Guidelines for Daily Meditation

Written By Jaime Bautista

Each of these levels—sense, mind, heart, and soul—comes into play in the four phases of the prayer process:

  • the sense level, in the reading phase;

  • the mind level, in the thinking phase;

  • the heart level, in the speaking phase;

  • the soul level, in the listening phase.

Each reflection exercise contains the same four elements:

  • a Bible reading,

  • a story,

  • an application to life,

  • a concluding thought.

The format for praying each exercise involves four steps, or phases—read, think, speak, listen. Perhaps the best way to understand the four phases of this refection or meditation process is to think of the human person as having four levels:

  • the sense or skin level,

  • the conscious or mind level,

  • the subconscious or heart level,

  • the sanctuary or soul level.

 

The skin level is the level at which we see, hear, and touch one another.

The mind level is the level at which our thought processes take place.

The heart level is the level at which we experience inner movements of the heart. For example, I may say, “I can’t explain why, but I feel a deep peace.” In other words, something at my heart level is moving me to feel this way.

The soul level is the deepest level within us. It is the level that Jesus talked about when he said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21). It is the level Paul spoke of, saying, “The Holy Spirit. . .lives in you” (1 CORINTHIANS 6:19).

Jaime Bautista
Previous

Daily Meditation