How is prayer different from meditation?

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November 19, 2022 |

Each person has his own spiritual path, which is influenced by traditions in the family, the state, the ability to perceive something on faith or only through reason. At different times he may feel closer to prayer or meditation until he makes a specific choice. After all, both practices have a common aspiration - to feel harmony with oneself and the world. What is the difference between prayer and meditation?

Are prayer and meditation different names for the same thing?

No, these are completely different spiritual practices. Prayer is an appeal in which the person to whom the person is addressing is certainly assumed: God Himself, one of the saints (for example, the Most Holy Theotokos), a Guardian Angel. Even if we do not hear a response to our appeal, we still count on being listened to.

Prayer is the fruit of a personal relationship between man and God. Anyone who does not believe in God as a Person cannot pray.

And meditation is not addressed to anyone in particular. When meditating, a person pronounces words or sounds, but only in order to tune himself, his consciousness, in a certain way. The connection of this word with the Latin meditatio - “meditation” speaks volumes. And the Indian yoga teacher (in which meditation plays a particularly important role) Patanjali even calls meditation “cessation of the activity of consciousness.” In short, nothing prevents even an absolutely non-believer from meditating.

Meditation and prayer

S.V. Posadsky

The word meditation (meditatio) is of Latin origin. It came not from pagan religions, but from the Christian West. It goes back to the verb meditor - I reflect, ponder and means deep concentration associated with detachment from external objects and individual internal experiences.

In the Christian West, this word had two meanings. On the one hand, it denoted a philosophical focus on the study of some intellectual topic. On the other hand, it was used in a religious sense, reflecting mental concentration on a religious subject (for example, meditation on the suffering of Christ). At the same time, both meanings of meditation (religious and philosophical) denoted a certain human initiative, that is, the direction of the mind and the concentration of the forces of the soul, which does not require a living response from God, which does not imply communication with Him as a dialogue carried out only in prayer.

Concentration on a religious subject is the initial stage of any religious experience. For any religion it is obvious that a person needs to focus on the object of his worship and sacrifice something temporary for this. However, for Christianity, such concentration can only be a certain preliminary stage of spiritual life, but cannot replace it in essence. Christianity is built on living communication with God, on the constant interaction of God and man. Therefore, the human direction of the mind towards God does not have a self-sufficient meaning here. By directing his mind to God, a Christian ascetic expects a Divine answer, and only with this answer does his spiritual life begin to be filled with real content. Such answers can be varied - from actions through external circumstances to the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit, without which it is impossible to be a Christian. But in any case, this is the experience of personal communication with God, which is called prayer.

Not all religions provide a person with the opportunity of living communication with God. First of all, pagan religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism do not teach this. Therefore, it is in these religions that Christian prayer is absent, and it is advisable to describe religious experience through the concept of meditation. Indeed, where there is no living connection with God, all religious experience will be reduced only to the actions of human consciousness itself, and not to the synergy (Greek cooperation) of God and man. In these religions, a person improves himself, through his own efforts, in accordance with his ideas, and in fact does not have the Highest Criterion of spiritual life, which is present only in the religion of living communion with God. If these religions have ideas about God (Hinduism), then this is either an impersonal reality or material idols of gods, communication with which is also unlikely. In this case, a person should only strive to concentrate on his mental life, to study internal psychological states, but not to experience God. The highest ideal of Buddhism and Hinduism is not living unity with God, but the achievement of a mental state in which all desires disappear, a person experiences indifference to reality, satisfaction and self-sufficiency. It is possible to achieve such a state through human efforts alone, therefore it is necessary to describe such an experience only through the concept of meditation.

In addition to Hinduism and Buddhism, meditation is also present in Islam (Sufi practices). Islamic mystics (Sufis) use a unique psychic technique for self-improvement. This technique includes dancing, physical movements (for example, systematic head shaking), prolonged collective utterances of prayers to music (zeal) and other psychophysiological states that lead only to a change in human consciousness, but not to a living connection with God.

What goals does a person pursue in meditation? And which ones - in prayer?

In meditation, a person strives, with the help of certain techniques (focusing attention, repeating certain words, breathing exercises), to change his consciousness in such a way as to obtain a certain result that is useful, from his point of view. Atheists and agnostics can strive to achieve peace, clarity and composure of mind. Some believers seek “revelations” from God or other spiritual beings. Others (for example, some of the followers of Buddhism) - purify the mind and heart. Adherents of esoteric teachings expect that their mind, having been “correctly” tuned, will come into contact with some force, energy or other reality and achieve “enlightenment”... All these options have one thing in common: a person is driven by the desire to achieve some of his goals, and he uses special techniques for this.

