Monthly Missiological Reflection #29
"Christian
Prayer and Eastern Meditation"
I find it interesting that Eastern meditation has become a fad in our
postmodern world. The cover of this week's Time magazine shows
actress Heather Graham in a lotus position practicing Transcendental
Meditation and the caption "The Science of Meditation." The cover story,
entitled "Just Say Om," opens with these words: "Scientists study it.
Doctors recommend it. Millions of Americans--many of whom don't even own
crystals--practice it every day. Why? Because meditation works" (Stein
2003, 48).
Why are Westerners increasingly receptive to Eastern meditation? How should
Christians view this type of meditation? How do Eastern and Christian
meditation differ? What are some practical approaches to communicating
Christ to practitioners of New Religious Movements?
The East and West are Ever-Meeting
In our religiously pluralistic environment Westerners have become
highly receptive to Eastern forms of religion, especially meditation.
Harold Netland in Encountering Religious Pluralism writes: "The
cumulative influences of the disestablishment of Christianity in Western
societies, the increased marginalization of traditional religion in modern
life, a deepening skepticism about the claims of orthodox Christianity, and
the existential awareness of cultural and religious diversity engendered by
globalization work together to erode confidence in the truth of Christian
faith in favor of more pluralistic alternatives" (2001, 15).
Westerners, formed by Enlightenment thinking, first became enthralled with
what they considered to be the rationalistic, natural religion of
Confucius. Romantics, especially in Germany, looked to the monistic motifs
of Vedanta Hinduism of India, believing that "ultimately all reality is one
unified whole and that this reality is fundamentally spiritual in nature,
with the material world being in some respect illusory" (Netland 2001,
102). The impact of Buddhism has been even more pervasive. In the
nineteenth century battle between Christianity and secularism, the agnostic
yet meditative character of Buddhism appealed to those seeking an
alternative to Christianity. The counter-cultural movements of the 1950s
and 1960s "drew heavily upon Eastern religious symbols and spiritual
practices as alternatives to the perceived decadence of the West" (Netland
2001, 107). Westerners began travelling to India, Japan, and Tibet to study
under religious gurus and many of these Eastern religious tutors have now
moved to the United States or, like the Dalai Lama, sought refuge here. The
Western world today has become religiously plural.
This continual exposure to religious diversity, the skepticism of modernists
toward the historical accuracy of the biblical text, and the quest for
"pragmatism and personal experience" (Netland 2001, 125) have created what
Wade Clark Roof calls the quest culture. There has been "a
qualitative shift from unquestioned belief to a more open, questioning mood,
a search for certainty, but also the hope for a more authentic,
intrinsically satisfying life" (1999, 9-10). Roof writes:
The emergence of a global world, an influx of new
immigrants and cultures, widespread changes in values and beliefs, the
immense role of the media and visual imagery in shaping contemporary life,
an expanding consumer-oriented culture targeting the self as an arena for
marketing, the erosion of many traditional forms of community--all point
to major realignments in religion and culture…. Old certainties collapse
as new mysteries arise. It seems not just coincidental that the metaphor
of a spiritual quest takes on significance just when many of traditional
religion's underpinnings of the culture have become tenuous.
(1999, 8; cf. Netland 2001, 125-26)
In their religious quests Westerners are not only
appropriating beliefs from Eastern sources but are integrating them into new
and distinctive religious configurations, called New Spiritualities
or New Religious Movements. Irving Hexham and Karla Poewe in New
Religions as Global Cultures (1997) say that New Religious Movements are
a result of globalization, which allows people of world cultures to
selectively integrate aspects of many traditions to create a new religious
culture. In a significant, up-coming publication, entitled Mission to
New Religious Movements, they write: "In practice and theory the
creators of new religions selectively extract and combine elements they find
significant from numerous local cultures spread around the world" (Hexham
and Poewe-Hexham, 2004).
