Christian Meditation

How do you do it? Meditating on scriptures? Memorise a verse or a few to think about? Read a piece over and over? Pray about a verse? What does christian meditation involve and what helps you get the most out of it?

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True Christian meditation will focus on the oneness of Christ. You must block out all other sounds, and begin with praises to Him. And when you feel that place of complete stillness, just begin to think of the Word you don't understand. Even if you can't remember the exact words and just meditate on the concept He is trying to teach you. He will do so

Memorizing scripture will help new Christians. Meditation is a biblical concept. How ever, with eastern mysticism confusing this term we need caution. After you memorize a few bible prayer verses you can start deep thinking them and asking God to help fulfill that prayer in you. For example Psalm 119 is a wonderful psalm, full of prayers for any level of christian growth. Do you really want to take God seriously then challenge yourself to memorize the whole of 119th psalm. You will see how that brings God into your life and makes you love Him and his wonderful word.
God bless

rrfenn said:

Memorizing scripture will help new Christians. Meditation is a biblical concept. How ever, with eastern mysticism confusing this term we need caution. After you memorize a few bible prayer verses you can start deep thinking them and asking God to help fulfill that prayer in you. For example Psalm 119 is a wonderful psalm, full of prayers for any level of christian growth. Do you really want to take God seriously then challenge yourself to memorize the whole of 119th psalm. You will see how that brings God into your life and makes you love Him and his wonderful word.
God bless

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Ps 119 (or 118 in the LXX) is the only Psalm that comprises in itself an entire Kathisma, and is prayed nightly in the EOC for the Midnight Office... Prayed every day it is a Psalm that will grow on a person, and its dimensions keep unfolding across time and according to one's progress... Repetition has that effect, whether the Psalm is memorized or not... Likewise Scripture... There are multiple levels of understanding Holy Writ that are commonly held among those mature in the Faith... Which is an entirely different matter from that of personal circumstances finding a way to glean an application from a given set of Holy words...

Once upon a time the memorization of the entire Psalter of 150 Psalms was a prerequisite for a Priest to be elevated to Bishop... That was back in a pre-literate society where literacy was an augment supporting a pre-literate way of knowing and remembering... These days, literacy is a substitute for conceptual retention...

Arsenios

Faith Alone 1 Cor 15:1-4 said:

Matthew 6:7
Don't pray over and over the same thing , you think that you do good but God does not like it .

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Not sure what translation that is; but it leaves off an important word: "vain" or "meaningless."

Battalogeō (G945) has a sense of meaningless or irritating repetition. Liturgical prayer is not meaningless or irritating if you put your intent behind it. Our Lord was said to be in the Synagogue every Sabbath, and that service has a LOT of liturgical prayers. IOW, we are not heard by repeating something over and over; we are heard when our heart is behind it.

For me growing up, "meditation" meant the Hindu/Buddhist empty mind humming some nonsense syllable. Clearly not Christian in the least.

When reading scriptures that said to meditate, they frequently did all kinds of mental and verbal gymnastics to explain that was not what it meant. It was only after I grew up and started doing my own study on the subject that I found out it did not mean the passive blank mind of Hinduism, but rather an active looking at a scripture and examining every possible way it could be taken to mean, and what the implications were of each possibility.

Dave-W said:

For me growing up, "meditation" meant the Hindu/Buddhist empty mind humming some nonsense syllable. Clearly not Christian in the least.

When reading scriptures that said to meditate, they frequently did all kinds of mental and verbal gymnastics to explain that was not what it meant. It was only after I grew up and started doing my own study on the subject that I found out it did not mean the passive blank mind of Hinduism, but rather an active looking at a scripture and examining every possible way it could be taken to mean, and what the implications were of each possibility.

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I very much like this approach to Scripture...

But here is my question to you:

Can one meditate on God in the absence of "a Scripture"?

