Meditation Vs Prayer

A reader of my blog wrote

Dr. Warnock,

I was hoping you might be able to give me a little insight into a

difficult issue my wife is facing at work. She enjoys her job, though the atmosphere of the place has a distinct New Age flavor (aroma therapy, soothing music, etc.). She is, of course, accustomed to working in a non-Christian environment, so she goes about her day not imposing her beliefs on anyone but also not compromising herself.

One thing, though, rubs her the wrong way terribly. Every morning, the staff meet to discuss the day’s business, then they close the meeting with a “meditation.” It works almost exactly like a group prayer, but they don’t call it prayer and they certainly don’t pray to the one true God. Her bosses insist that it is clinically therapeutic in nature, and in no way religious. We know knowledgeable Christians and knowledgeable therapists, but no one who can see the issue from both perspectives and offer a trained opinion. I thought of you since you’re a Christian psychiatrist. Maybe, as I said, you might have some insight.

The meditation takes the form of asking how peoples days were, finding a focus for meditation such as images from nature or a finding a positive feature of onself. Then people are asked to state a feeling that everyone can relate to as a focus.

My wife is uncomfortable with it, but she decided that she could use

the time to pray to God without interfering with others’ meditation.

The problem is that the staff take it in turns to lead the meditation,

something she doesn’t feel she can do without committing sacrilege.

Looking objectively at the protocol on paper, neither of us see

anything particularly evil about it. Each step taken alone is fairly

innocuous. Nothing wrong with focusing on an emotion, nothing wrong with ringing a chime, nothing wrong with sharing feelings with a group, etc. Put together, though, along with the New Age atmosphere (though New Age philosophy is never explicitly stated and sometimes explicitly denied) and an executive director with something of a god complex, it feels wrong.

My wife’s professional colleagues don’t understand her religious

perspective, and her Christian friends (including me) don’t understand the clinical perspective. Do you have any thoughts that might help?

My reply

You raise a fascinating issue, which Christians will disagree on.

We must remember that meditation is a Christian discipline that the world has taken on and corrupted.

To be honest, in some of these situations Christians are uncomfortable mainly because they are not happy simply sitting in quietness.

The bible says Be still, and know that I am God” Ps 46:10. In our hurry and bustle of trying to serve God and others we find being still to be rather threatening.

Meditation can take many forms. What you describe sounds harmless enough. Biblical medication involves filling the mind with truth, and focusing on God. Some sorts of nonchristian meditation asks you to empty your mind. That to me is always unhelpful, and potentially dangerous. Remember what Jesus said about a house that gets swept clean? (Lk 11:24-26).

Clearly also, any kind of meditation that is in any way religious in its context would not be acceptable to a Christian. But if no worship is going on, no emptying of the minds, and no mantras/chants I suspect that most Christians will have little problem with it.

But at the end of the day, the bible is clear that whateve is not of faith is sin (Ro 14:23) If you feel uncomfortable, dont be pushed into doing something.