Have you heard of Centering Prayer?

[amoxoxoma]

Here is another article regarding Centering Prayer. Also here To me with all these negatives and especially meditations that are derived from eastern mysticism, I would rather err on the side of caution and stay away completly. There are many, many other forms of meditation especially Lectio Divina. Why take a chance?

Since you are fearful of some bad outcome with CP based on the writings of people who are critical and do not practice it, despite the testimony of JimR and myself, by all means avoid it. Practice some other form of prayer with your whole mind/body/soul and leave the results to God.

 

[whatevergirl]

Here is something to think about…In today’s Gospel, Jesus scolds the Apostles for wanting to condemn people, instead of help them. The moral of the story is not to get caught up in the structure of things, that we forget the beauty of silence, and prayer. Centering prayer…if we are focusing on Christ (as the center) should not be harmful. I prefer the Rosary, however…I cannot explain it, but it has really transformed my prayer life…and has made me capable of dealing with the everyday stresses a little bit more calmer.

I just thought that today’s Gospel was somewhat fitting for what we’re discussing here.

 

[Augustine]

No spiritual director worth his weight is going to speak to a devotee about prayer until he discerns how God is guiding that soul. We should do the same.

And it always starts with God, for prayer, in any shape or form, is a grace, not a reward or the result of any mental state or technique. The merciful God is not a mere bystander to be seized!

Enough said.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

The merciful God is not a mere bystander to be seized!

Enough said.

How true!

“God can not be grasped, except through love.” From the Cloud of Unknowing.

In Christ Jesus
Jim

 

[Veritas41]

Please do a web search for Jesus Christ Bearer of the Water of Life which is an official Vatican document on the New Age. One section addresses the technique of centering prayer without identifying it by that name. I think it’s a good resource to have on hand about centering prayer because it is an official document.

 

[Joysong]

Hi Dave,

I realize that when you posted the initial warning from page 1 of the Cloud, it was set aside as your “misunderstanding.” These words in Chapter 4 leave little doubt as to the author’s meaning, and complement your other post:

Some will probably hear about this work and suppose that by their own ingenious efforts they can achieve it. They are likely to strain their mind and imagination unnaturally only to produce a false work which is neither human nor divine. Truly such a person is dangerously deceived. And I fear that unless God intervenes with a miracle inspiring him to abandon these practices and humbly seek reliable counsel, he will most certainly fall into mental aberrations or some great spiritual evil of the devil’s devising. Then he risks losing both body and soul eternally.

From Johnston’s introduction in the Cloud:

From what has been said, it will be clear that in the English author,* the central place in the contemplative exercise is allotted to love.* That love is the essence of the whole thing is unequivocally stated again and again. --skip-- It should be noted however, that he uses these expressions for an activity that includes knowledge or consciousness of some kind. For purposes of analysis it is possible to speak of knowledge and love in contemplation, but the activity the author speaks of is a blend of both, a completely simple experience arising in the depth of the contemplative’s heart.

In a beginner, there is little knowledge, little love. It is essential that these both be developed in the heart of a would-be contemplative, and you and I have reinforced this many times, Dave. A beginner cannot simply enter prayer as Augustine mentioned above, through a mental exercise (CP) and expect that God is going to bless him. The faculties must do their preliminary work to grow in knowledge and love before considering the exercise of CP. God made us that way, and to do otherwise is to attempt to be angels, not human.

There is just too much doctrinal teaching from saints and Doctors of the Church wherein we may walk in safety, than to put one’s total faith in a freethinking writing of a monk who has not laid the preliminary essential groundwork for the reader. I believe the author presumed that the reader was advanced, for initially he wrote this solely for monastics. Obviously, these were not beginners! … and did not need the initial preparation.

You and I remember discussions in old threads that this method is being taught indiscriminately in classes open to anyone who registers, regardless of their growth in spirituality. I personally attended a one-day workshop, and the eastern techniques were imposed upon everyone by the facillitator without warning, prior to his presentation. Needless to say, this is unsound and boldly presumptuous of the spirituality of the student.

