How does Catholic meditation work, (not prayers.)

[Kevin_Walker]

springbreeze:

Dear friend

If you are looking for Catholicity then you will know that mediation is prayer and is the soul of prayer… You worry me with your statement that So this just confirmed my observation that meditation is different from prayer.

All raising of the mind, heart and spirit to God by either verbal, mental or by the contemplative is prayer and there is no other way to communicate with God and listen to God and to come to know Him, thus to know ourselves as we really are is but by prayer.

I urge you to rethink your statements. Prayer is the channel gifted to us by God so that we may converse with Him.

What is it that you seek?

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

I love to pray. I think praying is so very important. But I cannot for the life of me meditate while praying. Praying requires concentration, while meditation requires free association. Prayer is an outward activity, while meditation is inner pondering. Prayer is a request, meditation provides answers. That is what I was taught in my formative years as a (Roman) Catholic and which I still agree and adhere. I do not believe that prayer and meditation are one in the same, they are neither interchangable nor synonymous words.

So I seek a Catholic method of meditation that is distinct and original and conveys the proper Christian values as outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. And I think I am close to something useable.

Pretty cool stuff methinks Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.

 

[Augustine]

Kevin Walker:

I do not believe that prayer and meditation are one in the same, they are neither interchangable nor synonymous words.

Maybe not, but in the Catholic tradition the term prayer is used interchangeably with vocal prayer and prayer as a turning to God in general, which includes meditation.

As St. Paul advised us, we need to pray always. He never said to pray sometimes and medidate at other times.

 

[buzzcut]

Kevin, I’m glad you’ve found reassurance you’re on the right track. Rosarium Virginis Mariae is inspiring reading. What was it you noticed in comparison with Fr Luke Dysinger?

 

[Kevin_Walker]

buzzcut:

Kevin, I’m glad you’ve found reassurance you’re on the right track. Rosarium Virginis Mariae is inspiring reading. What was it you noticed in comparison with Fr Luke Dysinger?

Hi buzzcut:

What I have noticed in comparing the description of *lectio divina *by Fr. Luke Dysinger and Rosarium Virginis Mariae by Pope John Paul II, is that they have supplied all the attributes of ‘prayer’ and ‘meditation’ as used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, albeit the Holy Father was trying to officially overlap praying the Rosary onto meditation “The rosary is both meditation and supplication.”] as a quick solution to contemporary Christians’ fondness for Eastern meditative practices.

Two things caught my immediate attention: that in 2002 His Eminence also recognized the need to provide a method of Catholic meditation; and that in the *lectio divina - *meditation and prayer were described and taught as two distinct practices

So in a distillation process, I eliminated all vague definitions and flowery descriptions of meditation & prayer found in these two works et. al., and highlighted everything that had to do with instruction.

Now I am in the process of incorporating those results with my own upbringing and experiences with meditation and then experiment with the results. For example, I have never been able to pray and meditate at the same time. After reading Rosarium Virginis Mariae I tried to meditate by praying the Rosary per suggested “method based on repetition.” Which I found to be both awkward and disturbing, because repetition is the exact method that Tibetan Buddhists chant their prayers to achieve a meditative state. The prayers, Our Father and Hail Mary are too long for an effective meditative repetition. I feel that using the Rosary falls directly into the category of Christian prayer (along with contemplation and centering) and not meditation.

The *lectio divina *appears to also distinguish the difference between prayer (Oratio) and meditation (Meditatio). But the weakness which I have discerned is that lectio divina’s method of meditation is reading centered, which is another distraction. In a postive finding, the *lection divina *describes meditation with terms I have been taught decades ago, as a method of pondering and “ruminating” over what has been read!

So now I have other ideas which I will infuse into this research and test the results. See what I come up with and then pass on my research results for peer review.

 

[Augustine]

Kevin Walker:

… meditation and prayer were described and taught as two distinct practices… because repetition is the exact method that Tibetan Buddhists chant their prayers to achieve a meditative state.

