Praying and Meditating   2017-15

A prayer is not really a meditative action, but would guess it could be related.

I meditate, which is when I contemplate or reflect on something, where I focus my thoughts or ponder about something. I, at times, come up with a plan or create a project to do in the future based on my meditative experience. I do not have a purpose in my thinking, but sometimes do have an innovative idea that I can react too or put into reality. 

I can combine the meditative time with prayers though and that is based on the contemplation that happened during this time. This is a quiet time for me—thinking to myself what is going through the convolutes of my brain.  Sort of neat….

Some could say that the meditation could have a spiritual practice to it that gives me purpose in life based on a religious thought or so. Perhaps!  The Buddhist meditation tradition does have some of that, but I don’t look at this as an ongoing way of understanding at the time.

Prayer is different.  This is a relationship with my God. It is not my silent thinking, but my vocal or outgoing way of talking with a Deity. Could a prayer be a devotional contemplation? I would think so, because of the two methods interacting at the same time. If I am meditating or reflecting about a religious thought and it goes over the fence and I am now discussing this with God, I have joined the two practices, in the same time frame.

Much has been published about how to meditate and how to pray.  It is, to me, easy to combine the two at the same time and do both.  To void the mind of extraneous thoughts while meditating and then trying to pray, can be an effort so it has a fine line on the doing of both at the same time.

So, I think they are related as I said, but still separate in their own way. If anyone does either that is great, for I get satisfaction when I meditate and extreme satisfaction when I pray so the best of two worlds is something to strive for in life.

Peace be with you,

Den Betts