That's not likely to be true if one catches the implication of the gospels, which have Jesus going out into the wilderness and also the Garden of Gethsemane, which would be places where he could have meditated. Such a practice was very much a part of early Judaism and was revived by the chasidim a few hundred years ago.






Not true. Ever hear of tantra? On top of this, artists often "contemplate", which is just another form of meditation, before beginning action on their works. Meditation doesn't have to be mystical in any way, and I'm quite certain you do it without possibly realizing it.






One could say the same of you and I "wasting" our human resources by posting here instead of consoling those in need.






Quite the contrary. Meditation is aimed at cutting through illusion.



Shalom,
Vern

I value and respect Harris's view, not because he is saying I might be "right", but because he has an open mind and is daring enough to voice an opinion contrary to his beliefs.

__________________
May your awareness be perfection

I fully agree. I feel it's more important to judge the message and not the messenger.

Shalom,
Vern

Yes, it appears that we agree about the issue of the potential benefit of meditation, and one point I'd like to re-emphasize is that there are many different forms and "purposes" of meditation, and that we all tend to use it without necessarily realizing as such. I have found that even some Buddhists struggle with understanding that since if they're brought up within one raft or school that has some specific ideas as to what constitutes "proper" meditation, they may not recognize the fact that other rafts and/or schools may differ. For example, if you discuss meditation with a practitioner of Zen, they would often not recognize that their approach is not as much emphasized within the Theravada tradition.

As far as consoling others, my point was not that posting here at I.F. is a waste of time, but was in response to the statement that meditation was a waste of time. Posting here and meditation are a means to an end and not an end unto itself (a Zen scholar might tend to disagree with this statement, however). For example, in the Theravada tradition one is not encouraged to teach dharma unless one is well schooled in dharma first (read "monk"). Nor is meditation viewed as something that's done by itself, but that it needs to be supplemented with general wisdom (read "secular").

So I'm not criticising posting here, but merely pointing out that meditation has a purpose, and that purpose should lead to enlightenment and to assist one in having compassion towards all sentient beings.

Shalom,
Vern