I just meditated for the first time in a while, and I just realized that when I meditate, I don’t think of Hashem. I have always felt that meditation was a ‘religious’ practice (I was much less ‘traditional’* then — when I meditated before — than I am now, and so was never troubled with this situation), so when I realized this (see title of post) now, it came as a shock: MEDITATION IS HASHEM-LESS! If anything, in the no-mind/thought state that [breath] meditation gets me quickly into, I realize that I am God! (or at least one with all)
Being a more ‘traditional’* Jew now, I feel funny about this. I suppose meditation can be seen simply as a relaxation tool, and nothing more. But I have heard a lot through the years of Jewish meditation, and only now I am wondering how a ‘frum’ or ‘traditional’* Jewish meditator can reconcile adhesion to Hashem (Our Father, Our King) with a technique (breath meditation) that so easily brings one into a no-mind/thought, Hashem-less (‘pantheistic’– so to speak) state?
*As a side note, I am not a fan of Kabbalah; so when I say ‘traditional’, I mean non-Kabbalistic, even though it seems Kabbalah has become ‘traditional’ (or ‘frum-ish’) in its own way. (i.e. accepted as fully Jewish) My level of observance has gone up and down many times over the years, but only now when I am becoming more serious than ever, I see clearly this ‘problem’ with meditation.
submitted by /u/LAGoff
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