Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening

Good read. The author is well informed and very articulate. Centering prayer is a form of Christian meditation that has been around for centuries. I enjoyed and learned from this book. I highly recommend it to others.

This luminous book integrates practice, theology, and cosmology in a clear and lucid stream, thus orienting us in the heart of God in a simple and profound way: by letting go, the very path that Jesus walked.

A friend told me about this and I am currently practicing centering prayer. This is perhaps the clearest discussion of the subject I've seen, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in centering prayer or lectio divina.

I found this book easy to read and practical for answering questions I had about centering prayer after reading works by Thomas Keating. I also found the author's comparison of centering practice to Christian meditation and Christian zen very helpful.

Well written book by a person who knows and understands her subject! This book for someone who wants to give 20 minutes a day to centering prayer. It will serve you well because it provides a clear framework.

I have never read a book by this author, but I would purchase another book by this same author. She has had great, well-known mentors and she write along the same guidlines as her mentors. I enjoyed reading her material.

I'm so happy to have been led to read this exquisite and detailed understanding of the benefits of Centering Prayer and the spiritual path to transform "our" consciousness - this is what I've been looking for and only discovered this epiphany when I see how expertly she shares both process and context and validates it with scripture as well as vast knowledge of history, world religions and living the spiritual reality.

I was mostly interested in the chapter on the "welcoming prayer". Clearly this philosophy can be viewed as a mental exercise if the spiritual depth is too much to swallow. The Welcoming Prayer/exercise is useful to reduce moments of high stress or anxiety. It actually works with practice. A great coping mechanism.

This is a wonderful book. It helped me connect my Buddhist practise with my Christian background in a way that answered long unanswered questions, made sense. I so very much wish I had had a book like this 20 years ago.

Cynthia Bourgeault's writing always goes straight to the heart while giving very clear information about the topic of the centering prayer. I love or no nonsense approach to this spiritual practice. She marries the ethereal with the practical in a way that I find very moving.

I don't think it's quibbling to say that this is not a book about prayer (which I take to be Talking to Something Called God). It is better called a gateway book about meditation, and is intended for those who don't use the word "meditation" for fear of being mistaken for Buddhists. Is it important which word we use? No. And of course, the less said the better. But it might be important to know what you're doing. Traditionally, if you're praying you're talking to (or at?) deity and asking for something, be it peace on earth or an affordable new car. In meditation, many people understand that word to mean you're shutting down the inner noise and preparing a place for God or Spirit or The Great Mumbo Jumbo to come silently and sit with or within you. This is one of the simplest human activities imaginable. Why you would need to read a book about it, I don't know. But if you need it, use it and don't forget to send the author a thank-you note.

I first read "Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening" five years ago, immediately after I'd finished Thomas Keating's "Open Mind, Open Heart." While I thought that Keating's text was a good basic introduction to spiritual meditation, I was unimpressed with Bourgeault's book. My copy of her book went into storage not long after I read it, and I just received it two weeks ago. Because I had recently reviewed Bourgeault's text "The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three," I was eager to re-read "Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening" and consider it in detail.

"Centering Prayer" is a misnomer for the meditation practice that Bourgeault teaches. The practice doesn't involve centering or prayer. Rather, it is simply a Zen-like practice of releasing thoughts as soon as one catches oneself thinking them. One employs a "sacred word," or phrase, such as "let go" or "trust God," to help facilitate the release of mental content. While this type of "apophatic (or "via negativa") practice is an essential component of true, or integral, contemplation, in and by itself it is non-integral, or exclusive-reductive, in nature. Bourgeault's version of Centering Prayer differs from Keating's, whose description of the practice is richer, fuller, and more spiritual. Keating, unlike Bourgeault, says that "Centering Prayer consists of the first two stages leading to "prayer in secret." The latter consists of relating to God beyond thoughts, feelings and particular acts." In Bourgeualt's de-spiritualized version of Centering Prayer there is no relating to God and no receiving of what Keating calls the "sanctifying light" of the Spirit.

When I read Bourgeault, I sense that she is an un-baptized talking head who knows nothing about infused contemplation. Bourgeault quotes John 3:7: "You must be born from above," but she fails to provide any information or insight about the descent of Divine Power, a sine qua non of Christian mysticism. Regarding infused contemplation, Bourgeault writes: "The `acquired/infused' checkpoint is really engendered by the egoism that created the problem in the first place; it stipulates that in the final analysis power and control remain with God. This type of confusion is what ensues when one tries to describe an apophatic process using cataphatic reference points... What troubles me far more about this whole `acquired/infused' dichotomy, however, is the fact that it rests on a theology of God as `out there,' giving graces to some while withholding them from others."

