Originally posted by Patient_Leech
If there is one thing that we could legitimately call "God" involved in our existence it is the fact of our very consciousness. Our ability to perceive and contemplate ourselves and the world and universe in which we exist is the most unique facet of this existence. So it seems fitting that meditation would lead us to focus on that very consciousness as a means of calming and purifying the mind.So focus on that which is indescribable and intangible. Focus on "God."
I'd favor not calling it "God" personally, and I do consider that to be more than semantics. I think a big issue with many philosophies and practices that are otherwise secular is that they robe themselves in language that has more explicit religious connotation. They do this - deliberately or by accident - because it draws more people in. It's branding and marketing. But in doing so, they risk inviting less credible beliefs along with it, or at the very least confusing the practice or idea.
In this case, using a term like God that has myriad meanings, with the most widely accepted of them being incredibly different from consciousness, imo is a potentially dangerous inclusion in an otherwise non-religious concept.
That said, the idea that "everything is God" - or substitute God for various adjacent phrases - is something that is an end goal of some schools of meditation. In Hinduism, for example, the idea of Brahman is all-encompassing; it's often depicted as a deity, but that's simply a symbol for the underlying reality that is All. So you're not wrong, necessarily. It's just that specificity is important, especially when we're all (I'm assuming) in largely Christian cultures.