Only later did John Main discover similar practices within the history of the Christian tradition. Therefore, the question remains valid: what makes mantra.
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Color association is red. Is considered the site where kundalini energy lies dormant in most people. Body center in the genital region and sacral plexus. Associated with motives of pleasure and emotional life. Sensory association is taste.
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Color association is orange. Body center in the solar plexus. Associated with motives of power, control, and assertiveness. Sensory association is sight. Color association is yellow. Body center is the heart, and cardiac plexus. Associated with motives of compassion and self-responsibility. Sensory association is touch. Color association is green and pink. Body center is the throat, and cervical plexus.
Associated with motives of self-expression and conceptual discrimination. Sensory association is hearing. Color association is blue. Body center in the center of the forehead, and brain core. Associated with motives of intuitive awareness. Color association is indigo. Body center on top of the head, or above the head. Associated with cosmic consciousness, unity. Sensory association is the whole brain. Color association is purple, or white. It should be noted that many other characteristics are associated with the chakras, such as endocrine functions, numbers of lotus petals, sounds, and bodily organs.
Variations exist from author to author. Hindu writers also associate the powers of various spiritual guides with each chakra. A detailed presentation of all this information is not considered relevant to this discussion on Hinduism and kundalini, however. What we find described in the literature on multiple bodies and chakras is primarily a kind of metaphysical physiology which attempts to lead to and account for various states of consciousness. The practice of yoga--Hatha Yoga in particular--is designed to help the individual become more aware of his or her own various energies and chakras, and to facilitate a safe, conscious assent up the chakras.
It may well be that the various characteristics associated with each chakra have more to do with spiritual formation than with subtle anatomy per se. Indeed, this seems to be the intent of such writers as Swami Radha Sivananda. Her discussions of the chakras are designed to encourage students to develop their many human powers and so to grow, step by step, unto the higher states.
Without denying the reality of metaphysical anatomy, Swami Radha discusses the chakras as developmental stages, each of which has its own issues which must be mastered before the next stage can be safely experienced. This treatment is also popular among New Age writers. Given the very brief treatment of the yogic views on multiple interpenetrating bodies and the chakras described above, we are ready now to reflect on the nature of kundalini awakening.
The Awakening of Kundalini. The standard teaching that one will find is that the energy called kundalini lies dormant in the first, or Mooladhara chakra, coiled three and one half times therein around a lingam. When awakened, the kundalini energy uncoils and begins to rise through the chakras, transforming the subtle bodies as it does so, bringing more energy, awareness, and understanding to the recipient. The various kinds of yoga attempt to awaken this energy, each in its own way. Some, like Hatha yoga, work directly with the chakras and subtle bodies, and attempt to awaken the energy through yogic postures, breathing exercises, and mantra meditation.
Others, like Raja and Jani yoga, work primarily with the intellectual and causal levels; as these higher levels are developed, the lower are transformed accordingly so that the kundalini is drawn up spontaneously when the obstacles to its awakening are removed. Another method popular in the United States is Siddha Yoga, where the yogi awakens the energy in a disciple through a special touch called shaktipat.
In speaking of the awakening of kundalini, then, one will find a great variety of methods and descriptions even in the yogic literature. To bring some order to the discussion, it will be helpful to distinguish between a full-blown kundalini awakening and a kundalini arousal. The latter, as John Selby writes, is experienced by everyone at some time. Pleasureful walking with the mind at rest accomplishes the same end. Similarly, Swami Vishnu-devananda acknowledges that yogic meditation can result in kundalini arousals where the energy rises to the top, then eventually falls back into the lower centers.
Most likely, kundalini is the energy at work in what Maslow called peak experiences. In all of these cases, the experience is short-lived. For a few moments or even hours, a door is opened unto higher states of consciousness, only to close again. Not so with a full-blown awakening of kundalini: In cases of full-awakening, the energy is constantly at work, pushing its way toward the top of the head. This was what I described before. The Evolutionary Energy in Man. The intellectual ego must learn to cooperate with this process, and this can be most painful indeed!
