Meditation

Katherine stopped by for lunch yesterday on her way to a ten day meditation retreat.  She will wake up each day at 4:00 A.M. and meditate for four hours.  Then breakfast will be served followed by housekeeping, because this is how each person pays their way at the retreat.  There will be mid-day meditation and a late lunch.  Afternoon  and evening meditation is observed, but supper isn't served because when you are sitting all day your metabolism slows down so much that three meals aren't healthy.  Oh, and did I mention - speech is prohibited!  That's right...ten days without talking!

As she was telling me about the retreat, I was reminded of the  Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters.  Brother Cadfael was a twelfth century monk who solved murder mysteries.  Interwoven into the stories was the life of a Benedictine monk observing the liturgical hours of prayer :

       6:00 am - First Hour (Matins / Lauds / Orthros)............................. Psalm 5
        9:00 am - Third Hour (Trece)........,..................................................The Lord's Prayer
        Noon Prayer - Sixth Hour (Sext)......................................................23rd Psalm
        3:00 pm - Ninth Hour (None)...........................................................Psalm 117 
       6:00 pm (Vespers / Evensong)..........................................................Psalm 150
       9:00 pm (Compline)......................................................................... Psalm 4
       Midnight Prayer..............................................................................Psalm 134

The definition of meditation is a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a state of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content, or as an end in itself.  Key words for me are "state of consciousness".  Meditation is a method for heightening your consciousness.

Last week, our Sunday School lesson was about fasting, another way to heighten your state of consciousness.  During the lesson, our teacher recommended a book entitled Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster.  He divides the spiritual disciplines into three categories:

The Inward Disciplines - Meditation, Prayer, Fasting, Study
The Outward Disciplines - Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service
The Corporate Disciplines - Confession, Worship, Guidance, Celebration

I've only read the first chapter, Meditation, which was timely for Katherine's visit.  The chapter  opens with these words:

         In contemporary society our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds.  If he can keep us enraged in "muchness" and "manyness", he will rest satisfied. Psychiatrist Carl Jung once remarked, "Hurry is not of the Devil, it is the Devil."
         If we hope to move beyond the superficialities of our culture, including our religious culture, we must be willing to go down into the recreating silences, into the inner world of contemplation."

During lunch, Katherine shared a meditation practice she had learned.  As you meditate, you categorize each thought that enters your mind as a past event, present event, or future event.  This meditation exercise helps you learn to live in the present. (I love the saying, "If you are depressed, you are living in the Past.  If you are anxious, you are living in the Future. If you are peaceful, you are living in the Present.")

Another practice she told me about was labeling each meditative thought as positive or negative.  Again, the purpose is to recognize your true thought patterns and begin to regulate them.

In his book, Richard Foster shares this mediation technique for beginners, like me.  It is called "Palms Down, Palms Up".  He explains it like this:

     Begin by placing your palms down as a symbolic indication of your desire to turn over any concern you may have to God.  Inwardly you may pray, "Lord I give to you may anger toward.......I release my fear of ..........I surrender my anxiety about ........... I release my frustration over........."Whatever it is that weighs on your mind or is a concern to you, just say, "palms down". Release it.  After several moments of surrender, turn you palms up as a symbol of your desire to receive from the Lord.  Perhaps you will pray silently, "Lord, I would like to receive your divine love for ......... your peace about........... your patience..........your joy...........". Whatever you need, you say, "palms up".

What I have learned from talking with Katherine, our Sunday School lessons, and Celebration of Discipline is the importance of taking time out of our busy days to set aside a moment for quiet solitude in which to clear our minds so that we are able to hear the workings of our spirits.

                                                                                                                 Happy Meditating, 
                                                                                                                                    Shelli

You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes a day, unless you are too busy.

Then you should sit for an hour.

 ~Zen Proverb

Spiritual meditation is the pathway to Divinity.

It is a mystic ladder which reaches from earth to heaven,

from error to Truth,

 from pain to peace.

~James Allen

Meditation is the most significant because it opens the door for all other significant things: love, prayer, God, light, music, poetry.

 ~Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Meditation applies the brakes to the mind.

 ~Ramana Maharshi

In meditation, you are calm and receptive.

You are like an open door providing a kind of cross ventilation

 so that the air of divinity can move through you.

~Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanu