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Prayer and meditation are similar practices in that they both offer us a
connection to the divine, but they also differ from one another in
significant ways. Put simply, prayer is when we ask the universe for
something, and meditation is when we listen. When we pray, we use language to
express our innermost thoughts and feelings to a higher power. Sometimes, we
plumb the depths within ourselves and allow whatever comes to the surface to
flow out in our prayer. At other times, we pray words that were written by
someone else but that express what we want to say. Prayer is reaching out to
the universe with questions, pleas for help, gratitude, and praise.
Meditation, on the other hand, has a silent quality that honors the art of
receptivity. When we meditate, we cease movement and allow the activity of
our minds and hearts to go on without us in a sense. Eventually, we fall into
a deep silence, a place that underlies all the noise and fray of daily human
existence. In this place, it becomes possible for us to hear the universe as
it speaks for itself, responds to our questions, or sits with us in its
silent way.
Both prayer and meditation are indispensable tools for navigating our
relationship with the universe and with ourselves. They are also natural
complements to one another, and one makes way for the other just as the crest
of a wave gives way to its hollow. If we tend to do only one or the other,
prayer or meditation, we may find that we are out of balance, and we might
benefit from exploring the missing form of communication. There are times when
we need to reach out and express ourselves, fully exorcising our insides, and
times when we are empty, ready to rest in quiet receiving. When we allow
ourselves to do both, we begin to have a true conversation with the universe.
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