In those who experience the awakening of kundalini, the intellectual ego can no longer claim to be the privileged center of consciousness. They can also occur as the result of deliberate ascetical practices, drug experiences, or shaktipat transmissions, as mentioned above.
It is generally acknowledged that spontaneous awakenings are easier to integrate, for the very fact of the awakening attests to a level of preparedness and receptivity in the subtle bodies. If the subtle bodies have not been properly prepared, however, the strength and power of this energy can bring such severe disturbances as to result in mental, emotional and physical illnesses. This is the great danger in using ascetical practices and drugs to force the energy out of its dormancy into the higher chakras.
Kundalini is an energy that is to be respected. Indeed, it is even reverenced and worshipped by many Hindus. Kundalini and Hindu Theology. But what is kundalini? Is it the energy of the higher spiritual bodies breaking through into the lower levels? According to the yogic literature, it is at least that, and much more.
Kundalini is none other than Shakti, the female consort of Shiva, who is one with Brahmin and Vishnu in the Hindu trinity. Hence, kundalini is considered a divine energy, and its awakening is interpreted as awakening to the divine. Small wonder Hindu writers see this energy as the counterpart to the Christian experience of the Holy Spirit!
About this matter we shall have much more to say later in this work, but for now, let us examine more closely the ideas on Hindu divinity described above. In the Hindu trinity, Brahmin is usually considered the creator and source of all that is. Vishnu is given the attributes of preserver, as exemplified in his incarnations as Krishna, Rama, and Buddha. Shiva, on the other hand, is accorded many attributes, the most common of which are destroyer, yogic ascetic, and pure consciousness.
What Shiva destroys, however, is not the really real, but all that is false, illusory, and subject to corruption and rebirth. The active energy by means of which Shiva accomplishes this work is to be found in his wife, Shakti. Like Shiva, she has two faces, one as destroyer, exemplified in her work as Kali, and the other in her role as divine mother and nurturer of the really real in all that is.
Kundalini, then, cannot be discussed apart from Shiva, for the two are inseparable. The problem in most individuals, however, is that they are separated. It is believed that in the individual, Shiva resides in the seventh chakra as pure consciousness itself. Shakti, on the other hand, lies dormant in the first chakra.
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When the energy awakens and rises through the chakras, Shakti unites with Shiva, and the individual lives in the unitive embrace between the two. The nature and power of their divine consciousness is known by the individual, who realizes his or her Atman, or spiritual soul. Atman is not separate from Brahmin; indeed, it is none other than Brahmin itself, manifesting as the individual soul. All illusions of duality and separateness begin to fall away with this realization, and the Atmanic condition called advaita non- duality begins to grow.
The awakening of kundalini, then, is considered a very special grace in Hinduism. It represents the beginning of the realization of the life of the divine as the essence of the soul itself. Nevertheless, the aspects of Shakti and Shiva as destroyer also attest to the painful purifications which accompany this awakening. Everything in consciousness which is ignorant of the Atman will be burned away-- especially the false notions of individuality. Personal Reflections on Hindu Anthropology.
I found all of the above most helpful in understanding the meaning of the transformation process which had been awakened in me. The account of the soul and its multiple, interpenetrating bodies, chakras, and energies gave me a new understanding of the manner in which spirit and matter come together. The advaitic consciousness of the atmanic state also validated my experience. As reassuring as this validation was, it nonetheless left me with many questions which I have found impossible to set aside as irrelevant.
What, for example, would be the Christian equivalent to the Hindu explanation? Here are a few related issues: Does the Hindu experience of Shakti correspond to the Christian idea and experience of the Holy Spirit? Does the Hindu trinity correspond to the Christian trinity? How does Christian metaphysics or theology account for the advaitic or enlightenment experience? Is this the same kind of consciousness described by the Christian mystics? If not, then how is it different? Finally, and on a practical level: It took centuries to integrate Christian theology and Greek philosophy, and so I have little hope that this present work will conclusively respond to the questions raised above.