I’m afraid that your insistence on trying to give Eastern medidative practices any spiritual value is misguided and assuming that when the term “meditation” is used in a Catholic context it refers to the same thing is incorrect.

But I’ll stop here, as you don’t take criticism very well and is rather proud of your acquaintance of Eastern philosophies.

May God guide you always.

 

[Kevin_Walker]

Augustine:

I’m afraid that your insistence on trying to give Eastern medidative practices any spiritual value is misguided and assuming that when the term “meditation” is used in a Catholic context it refers to the same thing is incorrect.

But I’ll stop here, as you don’t take criticism very well and is rather proud of your acquaintance of Eastern philosophies.

May God guide you always.

Hi,

Yes, I do accept constructive criticism very well (see some of my replies to Byz Catholic), its just that I don’t take being taken out of context very well.

I am acquainted enough with Eastern philosophies to know the difference between Eastern philosophy and Eastern theology. I view Eastern meditation as a philosophy and not as a religion (theology). So I have never in my life ever attempted to grant Eastern meditative practices any spirtual value at all. Which is why I am seeking a Catholic method of meditation that is not praying, to have a Christian spiritual method of meditation, and not just an exercise in Western philosophy.

I hope I cleared up your misconception of my posts. I am only using Eastern meditation as an analogy. Thanks for your patience.

 

[buzzcut]

Hi, Kevin, Maybe what’s confusing the issue is that “prayer” is sometimes used in a broad sense to mean the whole of contemplative prayer, including (confusingly) “meditation” and “prayer” as individual aspects. In any case I hope you will share what you find. refers back to a statement in NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE:

Yes, dear brothers and sisters, our Christian communities must become genuine “schools” of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly “falls in love”.

It is the call for schools of prayer to be established that intrigues me.

 

[Kevin_Walker]

buzzcut:

Hi, Kevin, Maybe what’s confusing the issue is that “prayer” is sometimes used in a broad sense to mean the whole of contemplative prayer, including (confusingly) “meditation” and “prayer” as individual aspects. In any case I hope you will share what you find. refers back to a statement in NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE:

Yes, dear brothers and sisters, our Christian communities must become genuine “schools” of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly “falls in love”.

It is the call for schools of prayer to be established that intrigues me.

Yes, this conforms to my historical observation that the Catholic Religion has emphasized praying while Buddhism and Taoism have emphasized meditation. The Buddhists and Taoists have set up schools of meditation all over the Asia. I think the Catholic Church should also set up a school of meditation all over the world. I truly believe that prayer is not interchangeable with meditation, and even the lectio divina seperated the two, so I would respectfully suggest that the Magesterium form an ecumenical council and study a Catholic method of meditation independent of prayer.

So what happened to me growing up in the Church, and still happens today in my 48th year, is that when a Catholic Priest tells me to go meditate, I don’t know how? How does a Catholic meditate? Praying just interferes with my meditation, and Eastern meditative technique is incompatible with Catholic doctrine and serves an entirely different purpose.

I am going to sitdown and hammer out a sequence of Catholic meditative technique base on the teachings of the Catholic Church, plus my own humble opinion and experiences, then submit my findings to the local Church hierarchy, and as with most original and good ideas, I expect them to be initially rejected.

Neither Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, not the Wright Brothers had a college education, but they went ahead with their ideas anyways and look at the results! I follow their examples of inspired innovation and perserverance.

 

[springbreeze]

Kevin Walker:

I love to pray. I think praying is so very important. But I cannot for the life of me meditate while praying. Praying requires concentration, while meditation requires free association. Prayer is an outward activity, while meditation is inner pondering. Prayer is a request, meditation provides answers. That is what I was taught in my formative years as a (Roman) Catholic and which I still agree and adhere. I do not believe that prayer and meditation are one in the same, they are neither interchangable nor synonymous words.

So I seek a Catholic method of meditation that is distinct and original and conveys the proper Christian values as outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. And I think I am close to something useable.

Pretty cool stuff methinks Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.

Dear friend

The thing is meditation is prayer. In Catholic understanding when a soul meditates it is praying.

