I was introduced to this book when I got involved in Contemplative Outreach Northwest, a regional chapter of the Contemplative Outreach organization founded by this book’s author, Thomas Keating. This book is a popular introduction to getting started with contemplative prayer, also called centering prayer. Step-by-step instructions.
I struggled for a time when I first got active in Contemplative Outreach and read this book. I had already been gifted with contemplative prayer prior to joining Contemplative Outreach, but lacked the vocabulary to discuss what I was experiencing. In time, I realized that this book and the intro sessions offered by Contemplative Outreach are geared toward introducing people to what I was already experiencing. While it took me awhile to “piece this together,” I did slowly find the ability to talk – in some measure – to other pray-ers about our prayer lives. As a friend told me, each one of us has our own personal relationship with God; therefore everyone experiences prayer differently. Therefore, the best we can hope for is to occasionally find a few people with whom we can share some measure of our experience with prayer. ….For me personally, prayer rarely involves human language anymore for dialogue with God; rather, prayer is most often about simply being in God’s presence – in whatever level I’m able to do so at any given time.
I appreciate this book – and Contemplative Outreach – for bringing me into contact with other pray-ers who are approximating a prayer path that has some similarity to my prayer life.
Kim Burkhardt blogs at A Parish Catechist and The Books of the Ages.