Just a few cents’ worth to corroborate your excellent posts, Dave.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Read the first centence from the Cloud,

Some will probably hear about this work and suppose that by their **own ingenious efforts **they can achieve it.

As taught by Father Keating, it is not our work that brings us into comtemplation, but the grace from God.

The author of the Cloud is warning those who think they can do things on their own, to reach this level. He tells them to abandon this way of thinking.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Please do a web search for Jesus Christ Bearer of the Water of Life which is an official Vatican document on the New Age. One section addresses the technique of centering prayer without identifying it by that name. I think it’s a good resource to have on hand about centering prayer because it is an official document.

I read it. It doesn’t talk about what Centering Prayer is, but what New Ageism is. Centering Prayer does not teach New Age spirituality.

Jim

I know, I said I was done with this thread!

 

[Veritas41]

.4. Christian mysticism and New Age mysticism
For Christians, the spiritual life is a relationship with God which gradually through his grace becomes deeper, and in the process also sheds light on our relationship with our fellow men and women, and with the universe. Spirituality in* New Age* terms means experiencing states of consciousness dominated by a sense of harmony and fusion with the Whole. So “mysticism” refers not to meeting the transcendent God in the fullness of love, but to the experience engendered by turning in on oneself, an exhilarating sense of being at one with the universe, a sense of letting one’s individuality sink into the great ocean of Being.(59)
This fundamental distinction is evident at all levels of comparison between Christian mysticism and* New Age* mysticism. The New Age way of purification is based on awareness of unease or alienation, which is to be overcome by immersion into the Whole. In order to be converted, a person needs to make use of techniques which lead to the experience of illumination. This transforms a person’s consciousness and opens him or her to contact with the divinity, which is understood as the deepest essence of reality.
The techniques and methods offered in this immanentist religious system, which has no concept of God as person, proceed ‘from below’. Although they involve a descent into the depths of one’s own heart or soul, they constitute an essentially human enterprise on the part of a person who seeks to rise towards divinity by his or her own efforts. It is often an “ascent” on the level of consciousness to what is understood to be a liberating awareness of “the god within”. Not everyone has access to these techniques, whose benefits are restricted to a privileged spiritual ‘aristocracy’.
The essential element in Christian faith, however, is God’s descent towards his creatures, particularly towards the humblest, those who are weakest and least gifted according to the values of the “world”. There are spiritual techniques which it is useful to learn, but God is able to by-pass them or do without them. A Christian’s “method of getting closer to God is not based on any technique in the strict sense of the word. That would contradict the spirit of childhood called for by the Gospel. The heart of genuine Christian mysticism is not technique: it is always a gift of God; and the one who benefits from it knows himself to be unworthy”.(60)
For Christians, conversion is turning back to the Father, through the Son, in docility to the power of the Holy Spirit. The more people progress in their relationship with God – which is always and in every way a free gift – the more acute is the need to be converted from sin, spiritual myopia and self-infatuation, all of which obstruct a trusting self-abandonment to God and openness to other men and women.
All meditation techniques need to be purged of presumption and pretentiousness. Christian prayer is not an exercise in self-contemplation, stillness and self-emptying, but a dialogue of love, one which “implies an attitude of conversion, a flight from ‘self’ to the ‘You’ of God”.(61) It leads to an increasingly complete surrender to God’s will, whereby we are invited to a deep, genuine solidarity with our brothers and sisters.(62)

Please note the highlighted passages above. One describes the technique used in New Age practice which looks an awful lot like centering prayer and then the authentic Christian way of contemplative prayer.

 

[DBT]

I know, I said I was done with this thread!

Jim -

I’m really at a loss for words at this point . . . and greatly saddened. As one Secular Carmelite to another, all I can say is why are you doing this?

