ptl@fluke.UUCP (Mike Andrews) (03/13/86)
Hi,
No general condemnation of meditation exists within the Christian faith, as
far as I've ever heard. Certainly you can find people who think otherwise.
There are several books I've seen on the subject of Christian meditation,
that you could find in most any Christian bookstore.
Norman Vincent Peale has several books dealing in the area of positive
thinking and positive imaging. Excellant books. But rather than make up
my own images to contemplate or pray about (silently or with words), I ask
God to provide me with the images. When I take the time to let myself
come into a simple peace, no magic formulae, God can help me pray in these
ways. Certainly satan and his can influence our thoughts, that's why
Scripture, and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (ex. Discernment), and the
Christian community are around.
God Bless,
Mike Andrews
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God says He is always with us, and will never leave us.
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ARPA : fluke!ptl@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP : {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!ptlmangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (03/15/86)
Meditation (and similar "spiritual exercises") have a long history in the church. Two classic medieval treatises are _The Mind's Road to God_ by Bonaventura and _The Imitation of Christ_ by Thomas a Kempis. There are others besides these. I've found Bonaventura to be very helpful, but he is hard to find in comparison to Thomas, who is ubiquitous. In Eastern practice there are a number of meditations. The use of the Kyrie and of the prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, A sinner." as repetitive chants is well-known (the first is typically part of liturgy). One distinct difference from Far Eastern practice, however, is that the content of the phrases is very important. One is supposed to pay attention to it, even if only peripherally. An important part of its purpose is to orient oneself into the proper state of mind, directed fully towards prayer; thus, one must put intent into the phrases. I've used the second (which is commonly referred to as the "Jesus Prayer") and it seems to be helpful; I also use liturgical texts to make myself receptive to prayer. There's an interesting theory of church decoration which holds that a church should be highly ornamented with appropriate religious images and texts. The idea behind it is that if the eye wanders, it will light upon something which will direct it back to God. Even though I am hopelessly in favor of more ornament, I'm not sure I'm convinced; but it has at its root the same notion of directing one's mind so as to be receptive to prayer. C. Wingate
devonst@burdvax.UUCP (Tom Albrecht) (03/18/86)
In article <umcp-cs.289> mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) writes: >Meditation (and similar "spiritual exercises") have a long history in the >church. Two classic medieval treatises are _The Mind's Road to God_ by >Bonaventura and _The Imitation of Christ_ by Thomas a Kempis. There are >others besides these. I've found Bonaventura to be very helpful, but he is >hard to find in comparison to Thomas, who is ubiquitous. > >In Eastern practice there are a number of meditations. The use of the Kyrie >and of the prayer > > "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, A sinner." > >as repetitive chants is well-known (the first is typically part of liturgy). >One distinct difference from Far Eastern practice, however, is that the >content of the phrases is very important. One is supposed to pay attention >to it, even if only peripherally. An important part of its purpose is to >orient oneself into the proper state of mind, directed fully towards prayer; >thus, one must put intent into the phrases. I've used the second (which is >commonly referred to as the "Jesus Prayer") and it seems to be helpful; I >also use liturgical texts to make myself receptive to prayer. > >C. Wingate Charley, You seem to have confused the issue of meditation and prayer. The Bible seems to indicate that we are to meditate on God's Word. I would take that to mean a total immersion in God's revealed truth. Prayer is communication with God. Jesus admonished His disciples not to practice meaningless repetitions with regard to prayer (Matt. 6:7,8).