Think meditationally

A multi-day thought exercise (don’t wait until the last minute to start this one!)

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight."                                                                                                                --Psalm 19:14

What is a meditation?

Webster's Third New International (Unabridged) Dictionary offers the following definitions for the word meditation:

 "1. a spoken or written discourse treated in a contemplative manner and intended to express its author's reflections or especially when religious to guide others in contemplation.  2. a private devotion or spiritual exercise consisting in deep continued reflection on a religious theme."

For this module you are to do some serious reflection on some personal theme of meaning, purpose or value in your life, to think about your own "religion" or "religious experience," using a very broad definition for what constitutes religion or religious experience.  At first you might not be sure what that means—to think about something important to you in a meditational fashion—but read on for more. 

If you make a distinction between “little r religion” and “Capital R Religion,” the former one’s own innate spirituality or personal religious beliefs or philosophy of life, and the latter the organized views and doctrines of institutional Religions, like Christianity, Judaism and Islam, it is the former that this module focuses on—your own view of life, your own value system, your own personal philosophy.  (Again, note that “religion” in this context does not necessarily mean God, Bible, church or temple, but what’s important, what’s of value, what gives meaning; using this distinction, you can be religious without being Religious; you can be religious without going to church or temple.)  

In a book Peter used to use in class the author asks these questions:

“How did I come to be the person I am today?  What wounds or hurts do I resent having suffered?  What gifts have I been given for which I am grateful?  Who are my important heroes and models?  What were the crucial decisions for which I was responsible?”  

And to that list we would add such questions as: 

o   Were there any important turning points in my life thus far, and if so, when and why so?  

o   Who are the most important people in my life and why?  

o   Looking back on my life, do I see a pattern in it, and if so, what? 

o   Are there some issues I have messed up in my life, mistakes I’ve made, and if I had the chance, I wish I could do them over? 

o   What places are sacred to me?  

o   Where do I go, what do I read, whom do I talk to, what do I do, to find meaning in my life?

o   What’s really important to me?

Those are big questions, and ones not easily answered.  That’s why this module takes a while to do, to think about first, to come back to every few days.  Here’s what we suggest you do:  Think about any or all of the above questions, even going so far as to make a big sheet with the questions written on it and posted over your desk, and every so often jot down an answer or thought or two.  Then a few days later come back and see if one issue or topic or question really moves you, catches your interest, and is exciting enough for you to do your meditation on.  You may have found some event, some person, some decision, some relationship, something you have done, to be the central issue for your meditational thinking, and that now becomes the “topic” of your conversation with your guides.