Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Meditation From A to Z
Meditation refers to any of a family of practices in which the practitioner trains his or her mind or self-induces a mode of consciousness in order to realize some benefit. Meditation is generally an internal, personal practice and most often done without any external involvement, except perhaps prayer beads to count prayers. Meditation often involves invoking or cultivating a feeling or internal state, such as compassion, or attending to a specific focal point. The term can refer to the state itself, as well as to practices or techniques employed to cultivate the state.
There are dozens or more of specific styles of meditation practice. People may mean different things when they use the word, 'meditation'. Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as a component of numerous religious traditions, especially in monastic settings.
Meditations on First Philosophy
Meditations on First Philosophy (subtitled In which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated) is a philosophical treatise written by René Descartes and first published in 1641 (in Latin). The French translation (by the Duke of Luynes with the supervision of Descartes) was published in 1647 as Méditations Metaphysiques. The original Latin title is Meditationes de prima philosophia, in qua Dei existentia et animæ immortalitas demonstratur.
The book is made up of six meditations, in which Descartes first discards all belief in things which are not absolutely certain, and then tries to establish what can be known for sure. The meditations were written as if he were meditating for 6 days: each meditation refers to the last one as "yesterday". (In fact, Descartes began work on the Meditations in 1639).
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