I’ve also met Jon Anderson. The rest of the band was waiting for him and I was waiting to talk with him as two other people were talking with him, so we didn’t have much of a conversation. But I did get a chance to ask a question that was most important to me, considering his spiritual lyrics. I asked; “Do you meditate?” He answered quite concisely; “The mind is very difficult to control.” So I assumed he meant that he has taken various stabs at it. To what extent I do not know. The mind really can not be controlled; Rather the best way to accomplish anything with the mind is to let it go of its own accord while practicing meditation.
How did you get backstage? It was impossible to do this when I saw them live.
It was an outdoor venue in Grand Rapids. Since the whole stage was set up, it was obvious to anyone who gave it much thought that the band would have to leave the back of the stage in a get away car. I just walked around the back of the stage and noticed the limo setting back there. I went towards it but two girls had the idea before me. I think they were more of an attraction then I would be. Jon was talking to them. The rest of the band were already in the limo, and only Jon was talking to hanger ons like myself. I realized if I was to say anything after he was done talking to them it would have to be short and to the point because the door was open waiting for him to jump in. I could see the other band members we’re inside. He looked at me and I simply asked; Do you meditate. Thinking he must with all the the spiritual lyrics he wrote and the album dedicated to Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi. He simply replied; “The mind is difficult to control.”
I gave it thought over the years and whether it was a flippant response he used for other spiritual aspirants that may have asked a similar question in the past or he really didn’t spend much time at it I’m not sure. But i’d heard that the band gave prayers out before performing. Later after having mediated for years, I realized the minds activities cannot be really controlled. Meditation happens independent of the restless activity of the brain. What one finds is that the brain is slowly absorbed in peace and then bliss which takes the control factor out of the picture. Higher consciousness replaces the minds thoughts. Sometimes when I respond about meditation I reflect; do I have the authority to evaluate and respond to someone else’s perspective about it? When I was done writing this reply I looked at the time it was exactly 11:11 it reassured me that giving my experience with meditation was 👌 ✅ ok.
The Lancashire-born singer, now a California resident, is also a long-time environmentalist, pacifist and practitioner of meditation; a coping mechanism, perhaps, for the rigours of life in and out of Yes. “We must all learn to live in peace,” he proclaims, “and learn the beauty of this mystery world we live in.”
How many times a day do you meditate?
Two, sometimes three times. It’s become second nature to me to just be in that place of calmness.~Jon Anderson
https://www.loudersound.com/features/jon-anderson-there-s-no-point-pretending-that-i-m-mates-with-yes
