Active Meditation: The Western Tradition

by Robert R. Leichtman, Carl Japikse

This is a clear, practical description of all aspects of meditation. The authors show people how to improve relationships, be more creative, heal the emotions, etc.

Genres: Spirituality, Meditation, Nonfiction, Self Help

512 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1981

Reviews

[Mamie Winkelman-Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has given me better all around information and guidance in meditation than any book or teacher that I've come across. I'll definitely read it again because I know that there was a ridiculous amount that I didn't absorb!

[Romann Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Active Meditation: The Western Tradition by Robert R. Leichtman and Carl Japikse is a book clearly determined to establish what it calls a "Western tradition" of meditation, as opposed to explaining an already-existing tradition of Western practice. This is a choice that is both ambitious and potentially problematic. While the methods the authors propose may indeed serve as a form of self-therapy or even self-hypnosis, it feels like an awkward redefinition of meditation, one that strays from well-established Eastern traditions. In the authors' view, meditation is not a means of transcending the self but rather a structured, active communication with the "Higher Self."

However, for those acquainted with Eastern practices, this approach may feel fundamentally contradictory. Eastern meditation practices often aim to dissolve the sense of a permanent self, viewing it as an illusion. In contrast, this book's framework relies on fully embracing and elevating a "Higher Self," which itself requires a certain credence that may not resonate universally​.

The meditation described here, involving techniques designed to activate personal wisdom and goodness, leans more towards self-enhancement than self-transcendence, which again sets it apart from traditional meditation frameworks. This is indeed interesting. But the book goes on to imply that the more longstanding traditions of meditation are either getting it wrong or offering something the Western mind can't handle.

Given the book’s length, I expected more in-depth guidance on the core technique of entering the meditative state, while more attention is paid to the various applications after that state is achieved. This might be intentional, but it makes the book seem oddly incomplete​.

For those willing to view meditation as a Western-oriented exercise in self-refinement, Active Meditation could indeed offer something useful. For others, particularly those grounded in Eastern approaches, the redefinition might feel too far removed from what meditation truly aims to accomplish.