At the outset its important to distinguish between two essential aspects of meditation:
- Target – the purpose, goal and experience of meditation
- Techniques – the specific things you do to achieve the goal
This is important because we can get lost in techniques, forgetting why we are meditating at all. Keeping sight of the purpose and goal of meditation is what keeps our practice dynamic and powerful.
Its also important to know that a huge number of meditation techniques exist. Its fair to say that there is no one technique that is better than others, and certainly no “silver bullet” technique exists that will catapult you into instant heavenly experiences.
Different techniques suit different people at different times. Humans are beautifully different and our brains are hugely complex. What is best varies as people progress on their journey – as their minds rewire and their spiritual journey deepens. Its a mistake to remain locked down in a single technique. But its also a mistake to not practice techniques well enough. My suggestion is to practice techniques for at least a week before moving on to another.
In this course we will review both the Target and Techniques of meditation from different angles. We’ll begin with science, neurology and the impact meditation has on the brain from our current human understanding and research. Then we’ll move into the realm of faith and spirituality. This doesn’t mean that science and faith contradict each other. The way I think of it is that science is remaining in the realm what human understanding has grasped thus far. Faith and spirituality are moving beyond science into the realm of what we don’t yet understand rationally and mathematically, and beyond the capacity of our human minds which are obviously tiny in the context of the cosmos, eternity and God.
Science and faith converge in God. But our scientific tools can’t reach high enough and never will.
Rob Gerhard 