The Baha'i Studies Listserv Well, a lot of times the Baha'i writings will say something like "meditate upon this", which even in English implies to "think" or "reflect", rather than what we normally associate with eastern styled meditation. Zikr is more of the "trance" inducing styles of meditation, like Mantras in the Indian tradition. Repeating any word thousands of times will give that effect, but it is the belief that these words are holy and have a special potency to them. As for Merkabah, I found this paragraph from Wikipedia interesting:
*"Ma’asei Merkavah, the first distinctly mystical movement in Jewish history, appeared in the late Hellenistic period, after the end of the **Second Temple* <https://mail.google.com/wiki/Second_Temple>* period following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. It is a form of pre-**Kabbalah*<https://mail.google.com/wiki/Kabbalah> * **Jewish* <https://mail.google.com/wiki/Judaism>* **mysticism*<https://mail.google.com/wiki/Mysticism> *, that teaches both of the possibility of making a sublime journey to **God * <https://mail.google.com/wiki/God>* and of the ability of man to draw down divine powers to earth; it seems to be an esoteric movement that grew out of the priestly mysticism already evident in the **Dead Sea Scrolls*<https://mail.google.com/wiki/Dead_Sea_Scrolls> * and some apocalyptic writings (see the studies by **Rachel Elior*<https://mail.google.com/wiki/Rachel_Elior> *).[8]<https://mail.google.com/mail/html/compose/static_files/blank_quirks.html#cite_note-7> Hekhalot writings are the literary artifacts of the Maasei Merkavah."* ** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkabah I think all forms of meditation are connected in some way, personally. On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 11:08 AM, Susan Maneck <[email protected]> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > > Fikr? I thought the word for meditation was Muraqaba and the associate > > practice of Dhikr. > > The times when I've gone to the original the word has always been > fikr. Perhaps Iskandar or Khazeh can tell us whether the word muraqaba > ever appears. Dhikr appears a lot, however. > > __________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto: > [email protected] > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to > [email protected] > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:[email protected] > Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st > News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
