Visualization

Visualization exercises have been around for a long time, and if you talk to talk to people in the business or fitness/sports world, they will testify to the power of this mental tool.

However, in the religious world, visualization exercises have been regarded as evil or demonic. I am not sure why certain people have taken this position. In my opinion, those that tend to take this point of view seem to be the overly "religious" people, and I mean "religious" in the negative and legalistic sense of the word. It seems to me that they blur the line between the mind and the spirit, as if there were no such difference.

The bible does not mention any particular way of meditation, but it does express that we should meditate on God and his word on a continual basis. If meditation is a mental discipline that we are commanded to practice, why are they so against this particular form? My answer is: they do not understand what meditation truly is.

Are visualization  Exercises godly?

Visualization can be just as godly or demonic as prayer.

If you are praying to Satan, then your prayers are completely ungodly and demonic. If you are praying to God, then your prayers are potentially an exercise in godliness  just as much as they are a means of intimacy with Him. It really depends on how you use the visualization exercise and what you visualize. Every human being has three parts: The Spirit, The soul (mind, will, and emotions), and the body (physical, physiological, and sensations). So everything a human being does needs to be analyzed according to these three aspects.

Visualization is mainly a mental exercise. The spiritual side of visualization varies depending on how you use it. If I use visualization exercises to discipline my mind to focus on God, be loving, patient, understanding, and so forth, then the exercise will produce godly fruit and can be judged as godly. If I use visualization to produce selfishness, pride, and depravity, then the exercise can be judged as ungodly. Ultimately, visualization is a form of meditation. It is a way of changing the way you think and perceive the object of your visualization.

As a matter of fact, everyone uses visualization. Think about the last time you got angry. I mean really, really angry with someone. What did you ? If you are anything like me, you probably sat around thinking about the offense, brooding over it. And you were not just thinking, you were imagining the situation, you could see yourself, what happened, how you would have liked to react, what you would have said or done, or what you were planning on saying and doing in the near future. This was visualization, of the wrong kind. 

I am no psychological guru, but it is my understanding that our minds work largely in terms of pictures, instead of abstract concepts or actual words. So visualization is not so do much something we do, but a way in which our minds works. When people talk about visualization exercises, the are really talking about meditation and psychological programming. There is nothing evil or abnormal about that. What makes the exercise evil is the attitude behind it, and how you use it.

The right kind of visualization can actually be a form of prayer. It can be a visual conversation with God, a way of sharing with him the desire of your heart, and ask him to change you to be more like Him.This is when visualizing becomes a powerful tool for growing closer to God, and sowing good into our hearts and spirit.