Monday, October 14, 2013

Prayer Part III: Praying for Nothing





In this third part of my series of essays on prayer, I want to address the practice of Christian Meditation. Please abandon any notion of mystics sitting for hours in a trance state. Meditation is about less: less atmosphere, less baggage, less fuss.

Here is the website for the World Community for Christian Meditation. It has abundant resources for the new or continuing practitioner. http://www.wccm.org/

Even if we have never practiced meditation, most of us have heard about it and read about its amazing benefits to the mind and body. It is a practice that has been around for many thousands of years. Yoga which traces its origins back five thousand years was devised as a means of increasing a practitioner’s ability to sit for longer periods of time.

The earliest traces of Christian meditation date back to the 4th Century CE with the desert fathers and mothers. These individuals, fed up with the increasingly complex ecclesiastical structures of the church (Imagine if they were living today!) took themselves off to the desert where they formed loose communities and prayed.


Their prayer was what we today call meditation. Much has been written about these communities and their more famous members, and I would encourage anyone to delve further into their history.

Christian Meditation today has taken two forms: one is Contemplative Prayer or simply Meditation and the other is Centering Prayer. They differ in major and minor ways, I suppose. Either practice comes under the heading of Praying for Nothing.

I know a good bit about Christian Meditation and almost nothing about Centering Prayer. John Main and Lawrence Freeman are spokespersons for Christian Meditation. Thomas Keating writes extensively about Centering Prayer. If you are research-minded, all these men are fine writers, very worth meeting.
And now to begin.

Praying for Nothing

In meditation, you are praying for nothing. In other words, you have no desired outcome. You aren't asking for anything. You aren't thanking God. You aren't praising God. You are simply sitting intentionally in the presence of God. You are not seeking forgiveness. You have no intention other than to be in the presence of God, which, of course, you are always.



Posture is important. Sit in a natural position, either in a straight-backed chair or on the floor. The idea is to be neither uncomfortable nor too comfortable. Sit up straight. Imagine a string guiding you from your tail bone through the top of your head. Then drop that image.

Follow your breath. Notice the in-breath and the out-breath, but breathe normally. Don’t worry if your breaths seem unevenly spaced. Meditation is a physical practice occurring in the material world and your body is important to it. Your body needs to be present. Feel yourself in every cubic centimeter of your body. Then drop that image. You are merely present in the sight of God. God loves you and is asking nothing of you.

Hold no image in your mind during meditation. If an image comes into your head, even if it is a holy image or an inspiring one, drop it. Gently. If a thought or distraction comes into your mind, drop it. Gently. Do not judge your meditation. Do not become impatient with yourself. Do not struggle. Do not fight. Your meditation will not be perfect. Not ever.

Most practitioners use a mantra. The mantra, or sacred word, helps to keep distractions away. It can be said silently with the breath. Maranatha is the mantra that is most typically suggested. It is an Aramaic word meaning “come Lord”. Because it is foreign, we are less likely to become distracted by its meaning. The first two syllables are said on the in-breath; the last two syllables are said on the out-breath. Ma-ra, breathing in. Na-tha, breathing out. Never stop saying this word during the entire time of your meditation. It is powerfully focusing. Just remember that you are focusing on nothing, thinking of nothing, imagining nothing.

Meditation is a very simple process: sit, breathe, say your word. Simple but not easy. A million distractions will fill your mind: the laundry, a phone call, Downton Abbey, hunger, worry, dirty diapers, the weeds, your boss, your diagnosis. Understand that nothing that comes into your mind during meditation has any particular meaning. It is not a message; it is simply your imperfect being pulling you away from your prayer.

Don’t be angry with yourself. Look at each of these distractions as a sweet child clamoring for attention. Pat that distraction on the head and send it on its way. Keep saying your word. Keep breathing. You may like to smile.

My models for sitting in God’s presence are my cats. At any given time one of them will hop onto my lap, asking no permission, make himself comfortable and just be. Where do my cats get such confidence? I don’t know, but they seem to know that I love them. They take me for granted.

I believe that it is this confidence in God’s love that is the gift of meditation, of praying for nothing. Perhaps it is simply the fruit of nearness.The effects of meditation are most discernible after a while. It was only after practicing meditation for 10 or so years that I was able to see what a different person I had become. Less stressed, more patient, more generous, kinder, gentler, better. How does this happen? Please refer to Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he talks about fruits of the spirit.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

Knowing that God loves us is good for us. Physically, mentally and spiritually.

For being all about nothing, the practice asks a lot of us. Instructors will advise you to meditate twice each day for about 25 minutes at a time. That's a lot for a beginner. It’s fine to start with once a day, but you should try for 25 minutes to give your spirit time to settle. It is perfectly OK to use a timer; everyone does it. When your time is up, offer a brief prayer of praise or thanks. “Glory be to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and forever. Amen” would work just fine.

You do not have to be a mystical sort of person to practice meditation. I am the least mystical person I know. In meditation classes, I've met people from all walks of life, all races and creeds, blind people, people in wheel chairs, triathlon winners. This is a very basic, accessible practice and I can’t recommend it strongly enough. 

I’ll close with some words from my first meditation teacher, Eileen O’Hea CSJ. In her final book, Manifesting in Form, she writes

Most of us have grown up thinking we have to earn God’s love; we have to do so many good things before we can rely on God loving us. This is a fallacy. We are already in love. Because all is one, we cannot be separated from the love that is our very being.
Meditation returns us to our initial state of creation, namely the experience of knowing oneness of being with Divine Being.


Next week: Praying with Everything

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