ALL WELCOME to Join Kathryn Pile 5pm
Dear Meditators
We have started the new year with reflections from a lecture by Thomas Keating on The Human Condition. This week is the second and final reflection from that work.
Whilst each form of meditation has its own way of quieting the ordinary mind and taking us deeper into a state of ‘being,’ what many of us especially appreciate about Thomas Keating is the work he has done to make accessible the practice of Centering Prayer. In this practice, Father Keating has melded elements of Christian mystical tradition into a practice elementary enough for any of us to learn, but which over time, may help effect a process of spiritual transformation… a practice bringing us to a deeper experience of God, freedom and joy. (A more detailed introduction to the practice of Centering Prayer can be found here on the website).
The aim of our meditation as always is to create a sacred space for God’s Presence…and by maintaining our intention towards that Presence, through breath, image or word, and ultimately through silence…experience a response from God’s Presence at an individual heart felt level. This is the heart of Centering Prayer.
Let’s begin…Thomas Keating says, God only asks us two questions, ‘where are you,’ our reflection from last week, and this week, ‘who are you?’ Take what you need of these words into your meditation.
- Whoever we think we are, we are not. We have to find that out, and the best way … the most painless way is the process of the spiritual journey…facing the dark side of our personalities…emotional investment made in false programs for happiness…rest in Centering Prayer provides us with profound healing… allowing our dark side to come to full consciousness…then letting it go and giving it to God…waving goodbye as it passes through our awareness…and returning to our intention…through some symbol…breath/sacred word perhaps, turning inward again, to rest, to heal, to allow…
- The bottom of the spiritual journey is also the top. To be none is to be everyone, to be no self is to be the true Self…to be nothing is to be everything…in a sense it is to be God…to be a kind of fifth Gospel: to become the word of God and to manifest God rather than the false self…a space that is both empty of self and full of God…to become the Other.
Relax now in body and mind, slow your breathing, and enter your meditation, centering your prayer, your will and intention on resting, and healing in God’s Presence…letting go and returning…to a space both empty of self and full of God…to become the Other.
Love and every blessing,
Kathryn
Thomas Keating, The Human Condition, p 35-45.
Remember to watch an introduction to Centering Prayer Meditation. You can see it here
Let me know how you are finding this time – If you have any suggestions or requests. I always like to hear from you.
Kathryn