Thomas Keating’s instruction about Centering Prayer is simple and direct: Just sit down. Practice. There is no wrong way.

Yet, In Open Mind, Open Heart, he offers some advice and in the process answers some of the questions that members of our meditation practice at Claremont Presbyterian Church have asked.

Centering Prayer is real prayer, not a relaxation exercise. It has handgrips in scripture, most pointedly in Matthew: “If you want to pray, enter your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father in who is in secret….” And, as Keating describes, contemplative behavior was practiced and written about by church leaders from the 1st Century onward. But increasingly it became the province of special holy people, monks, mystics, and those who later became saints.

Keating’s life’s work was to make contemplation attractive and accessible to lay people who have busy lives. Here, a few answers to your questions:

“I find that this practice is getting me nowhere. Is it good to try to make the faculties a blank? Please don’t…. That is not healthy or even possible. There should always be a gentle activity present, expressed either by thinking the sacred world or by the simple awareness that you are present to God (p. 25).

“I found myself thinking about he fact that I was expecting something to happen.” Have no expectation in this prayer. It’s an exercise in effortlessness, of letting go. To struggle is to want to achieve something…aim at the future, whereas this method of prayer is designed to bring you into the present moment (p. 27-28).”

“Is it really possible for people who run around all day to be contemplative? Yes. This is not to say that by doing nothing but running around all day, people will become contemplatives. On the other hand, you only have to be a human being to be eligible for contemplation.”

“How does the sacred word actually work? The word on your lips is exterior and has no part in this form of prayer; the word in your imagination is interior and expresses your intention; the word as the consent of your spiritual will to God’s presence is more interior still. Only when you pass beyond the word to pure awareness is the process of interiorization complete (p. 36).”

Later Keating notes, “If you keep up this practice every day for several months, you will know whether it is right for you. There is not substitute for the experience of doing it (p. 37).

“What do you do when the entire prayer period consists of wave after wave of thoughts? When you start to quiet down, you normally become aware that your head is full of thoughts coming from both outside and inside…. You must expect that the thoughts will keep coming…. No one is going to fall instantly into an ocean of peace where there is only God and there are no thoughts at all (p. 37).”

Cynthia Bourgeault on Centering Prayer

Cynthia Bourgeault is a mystic, Episcopal priest, friend and student of Fr. Keating, and a core faculty member of the Center for Action and Contemplation. Here she provides one of the best introductions to centering prayer I’ve encountered.

Fr. Keating’s Simple Guidelines

Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.
When engaged with your thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.

Photo: CTK, Exeter Cathedral, England, 2010.