I am a fan of meditation. I have done some forms of it for the last year or so, not often and it’s usually the contemplative meditation not the stringent sort that many practice. But I decided after reading a book about meditation to try the more stringent approach and count my breaths one through ten and over again and clear my mind and concentrate instead on the sensations of my body the sounds I could hear rather than on the thoughts filtering through my mind. I did this for 20 plus minutes.
I heard my wife sleeping, my cat fidgeting, my children’s radio playing and felt the warm breeze from the heater against my skin, the warmth from my electric blanket against my body and the dryness of my mouth.
When thought stirred in my mind I let them go and brought my focus back to counting my breaths. I didn’t get frustrated that I had a thought I didn’t get mad I wasn’t doing it right, I didn’t feel down that I just didn’t have the discipline to clear my mind, I just refocused and moved on.
After an unknown amount of time something happened. I heard the song on my daughter’s radio, a familiar song, change. The notes were all drawn out and the music sounded eastern or like what you would hear at a spa, the singing was inspired, soulful and different from anything I’ve ever heard and I love all kinds of music. This was different.
All the other noise condensed into a white noise and the white noise as well as the music I could hear all around me dancing and echoing. It was a mystical and transcendental experience. But it freaked me out because it was so vivid. Because it was so unlike anything I have ever experienced it was a little scary and I decided I would quit for the night.
But this experience was one of the highlights of my life in the sense that I personally experienced something I have spent 20 plus years reading about and never experiencing even an inkling of something similar. I never had any experience so magical due to a conscious effort.
It is to my mind a form of prayer and there is science to back that up. Studies show that there is improvement in mental functions and a development and strengthening of certain neural pathways as well as certain parts of the brain such as the thalamus that occur as a result of prolonged prayer and even 15 minutes of meditation a day if practiced consistently.
There are 3 main mental maps so to speak that we all have. One is a sensory map that we use to navigate through the world, the other is a map of the worldview we hold and the last is a map of how we relate to the world socially.
Meditation and prolonged prayer help to strengthen, nourish and improve the pathways that facilitate these internal maps. They bring us closer to God and each other and give us more self awareness while also allowing us to be more humble and lose the sense of self that gets in the way of us feeling the sense of oneness with all other life, people and God.
Allowing us to commune with God, to enjoy a sense of oneness with all people and all life and to recognize of connection to all those things and our connection to the universe as a whole is amazing and nourishing; meditation and prayer is something that is ultimately life changing. It can lead to a transformative experience that all people can benefit from.
Here are the parts of the brain forming neural circuts that are involved when one meditates and contemplates God or prays:
Occipital Parietal Circuit: Identifies God as an object or personality outside of oneself. Children see God as a person and that is likely due to not being able to process abstract spiritual ideas.
Parietal Frontal Circuit: Establishes a relationship between you and others, God included. It puts God outside of yourself and allows you to experience His presence. So if you decrease activity in this area you diminish the boundaries between you and God as well as you and others. You begin to feel a sense of unity as a result.
Frontal Lobe: This are creates, intergrates and brings to fruition all your ideas about God. This includes the logic you use to evaluate your religious or spiritual beliefs and belief systems. It also intellectually attempts to answer the big questions, the who, what, when, where and why’s of spiritual and religious beliefs and questions. The frontal lobe also controls everything we are conscious of, our sense of logic, reason, our attention, language skills and voluntary motivation.
Thalamus:Gives emotional meaning to God and the ideas you have surrounding Him. The Thalamus produces a holistic sense of the world and seems to be the key organ in making God real in an objective sense. The thalamus sends sensory information to all parts of the brain and gives a sense of meaning. It gives you a sense of what ultimate reality may be.
Amygdala:When stimulated to excess God seems overly authoritative and punitive and fear results and this suppresses the frontal lobe’s ability to logically think about God.
Striatum:This area inhibits the amygdale and allows the feeling of safety to become prominent during prayer or meditation or in being in the presence of God.