Countless examples have been given throughout this thread of the many ways St. Teresa - the foundress of our order! - refutes everything you have to say with regard to the way of beginners and the concept of readiness. Not once have you replied back in the context of a Carmelite; your only response has been "Father Keating says . . . "

Jim, our first obligation as Carmelites is to respond as Carmelites; thereby preserving the integrity of the teaching of the saints of our order in public forums like these. To somehow imply a central unity between the teaching of Fr. Keating and the saints of our order when it comes in the way of beginners is to do our readers a great disservice.

Jim, I sure hope I haven’t offended you . . . for that is not my intent . . . but you really ought to know better.

Dave

 

[Joysong]

As another secular Carmelite, I couldn’t agree more with you, DBT. Thank you for your wise words.

It is particularly un-Carmelite to respond to either of us that we are somehow “misunderstanding” both Keating and the author of the Cloud, … as though we somehow made all of this up just to debate?

When Keating is canonized and made a Doctor of the Church in equal standing with St. Teresa, maybe then will I listen, but then it would be in comparison to that which Teresa has already taught. There are only 33 Doctors of the Church in 2000 years of existence. Holy Mother Church does not bestow that distinction lightly!

 

[ncjohn]

As one who benefitted greatly from Fr Keating’s teachings on centering prayer–as a beginner–I have to admit being dumbfounded by the many who are so disparaging to this prayer style.

Centering prayer has been around for centuries, and according to at least one book on prayer I read, written by a Catholic priest, it was brought into awareness by the same person and at approximately the same time as Lectio Divina. I will try to find that reference.

To imply that it is not suitable for beginners to me is ludicrous. It is nothing more than a way of presenting oneself to God. It is not an attempt to force contemplation, but a way of making oneself available to it should God grant it. It is no different in many ways than praying the rosary or sitting in adoration, both of which are methods of using prayer to put one’s self in God’s presence. Would we say that those are dangerous to beginners also?

I have grown accustomed to seeing this antipathy from those who just quote articles that are written about generic offshoots of Keating’s work, many of which admittedly have questionable practices and aims. I am also accustomed to seeing the numerous replies attempting to clarify the difference between contemplation and centering prayer, which is an important distinction. This constant insistence though that it is “new age” or “occultic” or “eastern religion” from those uninformed in the practice beyond reading a negative generic article or two, and who have never tried it or experienced its benefits, just goes beyond the pale. As Catholics we have an obligation to know of what we speak before we go casting aspersions lest we fall into detraction.

I fully agree that it is not for all, as no prayer style is. Some of us are best suited to repetitive prayer while others fall into a stupor attempting it. Some (probably most) are well suited to Lectio Divina, though others find the repetitive analysis part mind-numbing. Some are drawn to Ignatian prayer while others do not seem to posess the ability to direct their imaginative powers in that way. We are different people of different personalities who will have different ways of approaching God. To think that any one of us has the ability to dictate to another what way is proper for them is beyond arrogant as God will call us to what He will.

To those who are considering Centering Prayer, by all means do your homework. Make sure that what you are looking at is validly in line with Church teaching as not everything out there posing as Centering Prayer is in fact that. But in the end, one has to make that decision, with the best information available and ideally with good spiritual direction, for themselves.

Peace to all,

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Jim -

I’m really at a loss for words at this point . . . and greatly saddened. As one Secular Carmelite to another, all I can say is why are you doing this?

Countless examples have been given throughout this thread of the many ways St. Teresa - the foundress of our order! - refutes everything you have to say with regard to the way of beginners and the concept of readiness. Not once have you replied back in the context of a Carmelite; your only response has been "Father Keating says . . . "

Jim, our first obligation as Carmelites is to respond as Carmelites; thereby preserving the integrity of the teaching of the saints of our order in public forums like these. To somehow imply a central unity between the teaching of Fr. Keating and the saints of our order when it comes in the way of beginners is to do our readers a great disservice.

