On Meditation:
Meditation is also a fascinating concept to me, but first I think it’s helpful to compare/contrast the many popular notions of what meditation is and is not.
For Christians, our lives of reading, prayer and meditation are about a filling of the soul of God and things of God. In other religions, we hear more of an emptying of the soul and mind, reaching an eventual state of peace or Nirvana. A posture of emptying might also be necessary for Christians – an emptying of anxiety and stress or control. Those things empty out, but we don’t stay there as an empty person. The goal then is to see God flood in and fill us, for God to be our source of peace and comfort.
In Merton’s book, a most helpful section he wrote is about a simple form of meditation. From page 101:
Here it might be worthwhile to outline the simple essentials of meditative prayer, in schematic form,
1) Preliminary : a sincere effort of recollection, a realization of what you are about to do, and a prayer of petition for grace…
2) Vision : the attempt to see, to focus, to grasp what you are meditating on. …implies… Faith.
3) Aspiration : From what you “see” there follow certain practical consequences. Desires, resolutions to act in accordance with one’s faith, to live one’s faith. Hope. …the possibility of these good acts with the grace of God.
4) Communion : here the prayer becomes simple and uncomplicated. The realization of faith is solid, hope is firm, one can rest in the presence of God. Love.
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