Christian prayer is born from a person’s love for God, from the search for communication with the One whom you love. You can ask God for help and support, you can thank Him or glorify Him - in any case, a person freely surrenders himself to God, not insisting on his own, but repeating after Christ: Not my will, but Thine be done (Luke 22:42). Technical techniques that help to “persuad” or, even more so, “force” God to fulfill what is asked are not only inappropriate in prayer - they contradict its very essence.

But what about hesychasm with its technique of “smart prayer”?

The monastic movement hesychasm (from the Greek ἡ ἡσυχία - “peace, silence”), which originated in the 13th–14th centuries on Mount Athos, actually combines prayer with a certain ascetic practice. But the purpose of these exercises is to cleanse the heart of passions and draw closer to God, following the path of holiness - deification. And not at all to achieve some kind of special serenity or receive some kind of “revelation”.

Some elements of hesychast practice are outwardly similar to the technique of meditation: concentration of attention (in the area of the heart), control of breathing, repeated repetition of the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” But there are fundamental differences.

If meditation often (though not always) requires some kind of visual image - real (like a candle flame) or imaginary, then an Orthodox hesychast monk is strictly forbidden to imagine anything during prayer: any fantasies are a direct path to delusion, very dangerous condition. And repeating the words of prayer is simply a way to always remember your human weakness and inability to be saved by your own strength. Humility is “a necessary condition for prayer to be graciously accepted and heard by God,” wrote St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). If a person who says the Jesus Prayer achieves some high spiritual states, he knows: this is a gift from God, and not the result of his efforts.

By the way, all the church writers who spoke about “smart doing” emphasized that this is the lot of spiritually experienced people, and in every possible way warned against it only those beginning the spiritual path.

The similarities between hesychast prayer and meditation are extremely superficial and are explained by the fact that all people have the same physiology, and therefore the ways of collecting attention are similar, explains the author of the book “Yoga. Orthodox view" Dmitry Druzhinin.

Meditation or prayer: what to choose?

— How safe are spiritual practices in general? Is it wise to resort to them without a deep understanding of the mechanics of the practice and its possible consequences?

— Spiritual practice is perhaps the most dangerous thing in a person’s life.
If you and I agree that a person’s spiritual life is the most important thing, since a person is a spiritual being, then any distortions in this spiritual life, any deviations from the right path carry a huge danger. After all, even prayer, which seems to be the highest thing in a person’s spiritual life, is not a safe thing. And we know from the holy fathers that an incorrect attitude towards prayer sometimes led to various, very terrible phenomena - in church language this is called the word “delusion”. If we speak in worldly language, then a person can simply go crazy. I remember the words of Pushkin: “God, don’t let me go crazy. No, the staff and scrip are easier.” Careless, incorrect, thoughtless, irresponsible handling of spiritual practices is a direct path to terrible disaster. This is not theory - this is practice. In my life, I have repeatedly met people who suffered from serious mental illnesses. Going crazy and becoming mentally ill - sometimes it coincides, and sometimes it doesn’t. Because there are some diseases when a person’s mind works quite normally, he thinks, but at the same time the person experiences some such conditions that he thinks that it is better for him to get into a loop than to experience these conditions. And such careless, thoughtless spiritual practices are often the reason for this.

I can give many examples. Among these people there are those who committed suicide. I heard many cases, but I personally knew one woman. Moreover, this woman was very smart, intelligent; a good person, but from time to time she attempted suicide. She went to church, she prayed, and she cursed that day and hour when, still in Soviet times, a person far from faith, she became interested in various practices of the Eastern type - yoga, there was something esoteric, connected with the Roerichs - a mishmash of the Hindu kind, came to us from those countries. All this fascinated her very much, she lived by it. At first everything was very good, as it seemed to her: some abilities, talents, joy, happiness appeared... And then bad things began to happen. I remember the first time she came to church. We talked to her, she was still a young, beautiful, intelligent woman, she had just been discharged from the hospital after a suicide attempt. She went to church for a while, then disappeared. Then she came again, already with a stick, turning gray. I asked, “What happened to you?” - “Yes, I tried again - I jumped out of the window and broke my leg.” I ask her: “Why are you doing this? You are a believer, you know that this cannot be done?” She says: “But I can’t help myself. At some point I begin to hear voices that demand that I go to the window and throw myself. And I can’t do anything... They are stronger than me, they are dragging me.” Then there was another attempt. And then they told me that she had thrown herself off the bridge... Her next attempt turned out to be “successful.” I remember her, despite the fact that she had such an end, because she was a mentally ill person.

