Meditation and atheists
ShastriX
Meditation and atheists
examiner.com | Mar 24th 2012
Indianapolis, like everywhere else has its share of critical thinkers who call themselves non-theists, better known as atheists. On Saturday March 24th, at the Woodstock for Atheists in Washington, D.C., thousands of critical thinkers will congregate.Will there be anyone going around asking the question, do atheists, non-theists, meditate? To some this might seem like an oxymoron, but this may not be as far-fetched a question as you might think. What would preclude an atheist from practicing meditation? You might say that what precludes them from practicing meditation is that meditation presupposes a belief in a higher power, god.
Scientists like Andrew Newberg, co-author of Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief, make a good case for possibly eliminating the idea of god, despite the name of the best-selling book. Newberg et. al. posit that the idea of god, and transcendence is all about the brain and what is happening in it during experiences related to meditation, prayer or other kinds of related phenomena. There is nothing other than our physical reality and the chemical and electrical activity that makes up our brains processes predisposes us to this urge for religion and god.
Research like that of Newberg and others might lead us to think that what the adepts (those who are expert in meditation and its effects) say about meditation is all poppycock. Consider what one famous adept, Ramana Maharshi, said about the subject of god as it relates to the idea of creation, a subject that brings on heated debate between staunch theists and non-theists. Ramana said that there were three conceptions about the act of creation. One was that proposed by religion (the creation stories of the religions) and science (the big bang theory). A second was associated with an obscure theory that states that the universe, reality, exists because of our minds, our brains. When we open our senses to the world, it exists for ‘us’, otherwise it does not, as in deep dreamless sleep. The last take per Ramana is that nothing ever happened, everything is the way that it has always been. There is only one all-pervading reality that he and other sages label consciousness for lack of a better term.
The non-theists among us might not have a problem with this conception of things, and aside from any references to gurus and grace in the teachings of Ramana, might feel right at home. In any case, the point that is always made by people like Ramana is that the direct experience of the individual is what is important, not a theory or belief. There would surely be no problem with this for any of the critical thinkers at the rally. One route to testing the validity of Ramana’s conception about creation, and thus the existence or non-existence of a god, is the practice of meditation.
So, can a non-atheist practice meditation. Yes. Do they practice meditation? Yes, if they choose to do so. Is it necessary to believe in a god to practice meditation? No, and if you want more popular proof of meditations utility for non-theists just check with the Dalai Lama.
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