About
vain repetition. What is it? What prayer is wholly unique to the Lord who created everything. What word, what phrase has God not heard before? What is new under the sun?
In Rev. 4:8-11 it says:
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within and day and night they never cease to sing,
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty. Who was and is and is to come!"
Is that vain repetition?
So you tell me what is vain repetition? Is all repetition vain? Even that of the angels?
Seems to me this study says that one can define vain vs. non-vain ("in vain"), by measuring the effect a given activity (repetition of this or that) has on the physiology of the individual (namely the breath rate or heart rate) engaging in the activity.
In other words, if the objective is to calm oneself and thus to be receptive to the devine, yet the individual's stress rate goes up while engaging in one activity or another, then that activity must be said to be "in vain"...and another activity should be chosen and another, until the objective is met.