Unbeknownst to Bourgeault, the "acquired/infused" dichotomy is not a "problem" engendered by egoism. It is simply a description of spiritual practice before and after one is baptized by the Spirit, or reborn "from above." God doesn't give Grace, or Blessing Power, to some while withholding it from others. Rather, Grace is freely and Lawfully bestowed upon disciples according to their effort and ability to remain in relationship to God and let go of everything else.

Bourgeault summarizes her take on the "acquired/infused" dichotomy thus: "It is the consciousness itself that is the attained state of contemplation, and it is neither infused nor acquired, because it was never absent - only unrecognized." Unbeknownst to Bougeault, the recognition of this "consciousness" is not possible without the infusion, or pouring down, of the Spirit; and this infusion is the natural progression following acquired contemplation. Romans 5.5 reads: "It is the Holy Spirit and it has been poured into your heart" - but Bourgeault has nothing to say about the Holy Spirit as the en-Light-ening agent that descends into one's heart. Unbeknownst to Bourgeault, Divine Union is the union of this down-poured, or infused, Spirit Power with one's soul (or consciousness), in one's heart (the Sacred-Heart center). Upon the attainment of this Divine Union, one recognizes, or realizes, oneself as the Self, or Son, consubstantial with the Father, Divine Consciousness.

Bourgeault's ignorance of mystical Christianity extends into the apophatic/cataphatic dichotomy. Simply put, she has a limited understanding of cataphatic spirituality, which she rejects in her Centering Prayer practice. She writes, "In Centering Prayer, then, we leave the cataphatic world and step completely into the apophatic ground, on its own terms."

According to Bougeault, cataphatic prayer is prayer that makes use of what theologians call our `faculties." It engages our reason, memory, imagination, feelings and will." This is an exoteric interpretation of cataphatic spirituality. According to Wikipedia, "The word cataphatic itself is formed from two Greek words, "cata" meaning to descend and "femi" meaning to speak. Thus, to combine them translates the word roughly as "to bring God down in such a way so as to speak of him." From an esoteric, or mystical, perspective, cataphatic spirituality is about descent of the Divine, and then "communicating" (really communing) with this descending Power, the Holy Spirit.

Bourgeault writes: "From the point of view of cataphatic prayer, silence will always tend to appear as an empty vessel into which God pours `content.' The purpose of keeping silence from this perspective, is to be better able to listen to whatever content God may wish to reveal." Again, Bourgeault fails to understand that, from the radical cataphatic point of view, the "Content" one receives is not "content," in the form of "insights" or "directives"; rather, it is Divine "Context," in the formless mode of Spirit Itself.

Interestingly enough, although the epitome of cataphatic spirituality is receiving the Benediction - Divine Grace, or Blessing Power, from above - neither Bourgeault nor the three Benedictine monks (Thomas Merton, John Main, and Thomas Keating) who championed the restoration of the Christian contemplative tradition seem to understand this.

Before the development of Centering Prayer practice, Thomas Keating issued the following challenge to Christian monastic community: "Is it not possible to put the essence of the Christian contemplative path into a meditative method accessible to modern people living in the world?" The response, of course, was the Centering Prayer practice, but I contend that there is an integral Christian contemplative practice that is superior to Centering Prayer - Plugged-in Presence, which elevates the practice of mystical Eucharistic spirituality to its logical conclusion. Here is a brief description of this "dialectical" practice:

"The practices of presence and poverty constitute a dialectic, with presence (or relationship) as the thesis, absence (or inner emptiness) as the antithesis, and the descent of the Holy Spirit as the synthesis. In other words, the pressure of your conscious presence (or relational force) instigates your self-emptying (or surrendering), which "produces," or pulls down, the Spirit, which deifies you, transforming you into a Self-realized, or Christ-like, being.

In engendering the descent of the Spirit, the two dialectical practices of presence (or relationship) and poverty (or absence) give birth to a third, synthesizing practice: the practice of power. The practice of presence is about connecting; the practice of poverty is about surrendering; and the practice of power, which integrates the practices of presence and poverty, is about receiving.

The practice of receiving the Holy Spirit synthesizes the practices of presence and poverty by, in effect, mediating them. Thus, instead of full attention being focused on either the act of being present or the act of being self-empty, the act of receiving, or conducting, the Spirit-current involves the artful integration of both these gestures. It involves the letting go of psychical content while simultaneously holding on to the context of connectedness. In order to instigate the drawing-down of Divine Power, the Holy Spirit, the disciple must sometimes emphasize the "pole of presence" (or relationship), and at other times the "pole of poverty" (or self-emptying). But when the descent of Light-energy is intense, the disciple can dispense with the dialectical spiritual practices (of presence and absence) and effortlessly rest in the Bliss (or Blessing)-current from above."

