Catholic view on T.M.

ruby923 · #1 Sep 5, '09, 10:55 am

I'm new to the forums, this is my first question. My daughter's school has announced it will be conducting experiments on some of the children using Transcendental Meditation (supposedly it helps with concentration - it is a school for children with varying degrees of Learning Difficulties). I understand TM is a Hindu based philosophy, and from what I've read on the Web, I don't think my daughter should participate (it is optional). Does anyone know the Church's view of TM, or have any advice how I should handle this. For one thing, I think the school is promoting one particular religion in a non-religious school.

Detales · #2 Sep 5, '09, 11:38 am

For what it is worth, I was a practicing Catholic when I started TM about 35 years ago. My ex-wife, still a staunch Catholic still practices it. It changed my life. I started because I had grave concerns about my mental stability, being prone to fits of anger that I tended to take out on my two infant boys. I had to do something, or I knew that I would do them harm. Prayer and moral codes seemed to have no effect on my behavior. I took the brief introduction, not paying much attention to the philosophy behind it.

Three days after my first sitting my wife asked me what had happened. I asked her what she meant. She said that my behavior both with her and the boys had changed dramatically. I seemed far calmer and more tolerant in situations that would have set me off. She started the practice two weeks after I did, and even studied to become one of the people who "checks" the use of the technique.

There were no compulsions to study, learn, or know oft he philosophy other than the original presentation of the origins of the technique. The simplicity of the "meditation" is remarkable, and has no religious or philosophical overtones of itself. One could learn it, use it, and walk away from the organization having all the benefits of the technique.

Some months later, curious about the alleged physiological changes said to happen as a result of the relaxing nature of the method, I happened to volunteer for an EKG demonstration. Having practiced for a while it was easy for me, unbeknownst to anyone, to slip into the technique while being wired to the machine. When the lecturer at last looked at the display indicating my heart function she suddenly stopped talking. She said, slowly, to the audience, "As you can see, this man has an unusually slow and steady heartbeat..."

I can honestly say that if one wants to go and trudy the philosophy behind the technique, that is available. But as far as learning, using, and benefiting from the technique, that is not a religious or philosophical matter, save in the honoring and gratitude offered to those who discovered and promoted the technique. I think that in a school situation that would be minimized. In the last analysis, it is simply a way of taking advantage of a known response of the body to a particular mental technique that has of itself no religious or philosophical necessity attached to it.

ljubim · #3 Sep 5, '09, 11:41 am

You're right, stay far away from that stuff!!!

You should talk to the principal that if this is not dropped you will contact a lawyer and bring this to court. It is without a doubt religious favoritism! Sorry I do not know what the church says on it specifically though

Detales · #4 Sep 5, '09, 11:45 am

ljubim, your recommendation is well intentioned, I'm sure, but is in practice utter silliness.

Corki · #5 Sep 5, '09, 12:27 pm

Detales,

With respect, I think the OP was asking for Chuch teaching rather than personal experience.

Then Cardinal Ratzinger, as Prefect for the CDW, wrote a great letter on just this topic

LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON SOME ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN MEDITATION

http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdfmed.htm

Pope John Paul II wrote about New Age Spirituality, including Eastern-based meditation practices in a wonderful dcoument:

JESUS CHRIST
THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/po...ew-age_en.html

Ruby,

I don't know how old your daughter is. Your approach with a college-aged student would be different than with an elementary school child. The bottom line of these documents is that the practices present some dangers and are best approached with great caution and discernment, even by those with stongly developed spiritualities. Some of the practices or the methods for learning them are opposed to Christian theology and/or prayer so should be avoided, according to these documents. I don't think a school "experiment" would meet those cautionary qualifications.

ruby923 · #6 Sep 5, '09, 12:49 pm

Thank you, I will read these letters.

To answer your question, my daughter is in Grade 9, and they will be teaching the TM to grades 6 and up.

