The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation

As a professional therapist I thought some of the insights involving divine therapy were profound and as someone who meditates daily using Keating's concept of centering prayer has been a deeply enriching addition to my practice.

Very engaging and readable discussion of deepening one's awareness of and response to God that combines spiritual tradition with psychological insights. I've given several as gifts.

Thomas Keating addresses, in words that anyone can understand, exactly what we are dealing with as we start on the contemplative path. As a neophyte, I found this book to be one of the most descriptive, illumniating, and encouraging I've read so far.I had never considered a correlation between psychyology and spirituality. As I proceeded through the text it became crystal clear that there most definitely is one, and that without a doubt, God is the answer to "the human condition."

Thanks to his many years of prayer, Thomas Keating has managed to say what is almost unsayable: what happens in contemplative prayer. What's more, he has managed to describe the spiritual transformation that occurs in surprisingly few words. The special strength of Fr. Keating's discussion is its marriage of mysticism and psychology. His knowledge of both fields is sophisticated; his writing is highly accessible; what he has to say is true, true, true. He has said much of what's in this book elsewhere (mostly in INVITATION TO LOVE), but here he distills his message so well that you may find yourself saying, "Yes!" with each word you read. If you practice centering prayer, or if you meditate, READ THIS BOOK.

I have always believed that it is a hallmark of pure genius and an unmistakable sign of total comprehension of a subject matter, when an author or lecturer succeeds in both concisely discussing yet completely explaining his subject matter in a manner that laymen can readily grasp and understand. And this is precisely what the author, Thomas Keating, has succeeded in accomplishing in his gem of a treatise on the human condition.The book (brief as it is) is a tribute to the mystical genius that is Fr. Keating and a testimony to how profoundly he understands the human condition in the light of the spiritual journey. No aspiring student of contemporary mysticism or the spiritual life should take the journey or proceed further along the way without this masterpiece of a handbook.I have been on the mystical path for many years now, and I have encountered many "spiritual teachers" largely through their writings. Only an exceptional few who have captured the mystical vision so clearly and purely have actually had a significant impact on my spiritual life whether as mentors, friends or companions on the path. Fr. Keating is one of them. In this book, he shares his dynamic and penetrating insights into the human condition as only spiritual giants are capable of doing. He makes it crystal clear how and why contemplation (as meditation is understood in the western Christian traditions) is "divine therapy" for the malignancy of mankind known as "the human condition". His book should be hailed as a major landmark or a cornerstone in establishing the spirituality of the coming millenium.