A group of researchers at Sussex University, England, has discovered that meditating for 7 minutes reduces a person’s racial biases.

An experiment was conducted where each subject participated in a 7-minute “Loving Kindness Meditation” that consisted of thinking loving thoughts about other people. Then the subjects undertook a psychological test called the Implicit Association Test, which exposes the subject’s automatic attitude towards genders and races.

The results of these experiments revealed that in the Caucasian subjects, the meditation worked to decrease their bias towards black people. In addition, the subjects’ positive feelings such as love and gratitude increased, possibly leading to the above result.

The Religious Reason Behind the Effects of Meditation

This result, that meditation reduces prejudices, may lead us to a new solution to racism. The important thing is to know why meditation increases positive feelings.

From a religious viewpoint, it can be said that through meditation we are awaken to our true spiritual selves; a consciousness made up of love and compassion. That is, we are awaken to existence as souls. At the same time, we can feel that other people are also souls in their true form.

In 2013, Master Ryuho Okawa, founder of Happy Science, recorded a spiritual message from Nelson Mandela, the man who became President and ended Apartheid in South Africa. It was only 6 hours after his death. The spirit of Mandela spoke about the soul and about the root of the discrimination problem.

He said that God created souls, and many of these souls have been sent to Earth. Some were born white, others olive, and others were born black, but in truth they are all equal. Here is the proof: the soul is transparent; it has no color. The soul is simply thinking energy and acting energy. This is the true reason why we are all equal and free.

The color of our skin has nothing to do with our love and gratitude for others. This is a universal truth. To resolve racism and other discrimination issues, there is a need for many people to come to an understanding that our true form is the soul, which is energy.