Is meditation evil?

[Never thirsty!]

I do consider some forms to be evil like if they are being used to unlock psychic abilities, but what if it's being used to wind down from the day so you can get some sleep? Or something to just help you to relax?

[Mullet Death]

Unlock psychic abilities? Huh? Anyway meditation is the farthest thing from evil. It's absolutely essential for the spiritual life. Who told you it was evil, dude?

[K. Ayato]

I think he means transcendential meditation, which I believe is more of a New Age practice. I don't agree with that kind of meditation to ascend to some higher plane of existence, but I don't believe meditation in and of itself is evil. I mean, the word itself connotates deep study and reflection, which is most likely (in my opinion) why the Bible often talks about meditating on the Word (Psalms in particular comes to mind.) Plus you mentioned meditation as a means of relaxation. Again, you're focusing in on something that helps calm you down.

[ClaecElric4God]

My first reaction to the title of this thread was the same as Mullet's: What are you talking about of course it's not evil! Then I realized that, like K-chan said, the word meditate/meditation has more than one meaning. So I looked it up to clarify and differentiate between them, and here's what I found in Merriam-Webster's dictionary:
Meditiate -
1 : to engage in contemplation or reflection; to focus one's thoughts on : reflect on or ponder over
2 : to engage in mental exercise (as concentration on one's breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness

The first definition is by no means evil, and the Bible talks about it all the time, encouraging it. David talks about meditating on God's Word, and it was a huge blessing to him. Honestly, I think meditating on the Scriptures is fairly essential to Christian growth, and can be incredibly helpful when you're looking for answers, going through a rough time, or you just need a moment to unwind and relax.
As for the second definition, which goes along with the transcendential meditation K-chan was talking about, I'm not gonna argue that it's downright evil, because I don't know enough about it and I don't really have any Scripture (off the top of my head, anyway) against it. But like K-chan, I don't agree with it, and I don't believe it's authentic or benificial, and I wouldn't ever encourage someone to do it. But that's just my opinion, take it or leave it.

[Jingo Jaden]

Meditation is a medium. Meditating on the great power that God has for example pleases him. In some fashions, a meditation may serve as a prayer. So whom and how you direct that towards is pretty much what defines the purpose of your medium. If you're meditating to calm down, you're doing something pretty much irrelevant to your spirituality. If you're meditating to praise God, well, you're praising God. If you're meditating to become one with Jim Jones, then you're abusing the medium in one of the worst possible ways.

[DaughterOfZion]

Transcendental meditation is a "school" of meditation not the sum of all meditation.

2 : to engage in mental exercise (as concentration on one's breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness

Still not "evil". There are reliable scientific studies of meditation that show it can have health benefits. Plenty of people who meditate aren't trying to reach some "level of spiritual awareness", they just do it because it helps them. Anyways, how is sitting and just concentrating on breathing "evil"? If it's the mantra part that bugs you, forget it or just use a freaking bible verse.

Also rosaries. Praying the rosary can be considered a form of meditation.

[Xeno]

Going with DoZ here. There is nothing evil about meditation. Even if you want to go by that second definition, mental exercises to reach higher states of spiritual "awareness" doesn't mean you become a higher being yourself and includes practices done by Christians. Also as DoZ pointed out, some people use it for health benefits with all spiritual connotations removed.

[rocklobster]

It really depends on your intent. "Spiritual awareness" is tricky ground. Just as it can be an invitation to grace, it can also be an invitation to evil. Be aware of that.

[Xeno]

You guys are a real treat you know that? Heaven forbid someone try a secular tool for focusing that other religions just happen to also use as a means to get inspiration from their deities. Nope, can't do anything that we don't don't understand outright because its spooky, and spooky things are wrong and evil. Can't spend some time critically thinking about or researching something to determine if its really bad, it's not in the Bible so it must be spiritually devastating, or at the very least used with extreme caution because something might happen.

Put your thinking caps on guys, you're making a equivocation fallacy about this.

[shooraijin]

Welp, this one's going nowhere.

Xeno, you could have picked a much better way to express your objection to rocklobster's assertion than that. Your post previous to that was perfectly acceptable. This last one verges on ad hominem, even if you think it's justified.