What Children Say about the Fruits of Meditation

The fruits of meditation are experienced as a deepening awareness of the inner dimension of the person and as human flourishing. They are, ultimately, spiritual fruits because meditation has the capacity to change our way of seeing and being in the world. I used photo-elicitation and other methods to enable children to give metaphorical expression to the fruits of meditation in their own experience. The four fruits as expressed by the children in their conversations with me are shown in the panel. The children found that

• • • • meditation helps you to be yourself
      • it helps you to feel the goodness inside;
      • it brings you closer to God; and
      • it makes you a kinder person.

Let’s take a closer look at these by considering some of the things children said, in their own words. Julie, who was 12, said that ‘because you are not talking when you’re meditating so it takes you more inside yourself.’ She said because meditation relaxes her, she becomes more aware of what she is feeling and is able to talk about her feeling afterwards. And Sophie (8) noted, ‘Meditation helps me to be more aware of the goodness inside me.’ For further examples of how the children gave rich metaphorical expression to the fruits they experienced in meditation, click here.