Conservatives! Meditate!
Meditation works.
Despite the #OWS vibe, and the initial feeling of silliness when you close your eyes and hum, it's an established scientific fact: meditation makes your brain healthier. From the LATimes:
The brains of experienced meditators appear to be fitter, more disciplined and more "on task" than do the brains of those trying out meditation for the first time. And the differences between the two groups are evident not only during meditation, when brain scans detect a pattern of better control over the wandering mind among experienced meditators, but when the mind is allowed to wander freely.
Those insights emerge from a study to be published next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which looked at two groups: highly experienced meditators and meditation novices, and compared the operations of the "Default Mode Network" -- a newly identified cluster of brain regions that go to work when our brains appear to be "offline."
"I think it's safe to say this is brain-training at work," says Yale University psychiatrist Judson Brewer, who conducted the study with psychologists from Yale, the University of Oregon and Columbia University. "It makes sense," adds Brewer. "Anything you train to do, you do better."
This makes sense to me. When I used to practice meditation more diligently -- and I'll pause here to allow you all to snicker uninterrupted for a moment....all done? Okay, to continue:
When I used to practice meditation more diligently, I found it easier to concentrate, easier to focus, and actually more enjoyable to sit for a while and write. Meditation has many definitions, of course. You don't have to sit cross-legged like a swami and burn incense. Monks chanting is a form of meditation. So is prayer for some people. Whatever it is, this is the goal:
During meditation and in the mental rest periods in between, a brain region known to be important in focusing and maintaining attention, the dorsolateral anterior cingulate cortex was more likely to activate in tandem with the posterior cingulate cortex in regular meditators than in those who are new to the practice: that, says Brewer, suggests that during meditation and in everyday life, meditators may have more skill in reining in their wandering thoughts and bringing the brain back "on task"-- than those who don't routinely meditate.
We conservatives have a lot of work to do. We have to scrap the current tax code, restore America's entrepreneurial greatness, fundamentally reform the school system, and prepare for a more competitive future. We're going to need dorsolateral anterior cingulate cortices in fighting shape.
So, take twenty minutes and meditate.
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Aug '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
But a ton of us already do this, Rob :-) We're just more likely to call it "prayer".
Feb '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Aww, Midge, you beat me to it!
Jul '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Rob mentioned prayer already.
Rob Long:
So is prayer for some people.
Dec '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
I've been practicing meditation for over half my life--since I was 17 in the late 1980s. My experience has been similar to Rob's. It really helps to settle the mind, ease concentration, and increase my comfort in social situations. I'm a fan, and I recommend giving it a whirl.
Aug '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Jimmy Carter: Rob mentioned prayer already.
Rob Long:
So is prayer for some people.
Nov 28 at 7:17pm
Ah, so I see. Serves me right for trying to write an intelligent comment during a sneeze attack.
I wonder if advanced yogis can sneeze and meditate at the same time? That would be an impressive skill.
Oct '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Rob, we need some help here … how does one meditate while clinging to his guns and bibles?
Jun '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
I was in high school seminary for two years in the Spokane Diocese. During that time we had a wonderful old spiritual adviser and religion teacher. His name was Father Schiller -- a saintly man if ever there was one. In his classes we went through the stages of getting to know God within: 1) Concentration, 2) meditation and 3) contemplation. These are actually wonderful notions. They are a little different than the way the eastern teachers typically talk about it but with the correct explanations they are a good match.
I have talked to many Christians (like the ones in the comments above) who insist that prayer is the same thing. I only want to say that there's taking up prayer on a daily or almost continuous basis and it can be combined with meditation. When this deeper level of prayer is practiced then eventually prayer takes you up. It becomes a spontaneous and ever-present feeling of and speaking to God. This is the third state mentioned -- contemplation. Father Schiller seemed to speak from experience and he claimed that it was like feeling clearly that God is present within you. Everything else ceases, silence descends.
Oct '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
I may be way too linear or compartmentalized here, but to me prayer is how believers remind themselves of where and in what resides reality, power and truth. If in doing that, one gets a sense of God’s presence it is a blessing … not to be crass on a serious topic, but it’s a bonus. One might naturally be inclined to view that as an affirmation of one’s faith. And so it is … at least I think so. But meditation, on the other hand, is something we do for our material self … it has the wonderful effect of calming the body and mind, allowing a rejuvenation to occur, one with measurable and specific results, as Rob has explained. It’s great … it’s just not about reality, power and truth. Those are matters I gain insight about from prayer, but not from meditation. What they have in common is that I don’t do enough of either.
Feb '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Mama Toad
Aww, Midge, you beat me to it! · Nov 28 at 7:10pm
I was too hasty. Rob Long does mention prayer. Mea culpa.
And thanks, Larry for your post on your saintly teacher. RIP.
One of my favorite forms of prayer is Eucharistic Adoration, which I like to do on First Fridays. My Church has all-night adoration on First Fridays. I go in the middle of the night, to be alone with the Lord in a soaring sacred space and no external pressures to do anything other than bask in His presence. It is very meditative. I always feel rejuvenated and refreshed.
But it never helps me decide which of the Republican candidates is the best.