I am a Lay Carmelite, I am not going to deceive you on this. I practice vocal prayer, mental prayer/meditative prayer and contemplative prayer…all of it is prayer. You ask to meditate but not to pray, therefore you wish to cut God out of the equation?

Why would you wish to meditate on God and not have Him as part of your meditation, do you think you can understand God and His ways, as His ways are not our ways, without His enlightenment and aid?

Prayer is raising ourselves, mind, heart and spirit to God and in this He inflows to us. So you wish to meditate but not to pray…this is ludicrous, you will receive nor give anything this way. To meditate is to pray and to say it is not to pray, is not to desire to seek God; you may as well meditate upon the last horse in at a race, it is worthless to meditate and not see it as prayer.

Why is meditation an inward activity? I know when I meditate I am not pondering myself, I ponder the Lord and all He did and does. Immediately this is not inward reflection but a lifting of my mind, heart and spirit o God…I am praying.

I would like for you to explain what YOU think meditation is in your own words and then we can discuss this better.

God bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[Kevin_Walker]

springbreeze:

I would like for you to explain what YOU think meditation is in your own words and then we can discuss this better.

God bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

Hi Teresa,

Catholic meditation, as well as Catholic prayer, does include God.

I have been taught in my Catholic upbringing that prayer and meditation are two different things and I cannot change an entire lifetime of understanding based on a single post on the internet. Obviously we both have a different understanding of what Catholic prayer and meditation consist.

So, step one: I believe prayer and meditation are not one in the same.
Step two: I intend to develop a method of Catholic meditation distinct from Catholic prayer which conforms to my research of Catholic doctrine.
Step three: I intend to submit my findings to local Church authorities for their perusal.

I believe I have a good idea which would be un-Catholic of me if I did not develop it.

Thanks!

 

[springbreeze]

Dear friend

What a zealous heart you have! I admire and commend it.

I understand you have been brought up to understand things a certain way. May I ask you where or whom afforded this understanding?

I am Catholic myself, so you see we are two Catholics with differing understanding of meditation, you a man in the faith and myself a lay Carmelite. Prayer is personal there is no doubt, we all have a very personal relationship with God, but there is also doctrine and teaching handed down the ages which is of noteworthy if not adherance to.

Now I will return to prayer and put it this way, it is **conversation **between you and God. Simply this is the act of prayer and the act of prayer cannot even happen without God gift it to us and it is the Holy Spirit by which we raise every single utterance.

There is prayer by which we vocalise , we pray this way and say what we wish to say to God, praise thanksgiving petition etc and also in this prayer is listening to God, it is conversation. God at some points grants prayer to a soul, for example the Prayer of Quiet and the Prayer of Infused Contemplation, these prayers we cannot hope to achieve by ourselves though we can predispose ourselves to receive this most sublime gift, but it is God who grants this prayer as and to whom He sees fit.

Now any soul can meditate and yes can contemplate because we can acquire the habit of contemplating but it does not mean that it will ever be infused by God.

So we return to the prayer of meditation. whom do we mediate upon? Whom are we raising the human to? Whom are we seeking? Whom do we desire to know? Whom are we hoping to understand? Whom do we desire daily to love more?

In my instruction upon prayer in my Carmelite formation manual, I am instructed that meditation is prayer. Seeing as two doctors of the church come from the Carmelite order and those are doctors of prayer and Saints of the Church, St Therese and St Teresa,then we see that meditation is prayer.

Firstly we see that mental prayer is : Using the mind and heart as creative and constructive tools to think of God, communicate with Him , be drawn to Him in love and **be **with Him.

Then we see that we seek God in silence, we make our enviroment silent in order to seek Him, we curtail our speech, say little and therefore ponder more, we seek to be remote from society, ‘go into your room and close the door’ and finally we seek to stand apart from wordly goods and happenings, we seek to be indifferent from anything that is other than God. This is all pre-cursor to meditation

We seek to detach from the world and all that is in it, we speak less and guard our speech , we seek solitude and quiet time to be alone with the Lord and then in this silence we seek Him by our thoughts upon Him, thoughts fostered by reading of a spiritual nature and pondering His deeds and words. Meditation.

