10 Things You Should Know About Practicing Prayer and Meditation by media.beliefnet.com

Nov 4, 2019

Do you ever wonder about the difference between prayer and meditation? Because, if you’re doing one and not the other, you might be missing out. After much experimentation, I have found that meditation and prayer are powerful partners on the path of self-knowledge. I’ve been meditating for 20 years and I love it. I lived in a yoga and meditation ashram for 14 years, and I practice a form of free awareness meditation that comes from the Advaita Vedanta tradition. Meditation helps me to relax and let go. It also keeps me grounded and awake to the present moment. And most importantly, it always reminds me that life is mysterious and positive beyond measure. Over the last year, I’ve added prayer to the mix of my contemplative practice. It’s a Jewish prayer practice called Hitbodedut, developed by the Hassidic master, Rabbi Nachman. I find it rewarding, positive, and therapeutic. And although meditation and prayer both connect me to something deeper, they are different in many ways. Here are my top 10 observations on the similarities and differences between these two perennial modes of contemplative practice.

When I first started praying last year, I wondered whether I should pray or meditate first. So I experimented. Here’s what I learned. When I pray I feel connected to the source. I’ve emptied my mind by talking directly to God and then I slip naturally and effortlessly into meditation and dissolve. It’s lovely.

When I meditate first, it’s a little like preparing a great hall for a party or dressing for the right occasion. Meditation before prayers creates the perfect mood for talking with God. You are quiet, still, relaxed, attentive, and focused. Your mind is already on the essence of things and speaking to God comes naturally. Do I have a preference? Not sure, but now I’m meditating first and praying second.

Prayer and meditation are two sides of the same coin. Everyone has heard the oft-repeated phrase, prayer is when you talk to God and meditation is when you listen to God. This rings true to me. I feel like meditation and prayer activate different parts of myself. They connect me to different aspects of the sacred. Both seem important to me.

I like to think of prayer and meditation in the context of Integral Philosopher Ken Wilber’s Three Faces of God. According to his theory, we can relate to God in the first, second, or third person. In the first person, we connect with God through meditation.The first person perspective on God is “I AM” or the infinite Self that you discover in deep meditation. It’s that part of us we discover in the deepest meditative state where the boundary between inner and outer completely dissolves. Everything is contained in that singular “I AM”. Everything is perfect as it is.

We connect with God in the second person through prayer. A second person perspective sees God as “Thou” or “You”. God as a distinct and seperate entity to whom we pray and petition. This is the entity or spirit or essence to whom I speak when I pray. I don’t have an image of this Other. It’s just God or Totality.

And finally, the third face of God is God as process, as the Web of Life, as Nature, and All That Is. God as everything we perceive with our senses–the cosmos and the evolutionary march of the universe. These three perspective help me distinguish God during meditation and prayer.

I don’t feel obliged to believe anything specific about God. As someone who has practiced meditation for the last 20 years, it’s easier for me to relate to God in the first person. God as infinite awareness. And it’s harder for me to relate to God as a distinct “Other” outside of myself. But the more I pray, the more natural it feels to me and I enjoy it. I feel that I encounter that same mysterious stillness and silence when I pray directly to God as omnipotent Other.

I feel that I can get things off of my chest in prayer. And through talking to God, I can air things that have been cooking away inside of me that need expression. It feels wholesome and therapeutic to give voice to those thoughts and feelings. I feel less bound by them. As some of my Christians friends like to say, you can just give it all to God—all your pain, sorrow, worry, and concerns. I think I understand that better now. And to be honest, that’s very different than meditation.

I feel that I can get things off of my chest in prayer. And through talking to God, I can air things that have been cooking away inside of me that need expression. It feels wholesome and therapeutic to give voice to those thoughts and feelings. I feel less bound by them. As some of my Christians friends like to say, you can just give it all to God—all your pain, sorrow, worry, and concerns. I think I understand that better now. And to be honest, that’s very different than meditation.

I have found that prayer and meditation can help you develop different qualities in your self. Meditation can help you cultivate a steady mind, a grounded soul, and equanimity. It can supercharge your mindful presence through the day. In that, it brings a rich layer to your whole experience of life and your capacity to be awake to the mystery of life unfolding all around you. On the other hand, I feel that prayer is more effective at helping you nurture gratitude for each day through giving thanks. Different than meditation, I feel prayer helps me consider the needs and suffering of other people. It helps me empathize and connect with my own humanity. Of course these are not hard distinctions. In some cases I am generalizing. But I think that understanding these similarities and differences might be useful if you are interested in exploring the intersection of prayer and meditation. In the end, beyond the similarities and differences, meditation and prayer are mutually enriching. On their own, each is transformative. Taken together, you can’t lose. I hope you’ll explore this rich intersection for yourself.

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