Jim, I sure hope I haven’t offended you . . . for that is not my intent . . . but you really ought to know better.

Dave

Dave,
as an OCDS member, who also has experience in Centering Prayer, and who has talked with Caremelite Friars about it, I know what St. Teresa and St. John of th Cross, taught and how Centering prayer is in line with their teachings.

Read the Accent of My Carmel, and tell me where John says, a novice should not begin?

No offense taken here. I’m open to other opinions, especially when I’m so fallible.

Jim

 

[Joysong]

Ncjohn:

To imply that it is not suitable for beginners to me is ludicrous. It is nothing more than a way of presenting oneself to God. It is not an attempt to force contemplation, but a way of making oneself available to it should God grant it. It is no different in many ways than praying the rosary or sitting in adoration, both of which are methods of using prayer to put one’s self in God’s presence. Would we say that those are dangerous to beginners also?

It is difficult to reach you folks, of that I am painfully aware! Think about what you just posted, John, in light of a beginner. True, many beginners go to adoration, but how many of them are able to simply sit and contemplate using CP? … which teaches the elimination of distractions for a period of 20 minutes, admitting no other thoughts, but a naked awareness of God through a chosen sacred word.

Once again, I heartily disagree with you that this is something a beginner in prayer does at adoration. When I attend, I almost always see devotees using a book, rosary, chaplet, or such. Those who are not using a devotional aid are usually in prayer of thanksgiving, petition, praise or the like, all of which involve the mind and its faculties. Hardly any are sitting there with naked intent upon a sacred word, as if this practice will bring one closer to God. No, they are involved in “adoration” whichever form that may take for them.

If a **few **are able just to “look at Him, while He looks at me” then I maintain it is not a beginner! Possibly a little one can do so as well, with simplicity of a child, but I doubt that it is being done through a deliberate technique to stay focused with no other concepts being admitted to one’s mind.

 

[DBT]

As one who benefitted greatly from Fr Keating’s teachings on centering prayer–as a beginner–I have to admit being dumbfounded by the many who are so disparaging to this prayer style.

Hello again John -

You are being humble for your past posts on these forums clearly show you are no beginner . . . at least not in the context of what has been discussed in this thread. I have always been impressed with your purity of heart, simplicity and intuitive grasp . . . the marks of a soul with a true contemplative outlook.

And I’m very greatful you’ve found benefit from Fr. Keating who, believe it or not, I don’t have a beef with - - - outside his divergence from the teachings of Carmel. I know from other posts of yours that you recently finished reading “Interior Castle.” Go back to the discussions in Mansions 1 and 2 and see if you can find the teachings of Fr. Keating there . . . I doubt you’ll find anything. Like the author of “The Cloud,” the type of things taught by Fr. Keating are most applicable to souls transitioning from the 3rd Mansion to the 4th. When one looks at what the author of “The Cloud” describes in his foreward, you’ll see unity with what St. Teresa has to say for souls at exactly the same point.

My best to you . . .

Dave

 

[ncjohn]

It is difficult to reach you folks, of that I am painfully aware! Think about what you just posted, John, in light of a beginner. True, many beginners go to adoration, but how many of them are able to simply sit and contemplate using CP? … which teaches the elimination of distractions for a period of 20 minutes, admitting no other thoughts, but a naked awareness of God through a chosen sacred word.

Once again, I heartily disagree with you that this is something a beginner in prayer does at adoration. When I attend, I almost always see devotees using a book, rosary, chaplet, or such. Those who are not using a devotional aid are usually in prayer of thanksgiving, petition, praise or the like, all of which involve the mind and its faculties. Hardly any are sitting there with naked intent upon a sacred word, as if this practice will bring one closer to God. No, they are involved in “adoration” whichever form that may take for them.