This is the most difficult case I have just told. I know another woman who also came and told me. She turned to people who taught her all sorts of spiritual practices. Everything was amazing. And then she also began to hear voices. And now she no longer knows where to go from these voices.

Those. everything is very scary here. There are many, many such cases.

— The fruits of any undertaking are determined, first of all, by the goal. The purpose of meditation is practical: acquiring certain gifts and abilities (calmness, spiritual strength, healing, other superpowers). What is the purpose of prayer? How do prayer and mediation differ in their purpose? How does our approach to spiritual pursuits affect us?

— The purpose of prayer is already expressed, probably, in the names of the prayers themselves. We know that all prayers are divided into three categories. Letters of thanksgiving or praise with which we praise and glorify God. The second group of prayers are prayers of repentance, when we, having realized our sins, confess them to God and ask for forgiveness for them. Everything is clear too. Well, the more understandable is the prayer of supplication when we ask God for something. Here, too, the goal is clear.

And generally speaking, the purpose of prayer is aspiration towards God, communication with God, turning to God, uniting with God. This is a specific, practical goal (near term). But there is an even higher, more global goal. In the longer term, the purpose of prayer coincides with the purpose of our life. And the goal of our life is deification, union with God, acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, by and large, all prayers - both laudatory, and petitionary, and repentant, having their own private goal, serve the main goal - our union with God, our deification, the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit, and, ultimately, entry into the Kingdom of Heaven .

— People who meditate believe that they do not turn to anyone in their meditation practice (this is their internal work with themselves) or turn to someone very vaguely understood by them. Who do we turn to in prayer and how does who we turn to in our spiritual practice affect us?

“I think this has a very radical effect. It’s not easy for me to talk about meditation, because the word “meditation” means things of a very different kind. As far as I know, one of the meanings of the word “meditation” is concentrated thinking, when there is a certain subject on which a person concentrates as completely as possible, so that nothing distracts him from it.

Maybe there is no special spiritual practice in this version of meditation, maybe it’s not so bad, in fact. I would not use the word “meditation” only in a negative sense. Because I fully admit that some forms of meditation can be normal. If a person thinks deeply about something, and it does not connect it in any way with any spiritual realities, to some extent this is permissible.

Is there meditation in our Orthodox Christian practice? I think that we do not like this word because it is compromised by certain forms of it, but reflection on the Holy Scriptures, on the works of the holy fathers, may be in some way consonant with meditation. When a person reads Scripture, line by line, verse by verse, reflects, delves into it, goes deeper into it - in our Orthodox Church this is called contemplation. And some might call it a kind of meditation. What prayer and meditation have in common is that both call on a person to concentrate, so that the person is focused only on the subject that currently occupies him. This is very important in prayer. Cherubic song: “Let us now put aside every care of this life.” It is very important.

The difference between meditation and prayer lies in the question you asked: what is it centered around, what is the focus of all the forces of the soul? For what or for whom? Even prayer, if oriented incorrectly, can harm a person’s soul. And meditation, initially, is often oriented incorrectly in its intended purpose. In it, a person seeks high states, experiences or the development of his spiritual powers, the possession of which he has not yet matured as a person.

Spiritual practice (prayer or meditation) should not be a desire to experience any special states. And if a person says: “Well, I read the Jesus Prayer for two or three hours yesterday, and experienced such a state, such bliss that I forgot about everything” - this immediately raises alarm. I remember someone said that when a person says that he prayed, experienced such a state, such euphoria, then religion is truly “the opium of the people.” Because that's not the main thing. The Lord may send different states, but it is not for us to look for them (these states), it is not for us to strive for them.

For us, the most important goal is repentance. If, as a result of prayer, a person sees his sins, his sinfulness, if a person strives to become better, then he is on the right path. And if a person is looking for some kind of sweetness in prayer, he may receive this sweetness, but this sweetness will no longer be from God. The feeling of repentance, the feeling of repentance, the feeling of striving to become better, the desire to free yourself, to get rid of sins - this is the most important thing.

