Meditation in Public Schools?
The Los Angeles Times recently printed an opinion piece by Nick Street, “Meditation in schools is not a religious practice that raises any church-state issues.” I disagree with this idea (as does the AHA). My letter to the editor was published on July 27th:
Thoughts on meditation
Re: “Take a breath,” Opinion, July 25, 2007
Specific court precedent prohibits teaching transcendental meditation in publicly funded schools. Humanists, Christians, and others came together in the 1979 New Jersey case that led to this ban. They can be expected to unite again should current teaching repeat old mistakes.
If a meditation technique is rooted in transcendental meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, or any other specific religious practice, then it is clearly religious in nature. To pass constitutional muster, a meditation session would need to be completely sanitized of ritualistic sectarian religious undertones. Otherwise it would show a preference for one religious belief over another as well as for belief over nonbelief.
It has been shown that meditation’s benefits can also be attained through a regular midday nap, the use of long-established secular relaxation techniques, and by other means that are clearly free of religious undertones. There is no need to import stealth religion into the public classroom to get children to chill out.
What do you think about meditation in public schools? Is it inherently religious in nature, and therefore should it be banned in public schools? Or can the religious nature of meditation be stripped away to a secular core, making it appropriate for public schools?
And what about the general safety of meditation? The new issue of the Humanist magazine features an interesting story on this topic by Mary Garden titled “Can Meditation Be Bad for You?”
Nick Street’s article is posted online at the Buddhist Society of Western Australia’s website.
Subscribe to Feed
Some real neurological effects are known to be associated with meditative practices, so in principle I think it can be “stripped away to a secular core”. My main concern would be that guided meditation does tend to require some kind of belief framework — one is told to imagine this, or feel that — which usually has a decidedly supernaturalist tone to it. So stripping away the explicitly religious connotations is more than just recognizing that it’s power is naturalistic; it’s about finding a way of “guiding” or framing the meditative practice which is itself stripped of religious claims, while at the same time managing to appeal to whichever cross-section of children you have in a religious school.
The task of constructing such a “multilateral” mediative guiding discourse is probably not feasible for school children. So that’s a high cost in the cost-benefit analysis. So what benefit does it have? Although real neurological effects are generated by mediative practices, there’s no clear evidence that they’re beneficial in any long-term way. So if the cost is high (in time and the potential to break the Constitution) and the benefit is unknown, it seems like a non-starter.
(Errata: at the end of the first paragraph I meant “cross-section of children you have in a *public* school”.)
Meditation does not particularly require a religious belief framework and in fact can be taught quite simply by encouraging children or adults to simply stop and contemplate a specific sensory experience. If science has to quantify olfactory or visual or the other three sensory experiences on a neurological framework to qualify justified teaching of meditation then I would suggest more research itno the behavioural mechanisms of children who are educated to understand both the technolgical and the natural world. However, I do know from the experiences of my own children that educated awareness of their involvement in their environment has led to many interesting enquiries on their part. In the face of blank faced fundamentalism isn’t it important that we maintain this humanistic inolvement in both our quotidian lives and our humanistic ones?
Meditation is a secular practice of demonstrable value in contributing to mental health.
“Transcendental Meditation” is a religious practice of a pseudo-Hindu cult.
Apples and oranges.
Michael contributes to confusion by heading this post “Meditation …” when its subject is the religious cult.
To get picky, one might parse it like this. The word “meditation” is meaningful and benign. The word “transcendental” pretends to refer to something that may or may not exist and today has the odor of hippie mysticism, its meaning hopelessly contaminated since its once-honorable use to refer to the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, etc.
I think meditation can be stripped of religious and mystical content. As an atheist I attend a Buddhist meditation class. I switch off when the monk gives a mystical explanation (not too often) but find the mediation itself useful.
For a school class I think it should be essential to remove the religious and mystical aspects. And this is already done with psychotherapy uses of mediation and understandings of self which could be said to be derived from Buddhism. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) does this very well.
Many critics consider Transcendental Meditation a cult led by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. For an alternative view of the TM Movement, readers may be interested in checking out TM-Free Blog, TranceNet.net, or my counseling site, KnappFamilyCounseling.com, where individuals recovering from Transcendental Meditation and similar groups will find helpful information.
John M. Knapp, LMSW
http://KnappFamilyCounseling.com/
[...] & Reason has a post on meditation in public schools that keys off an opinion piece that was published in the LA Times, and makes note of a piece in the [...]
As Sarah wrote, “Meditation does not particularly require a religious belief framework”.
But at the same time, as an author of a best seller about Hinduism, I have to admit, it was Hindus, Buddhists and Jains who have researched in depth of about MIND, THOUGHTS and MEDITATION techniques than most of the cultures and religions in the world. Of course, Greeks are the exception.
Hinduism does NOT profess monopoly on GOD, TRUTH or SALVATION. Salvation is known as SELF REALIZATION in Hinduism and you DON’T have to be a Hindu to attain salvation.
Hindu scriptures state, “ Man’s problem is his false belief he is the perishable body. The moment he REALIZES that he is the IMMORTAL SOUL within the body he attains salvation or self realization. SELF-REALIZATION means “realizing one is the immortal self and not the perishable body.’
Patanjlai Yoga Sutra is the Hindu scripture which is the back bone of Hindu meditation techniques.
Patanajali Starts his famous scripture stating that “ Yoga Chitta Vrithi Nirodha” meaning “ Union with God or SALVATION means STOPPAGE OF MENTAL VIBRATIONS or thoughts.”
I just sat in Olympic Centennial Park the other day and watched the Dalai Lama call Buddhism a “philosophy” rather than a “religion”. I agree, and think the rest is semantics. If you come across a useful tool, don’t reject it just because it comes from one particular tradition (religious or otherwise). Use it because IT WORKS.
And meditation does work. I am epileptic and experience reduced seizures on days I meditate.
Tranquility meditation does not involve a belief structure. You sit straight and relax. The eyes are partly closed and focused at a spot on the floor about 3 feet in front of you without moving them, not looking at any thing and not trying not to look at anything, just maintaining a gentle visual awareness. Then you listen to the breath, ensuring it is smooth, natural and inaudible. You do not suppress thoughts and do not get involved in them, just maintain a continual relaxed awareness of the breath, visual field and posture. That’s all.
Intellectualizing meditation practice is counterproductive. You do not need to know why you are meditating or what you hope to accomplish other than just doing it. Hoping to accomplish something by meditation is antithetical to meditation practice.
If you have practiced tranquility meditation you are aware of the beneficial results, which are well-documented. However, it is wrong to explain these to beginners and create expectations. First they should practice then they will notice the results.
If the practice of tranquility mediation were made a standard part of the eduacational curriculum we would have a more sane and humane society in a few short years.