I tried Transcendental Meditation as a college student in the early '70s. I found it so boring that sometimes I just fell asleep during practice. After a while, I gave it up altogether. With my academic inclinations, I wound up pondering over the implications of meditative states rather than actually trying to attain these states myself.

Then in January of 1998, I attended an Esalen workshop led by Huston Smith. Flipping through one of the books Dr. Smith had written, I came across Rabi'a al-Adawiyya's Night Prayer. I was already familiar with the story of this Sufi saint. Spending many hours each night absorbed in prayer, Rabi'a struck me as someone who was truly and faithfully wedded to her Maker. But it wasn't until I read her poem, Night Prayer, that her point really hit home.

I came to realize that when one is wedded to one's Maker, prayer and meditation then represent a conjugal visit. At the conclusion of the workshop, I made a New Year's resolution to meditate regularly and I have done so ever since.

When I meditate now, I still don't feel a connection with the Divine. But I don't expect to... mystical union would be a gift given through Divine Grace. What I do feel is a sense of devotion to my Maker. And the practice of meditation also reminds me that I am a prodigal son trying to make his way home. After reading Rabia's poem, I no longer have to force myself to meditate; it's now something I feel compelled to do.

(For a commentary on the significance of meditative states, please see "The Eternal Nature of Consciousness.")

My God and my Lord,

eyes are at rest, the stars are setting.

Hushed are the movements of birds in their nests,

of monsters in the deep.

And you are the Just who knows no change,

you are the Equity that does not swerve,

you are the Everlasting that never passes away.

The palace doors of kings are locked

and guarded by their henchmen.

But your door is open to those who call upon you.

My God, every lover is now in the arms of his beloved,

and I am alone with Thee.

(From The World's Religions, as translated by Huston Smith)

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