In Chinese, one would call someone like me a 禅痴 literally meaning “meditation passionista.” What that means is that I’m someone deeply passionate about meditation, devoted to learning all there is to know about the ways, goals, and means of meditation. And it was precisely on my road of meditation that the Lord broke into my life—revealing to me who He was/is and what He had done for me. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus (see Luke 24:13-35), my heart was on fire and there was nothing left to do but to tell the world about Him.
Thus, in an instant (probably more), I was transformed from a 禅痴 to a 基督痴: a believer, disciple, and “passionista” of Christ who still meditates but in a transfigured way. Christ illumines and anoints my meditation—with all the skills, methods, approaches and styles of meditation in which I’ve trained and realized—integrated and embraced into the infinitude and plenitude of the Spirit and Word of Christ. Approaching God’s Word with a heart posture of humble awe and open presence is facilitated by mindfulness and clear discernment, two core meditative skills I’ve learnt. What I had once mistakenly thought was the end, I now know as a mere stepping stone. What I once held as supremely desirable, I now hold as of limited value, though having relative utility in my walk of faith. Who I had once taken to be perfect and enlightened (if not divine), I now know as human, only too human, though sincere and ethical.
Christ is the singular supreme Treasure of the universe. Christ relativizes and contextualizes even the most impressive glories of this world. Christ is the ultimate end and supreme worth of all meditations. Culture contains brilliant truth, distorted truth, and falsities but in Christ we can extract the true, correct the misguided, and discard the false. Christ is the pinnacle of all meditation and the summum bonum of all spiritual practice.
Nothing and no one compares to Him. For me, Christ is indeed the subversive fulfilment of all that every culture, every spirituality, every meditation seeks to attain. For me, Christ is the supreme fulfilment of all our deepest longings. I pray that many will, seeing these truths and hearing these words, be transposed from darkness into God’s kingdom of light.