Corki · #7 Sep 5, '09, 1:38 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruby923

Thank you, I will read these letters.

To answer your question, my daughter is in Grade 9, and they will be teaching the TM to grades 6 and up.

I think it would be a very rare 9th grader who would be mature enough in her spiritual journey to get involved with TM. Even if your daughter was one of those rare enlightened ones, I am not sure I would trust school personnel to deliver the training with the proper amount of background information to allow a student to properly discern her involvment.

I definately would not allow any 6th grade child of mine to do this.

jpk1313 · #8 Sep 5, '09, 4:05 pm

If you want your daughter to learn meditation to improve her concentration teach her to meditate on scripture and to pray. That way she will gain all the good thing t.m. Has to offer but will avoid the negitive t.m. Can do (t.m. Can lead to all kinds of spiritual sickness such as deprestion, anger issues, promiscuity, meglomania ect, i've been down the t.m. Road teach her to pray and save both of you a lot of headache)

MindOverMatter · #9 Sep 5, '09, 6:09 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruby923

I'm new to the forums, this is my first question. My daughter's school has announced it will be conducting experiments on some of the children using Transcendental Meditation (supposedly it helps with concentration - it is a school for children with varying degrees of Learning Difficulties). I understand TM is a Hindu based philosophy, and from what I've read on the Web, I don't think my daughter should participate (it is optional). Does anyone know the Church's view of TM, or have any advice how I should handle this. For one thing, I think the school is promoting one particular religion in a non-religious school.

It depends on whether or not the practice itself is explicitly Hindu. If its just a form of meditation that people do whom happen to be Hindu, then the practice itself is universal even though it is expressed through the Hindu tradition.

survive · #10 Sep 6, '09, 11:34 pm

TM issues beginners mantras, which are the names of Hindu gods, to repeat while doing mind-emptying meditation. After a time at a beginnng level the explicitly Hindu worship practices get increasingly obvious. But even to start with, mind-emptying is not appropriate for very many people, and probably no children, and she wouldn't be benfitted by repeating the name of a Hindu god while in any meditation.

rcscwc · #11 Oct 12, '09, 12:55 am

TM is known to train your mind to focus. Consequently, it open new doors for thinking.

Now sheep are known to be dumb, and thinking is not good for them. They will fall over the cliff following their leader [Dickens in a novel mentioned it, he was no Hindu, btw].

Advice to sheep: Don't do medititation at all, bisheep does that for you.

wanstronian · #12 Oct 12, '09, 4:34 am

Some shining examples of religious bigotry and how it prevents the world from becoming a more harmonious place.

rossum · #13 Oct 12, '09, 5:10 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by survive

TM issues beginners mantras, which are the names of Hindu gods, to repeat while doing mind-emptying meditation. After a time at a beginnng level the explicitly Hindu worship practices get increasingly obvious. But even to start with, mind-emptying is not appropriate for very many people, and probably no children, and she wouldn't be benfitted by repeating the name of a Hindu god while in any meditation.

Try repeating the name "Jesus" instead, or else Saying the Jesus Prayer.

As others have warned, there are some dangers in unsupervised meditation:

Bishop Kallistos Ware has sound advice for those who simply can't find a suitable guide. "But those who have no personal contact with starets [teacher] may still practice the Prayer without any fear, so long as they do so only for limited periods - initially, for no more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time - and so long as they make no attempt to interfere with the body's natural rhythms."

rossum

rcscwc · #14 Oct 12, '09, 7:01 pm

Unsupervised training in any discipline is not recommended. It may be outright dangerous.

rcscwc · #15 Oct 13, '09, 12:20 am

Fifteen minutes??? OMG. That Bishop Kallistos Ware, being a bishop, must be out of his mind. Don't do it initially for more than 15 seconds. Beyond that you will lay yourself open to all sorts of demons like Moses, Joshua etc. They will turn you either into a homicide or make you mad, if you resist the blood thirst.