Arsenios

The soul in the effort to meditate must come to the end of itself; in picture it is much like Sari trying to produce a son that comes only by promise.

i'm happy that my mind is not strong enough to remember even a simple line of prayer but like a child I can say a one syllable word out of love for God. to try to escape from your own awareness also seems useful because I want to come out of myself because God is better.

to cleave your tongue to the roof of your mouth is somewhat useful to help some types of thinking due to there being micro-movements of the tongue when you think due to some forms of thinking having to do with the vocal part of the brain. other parts of the brain think thoughts in a manner that appears to be automatic in the same way that breathing is automatic.

I find not thinking to be useful because I wish to be open to what God says rather than what I say.


Luke 1:18-20 (YLT)
And Zacharias said unto the messenger, `Whereby shall I know this? for I am aged, and my wife is advanced in her days?' And the messenger answering said to him, `I am Gabriel, who have been standing near before God, and I was sent to speak unto thee, and to proclaim these good news to thee, and lo, thou shalt be silent, and not able to speak, till the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou didst not believe my words, that shall be fulfilled in their season.'

Luke 1:63-64 (YLT)
and having asked for a tablet, he wrote, saying, `John is his name;' and they did all wonder; and his mouth was opened presently, and his tongue, and he was speaking, praising God.

Ezekiel 3:24-27 (YLT)
And come into me doth a spirit, and causeth me to stand on my feet, and He speaketh with me, and saith unto me, `Go in, be shut up in the midst of thy house. `And thou, son of man, lo, they have put on thee thick bands, and have bound thee with them, and thou goest not forth in their midst; and thy tongue I cause to cleave unto thy palate, and thou hast been dumb, and art not to them for a reprover, for a rebellious house are they. And in My speaking with thee, I do open thy mouth, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah; the hearer doth hear, and the forbearer doth forbear; for a rebellious house are they.

Luke 6:37-38 (YLT)
`And judge not, and ye may not be judged; condemn not, and ye may not be condemned; release, and ye shall be released. `Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed, and shaken, and running over, they shall give into your bosom; for with that measure with which ye measure, it shall be measured to you again.'

Matthew 6:30-7:2 (YLT)
`And if the herb of the field, that to-day is, and to-morrow is cast to the furnace, God doth so clothe--not much more you, O ye of little faith? therefore ye may not be anxious, saying, What may we eat? or, What may we drink? or, What may we put round? for all these do the nations seek for, for your heavenly Father doth know that ye have need of all these; but seek ye first the reign of God and His righteousness, and all these shall be added to you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow, for the morrow shall be anxious for its own things; sufficient for the day is the evil of it. `Judge not, that ye may not be judged, for in what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and in what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to you.

Mark 8:37-38
Or what shall a man give as an exchange for his soul? for whoever may be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also shall be ashamed of him, when he may come in the glory of his Father, with the holy messengers.'

Ezekiel 18:4 (YLT)
Lo, all the souls are Mine, As the soul of the father, So also the soul of the son--they are Mine, The soul that is sinning--it doth die.

Arsenios said:

Can one meditate on God in the absence of "a Scripture"?

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If one has passages of scripture memorized, one is NEVER "in the absence of a Scripture."

Arsenios said: ↑
Can one meditate on God in the absence of "a Scripture"?

Dave-W said:

If one has passages of scripture memorized,
one is NEVER "in the absence of a Scripture."

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So your answer is: "No" ?

Arsenios

There is a story about an encounter between an ex-Catholic practitioner of dark spiritual eastern arts with Mother Theresa... He said that he ran into her in India, and kind of liked her, and offered to make her his chela, telling her that he could show her how to travel with him to other countries and even to the moon and the stars without leaving the ashram...

She was not impressed, and said to him: "Those are but minor trips - The greatest journey you will ever take is the one from your head to your heart..." as she then completed the sign of the Cross from shoulder to shoulder...

Enclosing the mind in the heart and calling on the name of the Lord is the essence of the neptic Holy Tradition and the narrow Way... Vocal prayer is but preparation for silent prayer that bypasses the senses and the intellections of the mind...

Arsenios

A question for you, Arsenios; I do a lot of work with people on the autism spectrum (around spirituality, prayer and so forth, which is often very different for these people). Has any work been done in your tradition on how to modify your approach to be more effective for people with the typical challenges of autism?

