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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Christians and Meditation
Message-ID: <289@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 15-Mar-86 03:41:34 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.289
Posted: Sat Mar 15 03:41:34 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Mar-86 06:39:09 EST
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Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
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Meditation (and similar "spiritual exercises") have a long history in the
church.  Two classic medieval treatises are _The Mind's Road to God_ by
Bonaventura and _The Imitation of Christ_ by Thomas a Kempis.  There are
others besides these.  I've found Bonaventura to be very helpful, but he is
hard to find in comparison to Thomas, who is ubiquitous.

In Eastern practice there are a number of meditations.  The use of the Kyrie
and of the prayer

  "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, A sinner."

as repetitive chants is well-known (the first is typically part of liturgy).
One distinct difference from Far Eastern practice, however, is that the
content of the phrases is very important.  One is supposed to pay attention
to it, even if only peripherally.  An important part of its purpose is to
orient oneself into the proper state of mind, directed fully towards prayer;
thus, one must put intent into the phrases.  I've used the second (which is
commonly referred to as the "Jesus Prayer") and it seems to be helpful; I
also use liturgical texts to make myself receptive to prayer.

There's an interesting theory of church decoration which holds that a church
should be highly ornamented with appropriate religious images and texts.
The idea behind it is that if the eye wanders, it will light upon something
which will direct it back to God.  Even though I am hopelessly in favor of
more ornament, I'm not sure I'm convinced; but it has at its root the same
notion of directing one's mind so as to be receptive to prayer.

C. Wingate