This could be deemed the second part to my previous piece on the imagination. Perhaps this may seem a controversial title for a blog coming from a Christian, especially when meditation is so generally used in the context of religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and New Agist schools of thought. However, I feel that the controversy surrounding this area is because of a misunderstanding of what it means to meditate. Yes, it is something completely different from Prayer, and separate too from just thinking. But my reasons for discussing this and exploring what it means in more detail, arise from two things; firstly, I recall an interesting conversation with a good friend of mine, Rachel, about meditation and what it means; and secondly, reaching a very busy time in my life with approaching the final exams and the dissertation of my degree, I find myself regularly needing to put my mind in a place where God can just invade and give me a sense of peace and well-being.
Princeton wordnet defines meditation in two ways, the first being (continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature) "the habit of meditation is the basis for all real knowledge"; the second being contemplation of spiritual matters (usually on religious or philosophical subjects). I think I have found meditation to be a combination of the two in all truth. I however do not find myself to meditate on deep subjects, in fact quite the opposite. The root of the word in Latin, is that "med" in fact means to measure, examine or consider. But under such a definition, so too could philosophy fall. I neither think that it necessarily be profound thought. Contemplation of religious matters may be perhaps a category under the definition of meditation, but I do not think that it can be the definition in any way whatsoever. Perhaps to give a little more insight into what I find meditation actually is, I will attempt to illustrate where I have found myself doing it.
Art, songwriting and running are the three places where I find some peace from my own head. It is not an issue of using the imagination to escape, but a matter of putting yourself in a position, doing something that actively takes your mind away from where you are busiest and the most stressed, even if it means being busy doing something else. It is not a matter of burying the crap under more crap, it is a matter of putting it to the side by being in a place of total mental rest, so that when you look back at the mountain of work/stress/worry, you suddenly feel you can conquer it. But this is not from your own strength to do it, it is because in doing that activity, whatever it may be, you distract yourself in a way that gives God space to move in and join you in that.
I found it quite emphatically in two places doing very opposite things. The first was in Devon, up on a hill behind where my granny lives that looks over the sea and over farms across the Devonshire countryside. It was about a 10 minute trek up this rather steep hill, but it was completely worth the climb just to see the view. The funny thing about it, is that now, when I think back to that time, I think it was that the climb up the hill was actually clearing my head (in the same way that running does), so that when I reached the top of that hill, God was waiting for me, waiting for me to just go and sit with him, and just appreciate the sheer beauty of His creation. I always would leave that hill (having gone up after dinner) feeling ready for anything, it was a place where I just sat in God's company, as though I had left my problems at the bottom of the hill, and after sitting with God a while, when I walked back down, the problems had gone.
The other time I realised this peace was when I was painting. Singing along with Kim Walker, praying that God would somehow give my fingers the imagination of my heart, and in the midst of doing it, there was just nothing in my head but peace and the company of God.
Meditation is that place of finding peace from the business of life, where God waits. Communication is prayer, but His comforting and peace abounding company can be found in the things we love doing most, because where we are doing what we love with the gifts God has given us, He wants in on our enjoyment, He wants to spend time with us in the same way you want to hang around fun, happy people because they're infectious as is their laughter and enjoyment of life. I just really look forward to finding more places that God is waiting for me to discover where I'll love every moment of it, and find Him in that.
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