It is clear in my formation that the first stage of mental prayer is meditation, progressing to affective prayer and then to the prayer of simplicity or the Prayer of Quiet.

What are you seeking?

If it is outside of this what I have listed, it is not meditation and therefore is not prayer and if it is not prayer then it is not of human relationship with God, solemnly it is not.

I don’t make this up as listed above, the doctors of the church have taught this.

You seek prayer without meditation and meditation without prayer…that is like asking for there to be God without three persons…it just is not.

You have been exposed to something that is not of God if you seek to meditate and not call it prayer.

I seriously advise you not to pursue anything outside of this.

Your life is prayer and every day He is with you, do you then think you can meditate and not have conversation with Him and of course conversation with God is prayer?

I know you will think I am just a lady on the internet, so you should ask your Priest about this before you present any of your ideas to the church and you should also call a local Carmelite order and ask them what meditation is if you do not believe me, they will say the same as I have said here. I am a Carmelite.

I am concerned you are swept along by ego forgetting that those who went before you were very humble and much wiser in meditation than yourself

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[Augustine]

Kevin Walker:

Yes, I do accept constructive criticism very well (see some of my replies to Byz Catholic), its just that I don’t take being taken out of context very well.

I apologize for my confusion.
Kevin Walker:

I view Eastern meditation as a philosophy and not as a religion (theology). So I have never in my life ever attempted to grant Eastern meditative practices any spirtual value at all.

My soul rejoices reading this!
Kevin Walker:

Which is why I am seeking a Catholic method of meditation that is not praying, to have a Christian spiritual method of meditation, and not just an exercise in Western philosophy.

But, as Teresa made very clear, what is a Christian spiritual method of meditations that is not prayer?
Kevin Walker:

I hope I cleared up your misconception of my posts. I am only using Eastern meditation as an analogy. Thanks for your patience.

You certainly did, in some points, but I’m afraid not without my mind becoming confused about other points you made. If you use Eastern meditation as an analogy, why must a Catholic meditation exclude prayer? If Eastern meditation is an analogy, what can a Catholic meditation add to the spiritual treasure of the Church?

I pray that God guides you in your quest.

 

[Augustine]

Kevin Walker:

Yes, this conforms to my historical observation that the Catholic Religion has emphasized praying while Buddhism and Taoism have emphasized meditation.

And why do you think that’s so? Don’t you think it’s because they had never heard of the Living God, yet longed for Him in the “wilderness”?
Kevin Walker:

The Buddhists and Taoists have set up schools of meditation all over the Asia. I think the Catholic Church should also set up a school of meditation all over the world.

The Church did better, setting up shools of prayer all over the world, AKA monasteries. She’s also set up schools of fishermen, AKA seminaries.
Kevin Walker:

I truly believe that prayer is not interchangeable with meditation, and even the lectio divina seperated the two, so I would respectfully suggest that the Magesterium form an ecumenical council and study a Catholic method of meditation independent of prayer.

Lectio Divina separates vocal prayer from meditation. As I said some times, the term “prayer” is used interchangeably with vocal prayer and all other forms of raising one’s heart and mind to God. In this sense, the Our Father is prayer, reading the Scriptures is prayer, meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary is prayer, infused contemplation is prayer, a day’s work offered to God is prayer. Whenever the human soul is raised by the Holy Spirit closer to God, with or without words, it’s prayer.
Kevin Walker:

So what happened to me growing up in the Church, and still happens today in my 48th year, is that when a Catholic Priest tells me to go meditate, I don’t know how? How does a Catholic meditate? Praying just interferes with my meditation, and Eastern meditative technique is incompatible with Catholic doctrine and serves an entirely different purpose.

