11 Reader Responses

1. Jay Says:
   August 27th, 2005 at 4:57 pm

   Could be as simple as “Talking” vs “Listening”…

2. alistair Says:
   August 27th, 2005 at 5:21 pm

   from my experience prayer tends to be directed at god through traditional religious practice. meditation is, to me, the cornerstone of spiritual developement. access to one`s personal divinity and therefore a connectedness to everything. the teachings of the east tend to contain much more direct, personal methods for meditation through yoga, breathing, sensory deprivation and diet than the “dumbed-down” instruction given by local priest. the “new age” so vilified by western religion has been the wests attempt to roll back the dogma of king james version religion to give an individual the chance at divinity. i believe the bible contains the mystical teachings of a radical rabbi who was trying to teach meditation. without a healthy understanding of metaphor the bible is a cold read and can be spun to bolster many flavours of fundamentalism and deprive millions of people the chance to activate thier spiritual consciousness through meditation. what we are left with is a mental wish-list that we read to a bearded man in a marble chair up in the sky.
   it is a simple as talking vs. listening.

3. Tim Boucher Says:
   August 27th, 2005 at 6:02 pm

   If you’re going to have a conversation, then don’t you need to both talk and listen? Both are totally necessary functions of healthy communication. One isn’t better than another.

   I’m also very doubtful that there’s necessarily anything “dumbed down” about prayer, as prescribed by a local priest or not. What are you basing that on? It seems to me that one of Hinduism’s great strengths is that it recognizes that different practices are useful to different types of people, prayer being just one of many tools.

4. alistair Says:
   August 27th, 2005 at 7:59 pm

   prayer as described above “dumbs-down” in that one isn`t encouraged towards meditation as a way to enlightenment. there isn`t anything inherently “dumbing-down” about prayer. it only becomes d-d when delivered by priest/minister as an absolute practice in relationship with dogma. outside of dogma there really isn`t any neurological difference between meditation and prayer. my understanding of the practice of meditation is to entrain the mind to develop an internal screen upon which images, colours, faces and memories can form in clearer and clearer focus as we practice. this initally is a passive practice, but as one involves one`sself this becomes a powerful tool for relaxation, healing and problem solving.

5. hf Says:
   August 27th, 2005 at 9:18 pm

   The original context suggests one possible answer. You suggest prayer as a solution to the problem of finding a teacher. But does prayer already look to an external teacher?

6. James Russell Says:
   August 28th, 2005 at 3:16 am

   Personally I think the difference can easily be summed up thusly: prayer is aimed outwards, meditation is aimed inwards.

7. Rob Says:
   August 28th, 2005 at 9:45 am

   Similar to what’s been said, I read somewhere “Prayer is you talking to god. Meditation is god talking to you.”

8. alistair Says:
   August 28th, 2005 at 5:16 pm

   i thought god only talked to the pope?

9. bill Says:
   August 28th, 2005 at 5:38 pm

   Prayer is supplication, for most people. For me, prayer and meditation are the same. And I do neither of them well.

   Frankly, I rarely pray with words anymore (unless it’s with others). And no, I don’t have a “prayer language.” It’s just that human language seems impotent, anymore. Therefore, prayer and meditation are merged.

10. alistair Says:
    August 28th, 2005 at 5:41 pm

    nice. a quieting of the mind. if we can get a moments peace from the chatter in the head then we can practice focus.

11. J. Puma Says:
    August 29th, 2005 at 12:24 pm

    there’s certainly a difference. every (effective) tradition that teaches meditation also teaches prayer. even zen buddhists spend a lot of time praying and chanting sutras. i think they’re both effective, but they’re two different sides to the same coin. prayer is active, and meditation is passive, and in my opinon they’re intended to complement one another. like, usually, during a meditation session, one opens and closes with a small prayer.

    of course, there’s been confusion for a looong time. like, there was a meditative tradition in medieval christianity called ‘contemplative prayer’ that’s totally meditation, not prayer per se. even praying the rosary is designed to become a meditative process induced by chanting a mantra. and in the bible jesus talks about how when you pray you should pray alone in a small room (a closet) and be quiet when you do it– sounds meditative to me.

    i like bill’s comment that the two have merged for some people.