Julie is an example of this. We met on an airplane. Her books about power
points and flows of energy enthralled me. She told me about her place of
meditation, the altar in her house. Numerous crystals line the
circumference. Within the circle three pyramids form a triangle. Statues
of Buddha, Krishna, and Jesus, representing Buddhism, Hinduism, and
Christianity, stand between the pyramids. In the background is a large
cross. A Bible, Koran, and Sutras are placed among the images. Julie’s
religion integrates beliefs and forms from different world religions. She
believes that the life energy radiating from these elements gives her peace
and power. Julie has taken items from multiple cultures and religions to
form her own DiY (Do-It-Yourself) spirituality.
While historical and cultural factors make Westerners very receptive to
Eastern forms of religion, there are also local contextual factors. For
many the pace of Western life is overwhelming. Schedules are tightly
maintained; accomplishment of task is frequently more important than
people. Relationships are often competitive, and employers demand results
in the workplace. Eastern-style meditation is frequently suggested as a
remedy for stressed-out people.
Christian Perception toward Eastern
Meditation
How then should Christians perceive meditation and other
practices of the new spiritualities?
First of all, the practice of meditation affirms the reciprocal relationship
between mind and body. In North America physicians treat the physical
causes of illness, theologians and philosophers struggle with the reasons
for evil, and psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists treat the trauma
resulting from stress and anxiety. However, increasingly it is accepted
that health is not merely a physical phenomenon that can be treated
impersonally and superficially but must be treated as a spiritual phenomenon
with physical causations. Christian physicians, therefore, must become
ministers of "the God of all comfort" who empathetically and prayerfully
minister as God's spokespersons. They must mimic the Great Physician who
ministered both spiritually and physically.
In other words, Christian must reach beyond themselves instructing people to
petition and trust in the Lord. New Agers, by way of contrast, reach within
themselves hoping to access the ultimate impersonal Self or "oneness" of the
universe.
Second, relaxation is a desperate need in this pent-up world. After a long
day of work Western urbanites perceive a need for solitude, to be alone, to
simply relax. Participants of the New Spiritualities stress this need and
believe that the answer is an emptying of Self or a merging of Self with
ultimate reality through meditation. One author uses his web site to
promote meditation to relieve tension:
Too much stress, stress reduction, chill out, let it
go, detach familiar phrases to all of us. Our world is fast, fun and
exciting. It is also challenging, trying, demanding and frightening. These
two sides of our lives produce stress, emotional reactions, anxiety, worry
and anticipation. Our bodies and minds can tolerate only so much of any of
these. After a while, each of us reaches a saturation point and the
results become uncomfortable at best; for some it may be unbearable, even
unendurable.
(www.LearningMeditation.com)
Joel Stein's Time article quotes many researchers to show that
Eastern meditation reduces tension, increases contentment, slows disease,
trains the mind, and reshapes the brain. Although Stein's research seems
biased because he interviews only researchers with a positive deposition
toward Eastern meditation, I do think relaxing while in the lotus position
while focusing on breathing has some therapeutic benefit. I suspect that
relaxation of all sorts can help up-tight Westerners reduce tension.
Frequently, however, Eastern meditation leads to a change of epistemology.
Instead of looking for peace and tranquility through personal relationship
with God (Matt. 11:28-29), people seek these qualities within themselves.
One New Ager writes:
We start by paying attention to our breathing. The
practical effort to focus completely on our breathing takes our minds away
from the "mind clutter" that constantly tries to invade our mind and
eliminate feelings that will lead to a time of calm. With repeated effort
the goal of clearing your mind to think of nothing, does occur and the
process of meditation takes on its own energy. The result is, and I
guarantee this, peace, serenity, calmness, eventually opening yourself
to new insights.
(www.LearningMeditation.com)
God is thus dethroned as the authority, and meaning is intuitively found
within Self.
