So we've been looking in different ways at how to meditate.
Let's look at why we meditate.
Many people today come to meditation because they want to get rid of something.
They want to get rid of insomnia.
They want to get rid of panic attacks.
They want to get rid of anxiety or this feeling of inner dread that many people in our very stressful world carry.
They want to lower their blood pressure.
They want to stop smoking.
They want to improve their relationships or they want to deal with anger.
And these are all symptoms of why we should meditate.
But I'd like to look at this question of why do we meditate from a more positive point of view.
And this is described in a passage in the letter to the Galatians by Saint Paul in which he speaks about the harvest or the fruits of the Spirit.
And I'd like to just look at each of these in the next few talks.
Love,
Joy,
Peace,
Patience,
Kindness,
Goodness,
Fidelity,
Gentleness and self-control.
There's almost an exact list of the qualities that come to the meditative mind in the Dharmapada.
These are universal fruits.
I think it does make a difference if you meditate in a particular tradition.
One that nourishes you,
One that makes you feel at home,
One where you feel a community,
One where you feel connection and you feel deep roots in a tradition.
But at the time of meditation we're not thinking about the particular beliefs or doctrines or ideas of the tradition we may be meditating in.
Meditation is not what you think.
But these qualities,
We could call the fruits of the Spirit,
Are definitely universal.
And the first of them,
As Saint Paul says,
Is love.
If you meditate for 25 years and you don't become a more loving person,
At least to yourself and hopefully to other people,
Then you get your money back.
Meditation in the Christian understanding is a contemplative work,
A contemplative practice.
That means something you can't measure,
But something that produces real transformation.
And a contemplative practice is something that sets us free from ourselves and the obstructions that we create in ourselves.
And we are naturally created,
We are naturally evolved in order to be loving.
And so the Christian mystical tradition has always said that a contemplative practice is a work of love.
Why is that?
And why should meditation make you a more loving person?
We come back to this idea I mentioned earlier of attention.
What is love except selfless attention?
God's selfless attention,
The love that is welling up in the depths of the divine nature continually has created what is.
By pure attention,
By pure love,
We become co-creators,
We enter that creative work.
That happens whenever we fall in love,
Whenever we find ourselves drawn deeply to another individual and develop a loving relationship with that person.
Parents feel it for their children,
Children feel it for their parents,
We feel it to our friends.
And we can expand and extend that quality of loving attention even to our enemies.
To those who we don't like,
Those who hurt us,
Those who make us cringe.
So love knows no boundaries.
And one of the things that meditation will help us to do is to overcome the self-imposed boundaries that prevent us from loving as fully as we can.
It isn't enough just to love the people you're attracted to,
The people you're dating,
Or the people who you're raising as part of your family,
Or the people you like.
That keeps us,
It's wonderful,
That's how we start.
But that would keep us locked into ultimately a kind of a closed system.
And very easily becomes a prejudice system.
I only love people who are like me.
But meditation will open that out.
You won't be able to remain a racist,
Or a cheat,
Or a crook,
Or an exploiter,
Or an abuser,
And continue to meditate.
There's something in the actual process of meditation that puts us into touch with our essential goodness.
And that something is love.
As we say the mantra,
We are doing a work of love.
Taking the attention of our thoughts,
Of our plans,
Of me,
My program for happiness,
My desires.
Gently,
Not violently,
Not self-hating,
But in a self-loving way,
We're taking the attention of the ego's dramas and the ego's agenda.
And instead,
We're becoming the person we really are.
The first person we experience ourselves loving more as a result of meditation is ourselves.
And once that has begun to happen,
You cannot help but find other people more lovable.
So,
Holding that first fruit of the Spirit in our hearts,
Let's meditate now.
Again,
Sit still,
Close your eyes,
Relax,
Be alert,
Keep your back straight.
And gently,
Quiet silently,
Without moving your lips or your tongue,
In stillness,
Begin to repeat your word.
Ma ra na tha.
Thank you.
You are welcome.
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Jesus teaches us to love each other as he has loved us so that we may be whole,
Complete,
And as fully alive as God,
So that we may love as God who is love loves.
