*** Corpus JEHOVAH SOVEREIGN TRIUMPH Institutes | UNIVERSAL CHRISTIAN MEDITATION & PEACE COLLEGE of Excellence
About Corpus JEHOVAH SOVEREIGN TRIUMPH UNIVERSAL CHRISTIAN MEDITATION COLLEGE of Excellence
Christian Meditation finds mention in the Holy Bible. Many Christian leaders have gone as far as emphasized on the need to meditate on the Scriptures of the The SOVEREIGN JEHOVAH GOD i.e. the Sword of the Holy Spirit, but have eschewed Teachings and the Development of Christian Meditation as an integral imperative to Holy Spiritual Growth. In addition, the immensely positive benefits of Christian Meditation are empirically witnessed and testified to by the Scriptures, Meditators and Science which makes it worthy of experience by Practising Christians.
The Founder of the SOVEREIGN JEHOVAH GOD Ministries & Missionaries | Corpus JEHOVAH SOVEREIGN TRIUMPH Institutes who has decades of Meditating experience is guided by the Holy Spirit to revive this integral element of the Christian experience and make Christian Meditation available to the Children of the SOVEREIGN JEHOVAH GOD, the Alpha and the Omega.
In compliance, SOVEREIGN JEHOVAH GOD TRIUMPH Ministries & Missionaries | Corpus JEHOVAH SOVEREIGN TRIUMPH Institute's International Centre of Excellence for Christian Meditation & Peace – The Universal Institute for Christian Meditation & Peace seeks to bridge this critical void to the body practice of the Relationship with the Almighty Creator JEHOVAH GOD. This important development is one of the distinct uniqueness of the SOVEREIGN JEHOVAH GOD TRIUMPH Ministries & Missionaries | Corpus JEHOVAH SOVEREIGN TRIUMPH Institutes.
Contrast of Christian Meditation with Eastern Meditation:
Christian Meditation differs greatly from Eastern Meditation in that the latter is a more personalized experience than Spiritual. Eastern Meditation is all about letting go of the ego and becoming like an empty vessel so that the supreme energy can flow in.
In contrast, Christian Meditation is a Spiritual experience and does not promote a deviation from what has been written in the Holy Scriptures. Meditation, as mentioned in the Bible, is aimed at developing a deeper understanding and relationship with The SOVEREIGN JEHOVAH GOD. 1 Timothy 4:15, KJV, confirms the value of Christian Meditation thus "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all".
The Purpose of Christian Meditation
The purpose of Christian Meditation is to still the heart and mind and open them to the principles of the faith. Accordingly, there is a lot of emphasis on prayer and reading. So while Eastern Practices focus on going beyond the mind Christian Meditation aims at stilling the mind for a closer experience, or relationship with God, as mentioned in the verse, "Be still and know that I am God," (Psalm 46:10, KJV).
There are many approaches to prayer. Not least because there are many different needs. But the greatest of all our needs according to Christianity is to get nearer to Jesus. The most powerful form of prayer for this purpose is arguably Christian meditation.
Meditation has a very long history in Christianity and has taken various forms. But to meditate on the Scripture, and not least the gospels, is a pleasingly powerful endeavour through three conduits which work together to bring us closer to The Supreme JEHOVAH GOD:
The Holy Spirit
The very first source is the Holy Spirit. But this kind of prayer makes a very special kind of requirement on us and on the Spirit, and that is expressed in terms of
GOD-kind Faith
The second source is Faith. Obviously, the very act of prayer, any prayer, involves some kind of faith. But the degree of faith which this form of prayer demands can be quite different than in other forms of prayer.
Disciplined Consistency
Source three is the discipline of Practitioner Consistency. To really get into this kind of prayer one needs a daily commitment which is kept consistently. It is often said that "grace builds on nature" and that is very true. In this case it is true because we need to become habitually open to the way in which the Spirit works within us. We shall not achieve that unless we become habitual in our habits of prayer.
Christian Meditation should not be confused in any ways with types derived from Eastern religions, such as Hinduism. It is quite different and essentially Christian. Very often it is associated with Ignatius of Loyola because, after his conversion, he developed a particularly clear method of approach.
Quintessentially, Christian Meditation involves reading Scripture in a particular way. At its essence is explicitly allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to the Practitioner the Nature and Meaning of the Holy Scriptures.
For a Christian, the most important part of Scripture is the New Testament. While, we can meditate on the Old Testament, the former is, at least, the best place to start. Sometimes we meditate on the gospels; sometimes on the letters or Acts or Revelations. In the latter cases the approach is somewhat different in important respects to meditating on the gospels. However, it is meditation on the gospels which can bring us repeatedly face-to-face with Jesus in real and dynamic ways.
The reality of meeting with The Lord Christ Jesus in this way is a principle benefit. But it must not be either over-emphasised nor under-emphasised. The first is a danger because the actual experience of meditation will vary considerably from day-to-day or as between prayer periods on the same day. Few people with considerable experience in meditation would deny the reality of this meeting.
But some with limited experience may tend to over-stress these encounters. They get carried away with what the Holy Spirit is providing for them over a particular period of time. But the Spirit deals with us in very different ways at different times.
On the other hand, these experiences are real, of great value and bring many blessings and should not be ignored.
Moreover, we need to allow the Spirit to balance the graces he is giving us. This requires mixing meditation periods on the gospels with other periods on, say, the letters of the New Testament, or the Psalms are a good source for beginning to meditate on the Old Testament.
One of the greatest benefits which a Christian has is his relationship with GOD. For example, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:12 that we have not received the spirit of the world, but we have received the Spirit who is from God. The reason for this is so that we may understand what GOD has freely given us.
