Meditation : A Christian Perspective

Introduction

When the word 'meditation' is mentioned, most people will probably think of the broadcasts made by the Natural Law Party for the General Election! Or perhaps the Ab Fab crew : "I'm chanting as we speak, darling!" But there's more to it than that.

Eastern meditation techniques are gaining increasing popularity in the West, where they are portrayed as a means for stress relief or spiritual fulfillment. Are these practices as innocent as they claim to be, or is the growing enthusiasm for meditation something which Christians should be concerned about?

I have decided to write up my findings on meditation from a Christian perspective because it is not a subject that has been addressed in literature to a huge extent. I hope that this article will prove to be useful and thought-provoking : check things out for yourself!
 

Aims and Methods of Meditation

The primary aim of meditation is to achieve what is called an 'altered state of consciousness' (ASC), also known as 'tuning in', 'getting high', or 'opening up'. This occurs when a person shuts off the rational part of their mind. There are many different techniques which can be employed to facilitate this.

Sometimes, the ASC is induced by staring at an object until the onset of mild hallucinations. Sometimes the student visualises 'pictures' in their mind's eye with the intention of blocking everything else out, possibly while listening to specially-composed music. The net effect is the same in each case : semi-sensory depravation, leading to an ASC.

In this article, I will concentrate on techniques which involve the chanting of a 'mantra', as these are rapidly increasing in popularity. A 'mantra' is a word or phrase in the Sanskrit language, which is repeated over and over again. The first mantras are found in the Hindu 'vedas' (scriptures containing wisdom or knowledge), and were hymns of praise to the Hindu gods.

The student is introduced to a mantra, and encouraged to repeat it over and over again, focussing their thoughts on the sound of the words. The meaning of the words is irrelevant to the exercise, but is often along the lines of "All is one, and all is love." This produces similar effects to sensory depravation, leading to an ASC.

In many systems, once the student has practised meditation for a certain length of time, they are initiated in what is sometimes referred to as the '1st stage of meditation'. They spend some time meditating with a 'guru' (the exact name given to the guru varies from system to system), and are given their own personal mantra. They are instructed not to tell anyone what their mantra is, because it is so personal that someone else knowing what it was would reduce its effectiveness. Often, they are not informed of what the mantra actually means. As the student becomes more experienced, they can 'climb up the ladder' and reach higher 'stages'.

All of these methods are based on techniques described in Hindu scriptures. They are advertised as being non-religious, extremely beneficial, and completely harmless. None of these claims are true.

Other claims made by certain groups are that meditation 'relieves stress', 'improves memory', 'expands your awareness', deepens your capacity to love' and enables you to 'experience and understand forces that are more subtle than you are able to perceive in your day-to-day interaction with the external world'. Some of these claims are true to some extent, but definitely not in the 'innocent' way such groups would like us to believe from their literature. For example, if you are stressed about exams, meditation will probably make you feel better, as you forget about your worries. But anything else which takes your mind off of your work would be just as effective!
 

The Religious Nature of Meditation

The teaching common to nearly all of the groups and systems that practise meditation is that, in reality, everything is one. They teach that by meditating, an individual is able to become one with 'something' (the label placed on this 'something' varies from system to system, eg the godess Shiva, a universal energy source, a universal frequency), which leads to spiritual fulfillment and a heightened perception of reality.

It is often claimed that meditation is not religious, but 'spiritual', which is seen to be something different. The extent to which this is true depends on how you define 'religion'. The way I see it is that when someone practises meditation, they are endorsing a set of beliefs (in a universal energy source or whatever) about the supernatural realm. The beliefs and practices can be said to constitute a religious system, especially when rules are added such as being prohibited from telling others what your mantra is.

Many groups which practise meditation have to work Jesus into their system of beliefs somehow, as he is too important a figure to ignore. They often say that he was a guru or an enlightened man who had managed to achieve spirituality on a higher plane. If this is the case, then why didn't he teach his disciples to meditate?
 

Physiological Effects

On a purely physiological level, the feelings which are experienced during meditation are similar to those induced by total sensory depravation or psychadelic drugs. The feelings occur when a subject is awake, but is not in control of the rational part of their brain, for whatever reason. The subject is introverted : they look inside themselves, and their sense of perception changes. Feelings induced by meditation cannot be said to reflect the truth about the world, as they are a result of an altered sense of perception! They are mainly due to disruptions of the biochemical pathways used to transmit sensory information.
 