If a **few **are able just to “look at Him, while He looks at me” then I maintain it is not a beginner! Possibly a little one can do so as well, with simplicity of a child, but I doubt that it is being done through a deliberate technique to stay focused with no other concepts being admitted to one’s mind.

I doubt that many are attempting “to sit and contemplate using CP” at adoration. Not that many people even know about CP. Many people who do know about it won’t be disposed to it and will prefer to say the rosary or meditate on bible passages or whatever. Quite frankly in my experience, few people have any idea whether they are supposed to do anything in particular at adoration at all beyond just being there for their hour. I know nobody ever told me anything other than putting up a schedule to sign up on. Maybe if people had some idea about trying to actually be in the presence of God our adoration time might be more beneficial.

Likewise, just as beginners at adoration will have varying but hopefully increasing levels of proficiency, people properly trained in CP will also have varying but hopefully increasing levels of proficiency. To this day I am not able to go for 20 minutes with my mind unadulterated, much less reach that Cloud of Unknowing. But I’m better at refocusing it than I used to be because I continue to work at it. Every beginner has to begin somewhere.

As to the “naked intent on a single word”, I’m sure you are aware that there is no such thing. The “sacred word” or phrase is just something to help one bring one’s mind back and does not serve any other purpose in itself. There is no “intent” on the word, but use of the word to substitute for other random thoughts that will inevitably try to invade.

As to it leading to comtemplation, I have not experienced that happening in my case and my contemplative moments have come at highly unexpected times. I do believe though that it is in actively working to put ourselves into God’s presence that we become capable of listening for the still, small voice so that we are better able to recognize it when it whispers lightly in the midst of the everyday.

I think you greatly underestimate the ability of people to understand the concept and implement it. If you are interpreting the whole thing to be beginners seeking to “expedite” contemplation, I think that would be both an unworthy goal and an unlikely outcome. But the method itself is, IMHO, a wonderful way to learn to put oneself at God’s disposal and learn how to listen for Him. And the discipline of setting aside blocks of time to do that is a great way to create the habit of prioritizing our time with God.

Peace,

 

[ncjohn]

Hello again John -

You are being humble for your past posts on these forums clearly show you are no beginner . . . at least not in the context of what has been discussed in this thread. I have always been impressed with your purity of heart, simplicity and intuitive grasp . . . the marks of a soul with a true contemplative outlook.

And I’m very greatful you’ve found benefit from Fr. Keating who, believe it or not, I don’t have a beef with - - - outside his divergence from the teachings of Carmel. I know from other posts of yours that you recently finished reading “Interior Castle.” Go back to the discussions in Mansions 1 and 2 and see if you can find the teachings of Fr. Keating there . . . I doubt you’ll find anything. Like the author of “The Cloud,” the type of things taught by Fr. Keating are most applicable to souls transitioning from the 3rd Mansion to the 4th. When one looks at what the author of “The Cloud” describes in his foreward, you’ll see unity with what St. Teresa has to say for souls at exactly the same point.

My best to you . . .

Dave

Thanks for your kind words Dave. I was indeed a prayer beginner though when I started using CP. It was part of the discipline that led me to prioritizing my prayer life and part of what has led me to the benefits that have resulted from that.

I guess I don’t see a conflict between it and Interior Castle. Interior Castle was written toward people who were really beyond the beginner stage and while its descriptions of the early stages are fairly good, I don’t see them as being either all-encompassing or as being written to instruct those at those stages. I certainly don’t see anything urging beginners to stay away from trying to place themselves in the presence of God even if she doesn’t address specific practices such as CP.

One will reap more benefits in their spiritual life as they become more aware of and engrossed in scripture, and will become more able to hear God’s voice as they take the time to listen for it and familiar with what it sounds like. CP to me is a way to accomplish that, with appropriate understanding and training and a willingness to create the discipline we all need to keep from just putting God on the “back burner” to be available when we need Him.

I truly believe that for those truly seeking to grow in their relationship with God that this can be a very valuable tool.

