Wandering mind or meditation?

  • Thread starter Thread starter AJB328
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

AJB328

Guest
During one of my RCIA classes one of the instructors started talking about how hard it can be to pray sometimes.

“Sometimes I’ll find a quiet place with my rosary and start praying and after a few minutes I realize I’m thinking about something else. A lot of times it’s about something else in a religious context, and I have to stop myself because that’s not praying.”

This is a paraphrase but the spirit of what he said is intact. I didn’t think anything of this when he first said it, but as I’ve been praying the rosary (20 mysteries a day for Lent, 10 mysteries otherwise) I’ve been wondering if my meditations are truly meditations.

I usually have a free flowing stream of conscious thing happening where I work through the mysteries like they were logic problems. The following is an abridged version:

2nd Joyful mystery, the Visitation. Mary goes to see her pregnant cousin—Mary helps her around the house?—Or does Mary want proof that the Angel was right about her cousin?—When she finds that it’s true Elizabeth and Mary are united—They’ve both been touched by God—They’re united through God just as all people are united through God—This could be an example of the Communion of Saints—they must have felt isolated being the only two people in the world who knew what was happening—Millions of people were going about their daily lives completely unaware of what was happening in the world except for these two peasant women and their husbands—

So is this meditation appropriate to the Rosary? Is this just a wandering mind masquerading as thoughtful meditation? How do you all meditate?
 
AJB328 said:
During one of my RCIA classes one of the instructors started talking about how hard it can be to pray sometimes.

“Sometimes I’ll find a quiet place with my rosary and start praying and after a few minutes I realize I’m thinking about something else. A lot of times it’s about something else in a religious context, and I have to stop myself because that’s not praying.”

This is a paraphrase but the spirit of what he said is intact. I didn’t think anything of this when he first said it, but as I’ve been praying the rosary (20 mysteries a day for Lent, 10 mysteries otherwise) I’ve been wondering if my meditations are truly meditations.

I usually have a free flowing stream of conscious thing happening where I work through the mysteries like they were logic problems. The following is an abridged version:

2nd Joyful mystery, the Visitation. Mary goes to see her pregnant cousin—Mary helps her around the house?—Or does Mary want proof that the Angel was right about her cousin?—When she finds that it’s true Elizabeth and Mary are united—They’ve both been touched by God—They’re united through God just as all people are united through God—This could be an example of the Communion of Saints—they must have felt isolated being the only two people in the world who knew what was happening—Millions of people were going about their daily lives completely unaware of what was happening in the world except for these two peasant women and their husbands—

So is this meditation appropriate to the Rosary? Is this just a wandering mind masquerading as thoughtful meditation? How do you all meditate?
Click to expand...
Meh. It’s not how I meditate, but nobody can tell you this a wrong or bad way to go about things. I think it’s pretty nifty. I might give it a shot!

I tend meditate in a self-relaxation, self-hypnosis sort of way. I’m blessed with a very deep imagination that allows me to relatively quickly disappear a bit. If I were to meditate on the Visitation, it would be more of just placing myself in the scene. Focusing on things like colors, textures, smells, wind, etc. As this meditation gets deeper, the people and things will move of their own accord and I won’t actively ask my mind questions about what is going on. I will just sit in the scene.

However, I need to be in a state where my mind isn’t racing and there aren’t a lot of distractions. Your version would be very good for settings where I can’t really concentrate (or un-concentrate… whatever). Thanks for the idea!
 
I tend meditate in a self-relaxation, self-hypnosis sort of way. I’m blessed with a very deep imagination that allows me to relatively quickly disappear a bit. If I were to meditate on the Visitation, it would be more of just placing myself in the scene. Focusing on things like colors, textures, smells, wind, etc. As this meditation gets deeper, the people and things will move of their own accord and I won’t actively ask my mind questions about what is going on. I will just sit in the scene.

I usually start out this way and I’m successful about a third of the time. I try to imagine the smells, the way the sun shines, the type of clothes people are wearing like I’m right there in the middle of it watching it all happen, but a lot of times my mind just naturally floats toward what I described above.
 
AJB328 said:
During one of my RCIA classes one of the instructors started talking about how hard it can be to pray sometimes.

“Sometimes I’ll find a quiet place with my rosary and start praying and after a few minutes I realize I’m thinking about something else. A lot of times it’s about something else in a religious context, and I have to stop myself because that’s not praying.”

This is a paraphrase but the spirit of what he said is intact. I didn’t think anything of this when he first said it, but as I’ve been praying the rosary (20 mysteries a day for Lent, 10 mysteries otherwise) I’ve been wondering if my meditations are truly meditations.

