Question:
How important is meditation as a spiritual path in your faith?
Answer: Whenever I am asked to
prioritize something of high spiritual value—today’s questions concerns
meditation—I find myself asking “in relation to what?” If we were
concerned only about our own personal spiritual development, we would
have to say that meditation has the highest priority since it has great
benefits. It clears the mind, brings peace to heart and soul, but most
of all, meditation, if directed to problem-solving, can be a most
valuable intellectual and spiritual tool. Like a concentrated beam, it
focuses, sheds light and reveals secrets.
But as believers, we live in community, and our community exists in the
larger world, the global village, that is becoming increasingly one
village, at least in terms of media-assisted, instantaneous,
international awareness. This international consciousness makes us
painfully aware that humanity is in dire straits. How important, then,
does meditation become in relation to social action and commitment to
assisting in the development of those societies that suffer from
hunger, disease, poverty, war, civic strife or catastrophic natural
disasters?
And let’s not forget that some of these deplorable conditions exist
right here at home. So it seems to me that if our “salvation” has
become only a personal affair, a quest that is all about I, me and my,
then we risk becoming egocentric, and fail to understanding something
vitally important—the organic oneness of the human family—our
interconnectedness with all others. Consequently, any time spent in
study, meditation, and its companion, prayer, should be well balanced
with social action, with a commitment to assist our community and the
world, to improve the lot of the less fortunate.
But here some comments of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1844-1921), the son of the
Prophet-Founder, Bahá’u’lláh (1817-1892) on today’s question: “Through
the faculty of meditation man attains to eternal life; through it he
receives the breath of the Holy Spirit. This faculty of meditation
frees man from the animal nature, discerns the reality of things, puts
man in touch with God. This faculty brings forth from the invisible
plane the sciences and arts. Through the meditative faculty inventions
are made possible, colossal undertakings are carried out….” ( Paris
Talks, p. 174) -
Jack
McLean
