Is meditation/living in the present pleasing to God?

YCGP said:

I am trying to do things in order to please God. It is part of my quest to live a purpose driven life.

I read a book called "The Wisdom of the Enneagram" and it says for my personality type I must meditate and practice being in the present moment.

I do transcendental meditation and I am wondering if this is pleasing to God.

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I'm glad you asked your priest.

"Transcendental meditation" - depending on exactly what you mean - but generally no, it is not something a Christian should engage in.

But it really depends on what you mean.

What is your "mantra"? On what do you focus? Are you "emptying your mind and opening your spirit"?

There can be nuances.

The practice of the Jesus prayer has some similarities, though I hesitate to even say that as people could really misunderstand.

If you meditate on a short prayer, focus your attention on the prayer, on Christ, and train your mind to be calm and focus on the prayer, that is quite beneficial.

You should not practice any body techniques at the same time - breathing, heartbeat, etc. They may sometimes follow meditation in prayer but should NEVER be purposely practiced or paid attention to without careful and experienced supervision - if perhaps you are a monk in a monastery, for example. Otherwise it can be very spiritually dangerous and can lead to deception one cannot be cured of.

And no Christian should EVER practice emptying the mind, stilling ALL thought, or any form of "openness" related to that. This is an open invitation to any spirit, and the evil ones seek such opportunities.

~Anastasia~ said:

I'm glad you asked your priest.

"Transcendental meditation" - depending on exactly what you mean - but generally no, it is not something a Christian should engage in.

But it really depends on what you mean.

What is your "mantra"? On what do you focus? Are you "emptying your mind and opening your spirit"?

There can be nuances.

The practice of the Jesus prayer has some similarities, though I hesitate to even say that as people could really misunderstand.

If you meditate on a short prayer, focus your attention on the prayer, on Christ, and train your mind to be calm and focus on the prayer, that is quite beneficial.

You should not practice any body techniques at the same time - breathing, heartbeat, etc. They may sometimes follow meditation in prayer but should NEVER be purposely practiced or paid attention to without careful and experienced supervision - if perhaps you are a monk in a monastery, for example. Otherwise it can be very spiritually dangerous and can lead to deception one cannot be cured of.

And no Christian should EVER practice emptying the mind, stilling ALL thought, or any form of "openness" related to that. This is an open invitation to any spirit, and the evil ones seek such opportunities.

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How do you know all this?

I have anxiety, so when I have a panic attack, I have to change my breathing and try to calm my mind and quiet my thoughts. This has to be practiced throughout the day to keep myself from falling into worse and worse anxiety. How is that an invitation to demons? Wouldnt satan rather have me locked up in a cycle of fear and chaos instead of being clear headed?

the Jesus Prayer, the Psalter, and your prayer rule are the answers. transcendental meditation is never something a Christian should do.

so, ask your priest.

The practices within Christian Tradition will help you to quiet the mind, bring your awareness into the present moment and certainly calm anxiety. Rather than seeking wisdom from popular psychology and adapting practices from other religions, work on the three things mentioned by Father Matt, ideally with the guidance of your priest. Simply living in the way of the Church will be pleasing to God.

MournfulWatcher said:

How do you know all this?

I have anxiety, so when I have a panic attack, I have to change my breathing and try to calm my mind and quiet my thoughts. This has to be practiced throughout the day to keep myself from falling into worse and worse anxiety. How is that an invitation to demons? Wouldnt satan rather have me locked up in a cycle of fear and chaos instead of being clear headed?

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To simply take deep breaths (for example) and try to calm down - is nothing dangerous in itself. That's a reasonable response to try to rein in emotions.

But pairing it with thoughts meant to induce a spiritual state or experience complicate matters and make it something else. The details (many details) about how one goes about it are where the effects or risks come in.

YCGP said:

This is really what I have in mind. I will trade my mantra of "I know my God is here" to the Jesus Prayer, unless you think the 'mantra' is actually suitable for a prayer.

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I see you already got answers.

What prayer you use is something to discuss with your priest. But there are prayers that have been used and that would probably be better than something we come up with on our own.

I wouldn't call it a "mantra" though, just as I wouldn't call it "TM", because it could confuse people.

But I'd definitely follow what your priest says.

I should also add there is nothing wrong with meditation. we use that word in Scripture. the issue is how you are doing it and what exactly you are doing.

I work second shift (3-11pm) & on some days before work I walk a couple miles on a track at a park. When I do this, I pray/meditate the Jesus Prayer alternating between “have mercy on me” to “have mercy on us” (as an intercession). For every 3
or 4 times saying these in thought, I add the golden rule ( Matthew 7:12), the 2 great commands (Matthew 22:36-40), & the Lord of the harvest ( Matthew 9:37-38) & will pray the Lord’s Prayer (just once).

Although not directly related to what I listed above, I believe St. Paul’s instruction to meditate ( Bible Gateway passage: 1 Timothy 4:15 - King James Version ( 1 Timothy 4:15 ) is applicable.

~Anastasia~ said:

I see you already got answers.

What prayer you use is something to discuss with your priest. But there are prayers that have been used and that would probably be better than something we come up with on our own.

I wouldn't call it a "mantra" though, just as I wouldn't call it "TM", because it could confuse people.

But I'd definitely follow what your priest says.

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TM is just a copyrightable notion to make money by selling something that can be had for free (just a note here). there is no " kind" of meditation that is "transcendental".

TM is to " calming down" as Pop Tart is to "breakfast." You can do better, plus someone owns the name.

YCGP said:

The Wisdom of the Enneagram

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It tries to solve the human problem outside of God. Hence it is condemned to failure.

YCGP said:

unless you think the 'mantra' is actually suitable for a prayer.

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No. Even if there are some similarities (this was already mentioned here) mantra is totally different because mantra is an egoistic approach in singularity (that is an easy target for demons) while prayer is exactly the opposite.

MournfulWatcher said:

I have anxiety, so when I have a panic attack, I have to change my breathing and try to calm my mind and quiet my thoughts. This has to be practiced throughout the day to keep myself from falling into worse and worse anxiety. How is that an invitation to demons?

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In itself, is not a invitation to demons. However, many (if not all) tend to think that this is enough to cure anxiety, and this is the real danger. This will not cure AT ALL the anxiety, this is just a patch in order get a momentary equilibrium because the causes are somewhere else. The cure of anxiety is totally different. Of course, you will fight also your thoughts but for this you must submit you mind to God.

MournfulWatcher said:

Wouldnt satan rather have me locked up in a cycle of fear and chaos instead of being clear headed?

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Yes. Somewhere which there is no cure - in a hall of mirrors.

archer75 said:

TM is just a copyrightable notion to make money by selling something that can be had for free (just a note here). there is no " kind" of meditation that is "transcendental".

TM is to " calming down" as Pop Tart is to "breakfast." You can do better, plus someone owns the name.

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That's why I hope I qualified enough "it depends on exactly what you mean"

I (unfortunately) studied various Eastern types of meditation, etc. years ago before I knew better when I was exploring a bit. Sometimes without describing what method(s) I'm talking about, it's easy to misunderstand.

Thanks for expanding upon the issue.