One of my well-known priests told me a case. A woman came to him and said: “Father, I pray, and a radiance occurs to me. Such an extraordinary light comes from the icons!”, and she herself was delighted with this. She says: “Come to my house, now let’s pray together, and you will see for yourself that the light comes from the icons.” Father went to her house. We started to pray. She says: “Father, I can only pray with my prayers. You know, I compose my own prayers.” Father, of course, was a little wary. (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov also said that when a person begins to compose his prayers, then there is already a smell of charm.) And so, he prays, reads prayers, and performs the usual prayer service. And she stands: “Father, you see, the light has gone!” And the priest says: “But I actually don’t see any light” - “How?!” How can you not see?! Look, the light is shining!”... In general, she even began to cry out of resentment: how can this be, the priest is so blind, he doesn’t see.

And then she gave him her prayers to read. Father began to read these prayers and said: “I read - everything seems to be correct: she praises God and glorifies God... Good prayers. But I feel: something is not right. I can’t understand what.” And then suddenly it was revealed: they completely lack repentance. Everything is there, but there is no moment of repentance at all. And he says to the woman: “Where are you that you repent of your sins?” - “Why repent?” - “Well, how? We have a model for all prayers - “Our Father”, all prayer comes to “Our Father”. It clearly says: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” - this concludes the prayer. Those. the repentant moment is always present in all our prayers - a request for forgiveness, etc. You don’t have any of this”...

He couldn’t explain anything to her...

Sometimes the Lord sends sweet sensations during prayer, but the holy fathers always say that this state does not need to be sought; it came - thank the Lord, of course, but, again, ask: “Lord, I am not worthy. Let it be there, but for now I’ll stay like this here.” Sometimes the Lord gives us such a state as a kind of anticipation. This is, in a way, that pearl, having found which, a person sells everything else. Those. a person will taste this state for some time, this is how the Lord was transformed on Mount Tabor and gave this state to the apostles to experience: “Lord! It’s good for us to be here,” but not for long. There is still Golgotha ahead, there is still a lot to be experienced...

And specifically appreciating states - euphoria, traveling to “other worlds” and so on, which is the goal of meditation - is all more than dangerous.

—And yet, what are the main similarities and differences between meditation and prayer?

— I’ll explain it in a simple way, from my experience. When I was still far from the Church, in Soviet times, I was quite interested in the issue of mental state, mental health. Because I have always had a state of some kind of uncertainty and anxiety. And then I read all sorts of books with great interest. They were not associated with any religiosity, rather from the psychological field. There the word “meditation” was not used - “auto-training”, etc. And there are the usual attitudes: sit down in the morning, relax, concentrate, etc.; tell yourself, repeat to yourself some truth - “today I am not offending anyone.” Probably, this is also some kind of meditation...

But when faith was revealed and prayer entered my life, I saw how pale and pitiful it all was compared to prayer. Prayer contains all the good that was in these psychological practices. But it contains much more. Because it’s one thing when I turn to myself and try to mobilize myself with my own strength, and a completely different thing when I turn to the One in whom I believe, from whom all strength comes, who is the Ideal, the Perfection, who loves me, and who is always and everywhere nearby, who can really fill me with strength if I want to open up to these forces.

- A person who is already ready to accept a non-materialistic worldview of this or that teaching sometimes has a prejudice against Orthodoxy - perhaps because this is the most obvious path.

— Much depends on whether a person is baptized or unbaptized. If a person has been baptized, it is worth thinking about the fact that you, even if formally, even if you were not asked about it, but you are still a member of the Church. Of course, you can say that “nobody asked me.” But it just so happened, whether you like it or not, the Church is your Mother... You, of course, are a free person, and you can refuse her, and prefer another mother for yourself, and trust something else, but will it be right to do this without understanding without at least meeting your Mother?

Imagine, a man was born. Then he ended up in an orphanage, never met his mother, didn’t know her. And then, when he has already become an adult, they tell him: here is your mother, she lives there, and she is looking for you, wants you to meet. What are the options? The first option is this: I never knew her, she had nothing to do with me - I don’t want to know her, I’m fine without her. And another option: I’m not in a hurry, but I need to at least meet her, get to know her, get to know her... Who knows, maybe this will all end - after talking with her, I’ll say: “Thank you for giving birth to me, but I have my own life, you have yours,” and I’ll move on. But if you are a reasonable person, you understand that there is still some chance that it is in her that you will really find your mother, and she will no longer become a formal mother, but a real one.

It's the same with the Church. If you have already realized now, as an adult, that you were born in the Church, that she is still your Mother, then fully clarify your relationship with her: try to understand how the Church lives, what she represents, where she wants to lead you, what does she teach, etc. But just do it honestly, in good faith.

