Do you have any interest in the philosophies of introflection pioneered by Buddhism?

[Angrboda]

There tend to be as many theories about what you're trying to accomplish with meditation and why as there are Buddhists who meditate.  I hesitate to add mine to the pile, but it seems obvious that through repetition, meditation is supposed to either equip the mind with a skill that it ordinarily does poorly, or as a topical to the ordinary thought patterns that exist outside of the meditative state.  There are supposedly studies that document improvement along certain metrics correlated with things like stress and anxiety, but even if valid, it's not clear what aspect of meditation is responsible for said effects.

As far as the role that God can play in meditation, while Buddhist metaphysics do not link the virtues of practice to any divinity, both Hindu meditation (such as Bahkti yoga) and Christian mysticism do involve a god in the process of the meditation and not uncommonly involve foci derived from their respective traditions (such as meditations on passages from the Bhagavad Gita).

My own thoughts on it come primarily from my favourite book on the subject, What The Buddha Taught by Walpola Sri Rahula, but I accept that that's just one interpretation, and further, accept TGN's arguments that those views may be 'retconned', ie a modern interpretation, which may or may not accurately reflect what was originally intended by the Buddha, but nonetheless, that's the form and interpretation of Buddhism that speaks to me personally, but each to their own.

I agree that through practice, the skills become stronger, and am vaguely aware of studies about meditation essentially rewiring the brain, which I personally put down to the fact that it is not a usual/natural practice, to focus in this way on mental phenomena, so I am not surprised if repetition of that causes new and strange connections in the brain to be established. And by 'topical', do you mean a supplement to the ordinary thought patterns that exist outside of the meditative state? I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that turn of phrase.

As to the reduction of stress and anxiety, I haven't personally looked into any studies on that, so neither can I say much about what aspects of meditation might be responsible for that, but I just know that in general, in my own case, I have less stress and anxiety when I'm in a Buddhist frame of mind, than not, but I'd say that's more likely an indirect result... of thinking about the whole philosophy... rather than, or at least in addition to, a direct result of meditation, which is not something I do that often, but which this thread has made me interested to try again... and I really should read that book again.

As for the role of God in meditation, are you talking about the notion of mantras? Ie repeating some phrase or whatever as an object of meditation? If so, I understand where you're coming from, but have never tried that particular type of meditation myself.

Topical as in a topical medication, something applied locally that only has an effect local to where it is applied.

As to God, the Christian mystics teach that there are apophatic traditions, in which one focuses on what God is not, and kataphatic practices wherein one focuses on some attribute or thing related to God. The apophatic tradition, known as the negative way, focuses on eliminating fixations as to what God is by emptying one's mind. Hindu traditions speak of several different yogas, jnana, raja, and bhakti. Raja yoga is analogous to traditional Buddhist meditation, but jnana and bhakti meditation focus upon the divine in different ways, with jnana yoga being the path of knowledge or wisdom, and bhakti yoga being the path of love, of centering one's mind on love and worship of the divine personage.