In her book "The Holy Spirit and the Law of Three," Bourgeault expounds upon Gurdjieff's "Law of Three." Unbeknownst to Bourgeault, the real "Law of Three" pertains to the dialectical spiritual practice of mystical Holy Communion, the true Eucharist. Presence is the the thesis, absence, or poverty (self-emptying), is the antithesis, and the en-Light-ening, or divinizing, Energy of the Holy Spirit (the same Energy as Hindu Shakti and the Buddhist Sambhigakaya) is the synthesis. From the integral perspective of Plugged-in Presence, or true Holy Communion, the practice of Centering Prayer, as described by Bourgeault, is exclusive and reductive, dropping full (apophatic-cataphatic) Context, and instead emphasizing just the "poverty pole" of letting go.

Because this is just a book review and not a book, I will cut my critique of "Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening" short, and summarize it. In short, this is a deeply flawed and disintegral contemplation text that does not make the Spiritual Reading List I provide in the books that I write.

Cynthia Bourgeault is an excellent writer and elucidates difficult concepts with consummate skill. There is much food for thought in her book, "Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening." This book is one of the very best I have read on centering prayer, and for those who have already read one or two books on the subject but have not yet had the pleasure of reading this one, I highly recommend it. She frequently adds to many of the insights offered by Father Keating in his books. She is not at all adversed to pointing out some of the potential pitfalls and snares involved in the practice of this type of prayer. One often gets a sense of whether a writer is speaking from the top of his or her head or is actually coming from a place of deep experience. Cynthia Bourgeault fits the latter category. Her explanations of the "inner witness" and unconscious programming seem right on target and add much to the continuing discussion of centering prayer in particular and the comtemplative life in general. Her chapter on Welcoming Prayer, I believe, is alone worth the price of the book. In it is a technique designed to disrupt our continued unconscious programming loop that I have found works very well. Although this book might not exactly qualify as an introduction to centering prayer, it nonetheless adds considerably to the growing number of books on this subject. It is not just another book about centering prayer.

This is an elegantly written exploration of the contemplative practice of Centering Prayer -- its history, instructions for practice, and unique transformational benefits.

Cynthia Bourgeault contrasts Centering Prayer with other meditative techniques with remarkable clarity and precision -- detailing their similarities and subtle differences.

Bourgeault's premise about kenosis (self-emptying) as an alternative path to spiritual union vs. the traditional "store-it-up" school, is brilliantly innovative.

The practice of Welcoming Prayer, as a method of carrying the benefits of Centering Prayer into daily life, is inspired and eminently practical.

Despite its Christian lineage, Centering Prayer transcends religious traditions ...the sole prerequisite for practice is simply a belief in God.

Centering Prayer is a western meditative technique that refutes the cliché that eastern philosophy is always intellectually and spiritually superior to western thought.

I'm not sure a manual on how to pray can be given much value. Be. With God. One word. Be. No need to justify how you pray, read or write a book about it. Just be with God. Don't waste your time with this book. Seriously be with God.

Hers is a voice of generous proportion and immediate resonance. No nonsense, scholarly yet accessible, urgent enough, but not strident. This is an author/teacher who masters the role of leader, the light attitude of friend, and the archetypal crone with the beckoning finger of someone who wants to whisper great secrets in your ear.

I enjoyed this book very much. The author, Cynthia Borgeault - an Episcopalian priest, reviews aspects of centering prayer, a Christian contemplative practice evolved from Christian monastic practices of the first few centuries A.D. by Fr. Thomas Keating and his monastic colleagues. Fr. Keating is a leader in this form of spirituality and is the author of many of the books related to the practice. Borgeault studied with Fr. Keating, but her "take" on centering prayer is a bit different than Keating's and it provides useful contrast and food for thought... Give it a try, you might like it.

