Recently meditation and visualization have acquired some prominence in the media. This
has given rise to the question whether meditation and visualization can be used in pastoral
therapy. Can right brain methods be employed to a larger extent in pastoral therapy and can
meditation and visualization play a role in this?
Traditionally churches have regarded meditation with some scepticism. This study
investigated whether meditation and visualization can be regarded as Biblically sound, and
whether Church history tells us more about the early use of visualization and meditation.
Pastoral methods were investigated to establish an epistemology which could serve as an
approach. The models investigated were: Heitinkâs bipolar model, Clinebellâs eductive
model, Louwâs convergence model and the narrative model. An eclectic approach was
preferred with meditation and visualization being used as components within the combined
application of all the above models.
Brain functions play their part in meditation and visualization. The function of inter alia the
reptile brain was discussed. It was concluded that meditation and visualization assist in
converting the brainâs fight or flee reaction. It was also observed that during meditation
brainwaves are in the Alpha phase which makes the brain susceptible to suggestion. This is
why meditation ahead of visualization is important in order to prepare the brain for
suggestion. Development tasks incumbent on the early adolescent were investigated. General
characteristics of Generation X were delineated.
A possible method was proposed where meditation and visualization were used as
components of pastoral therapy. This method was applied to five clients.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-03192009-095820 |
| Date | 19 March 2009 |
| Creators | Heymans, Anna Magretha Susanna |
| Contributors | Prof J Janse van Rensburg |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-03192009-095820/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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