Meditation is a technique for individually calming and focusing the mind and excluding distracting thoughts and desires.
It has been incorporated into Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity, and many people attending Quaker Meetings for Worship find it useful.
A Quaker Meeting for Worship is a gathering of people in person, or as now, remotely, to seek together God’s presence.
Based on Christianity, it can incorporate insights from other religions and experiences, trusting in the spirit of truth and love, often referred to as the ‘inner light’ which is in everyone.
Into the silence of Meetings individuals can bring spoken contributions which arise from the prompting of the spirit.
Our combined Worship can, and often does, result in an outpouring of love and compassion and changed lives.
Roger Quinn, Inverness Local Meeting
A Personal Reflection
My first encounter with contemplative meditation was as an adolescent in a junior seminary. My spiritual direction started with the example of: ‘Think about a chair, and go through a backward sequence to it being a tree’.
From this I was guided to more religious / spiritual content for contemplation, for example the role of Mary as the mother of Jesus. There was a stimulus in advance, and then it was over to me to make of that what I could.
None of my thoughts or those of others was shared. This individual activity was my practice on a daily basis for some years, and then on a more occasional basis.
Some years later, in church one Sunday, I saw a flier for non-contemplative meditation. The spiritual direction given was directing me to clear my mind of thoughts, so that God’s voice could be clearly heard without interruption. There was no stimulus and no sharing of thoughts.
Following on from this, for a time I attended Buddhist mindfulness meditations, which had a focus of clearing the mind of past and future thinking, to be in the present moment with all my senses. Again, there was no stimulus and no sharing of thoughts, unless on an informal basis.
In each of these, the focus was on me as an individual, although being with others added something at times.
None of these styles of meditation need have a spiritual focus, indeed mindfulness is now very much a secular practice as well as spiritual.
On first attending Meeting for Worship, I assumed that the purpose of the silence was to allow me the opportunity to meditate. It soon became apparent that this was not the purpose. People speaking would mean an interruption to my meditation. On seeking spiritual guidance, I was directed to the words ‘Meeting for Worship’: they clearly say there is a coming together of like-minded individuals to worship. A coming together of individuals seeking a community-based spiritual experience. At Meeting for Worship I joined with others to seek God’s presence, to restore / strengthen my faith in God. I am with friends who support my worship as I support theirs.
I find Meeting for Worship brings about something in me which is more than I, as an individual, may manage.
‘True worship may be experienced at any time; in any place – alone on the hills or in the busy daily life – we may find God, in whom we live and move and have our being. But this individual experience is not sufficient, and in a meeting held in the Spirit there is a giving and receiving between its members, one helping another with or without words. So there may be a wider vision and a deeper experience.’
Quaker Faith and Practice 2.11
John Tracey, Inverness Local Meeting