Meditation

Meditation refers to any of a wide variety of spiritual practices (and their close secular analogues) which emphasize mental activity or quiescence.

The English word comes from the Latin meditation , which originally indicated every type of physical or intellectual exercise, but which later could perhaps be better translated as "contemplation." This usage is found in Christian spirituality, for example, when one "meditates" on the sufferings of Christ; as well as Western philosophy, as in Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy , a set of six mental exercises which systematically analyze the nature of reality.

In the late nineteenth century, Theosophists adopted "meditation" to refer to various spiritual practices drawn from Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Eastern religions. Thus the English word "meditation" does not exclusively translate any single term or concept from the sacred languages of Asia , such as the Sanskrit dhyana , samadhi , or pranayama . (Note that whereas in Eastern religions meditation is often a central part of religious/spiritual practice, in Christianity it is rather a fringe activity if practiced at all.)

"Meditation" modern definitions

• a state that is experienced when the mind dissolves and is free of all thoughts

• focusing the mind on a single object (such as a religious statue, or one's breath, or a mantra)

• a mental "opening up" to the divine, invoking the guidance of a higher power

• reasoned analysis of religious teachings (such as impermanence for Buddhists)

• rejuvenation and relaxation

Practices of these types are found within various world religions (East and West) as well as some secular contexts such as the martial arts. It has been suggested that the recent popularity of "meditation" in the West (for example, in the New Age movement) signals some discomfort with more traditional Western religious practices, such as prayer. Others see meditation and prayer as harmonious: Edgar Cayce taught that "Through prayer we speak to God. In meditation, God speaks to us."

From the point of view of psychology, meditation can induce — or is itself — an altered state of consciousness. However, many religious people would challenge the assumption that such mental states (or any other visible result) are the "goal" of meditation. In fact the goals of meditation are quite varied, and range from spiritual enlightenment, to the transformation of attitudes, to better cardiovascular health.

It is easy to observe that our minds are continually thinking memories from the past, and also expectations about the future. With the use of will and intention it is possible to slow down the mind. We are able to observe a mental silence, also called present moment experience, which is a subjective experience of depersonalization and universality. Meditation is the rule injunction or method that anyone can follow to verify this subjective experience. It is an experiencial method of seperating the thoughts from the part of our consciousness which perceives the thoughts, the observer. By unengaging our mind we are able to observe the more subtle details and gain better control over what we give attention to. The experience of thoughts winding down and stopping is also known as timeless awareness.

Types of meditation

Gathering the Light, from The Secret of the Golden Flower, by C. G. Jung and Richard Wilhelm

According to Bogart (1991) and Perez-De-Albeniz & Holmes (2000) the different techniques of meditation can be classified according to their focus. That is, whether they focus on the field or background perception and experience, also called mindfullness, or whether they focus on a preselected specific object, also called "'concentrative' meditation." There are also techniques that shift between the field and the object.

As difficult as the question of which practices qualify as "meditation," is the question of how to categorize its different varieties. One common way is according to religion or lineage. However, some meditative traditions such as yoga or tantra are common to several religions. Also, meditation increasingly occurs outside of religious contexts, or crosses religious boundaries. Therefore, to avoid controversies, we will not attempt to class all meditations into a religious class or leanage.

Many traditional forms of meditation may be cited.

Hinduism — many different schools exist.

• Vedanta

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