I believe these issues to be among the most important facing Christian spirituality today, for East and West are coming together, and there is no reversing the process of encounter. Significant challenges, however, stand in the way. Take, for example, the distinctions between personal and impersonal. For some, personal refers to anthropomorphism, and so they reject this in favor of impersonal language regarding the divine. Any mature Christian must know that there is more to it than that, however! In Christianity, the word personal refers primarily to the realm of relational, intentional being.
When we say that God is personal, we mean that God is intentional Being, and not merely a static force underlying all things. The encounter between the human and God is, then, understood to be an encounter between two Freedoms who can mutually affect one another. Christian faith is the means by which a human becomes open and receptive to encountering the personal God. In the context of prayer, this encounter may be mediated through words, images, ideas and emotions kataphatic prayer , or it may take place in the emptiness of deep, somewhat arid silence apophatic prayer.
Frequently, one begins with words and moves into silence; eventually, the silence prevails. In either case, Christian faith enables and mediates the encounter with God by holding the Christian in an attitude of loving surrender and receptivity to the intentional God. We say that this faith is a gift from God precisely because it sustains in us an orientation to God in spite of our ignorance and selfishness. Ascetical practices that move toward impersonal experiences are lacking in this kind of faith. One might make use of a non-theistic mantra, count breaths, observe thoughts as from a distance, rest in the silence between thoughts, etc.
When such practices are utilized outside of a relational faith context, they generally give rise to the kinds of experiences people call impersonal. These experiences are also frequently called natural, existential, or metaphysical, since we can achieve them through ascetical practices. This is not to say that God is not encountered, only that the nature of the encounter with God is different from the kind of experiences that develop in a personal faith context. As the reader can see, the deciding factor in this discussion on personal vs. The bhakti tradition in Hinduism opens one to similar experiences, as do the devotional aspects of Buddhism, Judaism and Islam.
This we see most clearly in the life of Christ. Having made these distinctions, we can now say something about the experience of emptiness and non-duality in prayer. This is most common for those who are drawn into apophatic prayer, so much so that many Christian mystics have actually wondered whether God disappeared or they disappeared. The perdurance of faith, however, enabled them usually with the help of a spiritual director to recognize that this emptiness is actually a very deep state of union with God.
The reason one no longer experiences God as an-Other is because the human and divine intentionalities have become one. Intellectually, we know that two freedoms still exist, but experientially, we do not feel any separateness at all. Such a one might feel closer to Buddhist or Hindu descriptions of non-duality than to the devotional expressions of Christian meditators. One might even feel tempted to say that, at this level, all religions are the same, or that the differences between them are merely semantical.
From the foregoing discussion, I have stated that I believe it does because it promotes a receptivity to God as Love-become-present to us in the person of Jesus Christ. The intellectual dimension of faith also leads to a recognition of unity-in-duality, or two-become-one. This is an interpretation, to be sure, but it is one that is integral to faith itself. Without something like Christian faith, it is easy for nondual experiences to become interpreted in pantheistic terms.
The consequences of this are many, none the least of which is a devaluation of the reality and uniqueness of the individual. Christian faith, on the other hand, promotes individuation even while leading to deeper and deeper experiences of union.
It is simply a truism, then, to say that the different expressions of mystical experience among the world religions are a matter of semantics, or interpretation. This position does not get at why different expressions and interpretations are used, and tends to minimize the significance of the kind of faith motivating the different mystics.
My sense is that it is precisely the different faiths among the mystics of the world religions which account for the differences in not only their expressions and interpretations, but in their experiences, as well. Because these different faiths also have much in common openness to mystery, surrender of self, etc. To emphasize the pivotal role of faith in relation to mystical experience is not likely to be a popular position these days, however, for to speak of faith is to invoke religious language.
The awakening and formation of faith is also the responsibility of religious traditions, and there are many today who seek mystical experience while holding themselves apart from a religious tradition. Although the God of the mystic does, indeed, go beyond the dogmas and rituals of religions, the intellectual, affective, and volitional dimensions of the faith of the mystic are both nurtured and supported by such beliefs and practices.