Despite the claims of new spiritualities in the West, human beings cannot
simply empty themselves of spiritual influences and find ultimate meaning
within themselves. The attempt frequently results in a new type of
allegiance. Ravi Zacharias in The Lotus and The Cross describes an
imaginary conversation between Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha. At one
point Gautama reflects despondently upon the idolatry and pagan rituals
found within popular Buddhism, and Jesus responds by saying:
Superstition in its essence is actually a subtle lack
of faith in God. If there is no righteous god in control of all things, a
person ends up trying to appease the world of unseen power. Habits
develop out of fear of the unknown. You took God away from them, Gautama,
so they live in fear of the spirit world. Anytime god is displaced but
belief in the spirit world remains, placation will dominate the
individual's efforts.
(2001, 67)
A similar phenomenon is occurring within the context of
New Spiritualities in the West. Meditation becomes the roadway enabling
practitioners to not only relax but also to eventually access the spiritual
realm. I have listened with awe to the tantalizing visualizations and
soothing sounds in New Age tapes and videos guiding participants to access
their spiritual guides, angels, or astral beings. How-to-do-it books, the
type burned by new Christians in Ephesus (Acts 19:19), are readily available
at local bookstores. As practitioners begin to sample the interconnected
relationships of the spiritual realm, astrology and divination become
appealing. Over a period of time, New Age self-actualization becomes
demonic oppression and possession. Eastern meditation, thus, can open
people up to practices that access the spirit world.
Christian Prayer and Eastern Meditation
The goal of Buddhism is to set aside pain, to negate suffering
through meditation; the Christian, on the other hand, places suffering
before the God of all comfort in supplication and prayer (2 Cor. 1:3-11).
Ravi Zacharias' fictitious dialogue between Jesus and Gautama in The
Lotus and The Cross ingeniously contrasts Christian prayer with Eastern
meditation:
Jesus:
"Prayer is a constant reminder that the human being is not autonomous.
Prayer in its most basic form is the surging of the human spirit in its
weakness, grasping at the Spirit of God in His strength. Sometimes mere
words cannot give shape to the longing of the heart. You see, Gautama, God
answers every prayer by either giving what is asked for or reminding the
petitioner that God's provision is built on His wisdom and executed in His
time. But the answer is always for the instruction and nurture of the soul.
. . . When the seed meets the soil and the season is right, the boom
touches heaven."
Gautama: "Beautifully put. But prayer is a
dimension that doesn't fit in with my teachings. . . . There are cardinal
differences between one who prays and one who meditates. One looks beyond
and the other looks within" "
Jesus: "The purpose in life, Gautama, is
communion, not union. There can be no meaning when the goal is to mediate
oneself into oblivion. But meaning is found in a relationship with the
living God. That's what it's all about--a relationship"
(Zacharias 2001, 47, 49, 73).
Meditation is also a distinctively Judeo-Christian term
although Zacharias is correct in focusing on prayer. Prayer describes the
core relational nature of Christian meditation. Theophan the Recluse, the
Russian mystic, wrote, "To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart,
and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all seeing,
within you" (In Foster 1988, 19).
The essence of Christian meditation is vastly different than its Eastern
counterpart. Christian meditation is focused on intimate relationship
with God the Father and the person of Jesus Christ. According to Richard
Foster, the Hebrew words for meditation refer to "listening to God's word,
reflecting on God's works, rehearsing God's deeds, ruminating on God's
law." The emphasis is on changed behavior (Ps. 119:97, 101-102). It is
natural for people of God to meditate in the evening (Gen. 24:63); at night
(Ps. 6:3-6), and early in the early morning (Ps. 119:148). "The Psalm that
introduces the entire Psalter calls people to emulate the 'blessed man'
whose 'delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day
and night' (Ps. 1:2)" (Foster 1988, 15-16).
Jesus himself frequently withdrew to "lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16;
cf. 4:42; 22:39). Preparing to select his twelve apostles from among his
disciples, Jesus “went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night
praying to God” (Luke 6:12-16). Withdrawing and praying was habitual with
Jesus. Being from God he desired to commune with God.