Perhaps it’s right under your nose and your ignorance of what the priest means hints at you studying more Eastern religions than the Catholic Religion. Otherwise, you’d understand by now what you were taught in 64 and know where it came from: the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.
Kevin Walker:

I am going to sitdown and hammer out a sequence of Catholic meditative technique base on the teachings of the Catholic Church, plus my own humble opinion and experiences, then submit my findings to the local Church hierarchy, and as with most original and good ideas, I expect them to be initially rejected.

Why do you think off the bat that they’re original and good? Could some pride be in the way? Don’t get me wrong, I point this out as a brother in Christ, i.e., also subject to being pointed out my vices, pride being a the top of the list.
Kevin Walker:

Neither Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, not the Wright Brothers had a college education, but they went ahead with their ideas anyways and look at the results! I follow their examples of inspired innovation and perserverance.

They were successful in this world, but you’re aiming at being successful in Christ’s Kingdom. Don’t tread these great men’s path in spiritual matters, rather, follow those who the world despised: St. Francis of Assissi, St. Ignatious of Loyola, Bl. Teresa of Calcutta, etc. They all encountered challenges even within the Church herself, but they all prayed a lot too…

 

[Exporter]

The following was posted earlier.
"I’ll tell you a personal account. Before I returned to The Church, I was into a lot of “stuff,” one of which was Zen Meditation. I studied and practiced Zen and Buddhism for two weeks, and at the conclusion of those two weeks, I found, through Centering Prayer and Zen Meditation, a dark fiery abyss filled with demons. By the end of the two weeks, I was hallucinating. I saw demons with my waking eyes. I was anxious, stressed out, and on the verge of mental collapse. I was in a state of extreme psychological trauma. I cannot stress enough the extreme danger of Eastern Meditation. "

---

I can attest that my daughter went through the very same experience after attending Centering Prayer for three months. It took prayer, psychiatrists and some hospitalization to get back to somewhat normal. It took about eight months. That was two years ago and she still has anxiety attacks in which she sees demons, but now she doesn’t hear them.

In my mind, a Catholic can live his entire life and never do Centering Prayer and do just fine. What’s wrong with Roman Catholic Prayer?

 

[Kevin_Walker]

Exporter:

What’s wrong with Roman Catholic Prayer?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Roman Catholic Prayer! The Roman Catholics have just about perfected the art of praying! Its just that I am convinced that Catholic praying is not meditation, nor a substitute for meditation.

The technique of meditation exists outside of religion, even atheists, pagans, lawyers, and philosophers meditate.

So the Buddhists and Taoists have taken meditation and almost perfected it to comply with their religious doctrine and needs.

Now it is the turn of Catholics to take meditation and adjust it to comply with Christian religious doctrine and needs (outside of prayer).

But simply to overlap prayer onto meditation is a cop-out. More time, effort, and thought than that needs to be put into a workable and usable Christian meditative technique.

So keep in mind that I am viewing meditation as outside of prayer. Contemplative prayer and centering prayer are still Prayer, in my opinion, and not meditation.

So far I have gone out and tried to meditate and pray at the same time, and I cannot do it! And I will not pretend that I am meditating as I concentrate on my prayers, both in Latin and in English.

I do not consider concentration, meditation, or praying to be synonymous with each other.

Basically, that is my working hypothesis to develop a Catholic form of meditation which will conform with the guidelines and parameters of the teachings of the Catholic Church, that prayer and meditation are two distinct things as I was taught in my initial formation as a Roman Catholic.

Again, thanks for your patience.

 

[Kevin_Walker]

Augustine:

But, as Teresa made very clear, what is a Christian spiritual method of meditations that is not prayer?

I find the answer to this question in the fantastic description of ‘how’ to meditate in ‘lectio divina’ by Fr. Luke Dysinger, O.S.B. where a Christian meditative technique is actually described that is independent of praying.

If you use Eastern meditation as an analogy, why must a Catholic meditation exclude prayer?

