Adoration, Meditation, Restoration
Our goal for this essay is to explore the relationships among the three processes named in the title. The type of adoration we have in mind is spiritual, defined by Webster as “to worship or honor as a deity or as divine” and a bit more secularly as “to regard with reverent admiration and devotion.” Meditation refers to a number of techniques for gaining control of the mind. The goal is typically to control mental processes so that the meditator can avoid distraction and focus on whatever he or she wishes. It is a discipline and requires training and practice to achieve. Restoration is the process whereby a person suffering from “mental fatigue” can regain the ability to focus attention and function effectively. It typically involves placing oneself is a setting in which the ability to focus can recover.
Much has been written about each of these processes separately, less about how they relate to each other. The connections among the three are of interest because they shed valuable insight on how the mind functions, a topic of perennial interest. Fortunately, much of the heavy theoretical lifting regarding the relations between meditation and restoration has already been done. In a seminal article published in 2001 (see reference below), Stephen Kaplan explored the topic thoroughly, and we will rely heavily on his analysis. As for how adoration fits into the mix, that represents largely a step into the unknown although there are some hints in the literature on restoration. For reasons that will become evident, it will be useful to consider the three processes in reverse order.
Restoration
A quick primer on restoration can be had by reading the previous post on “The Conservation of Attention.” Briefly, the ability to focus attention voluntarily can become weakened by overuse. This is fairly common in the modern world because we often have to focus on things that don’t interest us and suppress distractions that are far more tantalizing. Doing what you are supposed to on the computer instead of playing games or trolling your email inbox is a common example. With a little thought, you can probably supply many more. The “mental fatigue” that can result from this battle has practical consequences. You are no longer able to focus effectively, and that leads to things like errors, impatience, and incivility, to name a few. Impulse control is severely weakened. The cure for mental fatigue is to allow the voluntary attention mechanisms to rest so that the ability to focus can recover. This is most readily accomplished by placing oneself in a setting that does not demand voluntary or effortful attention for functioning so that the fatigued mechanisms can recover. Such settings are known as “restorative settings.” The theory briefly outlined here is called Attention Restoration Theory or ART. It was developed by Stephen and Rachel Kaplan over many years and has been the impetus for a ton of research.
ART specifies that a setting must have four properties if it is to be fully restorative, and all four are necessary. These properties are:
Being Away - The setting should be distinct, physically or conceptually, from one’s everyday environment.
Fascination – The setting should contain patterns that hold one’s attention effortlessly.
Extent – The setting should have enough scope and organization that it can engage the person for as long as may be necessary for recovery.
Compatibility – The setting should be supportive of what one wants to do in it.
ART suggests that a kind of peaceful or “soft” fascination will work best for restorative purposes. ART also notes, and much research supports, that ordinary everyday natural settings are not only readily available but also very effective for restoration.
Crucial to our present discussion, Kaplan suggests that the four requirements listed above support two mandates or directives for achieving restoration:
1. Avoid calling on tired thought patterns.
2. Avoid the unnecessary use of effortful (voluntary) attention.
The first mandate is served by the Being Away requirement. By placing oneself in a distinct and different setting, one is less likely to engage in the thought patterns that contributed to one’s mental fatigue. The second mandate is served by the other three requirements. Each in its own way lessens the need for using effortful attention. As one concrete example, imagine that you need to get to the hospital in a hurry. If you are in a compatible setting where transportation is readily available, you needn’t waste cognitive resources trying to figure out how to achieve your goal.
Meditation
As we noted earlier, meditation refers to a number of techniques for controlling mental processes so that you can focus on whatever you wish to. Most meditative approaches require training and practice. The goal is to learn the technique(s) well enough so that they can be used effortlessly.
Kaplan observes that many meditation techniques suggest that a special place should be reserved for this activity, a setting different from one’s usual haunts. This should help encourage patterns of thought different from the usual. The assumption is that one’s usual thought patterns would interfere with the practice of meditation. Sound familiar? His conclusion is that this strategy serves the same purpose as #1 above: Avoid calling on tired thought patterns. Thus, a clear link between meditation and restoration.
Kaplan also observes that many meditative strategies which appear quite different on the surface may in fact have a striking underlying similarity. These include things like use of a mantra, patterned or repetitive motions, and trying to let thoughts flow freely without intervening. The underlying commonality is that each of these techniques tends to discourage active control of the thought process. Hmmm. Here we go again. It would seem that these meditation approaches can be seen as serving the same purpose as #2 above: Avoid the unnecessary use of effortful attention. Another link between meditation and restoration.
Meditation and restoration are not the same thing. Meditation is a mental discipline that has to be learned, but once learned it provides a pathway to enlightenment and endless fascination. Restoration requires little learning. All you have to do is to know the features of a restorative setting and place yourself in one when mentally fatigued. Despite these differences, there are striking similarities between the two.
Adoration
Although most spiritual adoration involves worshipping or honoring a deity, that does not have to be the case. Even an avowed atheist might revere something like nature or the universe or some unknown force thought to influence reality as we know it. In extremis, there is no law against adoring the hidden aliens who have been guiding human development since the dawn of consciousness. Even esoteric adoration of this sort, however, has features in common with the religious forms, and it is in religious adoration that we will see most clearly the links with meditation and restoration.
Let’s begin with the setting. In religious adoration, you are typically required to go to a setting specifically designed for that purpose: a house of worship, a chapel, a shrine, or something similar. Even if you set aside a small shrine area somewhere in your home, its key feature is that it will be different from your typical workaday settings. It will be different both physically and conceptually. In other words, it will have the property of Being Away. And as such, it will satisfy the mandate to avoid calling on your typical workaday tired thought patterns.
Moving quickly through the list now, we note that the adoration setting will typically have features that effortlessly engage your attention. Some of these will be physical features (icons, crosses, altars, etc.), but even more compelling will be the vast organized conceptual structure symbolized by those features. Typically, the fascination thus induced will be the quiet peaceful kind. In other words, the setting has the property of “soft” Fascination.
Further, that vast conceptual structure activated by the setting will engage the mind for as long as may be necessary. The setting has Extent. Finally, the features and symbolism of the setting aid you in doing exactly what you want to do in that setting: adoration. The setting has Compatibility.
The last three of these features aid in satisfying the mandate to avoid the unnecessary use of effortful attention.
Conclusion: The adoration setting is restorative. At this point, it may not surprise you to learn that there is empirical research supporting the conclusion that spiritual settings, such as monasteries and houses of worship, do indeed function as restorative settings.
Which brings us to meditation. Clearly, adoration has a purpose above and beyond restoration. Its goal is to focus our attention on the object of adoration and to admire, honor, revere, worship that object. All of these things may (probably will) require some training and practice before they can be done relatively effortlessly. Skills (such as how to pray, how to contemplate, and, tellingly, how to avoid distraction) will have to be mastered.
Conclusion: Adoration can be seen as a specific kind of meditation focused on a spiritual object. Alternately, you may feel equally justified in concluding that adoration is better seen as a set of skills, one of which is meditation, oriented toward a spiritual goal or purpose. You can take your pick; we’re not fussy. Either way, there is a strong link between adoration and meditation.
And so, we come to the end of the road. Except for the grand finale. Which, from a psychological point of view, is rather satisfying. A close look at the interrelations among adoration, meditation, and restoration, suggests that all of them involve, in a deep way, the regulation of attention, that “precious” resource.
Reference
Kaplan, S. (2001). Meditation, restoration, and the management of mental fatigue. Environment and Behavior, 33, 480-506.
