 Meditation as a Path to True Spirituality
It easy to forget the origins of meditation and how it came down to us through the ages. In our modern times, the benefits of meditation to improve health, give you focus and help you become more relaxed and at peace are the benefits that have drawn the most attention. But it is helpful to realize that the origins of meditation come to us from ancient religions where the art of meditation was developed as a path to a deeper religious experience and spirituality.
We should never discount the power of meditation to benefit our own spirituality because there is a tremendous resource in meditation to take is to a deeper, more spiritual place within ourselves. The basic concepts of meditation of quieting the mind, focusing within and becoming more serene and at peace with oneself are the same goals of spirituality that come from a devout religious faith. No one religion can lay claim to the power of meditation to contribute to a deeper spirituality. But all of the legitimate religious traditions from Christianity to Buddhism to Hinduism to Taoism emphasize a need for a deeper mysticism and spirituality that can be attained through meditation.
Meditation opens the doors that lie within to reach that place inside us that we call the soul or the spirit to enhance our spirituality, which makes us, better people. We all have a spiritual side that may or may not be very well developed. Spirituality is just a way of developing and "exercising" that side of us that is in contact with the eternal, whatever that means to the individual. Because of the hustle and bustle of daily life, spirituality is often a side of life that does not get much attention. Meditation is way of giving all of us that balance in life because it creates lines of communication between the physical, mental and emotional sides of us and that deeper spirituality that lives within us.
The famous philosopher, Socrates said, "An unexamined life is not worth living." That same principle may be said of a life that has no room in it for moments of meditation and spirituality. It is through deeper contemplation and reflection that spirituality brings to us that we grow. We get a deeper understanding of relationships and the events in our lives and how they fit into the broader values of life and what is really important to us.
The close relationship between meditation and prayer are an obvious result of the evolution of meditation over the centuries as a tool to achieve a greater spirituality. Prayer is also a vehicle to a deeper time of spirituality and communication with God or with the spiritual side of who we are. In fact, the times we set aside for prayer can be enhanced tremendously if they coincide with the time we set aside for meditation and reflection.
Too often, prayer time is ineffective and frustrating because we come to prayer with an agenda, which we rush through without stepping out of the mindset of being busy and distracted to give ourselves over to spirituality. By opening prayer time with meditation, we not only are more able to communicate with the eternal, we open our spiritual side so we can hear the eternal communicate with us. And it is when our spirituality is a two way street in this way that we grow spiritually. Meditation is a perfect vehicle to make that happen.
One doesn’t have to be a deeply religious person to benefit from a stronger sense of spirituality that meditation makes possible. The soul and spirit of the individual is a deep part of who we are. When we take time to let our spirituality grow and integrate with our worldview and how we see the world and react to it, that enhances life.
It is what makes us appreciate beauty, understand poetry and philosophy or love good music. It is what makes us able to see life in context and get perspective on the world in which we live. These are all values that make us better people because we have a means to allow our spirituality to mature and have a greater impact on who we are. That means to a greater spirituality is meditation.
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