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 <sman...@gmail.com> 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:matthewhaa...@gmail.com > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto: > leave-520797-9533...@list.jccc.edu > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to > ly...@list.jccc.edu > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu > 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/bahai...@list.jccc.net > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu > __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-520922-274...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu 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/bahai...@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