When we do understand that, we understand that he needs to be given both the freedom and opportunity to work through us to the maximum possible degree. Only in that way shall we continue in the process of becoming like Jesus. That, after all, is what our lives are about.
The Benefits of Christian Meditation
There are several benefits of Christian Meditation, the foremost being to develop a deeper relationship with The SOVEREIGN JEHOVAH GOD, which is central and pivotal to the essence of Christianity and its uniqueness from religion.
1- Consistent practice of Christian Meditation can lead to a more balanced life with an overall improvement in an individual’s emotional and mental well-being. The saying "you are what you think", forms the basis of Christian meditation and is the reference point for everyday living and relating with others.
2- One of the early benefits of Christian Meditation Practise is the feeling of Relaxation, Peacefulness and Happiness. This inter-generative process mutually reinforce its constituent components and integral mini-processes.
3- You meditate and you get the reward in forms of joy and happiness, which in turn motivates you to meditate more. In course of time, it becomes your automatic practice. You feel uneasy and think something is missing from your life if you do not meditate on any particular day.
4- When you start your day with meditation, the Peace and Joy generated last with you whole day whatever the nature of your activities. It is like taking a healthy and nourishing diet before the start of a strenuous and stressful routine of the day.
5- Meditation enables you to become aware of your inner resources of joy and peace. You can tap them whenever you feel stressed and worried. You acquire a habit of detached observation. So if something wrong and irritating happens in course of your day, you can view it as a detached observer.
6- You learn to understand the devil's manipulation of your mind. You thus get an inner poise that ultimately percolates into your daily life.
7- The Peace and Joy that the Practitioner acquires become infectious to those around him/her with concentric benefits to the wider environment i.e. relative increased Peacefulness, Joy and Stability.
Scientific Backing
Scientific Studies have conclusively proved the benefits of meditation for our mind and body. According to search results released by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, meditation has been shown to produce lasting beneficial changes in immune-system function as well as brain electrical activity. “Researchers found about 50% more electrical activity in the left frontal regions of the brains of the Meditators. Other research has showed that part of the brain is associated with positive emotions and anxiety reduction.”
A Case Study of Benefits of Meditation:
Increased Telomerase – The Shamatha Project
The human mind and body are intrinsically linked something that mystics from time immemorial have been indicating. The state of the mind, to a great extent, controls the well-being of the body. This is something that has recently been proved by the researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of California, San Francisco. The Shamatha Project, led by Dr. Clifford Saron at the UC-Davis Centre for Mind & Brain, has shown that intensive meditation can lead to increases in telomerase, an enzyme important for the long-term health of cells in the body.
To put this in context, telomerase are the proteins that ‘cap’ the chromosomes in our body. When the cells divide during the process of genetic copying a very small portion of the telomeres does not get copied, as a result they begin to shrink. So every time the cells divide, the telomerase shrink leading to cell damage and death. This results in the process of ageing. Scientists have now proved that the enzyme telomerase found in the germ and cancer cells in our body can repair and replace telomerase and slow the ageing process.
There is enough evidence to show that the many everyday discomforts, diseases and tensions arise from the fact that we are alienated from our bodies. The mind can be an important cause of sickness in the body. As a corollary, it naturally follows it can also provide the cure.
Today, many doctors admit that a more holistic approach is needed to control diseases and promote general well-being. Accordingly, modern medicine has started to look for different methods of treatment to cure diseases and to help people get their lives back on track again. This kind of research is carried out objectively within the confine of the medical science. The Shamatha Project is just one example.
The study takes a more holistic look at the process of ageing and provides the first ever link between positive well-being and higher telomerase, the enzyme important for the long-term health of cells in the body. The effect can be attributed to psychological changes that increase a person’s ability to cope with stress and maintain feelings of well-being.
The Shamatha Project is the most comprehensive longitudinal study of intensive meditation ever to be undertaken. As part of the study, an extensive meditation retreat took place at the Shambhala Mountain Centre in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. The 30 participants each in the retreat and control groups received ongoing instruction in meditation techniques from Buddhist scholar, author and teacher B. Alan Wallace of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. They attended group meditation sessions twice a day and engaged in individual practice for about six hours a day.
The research team measured telomerase activity in participants at the end of a three-month intensive meditation retreat and found that Telomerase activity was about one-third higher in the white blood cells of participants who had completed the retreat than in a matched group of controls.
There were other beneficial psychological qualities that were also observed and these included perceived control (over one's life and surroundings), mindfulness (being able to observe one's experience in a non-reactive manner) and purpose in life (viewing one's life as meaningful, worthwhile and aligned with long-term goals and values). In addition, the participants also witnessed a decrease in negative emotionality.
Commenting on these findings, Clifford Saron, associate research scientist at the UC Davis Centre for Mind and Brain said,
"We have found that meditation promotes positive psychological changes and that meditators showing the greatest improvement on various psychological measures had the highest levels of telomerase."
He further added that the take-home message from this work is not that meditation directly increases telomerase activity and therefore a person’s health and longevity. “Rather meditation may improve a person’s psychological well-being and in turn these changes are related to telomerase activity in immune cells, which has the potential to promote longevity in those cells. Activities that increase a person’s sense of well-being may have a profound effect on the most fundamental aspects of their physiology."
The lead author of the study was UC Davis postdoctoral scholar Tonya Jacobs. The research is a product of the UC Davis-based Shamatha Project, led by Saron. Elizabeth Blackburn, who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for discovering telomeres and telomerase professor of biology and physiology at UCSF, is a co-author of the paper.
The Shamatha Project has drawn the attention of scientists and Buddhist scholars alike, including the Dalai Lama.