Does God Meditate?

Does God meditate?

Does God meditate? When I first heard the question, I thought, “What would I have to say to that?” As I contemplated the question, I found my thoughts focusing on meditation as a creative process. Afterall, whether you refer to God as “God” or by any other of the myriad names, humanity has offered up, most, if not all, refer the Supreme Being as the Creator.

The Process of Creation

One could posit that creative processes of all kinds are a form of meditation in that anytime you bring something out of the myriad possibilities of no-thing. Think of a new invention, a painting, a poem or a new television show. We may not think of these things as involving a meditation process but perhaps that is only because we have not zeroed in on what meditation actually is.

Creative processes of all kinds are a form of meditation

For example, many creative processes do not involve conscious thought, but may fit into this expanded definition of meditation. For instance, what about the conception of a human being? From the moment of conception until the child’s birth nine months later, there is an ordered cellular development process. Could the gestation period of any creature actually be a meditation?

Another thought that occurred to me along this line is the part in Genesis that mentions that humans are made in the image and likeness of the Creator. As creators ourselves we cannot help but emulate that Great Life who was responsible for our coming into being. The pattern of life is an unrelenting process of reproducing in all kinds of ways, physically, biologically, as well as intellectually and emotionally.

Some other examples are the design and building of a skyscraper, a new home, the next model of any type of car or airplane and so forth. All of these begin with an idea, a plan, a process, and then a finished creation. They were all thought into existence. We could infer that the Universal Mind is also conceiving, ideating and setting into motion a process or processes where the result matches perfectly the intention.

Emulating God Through Service to Others

I had a teacher once who used to say that all spiritual works such as service activities start from the end to the beginning. What he was getting at was the notion that the idea, the originating impulse, already has embedded within it the end. The project had a result in mind and that the focused intent of the service was to bring about a specific outcome. For example, we could point to a societal change like the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. I would suggest that whichever individual or group initiated that effort had a specific vision in mind, perhaps they were creating an activity that would help bring about a world where racism is replaced by real equality?

Perhaps God is meditation

We cannot help but emulate our creator. The greater reality includes all that is lesser, but the lesser part cannot know or include all that is present in the greater. In other words, it is impossible for us to deviate from or create anything that has not already been conceived of by that Greater Life who thought us into being.

Does God meditate? It may be that one way to understand or answer this question is to say, “Perhaps God is meditation.” Which leads us to a crucial question, “How can we know God?”

Meditation is the Path

Like most people, I have heard many people describe their idea or definition of God, but there was one idea that has stuck with me, and as a Buddhist I can relate to. Quite simply, the definition given was that “God is both immanent and transcendent.” What this suggests is that while it is beyond our ability to comprehend all that “God” is, there is still a Presence of God at the heart of all things which suggests that we can have a very personal and intimate knowing and being with whatever it is you call God. I believe that our attraction to and attempts at meditation are an effort to do just that.

Does God meditate?

Meditation has always been understood as the path that takes us back to our true selves, back to the Source, our beginning, our origin. It is taught in Buddhism that the path of meditation is a process of turning away from fictitious being, the belief that we stand alone as a unique and permanent entity. As we make that turn around, away from the separated self, we turn toward that which has been true from the beginningless beginning.

We rediscover our true nature which is a part of ‘all and everything’. Including all that is, and all that is not. There must be as much, if not more than we are aware of within creation. There must be aspects or dimensions of the universe that are voids or simply exist as infinite possibility. What else would the Universal Mind have left to contemplate if everything that could ever be already is or was?

Does God meditate? I think the answer is more than simply, “Yes.”
I think meditation may be the “Breath” of God.

Suggested Meditations

Watching the Mind Meditation - This meditation represents a fundamental teaching within Buddhism that basically our experience of reality arises from the nature of mind. As we endeavor to keep the mind focused on the mind itself we begin to see that the nature of mind is not our thoughts, rather the nature of mind is awareness.

Cultivating Love & Peace Meditation - A guided meditation to help you experience the Divine Love and Peace at your innermost core and then to extend this ever-present love and peace to others.

Centering Prayer for Letting Go into Divine Presence - Guided Centering Prayer for letting go into Divine Presence will provide you with a way to move beneath and beyond the worries and anxiety that you often face in your daily life.