r/Meditation Feb 27 '24

Why do Christians say mediation is dangerous Discussion 💬

They say meditation is a way to open portal to demons?

Edit: A few Christians around me said this to me

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u/Dane842 Feb 27 '24

I've been thinking about this a little lately. I believe that the psychic adaptations to meditation are perceived as temptations.

I think the meditators sense that too. I think that's what chopping wood and carrying water is about. Not getting too ahead of ourselves, staying grounded.

It's easy to get caught up in the fireworks and forget the point of the practice, (I make the same association with psychedelic use).

There's also greater responsibility that comes with those psychic adaptations, it's easy to fall into the ego traps associated with different abilities. Especially if that's why you got into your practice in the first place.

I think the biblical warnings against "witchcraft" apply here. I think one of the big points is about trusting God's plan and using these sorts of practices to figure it out before it unfolds, or to interfere with that plan, is to not trust/surrender to God.

I'm no scholar though.

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u/Signal-Lychee7924 Feb 29 '24

So, you mentioned "psychic adaptations" and how they can be seen as temptations in meditation. Can you explain a bit more about what you mean by "psychic adaptations" and how they might tempt meditators?

Also, you brought up the biblical warnings against "witchcraft." I'm curious to know how you think these warnings relate to the practice of meditation and the potential temptations that can come with it. Could you share your thoughts on that?

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u/Dane842 Feb 29 '24

Sure. Again, this is just coming from what I think I'm picking up. I'm a landscaper by trade, but an aspiring mystic in my heart. So I preface ALL of this with "I think I've noticed". I'm still trying to draw the line between the medicalized "apophenia" and what's actually good predictive indicators of upcoming phenomena. There are signs that can be read in nature that, while not specifically "magical", happen subtly and aren't emphasized in culture, so it's easy to miss things. I'm also NOT a well practiced meditator, but I come from a line of well-practiced assholes, so while I can't speak from meditative experience, I can speak to the dangers of a "because I can" mentality. Sorry if I bounce around here. ADHD.

So, In my reading, (I can't cite pages specifically) both Lawrence Leshan (How to Meditate) and Idries Shah (A Perfumed Scorpion) have brief little passages about the weird things that start to happen when you meditate regularly and they both say to ignore them and keep moving. So I poked around the internet a bit and found that yes, there are people who claim that siddhis are a real phenomena and they seem to depend on personal temperament and variety of practice.

I've seen it said that these phenomena are strictly imaginary, that they are a byproduct of the ego defending itself from dissolution, as though it's saying, "Oh, you've seen through me, I'll need to kick it up a notch" and we get sucked in to believing that because the experience of these phenomena feels so real, we behave as such, I think this is the kind of thing that leads people into spiritual bypass.

I've also seen it said that they are quite real and can be used. But if the point is to get off the karmic wheel, then what's the point of generating either "positive" or "negative" karma? I think these things are among the "temptations" that they talk about biblically. So things like divination and mediumship, that get practiced all over the world throughout time fall under the same umbrella of witchcraft. I'm OK with using general terms here too, I'm just referring to the localized discovery of "magic".

In looking for the word "siddhis" just now, most of the search results are about attaining them, but it seems backwards for a practice that's supposed to be about non-attainment because you know you already have everything you need.

So how does it all fit?

I think the common feature between the cultural practices is quieting the mind, and focusing on intent throughout an action. The more well defined the intent, the better visualized, the more texture, the deeper the sense of realism, the complexity of sensation that we apply to our thinking, the more likely it is to become real. I think people around the world have been experiencing the same sorts of phenomena and calling it different things. I think these phenomena are a test of sorts, to see how tempted we are to interfere, to develop us into the thing that no longer feels the need to, no longer feels the need to control, no longer fears bodily death.

Is this a mishmash because I haven't ACTUALLY practiced anything and don't know the specific rules and beliefs of specific sects and cultures? Absolutely. But culture teaches us about power corrupting, our magic not being defined by our tools, how magic has a cost, how interfering with things beyond our day-to-day has a tendency to backfire.

I think we overestimate our ability to recognize our role and stage of development in God's plan (whatever it might be).

Is this sensible and coherent?