By Monica Cheru-Mpambawashe
It is pretty common these days to hear someone say they start each day with prayer and meditation. It sounds trendy and hip; the kind of thing that only a yuppie would relate to.
From appearing to be just another passing fad, meditation seems to be taking strong root in the country. Meditation is traditionally associated with Eastern religions and things like Yoga rather than Christianity.

At any given point there are always rumours of one church or the other being Satanist and rewarding its followers with untold wealth after the performing of some eerie rituals.
For those who subscribe to such theories non-traditional ways of worship are viewed with deep suspicion and meditation is high on the list.

There are some church leaders who are actively preaching against the practice saying that it is tantamount to devil worship. Yet others say that meditation is an essential part of being a true Christian.
(This article is not meant for mudslinging among churches or to point fingers at any way of worship and for that reason no church will be named).

A reverend with a pentecostal church that does not encourage meditation says that people who dabble in such activities will end up with their souls lost for eternity.
"An idle mind is the devil's workshop. If you look at meditation, it is really about opening your soul to insidious influences. What is there to ensure that the force that takes hold of you at such moments is Godly and not of the devil?

"If you look at meditation it smacks strongly of other devilish practices like seances, hypnosis and the consultations of mediums. Praying and fasting are good enough for communicating with God."
Another church leader says that there is nothing wrong with meditation if it is in conjunction with prayer. He says the time that Jesus spent alone in the desert he was using meditation to prepare himself for the trying time that he knew was almost upon Him:

"The problem is that people rush to make judgments on matters that they do not understand. Meditation is not about taking some other religions into Christianity.
"It is a process through which one reaches deep inside their souls and communes with God. The church is only a stepping stone to God through Jesus Christ but it is up to the individual to ensure that their soul is in tandem with His will.

"Jesus warned that there would be many preachers calling his name in vain. With so many churches sprouting it is hard for one to be sure that they are following the true way.
"Meditation then helps you to search inside yourself and answer any doubts that you may have. It is at such moments that the will of God is revealed to those who open their minds to accept Him."
The spiritual leader says he has personally used meditation as a way of countering temptation and for garnering strength for more than 15 years and at no point has he ever felt that it hindered his faith.

A young woman in her twenties says that she joined a church were meditation was actively encouraged and for a while she felt that she had found the true religion.
She says that through guided meditation congregants were promised solutions to all their problems like financial, relationships, careers and health.
"But after a while I realised that the rituals that we were practising were anything but holy. Although meditation was meant to be a personal experience, in reality it was very controlled by the leadership.

"We were told what one should experience and it was only later that I realised what was happening. The church had begun to influence what I ate, how I dressed, how I related to my parents and even my career path.

"I started getting some weird dreams and I became sacred that maybe I was going down the wrong path. It was then that I left the church and returned to my old one and the nightmares disappeared."
So what is the right answer? Should a Christian meditate or not?
Meditation in Christianity

A strong believer in Christian meditation, Saint Padre Pio, stated: "Through the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds him."
Christian Meditation is a term for form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to get in touch with and deliberately reflect upon the revelations of God.

The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditari which means to concentrate.
Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts (for example a biblical scene involving Jesus and the Virgin Mary) and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God.

Christian meditation contrasts with cosmic styles of eastern meditation as radically as the portrayal of God the Father in the Bible contrasts with discussions of Krishna or Brahman in Indian teachings.
Unlike Eastern meditations, most styles of Christian meditations do not rely on the repeated use of mantras, but are intended to stimulate thought and deepen meaning.
Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion.

Western Christian meditation contrasts with most other approaches in that it does not involve the repetition of any phrase or action and requires no specific posture.
Western Christian meditation progressed from the 6th century practice of Bible reading among Benedictine monks called Lectio Divina, i.e. divine reading.

Its four formal steps as a "ladder" were defined by the monk Guigo II in the 12th century with the Latin terms lectio, meditatio, oratio and contemplatio (i.e. read, ponder, pray, contemplate).
Western Christian meditation was further developed by saints such as Ignatius of Loyola and Teresa of Avila in the 16th century.

In Aspects of Christian meditation, the Catholic Church warned of potential incompatibilities in mixing Christian and Eastern styles of meditation.
In 2003, in a Christian reflection on the New Age the Vatican announced that the "Church avoids any concept that is close to those of the New Age".

Christian meditation is sometimes taken to mean the middle level in a broad three stage characterisation of prayer: it then involves more reflection than first level vocal prayer, but is more structured than the multiple layers of contemplation in Christianity.

Since the 1960s, meditation has been the focus of increasing scientific research of uneven rigor and quality. In over 1 000 published research studies, various methods of meditation have been linked to changes in metabolism, blood pressure, brain activation and other bodily processes.

Meditation has been used in clinical settings as a method of stress and pain reduction.
An edited book about "meditation" published in 2003, for example, included chapter contributions by authors describing Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic and Taoist traditions.

Scholars have noted that "the term ‘meditation' as it has entered contemporary usage" is parallel to the term "contemplation" in Christianity. - wikipedia
monica.cheru@zimpapers.co.zw