| The word
meditation
is in itself a fascinating study of the origins
and evolution of human language. The word is
based on Media - an
ancient culture of which little is known. The
inhabitants of Media, known as the Medes,
and their Persian neighbours lived in a region
comprising part of the present-day Iran. They
spoke Indo-Iranian languages. These people
practiced a polytheistic religion and were
governed by a powerful priestly class known as
the Magi - the wise ones.
It would appear that the principle faculty of
the people of Media was to mediate; for
beginning around 835 B.C. the Median tribes
becase subject intermittently to the kings of
Assyria and Persia. But even though politically
subservient, the Medes managed to concilliate in
such a way that their Persian conquerers
regarded them as equals, and subsequently these
two peoples were considered as one.
In determining the root in a modern
dictionary, we find it is closely connected with
the words medicate, to heal by the application
of a medicament; mediate, to be in an
intermediate or concillatory position; and to
medio, to be in the middle.
The dictionary offers quite a variety of
suggestions to explain meditation: to think
about, reflect, contemplate, ponder, muse, plan,
intend, purpose; to think deeply and
continuously; solemn reflection on sacred
matters as a devotional act, none of which
descriptions really fits the concept.
However, "thinking" in the normal conscious
sense, is in no way involved in meditation. In
metaphysics the term is usually defined as that
process by which the lower and higher aspects of
self may unite and gradually become integrated
into a single operational unit.
Media \Me"di*a\, n., pl. of {Medium}.
From Hitchcock's Bible
Dictionary (late 1800's): Media,
measure; habit; covering |
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