Comments on: Meditation (anxiety, prt. 3) http://thefallencleric.com/2009/10/meditation/ Thoughts on God, counseling, relationships, etc. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:18:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Holly http://thefallencleric.com/2009/10/meditation/comment-page-1/#comment-146 Holly Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:28:07 +0000 http://thefallencleric.wordpress.com/?p=296#comment-146 Dave, I just have to comment on this...I know a lot of people are "put off" or confused by meditation..thinking it is wierd or new agey...I have also heard it called silent prayer and wonder if explaining it as this may open more hearts/minds...gracious as always..Holly Dave, I just have to comment on this…I know a lot of people are “put off” or confused by meditation..thinking it is wierd or new agey…I have also heard it called silent prayer and wonder if explaining it as this may open more hearts/minds…gracious as always..Holly

]]> By: wildwinddave http://thefallencleric.com/2009/10/meditation/comment-page-1/#comment-145 wildwinddave Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:55:47 +0000 http://thefallencleric.wordpress.com/?p=296#comment-145 Good question. I know daily prayer and Bible reading have been a habit you have kept pretty regularly for many years. I always wished I had picked up that discipline, and it's certainly not for your lack of modeling that I didn't! What I'm about to suggest might move your cheese big-time, so go with it if you can accommodate it, or ignore it and keep searching. Dallas Willard suggests that Bible reading is most effective in the context of commitments to other regular disciplines. He sets aside a couple of hours one day a week to study the Bible. This allows more intense time and he can get more "accomplished." I can imagine there might be some effectiveness in adopting something similar, only you might wish to still read a couple of verses daily as a lead into your meditation. When I first started I did just straight meditation, and soon found myself "missing God." It was so different from what I was used to that I couldn't draw the connection to God hardly at all. Turns out this is not what is recommended. Meditation should always (usually) happen in a context of verbal prayer that starts and ends it, and combining it with reading a few verses is excellent. I have recently memorized a passage from Ephesians and I've been using it to open my times of meditation. The fun thing about spiritual formation is that you can experiment and find out what works for you. You're one of very few people who has actually been able to settle into a focused time of daily prayer and scripture-reading, but still I think meditation would take you to places you will never reach without it. You might also consider starting with just doing it ten minutes twice a day, then as you work your way up, tweak your other disciplines accordingly. Good question. I know daily prayer and Bible reading have been a habit you have kept pretty regularly for many years. I always wished I had picked up that discipline, and it’s certainly not for your lack of modeling that I didn’t!

What I’m about to suggest might move your cheese big-time, so go with it if you can accommodate it, or ignore it and keep searching. Dallas Willard suggests that Bible reading is most effective in the context of commitments to other regular disciplines. He sets aside a couple of hours one day a week to study the Bible. This allows more intense time and he can get more “accomplished.”

I can imagine there might be some effectiveness in adopting something similar, only you might wish to still read a couple of verses daily as a lead into your meditation. When I first started I did just straight meditation, and soon found myself “missing God.” It was so different from what I was used to that I couldn’t draw the connection to God hardly at all. Turns out this is not what is recommended. Meditation should always (usually) happen in a context of verbal prayer that starts and ends it, and combining it with reading a few verses is excellent. I have recently memorized a passage from Ephesians and I’ve been using it to open my times of meditation.

The fun thing about spiritual formation is that you can experiment and find out what works for you. You’re one of very few people who has actually been able to settle into a focused time of daily prayer and scripture-reading, but still I think meditation would take you to places you will never reach without it. You might also consider starting with just doing it ten minutes twice a day, then as you work your way up, tweak your other disciplines accordingly.

]]> By: Chuck http://thefallencleric.com/2009/10/meditation/comment-page-1/#comment-144 Chuck Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:56:39 +0000 http://thefallencleric.wordpress.com/?p=296#comment-144 Dave: How do you perceive the relationship between spending time daily with God praying and reading the Bible with the practice of meditation? To the person who has already adopted the practice of spending about 30 minutes daily in this manner, are you now suggesting adding up to one hour per day on top of that time for meditation? Or do you see some sort of overlapping of time commitment and the two practices or does one spiritual practice take precedence over the other? Might meditation somehow become melded into a daily devotional time, or is it better to keep those two completely separate? I'm not so concerned about the total daily time commitment as much as I am confused about the relationship of those disciplines. Thanks. Dave:
How do you perceive the relationship between spending time daily with God praying and reading the Bible with the practice of meditation? To the person who has already adopted the practice of spending about 30 minutes daily in this manner, are you now suggesting adding up to one hour per day on top of that time for meditation? Or do you see some sort of overlapping of time commitment and the two practices or does one spiritual practice take precedence over the other? Might meditation somehow become melded into a daily devotional time, or is it better to keep those two completely separate? I’m not so concerned about the total daily time commitment as much as I am confused about the relationship of those disciplines. Thanks.

]]>