Meditation – What Is it?
Much discussion has taken place on the subject of meditation. Members of the church are often confused. Is meditation OK in the context of the gospel? Is the meditation spoken of in the scriptures the same as the meditation being taught by the gurus of the New Age? If they are not the same, what is the difference and is New-Age style meditation harmful? I would like to address all of the questions.
Meditation in the Church:
Within the Church we do believe in meditating, but the definition is quite different from that used by the New Age. We are to contemplate, meditate, ponder, and pray over scriptures and Prophets’ words, etc. We are to think and analyze to gain a greater understanding and come to know deeper meanings. It is a time to think, reflect and ponder, to use our minds to reflect on teachings to gain a greater understanding.
Meditation in the new age:
The new age teaches that to meditate is to empty your mind of thoughts, to find the “eternal now”, to become one with everything around you to be one with the world as we are all “one” (avatars of a single divine source). There are different forms, but the main commonality is to try to leave the “thinking mind” and go into a deeper state of awareness or relaxation. This place is not an actively-contemplative, pondering state of mind, as discussed above, but an emptying of all thoughts. They achieve this through exercises like repeating a mantra, or staring into the light of a candle and feeling that you are one with the light. The primary goal is to reach a higher state of consciousness, self-awareness or a relaxed peaceful state of mind. People do this to find peace within themselves, not peace from a God apart from themselves. This is how mediums allow their bodies to be possessed. It is a letting-go of thoughts, going into a trance. You enter what could be described as a hypotonic-trance-like state of mind, where you are not thinking, merely "being". This is the training used by the occult to reach higher states of consciousness or enlightenment, putting themselves in tune with Lucifer rather than God the Father. Father does not want us to empty our mind to learn things. He wants us to ponder actively and come to greater understanding.
Gordon B. Hinckley, “Let Us Live the Gospel More Fully,” Liahona, Nov 2003, 102–3
“We are all so busy with our mundane pursuits which pull us this way and that. We all need, the whole world needs, the opportunity to meditate and reflect on the things of God and to listen to words that inspire and help.”
Gordon B. Hinckley, “Life’s Obligations,” Ensign, Feb 1999, 2
“You need time to meditate and ponder, to think, to wonder at the great plan of happiness that the Lord has outlined for His children.”
Chauncey C. Riddle, “Prayer,” Ensign, Mar 1975, 15
Meditation
“The helpmate of mighty prayer is meditation. In meditating, one tries to minimize his involvements with the physical world for a time in order to concentrate on something inner, on ideas and feelings. As a person prays sincerely with the Holy Spirit as his guide, that Spirit will bring to him many thoughts and feelings. This is part of the process of revelation. To take full advantage of this revelation, one would do well to mull over the matter under consideration, piecing together what one already knows with the new insights received.
It is one thing to have a revelation. It is quite another to understand and obey. Understanding comes in the process of careful, prayerful reflections of meditation upon what one has received. To pray is often like asking for food and then being blessed with a sumptuous meal. What would you think of a person who, when thus honored, merely took a sniff, then put the meal on a shelf and left it? Though greatly blessed, he would not be nourished.
So it may be with those who pray and do not meditate. They may have much but may be little edified.
Meditation cannot be taught, because it is something personal and private; it is the venturing of the soul into the unknown. But it can be learned by anyone who has the courage to think for himself. A likely initiation to meditation is to ponder the scriptures, the words of the living and the dead prophets of God. Banish all commentaries for a moment; forget hearsay teachings. What does the Lord actually say? What does the Spirit whisper as to how this passage or that doctrine should be understood? Where two scriptures appear at first reading to be contrary, what is the real intent of each?”
As you can tell from the above samples of Church related talks on meditation, we are to be actively involved in a process of thinking during meditation. This is the opposite of the meditation of the new age, where you are emptying your mind of all thoughts or limiting it to just focusing on one sound or image. The means of meditation are completely different. Yet both lead you to inspiration from one side or the other.
New age meditation is merely receiving the love of God without desiring repentance or the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Merely existing in the love of God, without moral laws or action is the essence of the Telestial kingdom. Using this form of "meditation" instead of prayer locks you into a telestial state of being. Instead of enlightening you, as they say it does, it is damning to your soul. It is the state of "I am God" and experiencing the Love of the universe and love of self that meditation brings. It maintains that “I have already arrived at divinity” or more accurately “I have never left divinity, and so am not capable of sin.” Instead of "Thy will not mine" it is all about YOU. It is not about looking to Father for His will. It is about YOU taking yourself to a state of peace without Father or the Atonement of Christ. That is because you are God and therefore growth is merely manifesting your own divine nature. It is all about your will not Father's. The difference between occult meditation and true prayer and meditation is that the former does not require humbling ourselves before any God. They actually teach not to humble yourself but accept that you are “divine” and you are “God”. You are to love yourself and the world unconditionally, for Love is all there is. There is no turning your will over to Father or asking forgiveness, no repentance, no sorrow, no seeking of purity or sanctity and no change of heart. It is merely accepting yourself as you are and loving yourself unconditionally and embracing that you are divine and complete now. We do not have to look to a Father or Savior to perfect us, because divinity is within us and our growth as spirits is merely learning to manifest that inner divinity.
