為了達到人與神感通經驗，所有宗教靈修皆發展了一套跟人的身體有著密切關係的法門。此文章內容針對道教以及基督教對默觀修習的看法、實踐以及目標；同時也比較在兩種靈修默觀中身體所扮演的角色，以及其對身體所帶來的正面效果。道教認為人藉由默觀的修練，能享受到身體健康、長生不老，更能與道合一、進而成仙。基督教卻由於對人身有著不同的理解，而很難認同任何修練途徑所稱的效果，反而強調人與神感通是屬於神恩的領域，何必因為特別追求而忽略了實踐愛的精神。神的臨在乃由愛的行動表露出來。

Every religion deals with appropriate body involved methods to facilitate and stimulate spiritual experience. The present paper compares the role and advantages Taoism and Christianity assigned to the body during meditation. Whereas Taoist methods of cultivation aim at good health and longevity, union with the Dao and immortality, Western Christianity, due to differences in the understanding of the meditating body, is reluctant to affirming the efficiency of any method. It insists that spiritual experience is a grace and warns against the risk of psychic hunger devoid of concrete actions of love which are the manifested sings of a life at the heart of the divine.