I am sorry if I hadn’t clarified my use of the term ‘analogy’, as being a concept generally understood in comparison for mutual understanding. I had used Eastern meditation because a lot of Americans are familiar with or have taken Eastern meditation lessons which do not include praying. Very few Buddhist sects, such as those found in Tibet, have actually melded prayer with their meditative practices. In Japan, Zen meditation is not praying, it is a mental shortcut to enlightenment, which is totally incompatible with Catholic teachings.

Now to answer your question, the reason Catholic meditation would exclude prayer, is that by the very definition of meditation that is does not include prayer.

As I had mentioned in my other posts, I was brought up in the Cathoic Church that prayer and meditation are not the same thing, and this is the basis of my current research on a Catholic method of ‘how’ to meditate.

 

[Kevin_Walker]

Augustine:

Lectio Divina separates vocal prayer from meditation.

Yes, but contemplative prayer, centering prayer, silent prayer, and vocal prayer, are still prayer and not meditation. It is my instinctive opinion that the Lectio Divina was correct in separating the two concepts of prayer and meditation.

Why do you think off the bat that they’re original and good? Could some pride be in the way? Don’t get me wrong, I point this out as a brother in Christ, i.e., also subject to being pointed out my vices, pride being a the top of the list.

Now these are excellent questions which I have meditated over and prayed for an answer. And to be truthful, I know myself pretty well and I have never been known to be proud. So in a very deep instrospective analysis of my motiviations, I am not doing this research out of pride but out of inspiration and a duty that I might possibly contribute something to Catholic meditative technique. In the scary possibility that I might actually influence Catholic thinking, I was considering the use of a non de plume (pen name) on my research to avoid any credit for just a simple contribution to my faith.

 

[Kevin_Walker]

Exporter:

The following was posted earlier.
"I’ll tell you a personal account. Before I returned to The Church, I was into a lot of “stuff,” one of which was Zen Meditation. I studied and practiced Zen and Buddhism for two weeks, and at the conclusion of those two weeks, I found, through Centering Prayer and Zen Meditation, a dark fiery abyss filled with demons. By the end of the two weeks, I was hallucinating. I saw demons with my waking eyes. I was anxious, stressed out, and on the verge of mental collapse. I was in a state of extreme psychological trauma. I cannot stress enough the extreme danger of Eastern Meditation. "

---

I can attest that my daughter went through the very same experience after attending Centering Prayer for three months. It took prayer, psychiatrists and some hospitalization to get back to somewhat normal. It took about eight months. That was two years ago and she still has anxiety attacks in which she sees demons, but now she doesn’t hear them.

In my mind, a Catholic can live his entire life and never do Centering Prayer and do just fine. What’s wrong with Roman Catholic Prayer?

Hi Exporter,

In reading the article warning of the Dangers of Centering Prayer, I also have to agree in that Centering Prayer is just a reinvention of Transcendental Meditation, or from my personal experience, Kudalini Yoga.

You cannot beat Yoga as a method of staying physically fit, I get just as much of a sweaty workout doing Yoga as I do playing tennis. But Yoga or Transcendental Meditation is not praying, involves no religion, and does have measurable physical results; results that responsible Yogis will warn their students about, or have even dissuaded some students from studying. It is irresponsible to incorporate these proven Yoga effects into a Catholic method of praying without considering the individual physiological effects. ** Substituting Yoga meditative techniques for Catholic praying is irresponsible.** A fully trained Yogi can actually control certain autonomic bodily functions, but it has never ever been considered a method of prayer! And to accidentally teach a young Christian person a meditative body control technique as prayer is as serious as confusing alcohol for medicine .

The Indian Army uses Yoga instead of weight lifting or jogging to stay physically fit. But the Indian Army does not pray to their Hindu deities using Yoga.

The really big mistake I constantly find in Catholics is that they are trying to force praying to be something it is not, and that is a meditative technique. To me, Centering Prayer is an oxymoron.

The criticism on Centering Prayer described in the article, included the incorporation of a ‘Mantra’ as a repetitive prayer to induce a hypnotic state. That is what alarms me when Church Officials claim that the meditative technique in saying the Rosary includes “repetition”. It tells me Church officials have not done their homework on the difference between Eastern meditation and Catholic prayer and are trying to ‘crowbar’ praying the Rosary into somekind of Catholic meditation technique.