Foster defines Christian meditation as "the ability to hear God's voice and
obey his word." It involves, he says, "no hidden mysteries, no secret
mantras, no mental gymnastics, no esoteric flights into the cosmic
consciousness" (Foster 1988, 17). The Bible is a narrative of God's
relationship with his people, even when they rebel against him. "The great
God of the universe, the Creator of all things, desires our fellowship"
(Foster 1988, 17)!! The guiding question of the Bible is: "Will God's
people live in relationship with Him? Or will they choose to live on the
basis of their own ingenuity or under the sovereignty of pagan gods?"
What then are the major contrasts between Christian and Eastern meditation?
Christian meditation opens the mind to the purposes of God by reflection
upon Scripture, simply resting in his presence, and dwelling with him in the
goodness of his creation. We grow as loving, holy, faithful beings by
dwelling in the presence of God. Christian meditation, thus, attempts to
fill the mind with the Person, attributes, and purposes of God.
Eastern meditation, on the other hand, attempts to empty the mind. Foster
says,
Eastern forms of meditation stress the need to become
detached from the world. There is an emphasis upon losing personhood and
individuality and merging with the Cosmic Mind. There is a longing to be
freed from the burdens and pains of this life and to be released into the
impersonality of Nirvana. Personal identity is lost and, in fact,
personality is seen as the ultimate illusion. There is an escaping from the
miserable wheel of existence. There is no God to be attached to or to hear
from. Detachment is the final goal of Eastern religion.
(Foster 1988, 20)
Paradoxically, the new
spiritualities of the West have selectively borrowed and reconfigured these
conceptions to fit the optimistic success syndrome and individualization of
the Western world.
Teaching Christ to New Religionists
I have consistently found participants in the New Spiritualities
receptive to the story of Jesus. But Christ's work through us as ministers
of reconciliation must be incarnational. We must personally enter their
lives and treat them with love and respect.
I have found that discussion of methodologies of meditation provides common
ground for spiritual discussion. Both the New Ager and the Christian
meditate even though the nature and purpose of meditation is greatly
different.
I frequently ask the New Age spiritual searchers to describe their type(s)
of meditation. I listen intently and ask many questions because I want to
fully understand what has been occurring in their lives. Out of this
discussion they may express spiritual dilemmas. Like some religious people,
they may be disillusioned by what is happening in their lives. If they have
been meditating for many years, they will likely have dabbled in accessing
spiritual guides and various types of divination.
At a convenient time, depending on the context, I will mention enthrallment
with my meditation. They will almost always ask what I do. I will describe
meditation on the beauty of creation, sitting or laying in silence listening
to God, and devotional reflection upon God's Word, with illustrations of
each.
I then slide from discussion of meditation to telling a few specific story
of God steadfast love, awesome holiness, and consistent faithfulness,
illustrating his great desire to relate with us. Since Christianity is a
historical religion, the searcher must hear the story in order to fathom the
rationale for my distinct type of meditation.
Finally, I will ask to pray with the searcher illustrating prayer as a
relationship with a personal, loving Creator.
Throughout this informal study I do not ridicule the practices of the
searcher or object to pagan customs but speak of and illustrate relationship
meditation with creator God.
Works Cited
Foster, Richard J. 1988. Celebration of
Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. San Francisco:
HarperCollins
Hexham, Irving and Karla Poewe. 1997. New Religions as Global Cultures.
Boulder: Westview.
Hexham, Irving and Karla Poewe-Hexham. 2003. In Encountering New
Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach. Ed. John
Moreland. Grand Rapids: Kregel.
www.LearningMeditation.com
Thomas, Juliet. 2002. Worship, praise, and prayer. Deliver
Us from Evil. Moreau, A. Scott (Gen. Ed). World Vision
International, 800 West Chestnut Ave., Monrovia, CA.
Moreau, A. Scott (General Ed). 2002. Deliver Us from Evil. World
Vision International, 800 West Chestnut Ave., Monrovia, CA.
Netland, Harold. 2001. Encountering Religious Pluralism: The Challenge
to Christian Faith & Mission. Downers Grove, ILL: InterVarsity Press.
Roof, Wade Clark. 1999. Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the
Remaking of American Religion. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press.
Stein, Joel. 2003. Just Say Om. Time. (August 4):48-56.
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