Introductory post...

[Reverend Richard]

Greetings all,

I am just getting back into the swing of meditation after a long break. Although I have no "formal" meditation training, I have been meditating (inconsistently) for more than 10 years. I am currently working on my masters degree thesis which has the working title, "Meditation as a Spiritual Practice". As part of my research for this thesis I am interested in people's perspectives on meditation from different faith traditions, such as: Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as those who consider meditation strictly a secular (non-religious/non-spiritual) practice. I very much look forward to discussions here!

Many thanks,

Reverend Richard

[GilesC]

Hi Richard and welcome to the project meditation community,

Sounds like an interesting thesis. Are there any specific aspects of the question you have or are you just looking for how and why each individual practices meditation?

Hugs

Giles

[Reverend Richard]

Giles,

Thanks for your response, and for your question. I suppose I am more interested in the "how and why" regarding meditative practice - again from the perspective of different faith traditions.

For example, because I was born and raised in a conservative Christian family, I have (I had) certain traditional approaches to "prayer". Now, decades later, my approach to prayer is totally different than I was taught as a conservative Christian. By that I mean my meditative practice is more like that of an open conversation with spirit (God?). The closest comparison I can think of is perhaps that of the meditative practice in Hinduism, although I don't consider myself a Hindu. Even with that said, I feel that my personal meditative practice has both spriritual as well as secular aspects.

I suppose I should present my questions in another section of this forum and see where it leads, eh?

Blessings,

Richard