Transcript for Thomas Keating on Method of Centering Prayer

The Method of Centering Prayer

And so, let's look at the guidelines then from

that perspective. In this talk we are emphasizing

the method and so you could easily

get stuck on doing the method just right

but it's always a relationship

and that means unlike certain other disciplines

if you don't do it correctly

it doesn't matter...It's a help if you do it correctly

but it doesn't matter because it's your intention that

counts, and the relationship is with God

God sees that you're trying hard to do a nice job

however much you're stumbling

He's not going to hold your mistakes against you.

He's looking at your love and through another person

or a book, or eventually through

the inspirations of the Holy Spirit you'll correct whatever

mistakes you're doing. The main thing

to do is to do it

The principal method of Centering Prayer

really is to sit down

Now, that isn't too hard for most people...

Once you sit down, then

the Spirit's got you, especially if you

you sit there for the 20 or 25 minutes you have agreed upon

and if you do that every day

the mistakes and misconceptions will gradually evaporate

Doing it is the primary discipline.

But there are ways of doing it that could

facilitate this sitting there

and so, let's look at the guidelines

Now the first guideline is

Choose a sacred word as a symbol

of your intention to consent

to God's presence and action within you.

Notice please God's presence and action

so we're working with a dynamic relationship

a back and forth, an exchange,

a conversation that has moved to a communion

or is moving in that direction.

The second little guideline is

Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed,

we settle briefly

like in this nice chair,

and then after a few moments of not doing anything

for maybe ten or fifteen seconds

of quiet, you introduce

very gently, very casually

almost informally, the sacred word you have chosen

as in the first guideline, that symbolizes

the consent of your will

to God's presence and action within

-they always go together-

God is not a statue

He's not a static force within us

It's a loving relationship

in faith...and hence

God's Spirit can do all kinds of things

suggest all kinds of things

and He does

The third guideline is

When engaged with your thoughts

return ever so gently

to the sacred word.

Well, this is just to say

to acknowledge the fact that

there are going to be various thoughts

feelings, sense perceptions,

noise in the room, people coughing

memories, imaginations

sort of dreaming, all of this

psychological material you might say

is going to be flowing down the stream of consciousness

as you sit there

and we say it is inevitable, integral

and normal

so this is a terribly important point to get

through our heads if we

have been trained in the doctrine of distractions

that distractions somehow are harmful

or interfere with your prayer

Now, if you're doing discursive meditation

you're supposed to be thinking about something

in particular, then

other thoughts are distractions

that interrupt your prayer

Centering Prayer moves beyond

that level of awareness

and it's designed to

to disregard the ordinary

thoughts or activities of our ordinary psychological

day to day awareness

so you're not on the level that you

usually are on discursive meditation

and, hence, you just disregard

this thought, or these thoughts which

are more like noise in the

street or background music

in the supermarket that you put up with

and pay no attention to

But it's important not to resist

these thoughts

in other words, it's important to have a joyful attitude

towards the thoughts

a friendly attitude

toward the most dreadful thoughts

not that you linger over them or act

them out, but it's important

that we expect them, and they're normal

and they're integral, and

so we receive them all with a smile

an inward smile

A jolly attitude

is recommended

"Here they go again!, ha, ha, ha."

The reason for this is that any emotional

frustration, or annoyance, or

distress or grief, is not

appropriate because that is another kind

of thought, because it's emotionally charged

is more of a hindrance to entering into

interior silence which is the proximate goal of this prayer

than any number of casual thoughts that go by.

So, as soon as you're annoyed you have a second thought

which is much more disturbing

than the first one... So there's really great

wisdom in taking for granted

that there are going to be lots of thoughts, endless thoughts

and that with practice you can disregard most of them

Finally, and there wouldn't be time

in an introductory workshop

to do this....but

it's crucial to have some kind of follow-up

You can only say so much in a six hour

workshop, and all an ordinary person can get

is barely to get the four principles

So it's very helpful to have some kind

of six week program to follow it up

You can watch the first six tapes if you've got them

or read six chapters out of Open Mind, Open Heart

and study them together.