Arsenios said:

Arsenios said: ↑
Can one meditate on God in the absence of "a Scripture"?

So your answer is: "No" ?

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Not necessarily.
My answer is that one should never be caught in that situation.

Arsenios said:

She was not impressed, and said to him: "Those are but minor trips - The greatest journey you will ever take is the one from your head to your heart..." as she then completed the sign of the Cross from shoulder to shoulder...

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Great answer!

it's easier to be blank in my simple being than it is to repeat a short prayer unless I feel zealous or enthusiastic or loving to God in that manner. every once in a while I feel something loosened inside of my mind.

after suffering from my negative emotions and logic I tend to sink down to my hurt heart after a while like a sheep that lays down due to being caught in brambles.

I tend to do whatever I feel is good, if i'm in a better state and know to. I could not force myself to 24/7 repeat "Yah" because I don't think that is the point of the matter. I prefer spontaneity.

Noxot said:

i'm happy that my mind is not strong enough to remember even a simple line of prayer but like a child I can say a one syllable word out of love for God. to try to escape from your own awareness also seems useful because I want to come out of myself because God is better.

to cleave your tongue to the roof of your mouth is somewhat useful to help some types of thinking due to there being micro-movements of the tongue when you think due to some forms of thinking having to do with the vocal part of the brain. other parts of the brain think thoughts in a manner that appears to be automatic in the same way that breathing is automatic.

I find not thinking to be useful because I wish to be open to what God says rather than what I say.


Luke 1:18-20 (YLT)
And Zacharias said unto the messenger, `Whereby shall I know this? for I am aged, and my wife is advanced in her days?' And the messenger answering said to him, `I am Gabriel, who have been standing near before God, and I was sent to speak unto thee, and to proclaim these good news to thee, and lo, thou shalt be silent, and not able to speak, till the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou didst not believe my words, that shall be fulfilled in their season.'

Luke 1:63-64 (YLT)
and having asked for a tablet, he wrote, saying, `John is his name;' and they did all wonder; and his mouth was opened presently, and his tongue, and he was speaking, praising God.

Ezekiel 3:24-27 (YLT)
And come into me doth a spirit, and causeth me to stand on my feet, and He speaketh with me, and saith unto me, `Go in, be shut up in the midst of thy house. `And thou, son of man, lo, they have put on thee thick bands, and have bound thee with them, and thou goest not forth in their midst; and thy tongue I cause to cleave unto thy palate, and thou hast been dumb, and art not to them for a reprover, for a rebellious house are they. And in My speaking with thee, I do open thy mouth, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah; the hearer doth hear, and the forbearer doth forbear; for a rebellious house are they.

Luke 6:37-38 (YLT)
`And judge not, and ye may not be judged; condemn not, and ye may not be condemned; release, and ye shall be released. `Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed, and shaken, and running over, they shall give into your bosom; for with that measure with which ye measure, it shall be measured to you again.'

Matthew 6:30-7:2 (YLT)
`And if the herb of the field, that to-day is, and to-morrow is cast to the furnace, God doth so clothe--not much more you, O ye of little faith? therefore ye may not be anxious, saying, What may we eat? or, What may we drink? or, What may we put round? for all these do the nations seek for, for your heavenly Father doth know that ye have need of all these; but seek ye first the reign of God and His righteousness, and all these shall be added to you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow, for the morrow shall be anxious for its own things; sufficient for the day is the evil of it. `Judge not, that ye may not be judged, for in what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and in what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to you.

Mark 8:37-38
Or what shall a man give as an exchange for his soul? for whoever may be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also shall be ashamed of him, when he may come in the glory of his Father, with the holy messengers.'

Ezekiel 18:4 (YLT)
Lo, all the souls are Mine, As the soul of the father, So also the soul of the son--they are Mine, The soul that is sinning--it doth die.

Click to expand...

Yes, it's important, like you say, to be open first and foremost to God's Word, rather than to express one's own opinions. People talk about freedom of expression, which is okay; the fact is that in His Word God has already fully expressed Himself and revealed Himself.

