Seeing as how it is such a benefit to people’s lives, is meditation a sin? Meditation has a lot of benefits for both a healthy mind and body with some forms of meditation including spirituality and others just being the act of clearing one’s mind of thought and emotion. Sin is a concept which is the act of trespassing against a religion or God in some way. For the purposes of answering this question, we’ll be referring to the type of meditation that doesn’t include religious rituals. Now let’s dive in a little deeper.
Different types of meditation
There are quite a few forms of meditation, even if we exclude the forms that contain a spiritual aspect to it. One form includes sitting with your eyes closed, focusing on breathing, and trying to clear your mind of emotion and thought. It is often a way to increase a state of relaxation, therefore reducing stress, anxiety, or even depression.
Another purpose some use meditation for is to get in touch with the inner self. It pushes you to look inward and get in touch, or sometimes confront, your being at the very core. This leads to an increased awareness of what is truly important to you, leading to an ability to make decisions that will not likely leave you with regrets.
Furthermore, other uses for meditation can sometimes be to manifest positivity. You would sit peacefully and purposely envision positive consequences you would like to exist or achieve. This can increase your compassion, kindness, benevolence, and many other good qualities, which often leads to good things just happening around you.
Why would a religion consider meditation a sin?
As stated earlier, sin is the act of going against your religion or God. Google’s dictionary defines it as an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. If we were talking about the type of meditation that involves spirituality and mysticism, and religion warned against seeking spiritual enlightenment in such a way, it’s easy to see how it could be considered a sin. In essence, this would be almost like a replacement for prayer, which would certainly be frowned upon by many religions. Many religions use meditation as part of their spiritual journey, however, so those religions are already exempt from this exploration.
Sometimes a religion is so strict in its teachings that it leaves no room for experimenting with some practices, even if they are non-spiritual. Although, sometimes seeking specific experiences like meditation are not even mentioned, or it might get referred to with different language. It might be called “pondering on,” or maybe “thinking about,” or even “considering” words or teachings in scripture.
It would be impossible for religious writings to include every single little thing. What does the Bible say about smiling at a pigeon? No, not smiling at a pigeon because you have compassion towards it or because you love nature or because you’re grateful to God for making pigeons. Just the act of smiling at a pigeon for no rhyme or reason. You can smile at things with no feeling in your heart. Try smiling at an inanimate object right now. Is it a sin? It isn’t covered in scripture, so is it good or bad?
Why meditation is not a sin
With so many different possible ways to transgress divine law, how could something that makes you more compassionate, focused, relaxed, and less stressed be a step in the wrong direction? It just isn’t. But a religious person would want to be cautious about sin, so it’s understandable why the question would arise if their religion doesn’t touch on the subject. Just make sure you’re keeping your meditative practices in accordance with whatever laws of religion that you do know and follow, and you’ll be fine. Promise.