I usually have a free flowing stream of conscious thing happening where I work through the mysteries like they were logic problems. The following is an abridged version:

2nd Joyful mystery, the Visitation. Mary goes to see her pregnant cousin—Mary helps her around the house?—Or does Mary want proof that the Angel was right about her cousin?—When she finds that it’s true Elizabeth and Mary are united—They’ve both been touched by God—They’re united through God just as all people are united through God—This could be an example of the Communion of Saints—they must have felt isolated being the only two people in the world who knew what was happening—Millions of people were going about their daily lives completely unaware of what was happening in the world except for these two peasant women and their husbands—

So is this meditation appropriate to the Rosary? Is this just a wandering mind masquerading as thoughtful meditation? How do you all meditate?
Click to expand...
I dare to say that wandering mind is prayer.
My opinion.
 
AJB328 said:
I tend meditate in a self-relaxation, self-hypnosis sort of way. I’m blessed with a very deep imagination that allows me to relatively quickly disappear a bit. If I were to meditate on the Visitation, it would be more of just placing myself in the scene. Focusing on things like colors, textures, smells, wind, etc. As this meditation gets deeper, the people and things will move of their own accord and I won’t actively ask my mind questions about what is going on. I will just sit in the scene.

I usually start out this way and I’m successful about a third of the time. I try to imagine the smells, the way the sun shines, the type of clothes people are wearing like I’m right there in the middle of it watching it all happen, but a lot of times my mind just naturally floats toward what I described above.
Click to expand...
I have a question, and please don’t take this the wrong way. What is the goal of meditating this way?
 
Student09 said:
I have a question, and please don’t take this the wrong way. What is the goal of meditating this way?
Click to expand...
It helps us to better understand Christ’s life. This method is basically Ignatian.

Read more here and here and here.

From the first link above, especially note the second method …

Ignatius presents two ways of imagining in the Spiritual Exercises. The first way is demonstrated in a meditation on the mystery of the Incarnation in the second week of the exercises. He asks us to “enter into the vision of God.” God is looking down on our turbulent world. We imagine God’s concern for the world. We see God intervening by sending Jesus into the maelstrom of life. This type of imagining helps us see things from God’s perspective and take on God’s qualities of love, compassion, and understanding.

The second method of imagining is to place ourselves fully within a story from the Gospels. We become onlooker-participants and give full rein to our imagination. Jesus is speaking to a blind man at the side of the road. We feel the hot Mediterranean sun beating down. We smell the dust kicked up by the passersby. We feel the itchy clothing we’re wearing, the sweat rolling down our brow, a rumble of hunger. We see the desperation in the blind man’s face and hear the wail of hope in his words. We note the irritation of the disciples. Above all we watch Jesus—the way he walks, his gestures, the look in his eyes, the expression on his face. We hear him speak the words that are recorded in the Gospel. We go on to imagine other words he might have spoken and other deeds he might have done.
 
AJB328 said:
During one of my RCIA classes one of the instructors started talking about how hard it can be to pray sometimes.

“Sometimes I’ll find a quiet place with my rosary and start praying and after a few minutes I realize I’m thinking about something else. A lot of times it’s about something else in a religious context, and I have to stop myself because that’s not praying.”

This is a paraphrase but the spirit of what he said is intact. I didn’t think anything of this when he first said it, but as I’ve been praying the rosary (20 mysteries a day for Lent, 10 mysteries otherwise) I’ve been wondering if my meditations are truly meditations.

I usually have a free flowing stream of conscious thing happening where I work through the mysteries like they were logic problems. The following is an abridged version:

2nd Joyful mystery, the Visitation. Mary goes to see her pregnant cousin—Mary helps her around the house?—Or does Mary want proof that the Angel was right about her cousin?—When she finds that it’s true Elizabeth and Mary are united—They’ve both been touched by God—They’re united through God just as all people are united through God—This could be an example of the Communion of Saints—they must have felt isolated being the only two people in the world who knew what was happening—Millions of people were going about their daily lives completely unaware of what was happening in the world except for these two peasant women and their husbands—

So is this meditation appropriate to the Rosary? Is this just a wandering mind masquerading as thoughtful meditation? How do you all meditate?
Click to expand...
Distractions happen to everyone. I forgot who said it, but he said the mind is like a barrel of monkeys, and trying to quiet one’s thoughts down and focus on the Lord can be difficult. The spiritual director also mentioned that every time we see that our mind has wandered just calmly bring it back and continue. This may happen many times, but each time we get back on track is a victory! It gets better with practice.

