From: Dan Glover (daneglover@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Apr 09 2003 - 21:11:58 BST
Hello everyone
>From: "Elizaphanian" <elizaphanian@tiscali.co.uk>
>Reply-To: moq_discuss@moq.org
>To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
>Subject: MD Meditation/prayer
>Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 11:01:52 +0100
>
>Hi Dan,
>
>This is a response to your "If you care to share, I would be interested in
>knowing how prayer and meditation are different for you."
Hi Sam
Thank you for your reply.
>
>Firstly - I'm not an expert at either; I've got just far enough to know how
>little I know. Secondly, I would want to emphasise that, as I understand
>it,
>the two overlap and are strongly compatible (ie I see the Buddhist state of
>'non-attachment' as the equivalent of Christian 'apatheia').
I recall reading an interview with Robert Pirsig
where he described his work in establishing a Zen center in Minnesota. He
even persuaded
a Zen master to come and teach for a bit though the master ended up leaving
and going
back to his home. Mr. Pirsig said that in his country the master was
considered a
living god while in Minnesota, people wondered why he didn't have a job. So
perhaps
though 'non-attachment' and 'apatheia' are equivalent, culturally they are
viewed a bit differently?
>
>Having said that, two images, then a more philosophical summary. I haven't
>thrashed this out systematically before, so I'd be interested in any
>comments you might have.
>
>Meditation: a glass of muddy water allowed to settle, so that the water
>clarifies.
>Prayer: a decision to go sunbathing, so various actions taken in order to
>expose yourself to the Sun.
>
>In other words, I understand meditation as something autonomous, whereas I
>understand prayer as other-directed. I don't think prayer can be understood
>apart from a faith tradition, ie it involves worship and praise.
>
>What do you think?
Well, I would say this is about right on the surface but I have to add that
no one I know just falls into a meditation autonomously. A decision is made
to meditate and steps are taken to expose oneself as it were to the sun. I
can understand prayer as being 'other-directed' and have read of the power
of prayer in healing, still I cannot help feeling somewhat skeptical of this
action-at-a-distance. Yet I pray every morning and every night. So I suppose
that's the faith tradition you speak of. I like to think of prayer and
meditation as the same at deeper levels since both involve maintaining a
profound silence while focusing on an image or a word or a sequence of
words. The silence itself betokes a sort of worship and praise, sure, but
undirected and purposeless. In other words, a person doesn't have to believe
in God to pray any more than they have to be a Buddhist to meditate, though
culturally it certainly does seem to help.
Any thoughts?
Dan
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