THE FULLNESS OF LIFE
Meditation: Christian Approach
(2nd of a Series)
2. Concentration
Someone had shared with me his experience in practicing a non-Christian form of meditation. One interesting incident was the way he trained his mind to concentrate. He spent hours and hours fixing his gaze at a certain point at the wall. Unfortunately, he overdid it and almost suffered a breakdown. The role of a guide in a spiritual life is so important that it is always advisable for anyone who is sincerely aspiring to lead a life of prayer to have, at least, a confessor or a director who has enough experience in spiritual life to be able to act as a guide. One of the pitfalls which beginners often encounter is to be so full of enthusiasm that they go beyond their capacity and end up injuring both their mental and physical health without gaining anything in the spiritual life. The masters in spiritual life are right to caution us that it is always good to take small steps at the beginning until we can walk and run, and even fly.
In Christian meditation, a guide would be wise enough not to teach a novice how to concentrate. In the previous article, I mentioned the value of training oneself to be still. While there is a kinship between "concentration" and "stillness," they are not the same thing. Concentration gives us the idea of exerting our will power. Stillness connotes the experience of peace, silence and tranquility. In Christian meditation we depend more on the action of the Holy Spirit, which entails a humble surrender of our faculties to God rather than the power of our will to concentrate.
Properly understood, "concentration" has an important place not only in meditation but in Christian life in general. The fist and the greatest commandment of God, in fact, is to love God with ALL of our strength, heart, mind and will. This requires a total concentration of all that we are in loving God. To love God so totally, however, is beyond all the "will power" of man -- it is utterly beyond his power of concentration. To love God with all our life and being is possible only by the grace (or gift) and action of God in us. We only need to surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit.
In biblical terms, concentration can also be understood as "singleheartedness." In the Beatitudes, our Lord said, "Blessed are the singlehearted for they shall see God." Although most of the English translations prefer the word "pure of heart" to "single of heart," the latter gives us the nuance of being oriented to a single direction. It is concentrated to a single purpose and is not divided.
Thus, in our meditations, it is important for us to be clear about our goal, or the purpose in which we employ our time in such practice. People meditate for various reasons. We, as Christians, as followers of Christ, meditate in order to grow in the knowledge and love of God. Through daily meditation we hope to hasten our transformation into the likeness of Christ. We concentrate on loving God.
In meditation, perhaps a better term for "concentration" is "perseverance." Prayer and meditation can be so frustrating at times that we need great courage to go on. We need perseverance. By persevering in "waiting," our meditation will eventually lead us to that stillness and clarity of soul which will enable us to "taste and see that the Lord is good."