I admit that, having met her and found out, you will say “no, this is not mine,” and move on. Then there's nothing you can do about it. But deep down I think that many people do not live in the Church only because of their ignorance, and that if they learn about the treasures that are in the Church, they no longer use these treasures for any other treasures in the world.

I consider myself one of these people, because for me, too, it all started with the fact that I simply became interested. Well, I became interested in putting on a cassock and a cross. Although, when I began to become interested in all this, it was rather just an interest to find out what kind of phenomenon this is - Christian teaching, to which many people have devoted their lives.

The Church has existed for two thousand years. How many times have they tried to destroy it, how many times - if we compare the Church to a ship - have they tried to sink this ship, and no one succeeded. It floats up again, fills up again, temples are restored. Isn’t this alone a reason to think: it means that there is still a certain force in the Church that does not allow it to disappear, thanks to which it survives in conditions in which it would seem impossible to survive. Figure it out, get into it.

It is very important, of course, that a person meets a normal, good priest who will not push him away, but will awaken this interest in him. Or with one of the believers. A lot depends on people. I recently met with one woman, she is an unchurched person, and she told me these bitter words: “You know, on the one hand, maybe I wanted to... But it so happened that I have not met a single positive example in my life , among those people who go to church.” What's your objection? - She is right. But there are such examples, she was just unlucky and didn’t come across them. Because the light of Christ must be reflected in us.

It's not a matter of words, but the spirit by which we live. One saint describes: some philosopher argued with him at the Council, and he answered him very briefly, and immediately convinced him. Although the man was not very literate. Then his philosopher friends say: how could he break you like that? We were counting on you to prove it to him... And he said the following phrase: “Words are refuted by words. How can you refute life?

If a person who is looking, and perhaps has already gone somewhere wrong, when he comes to Church, he will be immersed in an atmosphere of love and kindness, if the people are the same priest, who may not even be the most eloquent and persuasive... But if this a priest or a layman really carries such faith and love within himself - this will be the most convincing; a person will come and see that here is Love, here is Faith, here is Christ, here is the present.

If meditation does not replace prayer, then perhaps it complements it?

There is nothing and no need to supplement the Christian prayer that we are talking about here: communication with God for a believer is the most important value. An Orthodox Christian understands that he can only become better or get what he needs with the help of God. And in prayer he humbly asks the Lord for such help.

Meditation, even if a person believes in God or the gods, contains an element of coercion: by bringing himself into a certain psycho-emotional state, a person seems to insist that they “get in touch” with him, so that his requests are listened to. We can say that he goes to the spiritual world without asking whether they are ready to communicate with him there. In addition, such “travels” are fraught with the development of pride: a person who has achieved success in meditation may imagine himself to be completely self-sufficient, almost omnipotent.

How to move from meditation to prayer?

Meditation differs from prayer in its focus , since the former is addressed to one’s consciousness, and the latter to God.
In Christianity, the person praying constantly talks with the Almighty and sees himself precisely in dialogue with him, in meditations, which are essentially the prayers of many Eastern religions, a person turns to himself and also listens only to his feelings, trying to achieve the absolute.
Therefore, according to clergy, if you have experience in meditation, it is unlikely that you will be able to find a transition to the state of prayer. To turn to God, you should throw away all thoughts about vain things and think only about what is in your soul. And to do this, you just need to read prayers.

When praying, it is important to discard vain thoughts

Even if a person does not know any words related to the due prayer, he can use the prayer book and read the necessary lines from it. This will be the first step towards understanding God in your life and the need to turn to him.

Doesn't God want us to take the initiative to communicate with Him?

He probably does. But the big question is: does a person who meditates want to communicate with God? After all, the spiritual world is heterogeneous, and not all of its inhabitants can be safely “contacted.” And a mystically inclined person often doesn’t really know who he will meet on his “spiritual journey.” He calls on forces that he has no idea about - and always faces evil forces. Simply because it is impossible to communicate with God on such “conditions”.

But you don’t have to call anyone. What's wrong with meditation as an alternative to auto-training?

It depends on what you call auto-training. If we are talking about repeating certain formulas or spells with the help of which a person tries to calm down or force himself to believe in something, then this is akin to self-hypnosis or self-hypnosis - things that are extremely far from Christianity. Christianity calls us to look at things realistically, soberly assessing both the world around us and ourselves: only then does a person have a chance to change something in himself for the better. To notice in yourself what prevents you from living according to God’s commandments, and to do everything to get rid of these obstacles is one of the fundamental principles of Christian life, which is called repentance. And here, of course, one cannot do without God’s gracious help, just as one cannot do without prayer.