Practicing Yoga is as good a way to stay in shape as playing tennis or jogging, but similar to tennis or jogging, practicing Yoga (or Transcendental Meditation) should never be confused with praying.

 

[Kevin_Walker]

TheGrowingGrape:

Over the past couple days, I’ve been thinking of a good answer to the original question posted on this thread: How do Catholics Meditate?

Let me tell you how I learned to meditate.

First, set religion aside for the time being. This may sound like strange advice coming from someone like me. HA! I believe that some people’s imaginations need to be trained to imagine things.

I can meditate because I used to write science fiction. I wrote a novel (unpublished because it’s full of purple prose. HA) and several unpublished short stories. I simply write because I like it.

The key to being a fiction writer is not the writing itself. That comes later. The KEY is the ability to use one’s imagination as a tool of creation.

My advice would be, it it’s available in your area, to take a Creative Writing workshop or course, maybe at a Community College. Learn how to write fiction and you’ll learn how to meditate.

When you write fiction you must create the characters in your story. What do they look like? How do your characters feel about themselves and others? Personality traits? Are they sarcastic? Are they super sweet? What is their favorite thing to eat? Do they have any annoying habits? What do they like to talk about? Do they have a sense of humor? Do they easily fall in and out of love? Are they loyal or fickle? etc…

You then create relationships between the characters in your story. Why does James love Joan? What is lacking in James’s life that he sees in Joan? Does James love his mother, or does he dislike her? You imagine the undercurrent between relationships.

Then, you take the next step and start imagining your characters having conversations with one another.

When you get in the groove of writing, the “zone” as writers call it, conversations between your characters flow in your mind so fast that you hardly have time to write it down! Sometimes you are in that “zone” where you MUST write.

Then, there are also frustrating times when one has “writer’s block” when one can’t access one’s imagination. It goes limp like a dead fish.

Now, apply these things to prayer. We all know there are times when we can’t get enough of the religious life and we’re in the “zone.” We all also know about those terrible times called “The Dark Night of the Soul” or the “Dry Spells” where you have a great distaste for prayer, and can’t access your imagination if you tried.

It sounds like perhaps you need to try and train your imagination to create imagery. Step back from meditation for awhile and try to sit down and write a science fiction story. I’ll start it for you …

*"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away … *

LOL!!! (I LOVE Star Wars … btw … anyone seen the full screen trailer yet? It’s on the internet at starwars.com for free download. Its so AWESOME!!!)

Hi,

Yes. This was good reading. Very similar to the approach I am taking. Also, after further reading St. Ignatius Loyola I am amazed at how much Christian meditative technique I have ‘reinvented’ on my own. St. Ignatius has already touched on a method which I thought was my own original idea. But St. Ignatius applies it to praying, and not to meditation. And as you have pointed out about the dry spells when you don’t feel like praying, that is when I would switch to meditation. I am still unable to meditate while I am praying, so I don’t see how the two are compatible?

Thanks for the effort in this post.

 

[Kevin_Walker]

Rooter:

Annunciata, I don’t know if this is what you’re looking for, but the standard terminology for this is Guigo’s Ladder of lectio divina, meditatio, oratio and contemplatio. St Ignatius is confusing because he calls contemplatio what other people call meditatio.

Hi,

This may sound impertinent as can be, but I am finding a lot of confusion mixed with excellent insight in my readings from the various Doctors of the Church regarding methods of meditation and prayer. I find their sage advice all jumbled up. My initial impression is its like they’re describing something they don’t fully understand.

Guigos Ladder does a wonderful job of categorizing each individual concept of prayer, meditation, reading, contemplation; which further indicates the separation of each discipline. How in the world does one read, meditate, pray, then contemplate all at the same time? The answer is that one cannot! They are seperate endeavours not to be semantically generalized together.

There is some inconsistency within the various Catholic orders in regards to meditation and prayer.