Listening to Goddess-God-the Divine
6.3 Spiritual Disciplines of Meditation and Prayer as Ways to Listen to the Divine
A regular habit of reviewing consolations and desolations is sometimes called a “spiritual discipline.” <footnote>Alternatively, spiritual “disciplines” might be renamed “practices” or “rhythms.” The term discipline is sometimes associated with negative conditioning, such as punishment. Discipline is also associated with controlling and forcing, such as disciplining our body to conform to a yoga pose. Hence, there is a preference for the alternative terms “practice” (as in something we are growing or cultivating) and “rhythm” (as in a routine we are experimenting with). I will use the more traditional phrase “spiritual discipline” as it is often used in religious-spiritual literature, and the adjective “spiritual” somewhat softens the noun “discipline.”</footnote> There are many kinds of spiritual disciplines. Quaker theologian Richard Foster divides Christian disciplines into inward, outward, and corporate categories, covering a total of twelve spiritual disciplines.[1] I develop two of Foster’s inward disciplines called mediation and prayer. I describe these disciplines from the broader perspective of listening to the Divine within the context of the Listening to the SONG of Life course. For meditation, I introduce Eknath Easwaran’s passage meditation,[2] and for prayer, I introduce Sybil MacBeth’s creative practice of praying in color.[3]
Passage Meditation as Listening to the Divine
Eknath Easwaran
Eknath Easwaran was an English professor from India who traveled to the United States in the 1950s on a Fulbright Scholarship and briefly taught meditation at the University of California Berkeley before founding the Blue Mountain Center of Mediation.[4] Easwaran’s perspective embraces many religious and spiritual faiths and traditions, providing a diverse and inclusive understanding of meditation within his eight-fold path of spiritual disciplines.[5]
Principles
Easwaran’s passage meditation is based on the psychological principle that “we become what we think about.” Alternatively, this principle could be phrased as, “what we give our attention to grows,” or “what we sow, we reap,” or “neurons that fire together, wire together.”[6] The main idea in passage meditation is to repeat silently and listen to an inspirational passage with complete attention. The silent repetition of the passage should be slow enough to allow the words of the passage to sink deep into the mind. Over time, this repetition and reinforcement of the passage’s meaning aligns the meditator’s attitude and behavior with the spirit of the passage.
The Practice
Easwaran recommends choosing an inspirational passage from sacred scripture[7] since many of our highest ideals are expressed in scripture, and by repeating the passage, we move closer to those ideals in thought and deed. The passage should be positive and uplifting. I am more liberal than Easwaran in allow