Why is meditation an important part of Eastern Pantheist traditions? What role does it serve?
According to Cosgrove meditation in the Eastern Pantheist traditions serve only to “help the person screen out sensory input in order to lower one’s perception of self and reality”. He contrasts meditation with prayer saying that the purpose of meditation is to empty the mind, while the purpose of prayer is to fill the mind with God. As indicated by Cosgrove, meditation is important in pantheism to help dissolve problems and create a sense of unity with the Universe. (Cosgrove, 2006)
There is, however, a different perspective on what meditation is, what it serves and why it is important (to pantheists or to anyone for that fact).
As said by the Meditation Society of America: “Meditation is a three step [concentration, meditation, contemplation] process that leads to a state of consciousness that brings serenity, clarity, and bliss.”
In that light, prayer is also a form of meditation where the subject of concentration is God. Using “om”, as an aid to tune out distractions and “empty” the mind, is only one of many techniques. Although meditation seems deceptively simple it takes practice and lots of discipline to gain control over the mind without the constantly intruding tantalizing, interesting thoughts.
When pantheists speak of “emptying the mind”, what they really mean is to empty out the garbage (uncontrolled, unwanted thoughts and feelings). The reason one needs to empty the mind first is to gain clarity or to be able to fill it with wanted thoughts and feelings.
The ultimate spiritual benefits of meditation has been clear hundreds of years ago, but now science has the ability to back that up with logical physiological evidence as well by the means of neuroscience: the study of the electrical brain activity and brain waves. (The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2010)
“…regular meditation actually alters the way the brain is wired, and that these changes could be at the heart of claims that meditation can improve health and well-being.” (Aubrey, 2005)
“Neuroscientists have found that meditators shift their brain activity to different areas of the cortex—brain waves in the stress-prone right frontal cortex move to the calmer left frontal cortex. In other words, they were calmer and happier than before.” (Allen, 2003)
“A second study, published last year in Psychosomatic Medicine, taught a randomized group of 90 cancer patients mindful meditation (another type of practice). After seven weeks, those who had meditated reported that they were significantly less depressed, anxious, angry and confused than the control group, which hadn't practiced meditation. The meditators also had more energy and fewer heart and gastrointestinal problems than did the other group.” (Barbor, 2001)
The physical and psychological benefits of meditation are recognized and widely accepted in the West today. The spiritual benefits are still mostly misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Meditation itself will not solve humanity’s problems, as Cosgrove puts it in perspective. Pantheists do not believe that “diming” sensory inputs will make problems not real. The purpose of meditation is to put problems in a different perspective: to help differentiate between problems one can control by taking actions; and problems one needs to accept and move on. When one’s mind is full of fear, anger, worry, racing thoughts and things to do’s; it is like trying to see the key that lies in the bottom of a bowl of water while the water is being swiftly stirred. Meditation (and prayer), from a spiritual perspective, serves the purpose to temporarily “dim” such sensory inputs, to stop the stirring and allow the water in the bowl to stand still: then one is able to see the key at the bottom.
A Christian concentrates on God by saying prayers, empties all other worries from the mind and as he/she becomes one with Christ, he/she waits and listens to God’s word to guide him/her.
A pantheist concentrates on the Universal Love by saying “om” or focusing on breathing or love or grace or by counting; empties all other worries from the mind and as he/she becomes one with the Universe, he/she waits and looks for “keys” to guide him/her.
The concept itself is only different in the fundamental belief of the entity of a personal God that transcends the world. That difference itself acts as an immense distorting glass wall between the two worldviews causing misconceptions and discrimination, as it is so evidently observable in the works of Cosgrove.
References
Allen, C. (2003) The benefits of meditation. Retrieved December 1, 2010 from http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200304/the-benefits-meditation
Aubrey, A. (2005) Science explores meditation’s effects on the Brain. Retrieved December 1, 2010 from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4770779
Barbor, C. (2001) The science of meditaion. Retrieved December 1, 2010 from http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200105/the-science-meditation
Cosgrove, M. (2006) Foundation of Christian thought. Kregel Publications.
Meditation Society of America. (n.d.) What is meditation. Retrieved December 1, 2010 from http://www.meditationsociety.com/what.html
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (2010, March 31). Brain waves and meditation. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 1, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/03/100319210631.htm
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2007) Retrieved December 1, 2010 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pantheism
Guest Comment:
ReplyDeletePantheists use meditation to deny all sensory imput. In their worldview, this will make all of their problems disappear. This is important to them because they believe that that humans do not really exist. This, in turn, reflects back back to their belief that all is illusion. Life is about not doing anything, just "being".
Answer:
Cosgrove's understanding on what pantheism is and how meditation plays a role in their worldview is greatly misinterpreted. There are great differences regarding the entity of a personal God, sins and after life, but pantheism does not deny the existence of humans, problems and reality.
Meditation serves many purposes: one of them is to help psychological and physical health as it is proven by modern neuroscience (The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2010), another one is to temporarly tune out disrupting thoughts and feelings and allow one to experience pure love and grace in the spirit (Allen, 2003). Another one is to empty out disturbing thoughts and feelings from the mind in order to see problems from a different perspective: to gain the clarity to distinguish the real problems from excuses and senseless worry and the solvable problems from the ones we just need to accept. By no means meditation will make problems disappear.
Pantheist do not believe that humans don't exist. That is Cosgrove's misinterpretation of the pantheist concept that we are all made of the same universal matter or energy. Humans are in fact real and so are their desires and problems. What pantheists embrace is that in our efforts to meet our desires and solve our problems we must remember to respect, love and care for not only our fellow humans, but our fellow animals, plants and inanimate life of our Universe as we are all meant to live and coexist harmoniously in this life. Pantheists believe that god (our source, our universal energy or call it "the force" as Cosgrove mockingly compared it) is in everyone and everything and all around us: we are it and it is us. Because of that oneness we are all affected when one is affected by harm or good. It is not that "humans don't really exist"... it is that we are much more than mere humans with an intelligence and untamed desires. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007)
Samantha,
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot more to what meditation means to a pantheist (or the whole pantheist view for that matter), than Cosgrove gives it credit. Focusing on a sound is only one method to "empty" the mind. The focus can be pure love, grace, an image or simply breathing. The "emptying of the mind" is not the ultimate goal of meditation. It is simply the first step. One must empty the mind (that is get rid of garbage) in order to be able to fill it with treasures (let it be the holiness of God or the love of God). If you have anger and hate in your heart, there is no room for the holiness of God, the love of God or the love of anything for that matter. If there is worry and fear in your heart, there is no room for clarity and peace. Pantheists, too, meditate to sharpen the thought.
Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteEckhard Tolle is one of my favorite authors. I am glad you have found that meditation and yoga helped you dealing with the stress during difficult times. At the same time I am sad that you find that metaphysics conflict with your faith. I am still hopeful that one day humanity can comprehend how religions, science and metaphysics fit into the same big picture. We just need to have the courage to step back far enough for the entire picture to fit into our view: and stepping back far enough means possibly leaving our comfort zone and letting go of existing beliefs that bound us closely to the puzzle, like a safety line (at the same time limiting our total view). In faith lies the strength of humanity.