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My daughter took her World Religion course from Professor Roger Keller. I believe he retired a year ago. Yesterday she was cleaning her room and her class manual was found. The top paragraph of the open page was this.
Quote:As we have seen, meditation in Buddhism is primarily aimed at quieting the “monkey mind” which bounds from thought to thought to thought. If Latter Day Saints could do that, it would undoubtedly improve their prayer life. But meditation in Latter-Day Saint terms focuses more on scriptural content or on the person of the Father or the Son. Meditation on any of these is mental knowledge about scriptural passages or understanding of the Father and the Son and their work. But if we push meditation further, it can lead to a deepened
relationshipwith the Father and Son through openness to the Holy Ghost. In the end, this should be the goal of meditation, for as in Buddhism, real knowledge is experiential, not intellectual. We may know aboutGod, but the ultimate challenge is to knowhim through the Spirit, so that his mind and will are ours. This is more than intellectual understanding. Perhaps persons who have become enlightened in other traditions have experienced something akin to this union of the human spirit and the Holy Ghost. It would certainly be in harmony with Elder Dallin Oaks’ assertion that manifestations of the Holy Ghost are available to person who are not Latter Day Saints.At the bottom of the page he references Dallin Oaks “Always Have his Spirit” October GC 1996. Now I read the talk and don’t have the exact same take away but one paragraph seems to support the Professor.
Quote:These manifestations are available to everyone. The Book of Mormon declares that the Savior “manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” (2 Ne. 26:13).
I am not sure all the points that grabbed me with the first quote but I found it insightful and the Professors personal take away from Oaks’ talk interesting.
Talk link
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/10/always-have-his-spirit?lang=eng This is interesting and articulates for me the problem I’ve always had with prayers. In some ways, we almost pray too much in the Church. We say an opening prayer and a closing prayer for nearly everything we do. We talk about making our prayers meaningful but how meaningful can it be when you pray over every single event all day long (at least on Sunday)? We teach our children and investigators to pray in a formulaic manner while disdaining the recited prayers of other faiths. Prayer becomes peremptory, superficial and public when it should be meditative, contemplative and private. We are a religion of action (a good thing in many ways) but not a religion of introspection (which I think is a weakness). And our prayer practices reflect this. I agree, Gerald. And it’s not just at church – meal time prayers, for example. There are only four of us in the house and when it is either of the teem boys turn to say they prayer they say essentially the same thing each time – the younger one almost word for word each time. I do believe that cheapens the experience, and I often wonder if we don’t do this type of prayer – and the type you mention – all too often. I do like the professor’s comments, Mom3. I don’t tend to me meditative during prayer, but then again I am not much of a praying person anyway. I think meditation and prayer may be related but they are different. I’m not an expert on the subject, but for me meditation is a sort of emptying or clearing of the mind of temporal thoughts and just being open to whatever else might come. I think prayer may be able to facilitate that, but I don’t think prayer and meditation are the same thing. Likewise I like to ponder things. Pondering is not meditation, either, as it usually involves thinking about one or two subjects. While of value, it is not the same as meditation. These are, of course, my definitions of the terms, but they work for me. In honesty, I should probably pray more and meditate much more.
Gerald is right. I was so relieved when I quit believing in the Mormon way not to have to pray constantly. Prayers had become so meaningless because of the frequency. I had learned to hate to pray Kind of off on a tangent but personally for a period of time my prayers before meals started to include good things that happened during the day including the means for providing food and the meal became a time of fulfillment and reflection, almost like a reward but with gratefulness. Words were different and meaningful each time. Then somehow, I don’t remember the source but my understanding changed to realizing something died or was in captivity so I could live and be nourished. Even a vegan would depend on beasts of burden for planting and harvest and could take the time to humbly acknowledge that. However I have since outwardly gone back to the same old script while internally pondering what it means to me, all of the above. True meditation as I was taught is the practice of filling your mental state with emptiness for a time, find your natural frequency, we all have one, and push out anything that encroaches on it so your state is so full of emptiness there is no room for anything else. That is along the lines of Yin/Yang…everything and nothing.
On topic, thanks for the quote and source. Another layer of understanding added.
I have felt the need to learn how to pray all over again. Once I took a step back from the church I saw how my prayers had become so wordy and beautiful, carefully choosing each word. I stopped praying outloud for a long time and instead began pondering and being more introspective. It was awhile before I didn’t feel ‘guilty’ somehow for not praying as I had for so many years. I told my family I don’t know how to pray anymore. I’m finding my own way to pray that feels so much more real and authentic to me.
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