That’s what sovereignty means. And that’s what real change depends on.

We don’t need more rules about how to be still. We need space. We need silence. We need trust in the process—and in ourselves. Inner work will always carry risks, but the greater risk is a world where reflection is treated like a symptom. Where growth can only happen under supervision.

Here in Vermont, we still have room to breathe. Let’s not forget how rare—and how essential—that is.

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