So what does meditation have that conventional worship does not? Neutrality, suggests Elizabeth Forder, who runs the centre. “We are not affiliated to any religion and there is no belief system imposed on anybody here,” she says. “I was brought up a Christian, but it held no real meaning for me. I would class myself as a universalist, believing that all religions offer the same end. At its simplest, meditation is giving the body and mind a very deep level of rest, freeing us to be ourselves.” She mentions an 87-year-old man who used to belong to the congregation and now meditates regularly.
I have a split-reaction on this and it keeps me alert to what I do when I offer 'neutralish' meditation sessions. One reaction is to say that there is no neutral standpoint and in this case to point out that the myth of a neutral standpoint suits a universalist well since it's part of their ideology. She's not offering neutral 'artefacts', it will be shot through with assumptions that relativise non-universalistic spiritualities to her own, presumably, self-spirituality based on western cultural assumptions.
So how can I offer 'neutral' meditation? Well I guess I am upfront about my perspective in the introductory remarks and offer a set of techniques which I have found in some form used also in other religious or even non-religious traditions and settings. I try to offer them in a way that doesn't but up hard against particular viewpoints and invite people to feedback to me if there turn out to be areas where my assumptions or presuppositions grate against theirs. I hope that this models a form of Christianity that can then offer some of its treasures in a way that over the long-term can help Christian spirituality and mystical practice seem plausible to others. In a sense to say; "why keep looking east for all of this stuff; it's on your doorstep..."
Next bit of the quote:
If disaffected churchgoers are seeking neutrality, they are also in flight from judgment. “I don’t want to be preached at any more”, “I’m sick of being made to feel guilty” or “I don’t need to be told how to live my life,” people will say when asked why they stopped attending church. And when they speak of their spiritual malaise, they use the language of the therapist’s couch. One Kendal woman in her forties summarised her spiritual shift thus: “A one-hour service on a Sunday? It’s not really enough time to address your self-esteem issues, is it? I didn’t find any help in the churches. I found it in a 12-step programme. That was the start of my personal journey.”
Which seems to me to sit well with concerns of emergent church that there should be a whole-life emphasis and a practical spirituality. Self-esteem is an improtant issue for many people and we need to think our way round this carefully as Christians since our heritage of how we interpret original sin makes us prone to abusive interpretations of humility. In this respect I commend this book:
which I mention in the books column of this blog under "Commended".
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