We do not learn things on our own by going within ourselves to gain higher knowledge. Some have described this as going into ourselves to view the light of Christ. This is not a correct understanding of the light of Christ. The Light of Christ is not a source of revelation; it is what gives us a conscience of what is right and wrong in behavior. It does not reveal doctrinal truths. The Holy Ghost is the agent of revelation. To gain true revelation from God we must be in tune with the Holy Ghost by living worthy of the inspiration of God. We must also be in a state of complete humility and submission to Father's will.
When we try to gain truths without turning to God for His wisdom, we are looking to OUR WILL, not Father’s will. We then are doing as Lucifer did and does. We are not going to Father for guidance; we are merely looking at ourselves as divine beings that hold knowledge and wisdom independent of Father. Lucifer thought the same way. He looked inside himself for the best ideas and came up with a plan for man’s mortal journey. He now is teaching man to do the same. Yet there is a difference. Lucifer tells you to look inside yourself for knowledge, but in truth he is the one that reveals it to you. That is his great lie. There is no “my own” will. We are either following Father or Lucifer. The reality is that there is no point in our mortality where we no longer need Father’s direction. It is true that we need not be compelled in all things, since he has revealed so much truth to us that we can and should freely choose works of righteousness following the example He has already given us. But when it comes to understanding deeper mysteries, those must come from Father, or we are getting them from Lucifer. That is why if we follow Lucifer’s path we are taken in chains to hell with him. Lucifer deceives us into thinking that he offers freedom and independence while in reality only the Lord can give those things. It is actually Lucifer’s plan which is the plan of compulsion. Lucifer is putting us in bondage and stopping our progression, for when you stop looking to Father for all your understanding and direction and turn to yourself you are now damned and under Lucifer’s control.
We are told to have a constant prayer in our hearts and to be in tune with the Spirit and to use Him as a guide in all things that we do. We are not told to do things on our own. “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and He will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that He may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.” (Alma 37:37) We can go about and do much good by following what has been commanded of us to do, but we do greater work if we follow the promptings of the Spirit to do that which the Lord wants us to do. This is not being compelled to do things; it is merely seeking to do the Lord’s will. An example is this. We know we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. So if we see a person in need, we help them and do it of our free will without being compelled to do so. This is What God would want us to do. Yet what if there is someone in need that it is not apparent to us. If we ask the Lord “how can I serve Thee today? What is it that I can do to be an instrument in Thy hands to assist another or help Thee build Thy kingdom?” Then the Lord can then inspire us to do something we are completely unaware of intellectually. You can get the impression to call someone or to go somewhere with no knowledge of how you will be used, just that your assistance is needed and that you are being guided by the Spirit as you go about your Fathers work. As you do this you are to have a continual prayer in your heart and inquire of the Lord how it is you can best help. You ask for the right words and the understanding of what it is He is asking you to do. In doing this you have now given Father your will and submitted your life to him to be used for His will. You then are truly an Angel on this earth doing the works of the Lord as He asks you to be.
When we turn to meditation and not true prayer we are no longer guided by Father but are given guidance by Lucifer. Many have found inspiration to do things or have come up with ideas but the guidance does not come from Father. In this manner many books have been written that teach against Father and teach false light. Lucifer is the great deceiver and can appear as an angel of light. We live in a day where Lucifer’s ways are the most common way of thought in the world. We are commanded to be “not of the world” and not to be one with the world. Meditation is about becoming one with the world and finding divinity within ourselves.
We are told to not be of the world and that we will be perceived by the world as a “peculiar people”. If we followed the world we would embrace the mass teachings of meditation, for this is the “politically correct” form of prayer now. The world has fully embraced this core spiritual belief of the occult. The occult teaches this is the path to becoming “enlightened” into the ways of Lucifer. It is even being allowed into schools now where prayer to God has been taken out.
Meditation is how mediums channel spirit entities. The authors of many of the books that teach new age doctrines that are being written today admit readily that they channel spirits to write them. These books are being sold in the multi-millions. Meditation is the vehicle of personal change in today’s society. It is the path of enlightenment and revelation. This revelation has no moral prerequisites. People living in the height of sin can use meditation to receive profound “revelations”. The teaching of meditation is to create the belief of the “divine within” and then once you have become “awakened” to this reality then you go about the work to awaken the world to this knowledge. You are to meditate to send energy out into the world to bring world peace and love and to invoke the Divine Plan of Peace into the world, which Lucifer brings. Meditation is taught at first to be for personal growth, then it is taught to be for the betterment of all mankind. It becomes the way that change is brought about on earth.
Meditation at first seems simple and non-threatening to our beliefs, yet it is in compete opposition to all that we believe and is the vehicle by which Lucifer inspires those who work against us.