Edited on Nov 28, 2011 at 9:13pmAug '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Larry Koler:
I have talked to many Christians (like the ones in the comments above) who insist that prayer is the same thing.
Well, that's interesting. Because I don't consider meditation and prayer to be identical. Rather, I would say that, to a Christian, meditation can be a type of praying.
But it's not the only type of praying. You can pray anytime, even if you don't "feel focused" (like now. Achoo!), while meditation requires a certain focus.
Good point. On the other hand, I think prayer can also benefit our material self in the way you describe, making prayer a way of meditating.
So... meditation can be a kind of prayer, and prayer a kind of meditation. That's not the same as them being identical. But since there's overlap, it's no surprise that some folks use the word prayer to mean what others call meditation.
Feb '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Jimmy Carter: Rob mentioned prayer already.
Rob Long:
So is prayer for some people.
Nov 28 at 7:17pm
Ah, so I see. Serves me right for trying to write an intelligent comment during a sneeze attack.
I wonder if advanced yogis can sneeze and meditate at the same time? That would be an impressive skill. · Nov 28 at 8:17pm
If only one could meditate and "scrap the current tax code, restore America's entrepreneurial greatness, fundamentally reform the school system, and prepare for a more competitive future" at the same time. Let's find out!
Aug '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Mama Toad
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
I wonder if advanced yogis can sneeze and meditate at the same time? That would be an impressive skill.
If only one could meditate and "scrap the current tax code, restore America's entrepreneurial greatness, fundamentally reform the school system, and prepare for a more competitive future" at the same time. Let's find out!
Maybe we should start a drumming circle to resonate our government-shrinking vibes.
Jun '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Larry Koler:
I have talked to many Christians (like the ones in the comments above) who insist that prayer is the same thing.
Well, that's interesting. Because I don't consider meditation and prayer to be identical. Rather, I would say that, to a Christian, meditation can be a type of praying.
...
So true, MFR.
Sorry, Rob, for diverting this secular post into the theological realm.
There is definitely a completely secular approach to meditation.
Jan '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
St. Paul advised us to "test the spirits." In meditation, we discover that one thought leads to another. We frequently find ourselves on a train of thought. Before we know it, however, we can become anxious, angry, or bitter - almost by surprise. We just followed where the thoughts led us.
St. Ignatius discovered the same tendency. He studied himself at prayer, and realized that he could be manipulated by thoughts, feelings, and "spirits." Like a coach studying game film, Ignatius studied his own prayer, to see how the spirits played him.
Ignatius' experience taught him detachment. Think of that as "poised freedom," like a boxer on his toes, ready to shift wherever needed. As the article suggested, a good meditator needs to let some "spirits" go, and not be chained to them.
Ignatius taught that divine spirits return to God (i.e., they're known by love and self-service). So, those are the ones we want to discover and then follow. Dangerous thoughts begin well, but lead to darkness. So, test them. Do they lead to love and compassion? If so, follow them. If not, let them go.
We call that discernment.
Jan '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
In all the ideas, thoughts, and feelings of our common society and culture ... in our secular "spirits" ... the process is the same. It isn't enough to rattle off theories of politics or rage against Hollywood smut. Instead of following thoughts, we need occasionally to be free of them. Examine them. Test them. Discern them.
Which thoughts and feelings are leading us to ... freedom, morality, prosperity, decency, virtue, and whatever other values we treasure? And instead of conjuring analyses, look! See! Observe! Are we becoming more or less free? More or less moral?
Discernment requires detachment.
That equation isn't just for prayer or Jesuits or religion. It has a pretty good track record in just about any sphere of life. Test the spirits. See if our cultural ideas and feelings really do lead us to where we want to go, and who we want to be.
Edited on Nov 28, 2011 at 9:47pmOct '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
So... meditation can be a kind of prayer, and prayer a kind of meditation. That's not the same as them being identical. But since there's overlap, it's no surprise that some folks use the word prayer to mean what others call meditation.
I agree with you on how the words are used and thus convey common meaning. Were we to seek a precise definition of terms, I'd start here:
Prayer is personally affirming God’s presence or role in the universe. Meditation is defined by its material effect on a body. The manner in which one prays can have meditative effects. Whether it does or not, does not change the fact that prayer is about God, not about what material effect your manner of praying has on you—as important as that may be to one’s spiritual life or one’s physical and psychological health.
One can meditate without ever praying. One can pray without ever meditating. One can use techniques of meditation as a way to get to prayer. We know meditation only by its material effects. We know prayer by the focus—the content—of our non-material thoughts.
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Forgive my ignorance here, but I simply don't understand how meditation is performed, and never have. I don't get it. How does one go about clearing the mind? I'm not trying to be crass; I genuinely don't understand the mechanism involved. I wish I did.
Dec '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
I should meditate, you say? I'll think about it.
Jul '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Here's meditation for you. Guaranteed to clear the baffles and leave you feeling healthier, refreshed, and all the garbage that's been accumulating in your head for the past several days will magically disappear:
Go run for an hour. You'll be glad you did. Bonus: Your heart will thank you, too.
May '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
There is a small book by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, "Getting in the Gap", that teaches elementary meditation. A CD is included in the book that is very helpful.