Question on meditation

baryogenesis

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The meditation exercises your therapist asked you to try is excellent advice for those who live with OCD. Trying to clear the mind of fugue and intrusive thoughts that can be self-destructive is a method of medicine and healing. Most of the people in this thread do not have OCD, do not know what you are personally going through, and assume far too much in their rebukes against meditation. Some even insist, evidently, on refusing to listen to you, assuming that any kind of "meditation" is something that God disapproves of, despite all that you have said about the reason and limits you want to put on meditation precisely because you are concerned about it from a spiritual perspective. Perhaps they believe that you should experience your OCD in all its naked fury and monopolization of your mind during the worst of it?

So what is better? What would the Lord approve of more? Giving into the intrusion of these obsessive thoughts, allowing them to fill your mind no matter the serious and deleterious effects on your life -- all in an effort to avoid anything that may possibly appear to be associated with "Eastern medicine" in some way? Or make an effort to clear your mind (and life) of this unwanted condition that seems like it could become a major stumbling block in your daily walk with Christ? In your ability to function in good health and wellbeing? Even your ability to share the Peace of Christ with others?

If your motivation is informed by your walk with Christ and your desire to be healed, who can gainsay this with any intellectual honesty? Only God can know the innermost heart of any person. You have heard both sides of this matter: 1) meditation is a path to evil or, at the least, something that you must be careful with in case a demonic force chooses to move in where there is an "empty mind," and 2) the sort of mental exercise your therapist is recommending is not the same thing and it is okay to do as medicine. I would agree with a third argument: 3) you are saved in Christ, and therefore you are protected by Him. Those of little -- or fearful -- faith may assume that even a believer can be "possessed" by demons as if Christ Himself is subject to being banished from you as you try to clear your thoughts and anxiety! Nonsense.

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

~ Romans 8:18-28
Unless you doubt the love and power of Christ, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. God is in complete control and cannot be "surprised" by anything. It is already finished.

"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory."
~ Ephesians 1:13–14


"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
~ Philippians 1:6


"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one."
~ John 10:27-30


"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
~ John 6:37-40


"Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them."
~ Hebrews 7:25


"Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
~ Romans 8:33-38
 
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Akita Suggagaki

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I have found many forms of meditation and yoga to be quite helpful on my Christian path though I am not exclusively committed to them. I do think sitting in silence has kept me balanced and available to Christ's silent influence on me.
 
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St. Helens

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Pavel Mosko

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Christians say meditation is sinful. "I can provide numerous different articles etc"

The reason Im asking is because I am in OCD therapy treatment and a lot of the books and my therapist talk about utilizing meditation.

Not to leave your body like most people try to do or for some weird practice, but my question is, is it okay to be using meditation during my ocd treatment.
Again its not for some weird practice, but just the idea that Im meditating I want other christian advice.

I am a person that could develop some OCD under the right circumstances, I can do things like check doors multiple times to make sure they are locked and so on.

And I came close to completing a masters of science in mental health counseling. I would prefer you do some form of Cognitive Therapy that deals with irrational thoughts and impulses, anxiety etc. I don't see anything wrong in what you are doing, especially if it helps you or provides you some relief from your symptoms.

I also do notice that many Christians have strong views on subjects like this, but many times its based on what they hear preached and often doesn't reflect the true nature of the subject if you study that subject in depth.
 
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Akita Suggagaki

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... but my question is, is it okay to be using meditation during my ocd treatment.

The meditation method and motive you describe sound perfectly acceptable to me.
 
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Pethesedzao

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Christians say meditation is sinful. "I can provide numerous different articles etc"

The reason Im asking is because I am in OCD therapy treatment and a lot of the books and my therapist talk about utilizing meditation.

Not to leave your body like most people try to do or for some weird practice, but my question is, is it okay to be using meditation during my ocd treatment.
Again its not for some weird practice, but just the idea that Im meditating I want other christian advice.
Joshua chapter one and Psalms one are excellent exhortations to meditate on God's precious promises. To meditate means to mutter, to speak out with your mouth...
 
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bèlla

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Christians say meditation is sinful. "I can provide numerous different articles etc"

The reason Im asking is because I am in OCD therapy treatment and a lot of the books and my therapist talk about utilizing meditation.

