Eastern Mysticism – Part 4

By: Dave Hunt; ©1998

Eastern mysticism, particularly in the form of meditation has gained increasing acceptance in the West. How does Eastern meditation differ from biblical meditation? Why is it so appealing? Dave Hunt explores these questions.

The New Panacea: Eastern “Meditation”

Harvard University has long been among the leaders in promoting the occult through psychic research. One of its projects involved experimentation with Buddhist monks’ psy­chic powers. The results have been convincing. For example, a Harvard film crew, dressed for the Arctic, set out in zero-degree-Fahrenheit weather from a 17,000-foot-elevation monastery, accompanying ten monks wearing only sandals and light cotton wraparound cloths. At 19,000 feet, on a rocky cliffside ledge, “the monks took off their sandals and squatted down on their haunches… leaned forward, put their heads on the ground, and draped the light cotton wrappings over their bodies.” Harvard professor Herbert Benson reported:

In this position, being essentially naked, they spent the entire night practicing a special type of gTum-mo meditation called Repeu…. A light snow drifted down over them during the early morning hours.

No ordinary person could have endured these conditions. We’re sure of that. Yet the monks… simply remained quietly in their meditative positions for about eight consecutive hours….

Finally, at the… sounding of a small horn, they stood up, shook the snow off their backs, put their sandals on and calmly walked back down the mountain again.”^[1]

Paramahansa Yogananda attempted to explain such amazing abilities of certain monks: “Lord Krishna pointed out the holy science by which the yogi may master his body and convert it, at will, into pure energy. The possibility of this yogic feat is not beyond the theo­retical comprehension of modern scientists, pioneers in an atomic age. All matter has been proved to be reducible to energy.”^[2]

In fact, there is no evidence that any atomic conversion of any part of a yogi’s body takes place. If that were the case, yogis would not need to eat, drink, or sleep for days at a time and could duplicate the feats of Superman. Yogis have definite limitations far below the level of atomic energy. The possessing demon is obviously limited in what it can mani­fest through a human body.

The scientists at Harvard and elsewhere accumulate data which show that something paranormal is going on. But science cannot explain it because the source behind psychic power is not atomic but demonic, a source which science can neither identify nor evaluate. Eastern meditation, having been credited with miraculous power, has become increasingly popular in the West. It is another door into the occult.

The Old “Shell-Game Switch”

It is essential to understand the vastly different meanings given to the word “meditation” in the West and in the East. Meditation in the West has always been synonymous with contemplation, or thinking deeply about some thing. Christian meditation involves seeking deeper insights into God’s Word (Psalm 1:2), pondering God Himself (Psalm 63:6), reflect­ing upon God’s works (Psalm 77:12), and considering what our responsibility is and what our response should be (1 Timothy 4:15).

In contrast, Eastern meditation involves ceasing to think, and emptying the mind. It is a prelude to possession. Through repeating over and over a word or phrase (a mantra) or focusing on a candle or upon one’s breathing, the mind goes blank and one enters an altered state of consciousness. An Eastern meditation instructor tries to explain this in­duced state as natural:

If you’re new to [Eastern] meditation, remember that all of us naturally meditate. We have ordinary experiences… that regularly put us in a meditative state: watching the sun as it sets, listening to soothing music, or just being at the water’s edge.

Our mind slows down, our body relaxes, and our consciousness changes. Our brainshifts into the slower frequency known as the alpha state. And that’s it—we are meditating.^[3]

What he describes is, of course, the opposite of the contemplation which has always comprised meditation in the West. But the switch has been made and the West has taken the bait. Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson, who rejected Christianity, explains what he found in Eastern mysticism:

What appealed to me about Zen was its emphasis on clearing the mind…. One of the fundamental tools for doing that is a form of sitting meditation known as zazen. The form of zazen I practice involves sitting completely still on a cushion with eyes open but directed downward and focusing attention on the breath…. Over time your thoughts calm down… and you experience moments of just being without your mind getting in the way… keeping your mind open and directing it at nothing.^[4]

Buddhism offered Jackson an escape from the God of the Bible whom, as a young boy, he once feared and desired to please. Says John Daido Loori, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in upstate New York: “Buddhism is a… religion without a God or (depending on the school) an afterlife…. [It is] the search for the nature of the self, which ends in the realization that there is no self, that all the beings and objects… are manifestations of the same underlying reality.”^[5]

The Delusion of Cosmic/Unity Consciousness

The feeling of being part of everything else in the universe is known as “unity” or “cos­mic” consciousness. It is common on a drug high and very appealing to those who have rejected a personal Creator. In contrast to the delusion of a mystical union with an imper­sonal universe, God’s love is experienced by Christians in a personal relationship with him.

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, commander of Apollo 14, had the mystical experience of cosmic consciousness on his return trip from the moon. So profoundly was he affected that he abandoned the outer space program to explore inner space. He described that experi­ence and the transformation it made in his life in his book THE WAY OF THE EXPLORER: An Apollo Astronaut’s Journey Through the Material and Mystical Worlds:

It wasn’t until after we had made rendezvous… and were hurtling earthward… that I had time to relax in weightlessness and contemplate that blue jewel-like home planet suspended in the velvety blackness…. [I felt] an overwhelming sense of universal connectedness… an ecstasy of unity.

It occurred to me that the molecules of my body and the molecules of the spacecraft itself were manufactured long ago in the furnace of one of the ancient stars…

We needed something new in our lives, revised notions concerning reality and truth. Our beliefs were, and still are, in crisis.^[6]

What do the material molecules of one’s body, a spacecraft, and stars have in common with one’s soul and spirit? To fail to distinguish between inanimate matter and conscious­ness and personality is a delusion of colossal proportions.

The irrationality of Mitchell’s experience was overlooked in his delight at having achieved the Hindu’s “savikalpa samadhi—a recognition of the unity of things while still perceiving them as separate.”^[7] Many people within the Christian church are having equally powerful mystical experiences which have brought them into occult delusion and bondage.

Like Phil Jackson, Edgar Mitchell was raised in a devout Christian home. Jackson’s was Pentecostal, Mitchell’s was Southern Baptist. Neither man understood true Christianity, and thus each rejected his own misconceptions rather than the truth.

(from Occult Invasion, Harvest House Publishers, 1998)

Notes

1. ↑ Herbert Benson with William Proctor, Your Maximum Mind (Random House, 1987), pp. 16-22.
2. ↑ Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi (Self Realization Fellowship, 1971), p. 489.
3. ↑ Jonathan Ellis, “Practicing Meditation: Basic Techniques to Improve Your Health and Well-Being,” in Deepak Chopra’s Infinite Possibilities for Body, Mind and Soul, October 1996, p. 4.
4. ↑ Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty, Sacred Hoops (Hyperion, 1995), p. 173.
5. ↑ Jerry Adler, “800,000 Hands Clapping,” in Newsweek, June 13, 1994, p. 46.
6. ↑ Edgar Mitchell with Dwight Williams, THE WAY OF THE EXPLORER: An Apollo Astronaut’s Journey Through the Material and Mystical Worlds (Putnam, 1996), as cited in Brain/Mind, August 1996, p. 4
7. ↑ Ibid.

Read Part 5