Discerning, Detachment, Meditation and the Spiritual Walk

    There is a saying of Christ that is very relevant here: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33). A right relationship with God automatically will result in right relationships with everything else.

For example, we begin each day with meditation, thus we renew our commitment and our desire to have God enter our life. By beginning the day with meditation you are literally putting first your desire for a right relationship with God. David affirmed this desire for a right relationship with God when he cried out “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10). 

But then the next thing that occurs is the benefit of detaching from people, objects and thoughts, and observing them in the Light.  As you then go out into the world carrying this meditative stance with you--this slight detachment from people, circumstances, things, words and thoughts--you are thus attached to the inner light from God and slightly distant to the world. You are “in the world but not of the world.” 

Because of this, you will then be able to discern which way to go and which things to dissociate from. Paul put it this way:  “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

  It is not possible for me to over-emphasize the importance of the meditation exercise. It is a simple technique for separating from the illusory world of the imagination. It is in this regard a simple technique for separating from worries and excessive thought. We have a tendency to go floating along with daydreams, and we do so at the first sighting of stress. We seek refuge in the thought world where we feel secure. But what we are actually doing is escaping from where true security lies--in objectivity where we are closer to God.

We cannot solve our issues when we are lost in thoughts. We have no control over thoughts when we are immersed in them. We cannot know the truth when we are lost in thinking and daydreaming. In order to find true rest, real security, real solutions, and salvation from the nightmare world of illusions, we must separate from thought.

In The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis put it this way:

   Why do you look about here when this is not the place of your repose? Gaze rather upon heaven and give but a passing glance to all earthly things. They all pass away, and you together with them. Take care, then, that you do not cling to them lest you be entangled and perish. Fix your mind on the Most High, and pray unceasingly to Christ.