Good to see you again Dave!

 

[Joysong]

Dear Dave (DBT),

The author of the Cloud’s words coincide also with the teachings of St. Teresa you mentioned above. Why it is that certain advocates of CP overlook their importance, is hard for me to understand.

From Ch. 5 of the Privy Counsel in the same book:

You have reached a point where your further growth in perfection demands that you do not feed your mind with meditation on the multiple aspects of your being. In the past, these pious *meditations *helped you to understand something of God. They fed your interior affection with a sweet and delightful attraction for Him and spiritual things, and filled your mind with a certain spiritual wisdom.

But now clearly a transition from beginning methods above to the more advanced] it is important that you seriously concentrate on the effort to abide continually in the deep center of your spirit, offering to God that naked blind awareness of your being which I call your first fruits.

If Keating advocates the teachings in the Cloud, it is important to note that the teachings therein are not for beginners. That is what I fail to notice in his works, and also in the many workshops that seem to thrust innocent souls into ways that are not suited for their present spirituality.

 

[Joysong]

Ncjohn:

I certainly don’t see anything urging beginners to stay away from trying to place themselves in the presence of God even if she doesn’t address specific practices such as CP.

This I agree with, John. St. Teresa does teach us to strive to obtain the practice of recollection, saying how good it is to make the effort. But she does not use methodology such as CP, and she teaches it quite a bit later in spiritual development, the third mansion, if memory serves me.

I too was once a beginner, as all of us are at some point. I remember that recollection was born in me from continual morning practices of lectio and meditation, wherein I often became quietly attentive to God many times throughout my day afterwards … in simplicity, sometimes just using an ejaculation and remaining a few moments in loving attention.

The Lord can then lift us from recollection to contemplation, as He wills, but I think we need to remember the important matter of our Saints’ teachings is that all of this is a movement of love.

Maybe a beginner can just use ejaculations or sacred words, but honestly, I have not found one author of eminent teaching say that this is a customary practice for beginners. I’m reminded of LaGrange’s and Tanquerey’s writings on the stages of growth, neither of which bypass the purgative stage and place the soul immediately in the illuminative or unitive. We just don’t grow that way, with due respect for God’s action that may be an extraordinary exception to this norm.

 

[ncjohn]

This
I too was once a beginner, as all of us are at some point. I remember that recollection was born in me from continual morning practices of lectio and meditation, wherein I often became quietly attentive to God many times throughout my day afterwards … in simplicity, sometimes just using an ejaculation and remaining a few moments in loving attention.

The Lord can then lift us from recollection to contemplation, as He wills, but I think we need to remember the important matter of our Saints’ teachings is that all of this is a movement of love.

I feel like we’re saying the same thing in different terms here.

I absolutely agree that all of this has to come from love, and from my experience with people at the CP workshop with Fr Keating, I would take that as a “given” in people who are exploring the practice, though that might not always be the case as with anything else.

I would further agree that just uttering a “sacred word” like some kind of magical charm, with an expectation that that was going to be of some beneftit, would be misguided at best. Again though, I have not encountered that in people I have seen exploring CP, though I certainly couldn’t say that it couldn’t happen, or that someone couldn’t mistakenly promote such an idea. And I would agree that use of a sacred word, without the attendant preparatory time spent in love with God, would not be of much if any value to a beginner.

Your description though of recollection being born of meditation–with that increasing your awareness of God, and having an ejaculation able to continue that awareness or attentiveness–is virtually identical to what my experience was with CP, and I would almost take it as an accurate description of CP and its goals.

Attention to God begets attention to God and makes it more and more natural until our lives can truly become our prayer. I know for many that growth has been aided by CP, just as it is by Lectio Divina, adoration, and any other attempt we conciously make to put God before us. If there is truly a case where someone has been “damaged” or held back by CP, I have yet to see evidence of it.

Peace and thanks for your thoughtful comments.