Centered Living: The Way of Centering Prayer

The scope of this book provides a comprehensive history and revival of Center Prayer which is very much a part of the Christian Tradition; but like many ideas and theologies within the church, was suppressed by hierarchal forces eager to crush any point of view that challenged its hegemony on the way one thinks. Centering prayer is a tradition offering the invitation to find stillness and a quietude within. Often, this type of prayer is inimical to fundamentalists of any appellation. SImply stated it is rejected by them because it does not conform to their story of church and what they think it ought to be. As such, one is likely to get the fear based responses it provokes. While the book does not provide a negative critique on petitionary prayer, I think it safe to say the the author understands the depth of awareness Centering Prayer can take one. The powerful thing about Centering Prayer is that one does not need an intermediary between oneself and the ineffable. In this method of prayer we go directly to the Center and as the author so eloquently notes, "Immediate experience in the Now in the Center enables us to hold the whole cosmos in compassionate love, knowing all its ills, and knowing its healing." Centering Prayer is a practice of personal transformation and individual healing without intermediaries between you and God. Take this call up at your own risk; it may transform the way you view the world, and break your self imposed limitations and chains that imprison your life. Great book worthy of your time.

After two decades of practicing Eastern meditation, I found what I felt was missing, thanks to Centering Prayer: the presence of the Personhood of God. (I'd grown tired of mind traps and fruitless stillness, and methods emphasing words, breath control, where meditation really degenerated into my clinging to basically repetitive superstitious gesture. Actually, I'm grateful for such experience because it helps me avoid such things in practicing Centering Prayer). The humble, insightful M. Basil Pennington and his colleagues offer a work that is conversational, not didactic. This book boldly asserts the reality of a loving God. All those years I'd focused on the Void, the Impersonal, an inner Something, Someone, kept prodding me, which I initially rejected as old Catholic-school training that was re-surfacing. Now, for me, the big Drawing Card is that the Divine Person glows as the crux, the heart, the very beauty, of this book. Also, Rabbi Kushner, in his foreword, speaks poignantly on becoming one with God as a "Heart Person" in life. So many insightful people, from many spiritual paths have generously contributed to this book. I'm grateful for it.