Christian meditation (Christianity)

As in many meditative techniques, Christian meditation often centres on the repetition of a single word or phrase - a mantra. This is true of the system recommended in the mediaeval mystic writing of "The Cloud of Unknowing" and of systems recommended at the present time. The importance is to ignore anything that occurs during meditation, and simply continue to repeat the mantra. This is the reverse of the search for experience for its own sake which, by itself, could lead to spiritual anarchy. Faithful practice leads to the experience of awakening, of spiritual vision. Experience of the Kingdom of God permeates every dimension of solitary and relational living. Rather than "experience of God", with its implication of duality, there is the experience of being taken into the self-knowledge of God, of being one with God.

Practice of meditation, then, leads to freedom from the ever-diminishing, grey kingdom of the ego which is spiritual death. Meditation is always approached without demands or expectations. What is received is a gift of spiritual knowledge, the grounding realization that we are. This consciousness that we are fills with joy; consciousness that being is joy transforms experience. Every practice of meditation leads back to this consciousness of being. Perception of the mystery of life becomes more firmly rooted and it becomes possible to communicate this perception to others with joy. The being of God fills our being, purifying the heart and leading deeper into the vision of God which is his own self-knowledge. This is the state of living no longer but of Christ living in us.

For Madame Guyon, meditation and meditative reading are two means of being led into the higher forms of prayer. Meditation should be engaged in at a chosen time, not at the time of meditative reading. By an act of faith one brings one's self into the presence of God. The attention is fixed by reading something substantial. The faith of the presence of God within the heart leads to entering within one's self and to drawing near to God, with thoughts collected and not wandering, distracting thoughts got rid of and outward things lost sight of. God dwells and is found in the secret place of the heart. Buried in one's self, penetrated with the presence of God within, senses drawn to the centre, the soul gathered within itself and occupied with feeding upon the truth read (not reasoning on it, exciting the will by affection rather than the understanding by consideration), the affection reposes sweetly and at peace. In this loving repose, full of respect and confidence, what has been tasted and masticated is swallowed.

Thomas Merton warns that it may appear that meditation has failed. One may feel helpless to know God while desiring more and more to see and know Him. This tension between desire and failure generates a painful longing for God which nothing satisfies. This is, in fact, bringing one close to God where one is forced to reach out in blind faith, hope and love. Meditation is a spiritual work of love and desire. It requires effort, at least at first, the sincerity, humility and perseverance of effort depending on the desire, which is a gift of grace. One must first pray for the desire and grace to meditate. The idea is to awaken the interior self and be inwardly attuned to the Holy Spirit so as to respond to His grace. Years of mental prayer will have refined and purified interior perceptivity. One must be attuned to unexpected movements of grace, ready to cooperate with humiliating as well as consoling graces, lights which blast self-complacency as well as those which exalt. Meditation is always associated with abandoning to the will and action of God, with self-renunciation and obedience to the Holy Spirit. If it does not attempt to bring the whole being into conformity with God's will it will be sterile and abstract. In contrast, sincere interior prayer is always rewarded by grace and acts as a sanctifying force in one's life. St Teresa of Avila believed that no-one could lose his soul if he was faithful in the practice of meditation.