First, a disclaimer: the author is my (informal) teacher. Still, while this might be the reason that I might not submit a negative review, I can submit a positive one with enthusiasm not founded in my personal connection.
There are numerous "de-constructionists" in the Christian market-place -- Bishop John Spong, Marcus Borg amoung them, and I argue that they perform an essential service. But for spiritual growth, these writers are a little more likely to give a stone than a drink of water. Cynthia's book is a refreshing answer to the vacuum that I feel after reading one of those books.
Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening is thoroughly grounded in Christian tradition -- this is a Christian text by an Anglican (Episcopal) priest -- but it draws from a larger context than the 21st century North American one. In doing so, she challenges some perspectives that are unquestioned. The first and perhaps the most important is the question of "where God is". In the long tradition of contemplatives, Cynthia suggests that attempts to look for God "out there" is going to lead to a religion that is fractured and a faith that is out-of-touch with what we know in our hearts to be true. No, God is to be found within -- which must be carefully contrasted with the notion that we are in any way "god".
So the way to discover God? Cynthia gently takes us through the approaches that have been used over the millennia, but lands on a relatively modern approach (about 30 years old) usually called "centering prayer". It would be a disservice here to describe this, except perhaps to say a couple of things about what it isn't. This isn't a New Age technique to lower blood pressure, experience enlightenment, or meet your inner child (and I say this with great respect to methods that do all of the above). Most challenging for those newly introduced to the method, this doesn't "do" very much -- looked at from the external perspective -- at all.
The best I can say in a few words allotted me, is this purports to be the way that we can find our "true selves" (in contrast to that exterior presentation of our selves), and more profoundly, allow our true selves to connect to that ember of God that burns in all of us. And this is an end in and of itself.
Having said that, 30 years of this practice has lead to some observations that need to be made: that the connection to the true self leads to surprising healing of that external self (I'll use the word that is generally used here: the egoic self). Cynthia provides a short phychology of Centering Prayer, and then -- for those who are concerned about the orthodoxy of the method -- a theology of Centering Prayer. Don't be intimidated. This is accessible stuff.
And last, as the book title suggests, she takes us full circle. It turns out that that inner work (work that we ourselves are not aware of -- it is only between our inner self and God), our spiritual life is surprisingly watered. In an age when our religion lives in our heads -- that when that head religion is being unceremoniously dismantled, the age-old contemplative tradition is here to nurture our hearts back to health. This book shows you how. I recommend it.

Simply put, this is the single most helpful volume I've yet run across for participating in "the fellowship of the Godhead," the God-given gift known variously as contemplative or centering prayer. I revisit it again and again in my personal practice, and would recommend that others do the same. John 17 and 1 John 1 come alive in this "wayless way" that Bourgeault suggests. Check it out!

I read this one several time. The author is not very well-known compared with Deepak and other teachers but don't let that fool you. She knows her material very well and chances are you will learn a lot from her. I don't rate five often but this this is one of them...

This is a fine study on Inner Work from a Christian perspective. It is particularly interesting when considering traditional Christian practices do not include meditation; in fact, the practice of meditation seems intentionally excluded from Christianity and viewed as somehow completely foreign and, perhaps, sinful. However, for those many who yearn for a progressive, or a generative, or transformational Christianity, this book is of considerable importance. It can show us how a true spiritual experience is something which can come from within ourselves, by "piercing through the charade of" our smaller selves, by surrendering our egos, to a deeper connection to the Presence, or Divine Being, or God through Christ. This, Cynthia Bourgeault shows, is accomplished through the act of meditation, or Centering Prayer. I don't see too much difference between the two terms but it may attract more followers to use the Centering Prayer terminology than the "Eastern" approach of meditation. This work dovetails nicely with Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now."

I found this book helpful to find some other ways to enter into the joys of contemplative prayer. Keating has written books that introduced many contemporary readers to the topic. Bourgeault uses some creative images from the sea to help invite people to try this rewarding practice of spiritual formation.

I have read many wonderful books over the past years, but this is the first time that I have been motivated to actually send in a review. I heartily recommend this book. I won't go into specifics, but just want to say, get it, read it, mark it up, reread it, then live it out. Thank you, Cynthia.

Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening

This book reveals understanding about meditation that is different from anything I have ever seen. It is moving and very helpful.

This book is a must read for anyone who wishes to go within his or herself and become acquainted with their pure being. It is a "wake up" book and one that would be good for everyone in this universe to read.

Do not attempt this, it is a Demonic Trap. Centering Prayer is supposed to lead you to Contemplative Prayer. When my prayer became Mystical, I thought that I was in Contemplative Prayer. I received locutions, etc.. Nine months after this I was possessed/oppressed by Satan. Satan used this "Centering Prayer", and my desire to learn to pray for the first time in my life and "Be Still" with the Lord to deceive me. Then both the Catholic Church and Anglican Church have nearly NO ministry of Exorcism or Deliverance. I have been in Deliverance Ministry with ministers of the Protestant Denominations who know the truth of this for over six months. Check it out, do a search on Deliverance Ministry and Centering prayer. Paul says in the Bible to not be ignorant of Satan's devices, but this is not taught in the church today. Any Eastern form of meditation is an abomination to the Lord, and a demonic trap. Do your research, even the Pope warned of Centering Prayer when he was still a Cardinal. I didn't heed the warnings. I can't warn you enough, I have been to Hell for believing I was safe in this prayer form. Check your Bible, there is no "Centering Prayer" there. Say your Our Father and read the Lord's word like Jesus taught you to do. Don't risk your life.