You can meditate if you believe in God or if you don’t. Either way, meditation/contemplation is a hopeful practice. We meditate because we believe there is something “out there,” or “in here” (inside us), or “way down at the bottom of everything.” You are attempting to connect with that thing. If you practice meditation on a regular basis, you will find something. For some of us, it helps to imagine that the universe has consciousness and personality. We might call that God. You might also call it good Goodness, Meaning, Existence. Or you might not call it anything.
Meditation gives way to intimacy. It is a practice aimed at removing all the things that prevent us from connecting deeply with everything. In meditation, you do not have the luxury of distraction to keep you from the wonder and terror of all things. It might feel a bit dark and empty at times – that is part of the experience. It is also as beautiful and hopeful as you might imagine. You should be prepared to encounter both in contemplation. If you start to feel the darkness and emptiness, keep pushing through it to see if there is anything beyond it.
Most of us believe ourselves incapable of dealing with reality as it is. We might not say that out loud to someone else, but we spend vast amounts of time, money and energy to avoid what we perceive as the unacceptable reality. We are afraid reality ultimately intends our harm. That is why it is helpful for some to imagine there is a benevolent force out there. Meditation is entering into an experience of finding out exactly what is out there (or in here) – whether that be good or evil (maybe both?). It is the practice of finding out if the real reality can be trusted or not. Luckily, in meditation, you can enter that experience slowly. You can take one little ounce of reality at a time and attempt to assimilate it into yourself and your experience of the world. Make no mistake, though: you will come face to face with the realest reality through the practice of meditation/contemplation. You will uncover deeper things about yourself, existence itself and there will be no more fooling around. 😊
In meditation, we engage with Presence, which is the thing that makes us more and more capable of dealing with more and more. We can travel through even the most traumatic of experiences with Presence. It is what allows us to sit with our own personal guilt and anxiety and the terror and sadness of others. The “sitting with” is being willing to be present with everything as it is. If we cannot sit with the reality in ourselves and our own experience, we will not have much to offer another. But if on the other hand, we can sit with the deepest realities of our own experience and all the emotions that brings, we can sit with whatever another person near us is experiencing.
To do that, we must connect with a Stabilizing Force. That is growing our trust in what is out there, whatever you want to call it. Either that thing wants your good or it doesn’t. We do this all the time from the day we are born: reach out for something larger than us, more trustworthy than ourselves, more stable and capable. It is out there, and you will find it if you are patient and intent on finding it.