meditation

I became seriously interested in meditation about 10 years ago after reading the book "Transcendental Meditation" by the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the namesake movement world wide and one-time "spiritual mentor" of the Beatles during the 1960's. Though fascinated by what it says–TM is such a wonderful thing it is the cure-all panacea for personal happiness and world peace–I decided to go cautious on it, being aware of the trappings such mythical practice might bring. I reasoned if all roads lead to Rome, as the religious-equal-righters like to say, then there ought to be something similar in Christianity. So I started Googling (back when Google was not a verb yet) the key words "Christian meditation" over the net, and voila! I did find something.

Called "contemplative prayer" or "centering prayer," the contemporary Christian meditation has its roots in Christian mysticism that was practiced by the monks and hermits in the Egyptian desert in the 3rd century AD. It has theological grounding and many practitioners throughout Christian history but somehow got lost or obscured by the Church in the past few hundred years. It was rediscovered and revived by a few modern mystics and Catholic monks such as Thomas Merton, John Main, Thomas Keating et al. since the 1950's and had become movements of their own, with seminars, retreats, publications and meditation groups all over the world today.

Without going through much of the "Spiritualese," Christian meditation, in essence, is a form of prayer. It is the ultimate form of prayer in that after we exhaust our heart and mind seeking and getting acquainted with Christ, the only way left to share and express our love and gratitude with God is through a way of silence. It is the opening of our whole being to God beyond thoughts, words, and emotions, a total self-surrender that frees us from making ourselves or even our relationship with God the center of the universe. 

Unlike Eastern meditation, Christian meditation does not emphasize the technique or methodological part of the practice: No yoga-like sitting or breath counting, for example, though it does not oppose to them either. Neither does it aim at entering the dissociative, "all nothingness" state of mind. The emphasis instead is on the intent to be intimate and rest in the peace of God's presence.    

So here is the simple practice guideline from the World Community for Christian Meditation website I've been following for the past 9 years or so:

Sit down. Sit still with your back straight. Close your eyes lightly. Then interiorly, silently begin to recite a single word – a prayer word or mantra. We recommend the ancient Christian prayer-word "Maranatha". Say it as four equal syllables. Breathe normally and give your full attention to the word as you say it, silently, gently, faithfully and above all - simply. The essence of meditation is simplicity. Stay with the same word during the whole meditation and from day to day. Don't visualise but listen to the word as you say it. Let go of all thoughts (even good thoughts), images and other words. Don’t fight your distractions but let them go by saying your word faithfully, gently and attentively and returning to it immediately that you realise you have stopped saying or it or when your attention is wandering.

I do this for 30 minutes every morning before breakfast, then read my daily devotional, then do a short (voiced) prayer. Then I get on to my daily life.

And I haven't gone insane so far :)

* If you are interested, here are some books related to contemporary Christian meditation:

"Open Mind, Open Heart" by Thomas Keating

"Seeds of Contemplation" by Thomas Merton

"Intimacy with God" by Thomas Keating

"Jesus, the Teacher Within" by Laurence Freeman

"The Cloud of Unknowing" by anonymous 14th century English mystic