Spiritual Effects

Far more serious are the spiritual effects of meditation.

The Bible teaches that there are only two ways into the spiritual realm. One is through a living relationship with God, brought about by a personal faith in Jesus and His saving work on the cross. The other is through occultic practices, however innocent these may appear, and the spiritual force at work is Satan.

There is no middle ground.

God, as our creator, is the only one who can access our souls directly. He has given us a set of defences which prevent the devil from doing likewise. One of these is the ability to think for ourselves, and to rationalise. When someone meditates, they purposely open up their natural defences. They are not in control of their mind or will, and the devil can seize this opportunity to mislead them and to deceive them with his lies. When someone enters an ASC, they can feel quite disoriented and a little panicky. They are likely to clutch at anything that helps them to find their bearings. These could be the suggestions and false teachings of a guru or instructor, or they could be the lies of Satan himself.
 

The Christian Attitude

Someone once said to me : "Meditation is like prayer. The only difference is that in meditation you focus on the words (mantra) and in prayer you focus on God."

This is actually a very good explanation as to why meditation is definitely, absolutely NOT like prayer!! Prayer is an integral part of the relationship between the Father and His children. We are called to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind." (Luke 10:27) Note the word 'mind' : we must be in possession of our faculties before we can love God and have a relationship with Him. If you empty your mind and lose control of your rational faculties, you cannot love God. In fact, you do the opposite : you set up a barrier between yourself and Him.

When you pray, it is the meaning of the words that is important, not their sound. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." (John 1:1) The term used for 'Word' is 'logos', from which we get the term 'logic' today. The use of the term 'logos' makes it clear that it was the meaning that was important, not the sound.

The word 'meditate' appears a couple of times in the Bible, but always as a synonym for contemplative, rational thought, and only in the context of thinking about God's word, eg. Joshua 1:8 - "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it." Here, the emphasis is on understanding God's word, and converting that understanding into actions. We are called to use our minds, not lose them!

Proverbs 3:21-22 - "My son, preserve sound judgement and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck." Sound judgement and discernment are two of the things you lose when you meditate.

We are often called to be clear-minded : this is a theme the Bible comes back to again and again because it is so easy to allow our thinking to become clouded and fuzzy, whether through tiredness or 'getting into' music or meditation or whatever. Isaiah 26:3-4 - "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock eternal." 1 Peter 4:7 - "The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray." 1 Peter 1:13 - "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Christ Jesus is revealed."

Why is God so keen to instruct us to remain in control of our minds? I think that the main reason is that if someone uses meditation to relax, forget their troubles, shut off their rationality, and to feel at one with the world, then they blind themself completely to the fact that they are a sinner and that they are in need of a saviour. I think that this is the biggest danger of meditation : by trying to fill the God-shaped hole with 'spiritual' things, they blind themself to the truth. By accepting the underlying principles upon which meditation is based, they implicitly deny the nature of God, the nature of mankind, and the nature of salvation. If the meditation 'works' for a person and makes them feel relaxed and 'spiritually fulfilled' then it is extremely difficult to explain to them why it is a bad thing from a Christian perspective, because they simply cannot comprehend what the Christian perspective is.

Another point to note is the reliance and trust in the words of the guru or instructor that often builds up in students. If someone is continually looking to their instructor for guidance, they do not search for God or look to Him for guidance, because they do not realise that they need it. The student can develop a high degree of suggestibility, and accept the teacher's ideas and beliefs without questioning them.
 

To Summarise

References

For the physiological effects of meditation, a summary of techniques that can be used, and some experimental results, the collection of essays entitled 'Altered States of Consciousness', ed. C. Tart is a good starting point, especially the article by M. Ludwig.

For more specific information on meditation using mantras, I browsed through a few books on Hinduism, the details of which I can't remember.

For a general outline of the Christian viewpoint on Eastern religions, I used 'The Concise Guide to Today's Religions' by J. McDowell and D. Stewart.

For general principles regarding loss of rational thought, 'Playing with Fire : the use and abuse of music' by Alex Robertson was indispensible! A HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK!

To find relevant Bible verses, I used a NIV concordance and cross-references.

In addition, I trawled the www and found inumerable pieces, mostly promoting meditation, which gave me an insight into the underlying belief systems.

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