Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening Paperback – June 25, 2004

If education is to offer students an opportunity to consider their place in the world, such a transformation by necessity involves de-centering the egoic mind and replacing it with living one's life in service for others. While curricula can be structured to foster such dramatic change, I agree with Cynthia's proposition that nearly "every spiritual tradition that holds a vision of human transformation at its heart also claims that a practice of intentional silence is a non-negotiable. Period. You just have to do it" (p. 9). As a skilled retreat leader, Cynthia insightfully presents how to conceptualize Centering Prayer and develop it as a regular practice in order to facilitate such change.Despite the appropriate exhortation to serve others rather than oneself in courses advocating social change, the human heart remains the ultimate battleground where the practice of service is won or lost. Cynthia borrows the Buddhist metaphor of the "monkey mind" to illustrate our essential problem: the egoic mind's incessant grasping for self-gratification. More personally, she explains, "In my own efforts to live the gospel I have found that it is virtually impossible to reach and sustain that life of `perfect love' without a practice of contemplative prayer . . . . Ordinary awareness always eventually betrays itself and returns to its usual postures of self-defense and self-justification" (p. 17). Thus, for teachers searching for a deeper level of awareness, Cynthia's book has much to offer, first, in directing and inspiring teachers to develop their own practice of meditation. In addition, her writing could serve as the basis for lesson plans that assist students to engage in the practice of Centering Prayer or other forms of meditation.Having read a good number of books on Centering Prayer, Cynthia's book tops my list for clarity of explanation and applicability to spiritual practice.

Cynthia Bourgeault has contributed much to our understanding and experience of the practice of Centering Prayer; this volume of hers is helpful and clear. She adds discussion of the “Welcoming Prayer” technique and several other auxiliary concepts.I take slight issue with her insistence the Centering Prayer is essentially Christian - that it applies to the Christian understanding of kenosis (essentially renunciation of everything other than “God” ) more than to the renunciation concepts found in other religions. All meditation techniques, whether concentrative, observational or receptive, involve kenosis - you must let go of your self when you return to a mantra in Hindu mantra meditation just as much as when you return to the sacred word in CP. Or at least I don’t see the difference Bourgeault does.Also, CP does not need ultimately to refer to anything Christian at all. The fundamentalists who object to CP are quite right to point this out. Orthodox defenders of CP don’t really have a leg to stand on here. In CP we let go of all “ideas” of God, all forms of God, to connect with the essence of God. We experience God beyond form. If anything, it’s closer to the formless Jewish conception of God than the Trinity of Christian Faith. CP can be Christian, or can apply equally to any religion, even the impersonal ideas of Brahman in Vedanta and Nirvana or pure consciousness in Buddhism. CP is a huge tent. To say it is only Christian is to limit it in a way that excludes many.

I very much enjoyed this book and read it through in 4 days. I have read many Keating books, and found his works very enjoyable. But Cynthia is more of an author and her writings are a bit more clear. This book inspired me to jump head first in to CP and cease completely the zazaen that I used to practice, as I have been feeling much more drawn to this practice anyways.I especially enjoyed how she distinguishes CP from mindfulness and concentrative practices. As opposed to the more behaviorist approaches of trying to condition yourself to be in the moment or in a specific state of consciousness, the CP lets you be where you are and slowly disidentify and surrender yourself to be transformed by grace.The author is wise enough to know that spiritual practice is really not about fighting with, putting a lid on, or attempting to slay the ego. It's about disidentifying with the ego and allowing the natural transmutation of the soul to occur. The old spiritual mindsets above are something both the east and west have clung to.Much of the spiritual psychology from the CP comes from Catholic mystical theology, but also from the transpersonal theorist Ken Wilber. For another take on spiritual psychology, I personally recommend the Diamond Approach by A.H. Almaas. It's not for everybody, but he's another big transpersonal thinker, that although not Christian, has been one of the influences that helped me to begin exploring my Christian side.I highly recommend this book and entire practice.