Claims and Goals
The goals of Eastern and
occult meditation are to change a person’s view of "self" and the world.
In the end, as far as the meditator is concerned, "It lastingly changes
his consciousness, transforming his experience of himself and his
universe."1 Dr. Roger Walsh authored several books on
meditation, and he was an editor for the Journal of Transpersonal
Psychology. Frances Vaughan is a past president of the Association
for Transpersonal Psychology and a psychology professor at the
California Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. These two authors
describe the impact of meditative practice:
The rewards of meditative
practice tend to be subtle at first.... Old assumptions about oneself
and the world are gradually surrendered and more finely tuned,
comprehensive perspectives begin to emerge.
Such immediate benefits,
however, are only tastes of what is potentially a profoundly
transformative process, for when practiced intensely, meditation
disciplines almost invariably lead into the transpersonal realm of
experience.... A progressive sequence of altered states of
consciousness can occur, which may ultimately result in the permanent,
radical shift in consciousness known as enlightenment or liberation.2
Standard meditation texts
claim that in our normal state of mind we misperceive and misunderstand
ourselves (our true nature) and our world (its true nature). The purpose
of meditation is to correct these false perceptions and to replace them
with a true perception of reality, which is mystically induced by the
procedures involved. This is why almost all forms of meditation involve
the deliberate cultivation of altered states of consciousness and the
subsequent development of psychic powers.
These altered states of
consciousness, however, are wrongly interpreted; that is, they are
viewed as "higher" states of consciousness, presumably divine states,
and the psychic powers developed are often seen as the awakening and
developing "god-nature" of the individual.
For example, yoga meditation,
which is typically Hindu, and "mindfulness" meditation, which is
typically Buddhist, are powerful forms of meditation designed to
radically alter the meditator’s state of consciousness. When practicing
them, people have the religious teachings "confirmed" by the occult
mental experiences they have. Meditators may become intellectually
convinced they are one nature with God or with ultimate reality, with
all that this implies. This change of perception can occur not only
through cultivating altered states of consciousness but also by
meditation-developed psychic abilities, or by meditation-induced spirit
contact. And such experiences lead to conclusions that are hostile to
biblical faith. To believe that we are one essence with God is to
undermine the basic Christian doctrines of creation, the atonement,
redemption, and personal salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
If people are already divine,
and if they do not yet understand this, then the major issue is personal
ignorance requiring the proper knowledge. This is at odds with what the
Bible teaches, that the issue is one of personal sin requiring
forgiveness through Jesus Christ. If people are divine, they have no
need for a Savior from sin. Yet in the Bible we read, "For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "For God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Eastern and
occult meditation denies biblical teaching by assuming that we are one
essence with God and have no need to seek a God outside ourselves.
Because Eastern and occult
meditation confirms occult beliefs and denies biblical beliefs, we often
suspect the presence of demonic involvement through meditation-induced
altered states of consciousness. Most of our subsequent discussion will
document this.
Notes:
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