Paidiske said:

A question for you, Arsenios; I do a lot of work with people on the autism spectrum (around spirituality, prayer and so forth, which is often very different for these people). Has any work been done in your tradition on how to modify your approach to be more effective for people with the typical challenges of autism?

Click to expand...

Perhaps an indication of degree of autiwm might be helpful... In its lighter forms, it manifests as a fairly aware self-enclosure that is primarily focused on inward thoughts and life, and can be approached by simply treating the self-enclosure as willfully chosen, [which it is] and becoming a friend who challenges the choice by reference to whatever material things may matter to the self-enclosed person. Their default tendency is for a 'back to self-enclosure' phronema, and joining them there and venturing out again, acknowledging the real world issues that are impinging, can prove beneficial... Material things of interest often involve complex mechanical processes in need of hands on manipulation, so that their focus is forced out of self-enclosure and into the mechanical exigencies which succeed or fail, often with consequences, providing good feedback and the need to be efficacious - If the wheel comes off the bicycle, you will crash - If you miss with the hammer, you can hurt your finger, etc. So that the person gets used to exercising self-generated powers of moving back and forth between self and outside-self fields of operation...

I am no expert in this, but at this point, I would probably then disciple the lightly afflicted to then disciple the less lightly afflicted on internal matters of spiritual disciplines, because they know better than I do the specific issues that need confrontation and have in themselves addressed them with some success... But the transition between being a "victim of autism" to becoming a "doer of autism" is in my current understanding a path that I have observed first hand to work, but it requires a rather high standard of personal discipline to keep the autistic person wanting to be engaged... They can be judgemental, and yet can hunger for simple sanity on the part of those with whom they engage...

I would have no idea how to teach them inner prayer - Inner prayer is simple sanity in a fallen world, and no man or woman taught it to me, so I do not know how to teach it to others... I can teach the Jesus Prayer, and the focusing inwardly to one's core or heart in stillness, to a small degree... But I learned stillness by an encounter with God wherein as He slowly withdrew, I endeavored to hold Him near, and found He withdrew with mental distraction, and less so in stillness and attention on Him... I can't teach that ...

Autistics tend to be very mentally active, and slowing that down with the repetition of the Jesus Prayer might prove helpful but only IF they were willing to do it... Many [most?] Orthodox monastics are practitioners of the Jesus Prayer, which concentrates the nous [mind] unto God greatly, but most of these have had very significant personal encounters with God and were fairly high-functioning persons while in the world, which most autistics are not...

So if all else fails, simply take them under your spiritual wing of prayers for them for God's Mercy, and keep them there even after they or you repose and no longer walk this earth...

What a ramble of a post!

Arsenios

Dave-W said:

Not necessarily.
My answer is that one should never be caught in that situation. (eg without a Bible)

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The Faith of Christ came with the Old Testament Scriptures and Christ's discipling of the Disciples unto their Apostleship... They then were sent forth to disciple the Peoples [Nations] by baptizing them and teaching them to observe (to be doing) all things whatsoever that Christ had taught them (the Disciples/ Apostles) to be doing... This is how the Faith spread from its beginnings - Which Paul persecuted...

So Ananias baptized Paul, healed his blindness and gave him the Holy Spirit, after Paul had been praying and fasting for three days... So my question is regarding Ananias -

"Did Ananias meditate on Christ?"

And if yes, was his scriptural reference the Old Testament?

I think it was a direct "link", you see... His meditation...

Perhaps Psalm linked, or maybe Proverbs... I do not know...

I do not think he had a Bible [LXX] in his possession... Too costly...

But he incorporated in his body the Gospel of Christ...

How else could he give Paul/Saul the Holy Spirit?

Arsenios

Arsenios said:

"Did Ananias meditate on Christ?"
And if yes, was his scriptural reference the Old Testament?

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Of course. The entire gospel is in the OT. Paul himself said so:

The only "scripture" that existed when Paul wrote that was the OT.

Thanks for the answer, Arsenios. I'm not sure it matches my experience of working with people with autism, but then I reflect I have mostly worked with children, and that is different again.