sgt.null wrote:Cambo wrote:Can't speak for why Orthodoxy is against it.
well - i should stay out of this. but i can hazard that meditation is eastern philosophy and nothing that doesn't come from th eorthodox church can't be right?
maybe rus will tell us why we are wrong.
In an attempt to briefly explain from a layman's relatively simplistic view, attempting to tap into "spirituality" without Christ will basically tap you into demonic spirituality. You can have all kinds of experiences, visions, even learn things in mysterious ways - because certain spiritual forces are giving them to you. Opening your soul to whatever spirituality happens to be out there is a form of spiritual suicide (out of ignorance, generally speaking). A good illustration of that can be found in Lewis's "Space Trilogy" (Perelandra) when Weston calls upon 'the life force' to enter into him, and he is subsequently possessed - a frightening sequence.
‘You are still wedded to your conventionalities,’ said Weston. ‘Still dealing in abstractions. Can you not even conceive a total commitment - a commitment to something which utterly overrides all our petty ethical pigeon-holes?’
Ransom grasped at the straw. ‘Wait, Weston,’ he said abruptly. ‘That may be a point of contact. You say it’s a total commitment. That is, you’re giving up yourself. You’re not out for your own advantage. No, wait half a second. This is the point of contact between your morality and mine. We both acknowledge -’
‘Idiot,’ said Weston. His voice was almost a howl and he had risen to his feet. ‘Idiot,’ he repeated. ‘Can you understand nothing? Will you always try to press everything back into the miserable framework of your old jargon about self and self-sacrifice? That is the old accursed dualism in another form. There is no possible distinction in concrete thought between me and the universe. In so far as I am the conductor of the central forward pressure of the universe, I am it. Do you see, you timid, scruple-mongering fool? I am the Universe. I, Weston, am your God and your Devil. I call that Force into me completely ...’
Then horrible things began happening. A spasm like that preceding a deadly vomit twisted Weston’s face out of recognition. As it passed, for one second something like the old Weston reappeared - the old Weston, staring with eyes of horror and howling, ‘Ransom, Ransom! For Christ’s sake don’t let them -’ and instantly his whole body spun round as if he had been hit by a revolver bullet and he fell to the earth, and was there rolling at Ransom’s feet, slavering and chattering and tearing up the moss by handfuls. Gradually the convulsions decreased. He lay still, breathing heavily, his eyes open but without expression. Ransom was kneeling beside him now. It was obvious that the body was alive, and Ransom wondered whether this were a stroke or an epileptic fit, for he had never seen either. He rummaged among the packages and found a bottle of brandy which he uncorked and applied to the patient’s mouth. To his consternation the teeth opened, closed on the neck of the bottle and bit it through. No glass was spat out. ‘O God, I’ve killed him,’ said Ransom. But beyond a spurt of blood at the lips there was no change in his appearance. The face suggested that either he was in no pain or in a pain beyond all human comprehension. Ransom rose at last, but before doing so he plucked the revolver from Weston’s belt, then, walking down to the beach, he threw it as far as he could into the sea.
CS Lewis "Perelandra" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perelandra
Obviously, the complete context is much better. But there is no such thing as "neutral" spirituality, so whatever experiences you may have are a form of "prelest"
False spiritual knowledge leads to spiritual delusion (Russian prelest, Greek plani), which is the opposite of sobriety. Sobriety (called nepsis) means full consciousness and self-realization (enstasis), giving true spiritual knowledge (called true gnosis)
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If the propositions of the Church are true, then logically it follows that messing with "spirituality" outside of the narrow path prescribed can only lead to our own ruin. There's nothing unreasonable about it.
"Eh? Two views? There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one." Bill Hingest ("That Hideous Strength" by C.S. Lewis)
"These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own." G.K. Chesterton
. However, I have to point out that meditation is a practice, not a philosophy 
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