All of us have different personalities and may meditate on the Mysteries of the Rosary in different ways. The Hail Mary can be like “background music” to what you are focusing on. And sometimes the focus goes to Our Lady in the Hail Mary prayers. For example: I think of the scourging of our Lord at the pillar, and become aware that my sins caused that, and am inspired to practice the virtue of love and forgiveness even more. I don’t go into much detail of the scene. It can help me to remember that when someone makes an unkind or flippant remark to me I can let it bounce off of me instead of dwelling on it. (some people can “whip” you with untimely remarks.)
 
Splagchnizomai said:
It helps us to better understand Christ’s life. This method is basically Ignatian.

Read more here and here and here.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the links. I was not aware that this was an Ignatian method. I’ve seen it described before and always wondered how one got from what seem to me to be extraneous details to an intimacy with the Lord, but probably I would have to experience it to understand as I’m not very good with visual imaginings. Don’t mean to derail the thread - thank you again for your answer, it was helpful.
 
Student09 said:
Thank you for the links. I was not aware that this was an Ignatian method. I’ve seen it described before and always wondered how one got from what seem to me to be extraneous details to an intimacy with the Lord, but probably I would have to experience it to understand as I’m not very good with visual imaginings. Don’t mean to derail the thread - thank you again for your answer, it was helpful.
Click to expand...
You’re welcome!
 
AJB328 said:
During one of my RCIA classes one of the instructors started talking about how hard it can be to pray sometimes.

“Sometimes I’ll find a quiet place with my rosary and start praying and after a few minutes I realize I’m thinking about something else. A lot of times it’s about something else in a religious context, and I have to stop myself because that’s not praying.”
Click to expand...
A wandering mind could be God trying to change the subject. After all, He already knows the mysteries. The things that come to mind are probably real concerns. Shouldn’t we be bringing our real concerns to God?
This is a paraphrase but the spirit of what he said is intact. I didn’t think anything of this when he first said it, but as I’ve been praying the rosary (20 mysteries a day for Lent, 10 mysteries otherwise) I’ve been wondering if my meditations are truly meditations.
Click to expand...
I usually have a free flowing stream of conscious thing happening where I work through the mysteries like they were logic problems. The following is an abridged version:
Click to expand...
2nd Joyful mystery, the Visitation. Mary goes to see her pregnant cousin—Mary helps her around the house?—Or does Mary want proof that the Angel was right about her cousin?—When she finds that it’s true Elizabeth and Mary are united—They’ve both been touched by God—They’re united through God just as all people are united through God—This could be an example of the Communion of Saints—they must have felt isolated being the only two people in the world who knew what was happening—Millions of people were going about their daily lives completely unaware of what was happening in the world except for these two peasant women and their husbands—
Click to expand...
So is this meditation appropriate to the Rosary? Is this just a wandering mind masquerading as thoughtful meditation? How do you all meditate?
Click to expand...
I don’t see anything wrong.
 
The wandering mind is our natural default state when there is not something else specific that we are thinking about. After about 20 or 30 minutes it settles on its own and in the mean time the point of our meditation is to give it some direction. The meditation and the gradual diminishment of the free flowing thoughts brings us to an inner quiet where we are more fully availible to the work of the Holy Spirit in contemplation. For most of us even of few seconds of such inner stillness is a great gift and powerful enough to nourish us for the rest of teh day.

MM
 
What you described sounds perfectly normal to me.

If my thoughts could be made into a movie, it would probably end up like the scene in A Clockwork Orange where images are flashed rapid-fire across the screen. All over the place. And then at some point something wakes up and realizes it was drifting and I try to focus my thoughts on the mystery. And it happens again and again. But sometimes there are brief moments when it “gels.”
 
Thanks for all the replies, just wanted to make sure I was on the right track. 🙂
 
Another way, is to think about Mary and her beauty as she is carrying Jesus as I should also be carring Jesus in my soul. Being grateful to her and Jesus for making it possible.

One of the important points of a mystery is our assent to the revelation by God.
This is in itself an act of supernatural faith pleasing to Him. It is a prayer of faith.

Just a thought.
 
The first thing to say about such difficulties is that they should not come as a surprise or cause us to worry or be upset. Not only are they inevitable, they are actually good for us. They purify our love for God and strengthen our faith.
— Time for God, p.96

Distractions are one of the more common difficulties in prayer. They are absolutely normal and should neither surprise nor sadden us. When we realize that we have become distracted from our prayer and our thoughts are wandering, rather than getting discouraged or angry, we should simply, peacefully and gently bring our minds back to God.
— Time for God, p.96

frjacquesphilippe.com/themes/difficulties_in_prayer.html
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top