Anterior Cingulate: This area seems to allow you to experience God as a loving and compassionate entity. It decreases fear, guilt, anxiety, apprehension and anger by suppressing the activity of the amygdala. Prayer and meditation specifically strengthen the anterior cingulated.
Parietal Lobe: This are controls your sense of self, thus when its activity decreases you are then able to feel oneness with others, the universe and God. This area is more active during everyday life in those who pray and meditate frequently and when one prays or meditates activity diminishes resulting in a sense of oneness.
The circuit activated by meditation according to the studies found in the book What God does to your Brain, is as follows:
Pre-Frontal Cortex > Anterior Cingulate > Bsal Ganglia > Thalamus.
This may be because during meditation and prolonged prayer we become more focused and alert (PFC), more empathetic and socially aware (Anterior Cingulate), and have more control over our emotions (Basal Ganglia). This then affects our sensory perceptions of the world (Thalamus), and all this information is then relayed to all other parts of the brain.
Friar John Main, Friar Thomas Keating and Trappist monks describe a type of meditation specific to Christianity and Keating updated and modified a fourteenth century text The Cloud of Unknowing:
“It brings us into the presence of God and thus fosters the contemplative attitudes of listening and receptivity. It is not contemplative in the strict sense, which in Catholic tradition has always been regarded as a pure gift of the Spirit, but rather it is a preparation for contemplation by reducing the obstacles caused by the hyperactivity of our minds and of our lives.”
Keating called his simple meditation “The Centering Prayer.”
The techniques of Christian meditation came to an apex in the twelfth century by Guigo II, a Carthusian monk who categorized four levels of meditation or four types: Lectio (slowly reading scripture), meditation (contemplating the deeper meanings of scripture), oratio (spontaneous prayer), and contemplation (wordlessly focusing on God’s love).
"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are
noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever
things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is
any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these
things." (Php 4:8)
Paul clearly teaches us to "meditate on these things", and "meditation" is certainly a Biblical subject: Isaac meditated in the field at eventide - Gen 24:63 Joshua was charged by God to mediate "day and night" - Josh 1:8 The "blessed man" in Psalms 1 is one who meditates - Ps 1:1-2 David became wiser than his teachers through meditation - Ps 119:99 Paul commanded Timothy to "meditate on these things" - 1Ti 4:15Meditation was practiced along with prayer by the Patriarchs, Apostles and the first Disciples of Christ. Meditation has Biblical roots not simply a practice eastern in origin. It is simply a practice that fell away along with many of the original teachings of Christ and many Jewish foundational teachings and practices. Teachings and practices that have been rediscovered in recent memory and specifically many were rediscovered because of the restoration.
Considering how the Thalamus that determines the ultimate reality for us is it possible that when we pray for an answer, pray to know whether something is true, is it possible that this is the mechanism by which we achieve that sense of understanding, that sense of the reality of truth?
Prayer and meditation can also be used for guidance in terms of truth seeking, a specifically and uniquely LDS practice. I found this to be the case when evangelicals mocked me for suggesting that they pray to know whether the Book of Mormon, certain Biblical Scripture we disagreed about, was true and to clarify and gain an understanding of what was truly meant and intended. The very idea was ludicrous to the point of being offensive to them.
But as someone who has gained understanding and clarity from such practice and speaking to an audience who likely has had the same experience, I can say that this is a practice that can be and is intended to be beneficial.
There are many uses and benefits to prolonged prayer and meditation, many ailments that are currently treated through these practices. It literally benefits your health to have faith and to engage in religious rituals and practices.
There is a new theory by some scientists that humans evolved centers of the brain to create a God concept to prevent themselves from going crazy, it is thought to be an evolutionary adaptation to our own extreme intelligence.
But if that is true by that same logic, those without faith are the maladjusted, socially failed, evolutionary dead ends and those with faith are the healthy, well adjusted people living as nature truly intended. Ironic that these scientists fail to make that connection isn’t it?
For me and my wife meditation and prayer is a part of our daily lives. And we have benefited from both greatly. I hope that after you’ve read this you will consider giving the practice of meditation a try. You have nothing to lose and so very much to gain.
