Is there anything wrong with meditation?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Odell
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Odell said:
Or is there any good in it at all?
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We do need sometimes to meditate to clear out the noise and distraction of the world around us. I find meditating on the Crucifix, Icons, the Rosary very helpful.
 
Odell said:
Or is there any good in it at all?
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Meditation is an exceedingly good thing. It is one key way to detach ourselves from the things of this world, and to detach ourselves from our own sinful nature.
 
There’s nothing wrong with meditation. Indeed, it’s one of the four steps involved in the ancient traditional practice of Lectio Divina (how to prayerfully read the Scriptures).

Unfortunately, “meditation” as a term has been somewhat hijacked to be synonomous with the New Age Movement, or Eastern religions. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. It just means it’s more than sitting cross-legged on the ground with palms facing upward chanting “Ummmmm” over and over again.
 
Odell said:
Or is there any good in it at all?
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Not to be flip or dense, but I would like to know what “meditation” means to you and why, based on that meaning, are you concerned if it is good or bad?

Peace
James
 
By the way thanks for all the responses. I heard that yoga was wrong from a Catholic radio show years back. Something to do with not being centered on Christ and it being a outer body experience is what made it wrong. Now I could be wrong myself. isn’t yoga a form of meditation? This topic came up yesterday I was just hoping I answered it right. I said outer body thing is what made it wrong he of course said it was the intention that would make it wrong then we got on the subject of mortal vs venal sins. He is not a catholic. Anyway did I respond properly?
JRKH said:
Not to be flip or dense, but I would like to know what “meditation” means to you and why, based on that meaning, are you concerned if it is good or bad?

Peace
James
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One more thing that makes sense to me learning from theology of the body is that what makes us fully human is that we have both body and spirit. Without both we would not be fully human. If this is the case then I can sorta see what the radio show meant about the outer body thing. Shouldn’t we not separate the two and maybe meditate on our inner self? Learn what makes us truly human. But at the same time separating ourselves from the world if at all possible.
 
Odell said:
By the way thanks for all the responses. I heard that yoga was wrong from a Catholic radio show years back. Something to do with not being centered on Christ and it being a outer body experience is what made it wrong. Now I could be wrong myself. isn’t yoga a form of meditation? This topic came up yesterday I was just hoping I answered it right. I said outer body thing is what made it wrong he of course said it was the intention that would make it wrong then we got on the subject of mortal vs venal sins. He is not a catholic. Anyway did I respond properly?
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I’m not sure I entirely understand your exchange with this person. You said that Yoga-type meditations would be wrong because they are an attempt to go “out-of-body”, and he said that one’s intention was what made it right or wrong?

Well, I think you’re both partly right and partly wrong. 🙂 The attempt to spiritually go out of one’s body is one possilbe type of problematic meditation, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the only one, nor is it necessarily the defining attribute of why it’s wrong.

Your friend is right to some degree in that intention is important, but I would wonder exactly what he means by it. If he means that the outward sign of meditation isn’t as important as the fact that our inward disposition needs to be such that it is centered on God, then I would say he has a point. On the other hand, if he simply means that, one can safely meditate on how they are part of the cosmic life force while grasping “energy crystals” simply because their intent is “good” (to rejuvenate themselves) rather than “bad” (to place a hex on someone), then I would say that he is wrong.

Meditation should be focused on God, not ourselves. I think that’s basically what it comes down to. You are observing problematic kinds of meditation that essentially are self-centered rather than God-centered.

Be sure to check out what the Catechism says about Meditation: CCC 2705-2708
 
Thanks. The conversation I had with my friend was not about yoga just meditation in general. What I heard on the radio was about yoga I just applied what I heard to our conversation because I believe yoga to be meditation. You pretty much answered my question though.
 
Joe,
Good answer and thanks also for the reference to the Catechism. 👍
I particularly like how the section goes from meditation into contemplative prayer which I see as somewhat inter-connected with meditation and vocal prayer.

To Odell,
If you would like to read a geally good book relating to the more mystical side of the Church, I highly recommend, "The Fulfillment of All Desire" by Ralph Martin and Subtitled, “a Guidebook for the Journey to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints”.

I used a link to Amazon since it gives the opportunity to look inside the book and also there are some nice reviews of the book.

Peace
James
 
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