Your medical condition alters the discussion. It is one thing to address the topic from a general position and another when the individual is receiving medical treatment for an ailment. I don't believe I'm qualified to answer your question. However, I think it's wise to query other OCD sufferers and seek outside opinion from Christian therapists.
 
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PaulCyp1

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Obviously, on any topic we can find books and articles presenting the truth, and books and articles presenting untruth. Which is why Jesus Christ founded one Church, said it was to remain one, and promised that one Church that it would teach the fullness of truth until the end of time. There is no way to identify truth in the doctrinal chaos of an unauthorized tradition of conflicting manmade denominations.
 
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salt-n-light

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Christians say meditation is sinful. "I can provide numerous different articles etc"

The reason Im asking is because I am in OCD therapy treatment and a lot of the books and my therapist talk about utilizing meditation.

Not to leave your body like most people try to do or for some weird practice, but my question is, is it okay to be using meditation during my ocd treatment.
Again its not for some weird practice, but just the idea that Im meditating I want other christian advice.

Depends on what you are meditating on and how you are meditating. Meditation in and of itself is just a means of reflecting on one's thoughts or action. As christians, we are to meditate on the Word day and night (Psalms 1). When we take time to reflect, that's meditation. Stuff like focusing on breathing to calm down is meditation. Some use it to meditate on harmful things as well. So what you're meditating on is important.

Where we get to the details on how we must meditate, is where Christians would chime in to say that its sinful. Meditation practices within other religions and cultures are more and more mainstream, so when people think of meditation, they are most likely associating it with things like Buddhism and Hinduism. Those practices involve some sort of worship to other gods. BUT even so, that's only one type of meditation. So it wouldn't be fair to say that meditation is sinful, its more of your approach.

So my question would be how do you plan to meditate during the OCD treatment? Is it just breathing techniques, sitting in silence? Or are you incorporating ritual elements of another religion into the meditation?
 
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FireDragon76

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The meditation of my therapy is just being in the moment, noticing my thoughts and just letting them be there.
There is other things too but just generally recognizing thoughts are thoughts

I don't see how that can be considered sinful. Indeed, look at what Jesus has to say in Matthew 6:25-34.

At some point, we must put our Christianity into practice and meditation is one way to sharpen our tools, so to speak.
 
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Christopher0121

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Personally, I love meditation. I used to think of it as something bad. But how can learning how to monitor one's thoughts, or control them, be bad? I have PTSD. Meditation has helped me recognize that I am not what I'm thinking. When I experience racing thoughts, flashbacks, or anxiety, I am less likely to get caught up in them if I can recognize them as passing processes active within my mind caused by my brain's overreaction to stress hormone. The key is focusing on breath, not the thoughts.

This has also helped me with what some teachers have described as the "monkey mind" that tends to chatter away non-stop, day in and day out. It's that flawed and uncontrolled aspect of thinking that causes one to begin processing a "response" to something experienced, said, or written before truly stopping to contemplate what is truly being said and the intentions of the one saying it. This chattering aspect of our brain can run for hours and hours during our times of being awake. It is what causes us to break into song while driving, or to talk to ourselves about an event in the past or that we're preparing to encounter. It is like a television that is turned on saturating the home with nothing but noise. Believe it or not, this causes quite a bit of mental tiredness. It is far more distracting that most realize. It can even effect one's physical health, contribute to anxiety and frustration leaving one with a lack of patience. It can also contribute to stress and anxiety if it is playing on and on about an undesirable circumstance or something one is afraid of experiencing in the near future.

For me, learning meditation has helped me understand this aspect of my thoughts, and even control them through a focus on my breathing. I've found that when this chattering "monkey mind" is silent... I can hear from God more easily. I'm far more calm. I'm in the present moment and not already thinking about how to respond to something before I've heard it out entirely. It has greatly reduced my stress and has even boosted my sense of self-worth, because I no longer associate myself so closely to the passing thoughts of the mind. While our thoughts can "become us" or shape who we are and what we do... we are not our thoughts. They come and go like the clouds passing overhead in the sky.

So, I can only encourage learning the art of meditation. It's helped me quite a bit, along with the natural medications I've found that help reduce stress and anxiety.

Contemplate on this...

"...we have the mind of Christ..." - I Corinthians 2:16

To put it bluntly, by learning to understand, master, and even silence the carnal mind... one is now free to take on, cultivate, and experience the very mind of Christ.

Proverbs 16:32 King James Version (KJV)
32 He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.​
 
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