Q:Can you say something about Christian meditation? I recently received a letter strongly condemning it.

A:You sent me a copy of the letter you received, which was obviously written from a narrowly fundamentalist viewpoint, and condemned meditation as "an instrument of Satan." Fundamentalism tends, of course, to be very left-brain, critical and controlling. Like institutional religion down through the centuries, it has been wary of Christian mysticism, with its sense of the oneness of all creation, and therefore its greater openness and hospitality. The mystics, including St. Francis of Assisi, were also critical of church hierarchy and the power structures, which accorded wealth and power to some, while excluding "ordinary folk." So we can see a connection between mysticism, the prophets, and social justice.

Many people fear meditation because it does open the mind to another level of consciousness, and leads to a greater sense of "the Self-beyond-self." The mystics have written pretty consistently of three main stages in the spiritual life. The first is a process of surrendering control, with an accompanying loss of surface certainties. This has been described as the "dark night of the soul." The second is an experience of illumination — literally, "seeing the light," much as St. Paul seems to have done on the road to Damascus, when his Pharisaic zeal was exposed as being contrary to God's will. Religious zealots today often do great harm in the name of God, and we all have to be careful about thinking we know the divine will! If we are particularly blessed, we may have a life-changing experience of mystical union, in which we feel part of the oneness of all things. This is, of course, essentially what Holy Communion is all about. We open ourselves to the Divine Word and new understandings of God; we surrender ourselves to God along with our offering of bread and wine, which represent all that we are; and we open ourselves to receive the very life of Christ which breaks down our divisions and unites us in the community of faith.

In all this, however, we are indeed prone to distraction and temptation. After his baptism by John, Jesus was driven into the wilderness, where, the gospels tell us, Satan tried to distract him. "If you are the Son of God," the devil said, "then use your God-given power to feed yourself, get what you want, and attract the attention of the people." We note in the gospel narrative that Jesus didn't try to fight these temptations, he simply said, in effect, "Satan, get lost!" In the practice of meditation there are certainly distractions as a multitude of thoughts initially crowd in on us. But the best thing is to "let be and let go," so we can regain our focus on God, who is of course beyond all knowing in the rational sense, but infinitely knowable as Sacred Presence, or what Paul Tillich described as "the Ground of our being."

The seventeenth century classic, "The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence, is all about finding God in the midst of everyday life with all its potential distractions. Your well-meaning friend who has tried to scare you out of meditating is doing so out of a fear-based religious understanding. Chances are she will not respond to any explanation of healthy Christian prayer. If she has raised doubts in your mind, find a reputable spiritual guide who will help you with your own practice of meditation.