Indeed, it is doubtful that mystical experience can flower and be integrated apart from the wisdom of religious traditions. The New Age and Transpersonal mysticisms, for example, generally degenerate into pantheism. On the other hand, it is easy to understand the disgust with which many today view religion, especially in the West.
Apart from a mystical tradition, the exoteric dimension of religion makes little sense, producing instead ideologies, liturgists and dogmatists. This is not true religious faith, however, only a counterfeit. Many Churches are more aware of political developments in the world than of the mystical aspect of Christianity, which is frustrating to those who seek spiritual growth.
The best situation, of course, would be for the Church to view mystical union as the goal of religion itself, and to provide formation for all unto this end. After these two discussions of kundalini, it is time to ask about the relationship between Christian spirituality and kundalini energy. Is a Christian understanding of kundalini energy possible? I think that it is not only possible, but necessary.
As more Christians begin to experience this process, it becomes more and more crucial that a renewed Christian spirituality help them understand what it is, how to deal with it in practical terms, and how to integrate it into their Christian practice. This is obviously a tall order, but one that definitely belongs to the future of Christian spirituality. First, two extremes have to be avoided. It is not appropriate to immediately write off kundalini as some sort of demonic or alien force that Christians should exorcise from their lives.
This is not only insulting to our Hindu brothers and sisters, but it is simply not true if - as the experiences recounted here indicate - kundalini is a naturally occurring energy of the soul. Nor does it seem correct to demand that we immediately and without discussion identify kundalini energy with the Holy Spirit as if any other solution would be an insult to Hindu sensibilities, and the erection of some kind of two-tier system of mysticism with Christians inhabiting the upper regions. The discussion of what kundalini is and how it can be related to Christian mystical experience is not identical with the question of who is holy or close to God.
As a Christian I believe that God calls every human being to divine union. This is a concrete call, present in the depths of the heart of every person regardless of their religion or lack of it, and we respond to this call by our love. It is entirely possible that someone who is without any conscious religious belief is closer to God than we as Christians are. It is even more possible that Hindus who have devoted their lives to seeking the Absolute - whether they wish to call it God or not - would be just as close or closer to God than devout Christians.
The exercise of kundalini yoga in such a situation would become the means by which they draw closer to God. But even if we grant this, and I do, it does not mean that we have to identify the awakening of kundalini with Christian contemplation. I have used the word supernatural. It is a perfectly good and even vital word that points to a fundamental distinction that I would not want to try to do without. I have been created. There are two fundamentally distinct ways in which I can be united to God. In the first I am united to God by the very fact that God has created me, and sustains me in existence moment by moment.
In this case, the more I become myself and realize the potentialities of my own being, the more I am united to God Who is the author of my being. My very existence is the bond that unites me to the source of existence. At the very center of my soul, or heart, there is a point where God touches me by sustaining me in existence. We could call this a natural union with God.
But this kind of union must be a free gift of God because it is above - but not opposed to - the capacity of our created natures. If it were not above our own capacity, that would mean we would already be God by nature. The Hindu experience of kundalini seems to lead to an experience of union with God as the intimate author and sustainer of our existence in the depths of our being.
It appears to be a natural energy of the soul that is meant to lead us, both body and soul, to the center of our being that is in contact with God. While at first glance the experience of kundalini and the way it is described seems alien to a Christian world view, I believe that a Christian philosophical and theological explanation will eventually be fashioned, and I will simply indicate some of the elements that I feel belong to that kind of explanation.
The Hindu system of chakras, or energy centers, that stretch from the lowest and most material center at the base of the spine to the highest and most spiritual one at the top of the head are a reflection of their understanding of the different levels of the soul. Christian philosophy, following Thomas Aquinas, has developed a similar picture in which the human soul contains vegetative, sensitive or animal, and spiritual dimensions.
The awakening of kundalini is a process of transformation by which the energy that was in the lower centers moves up to higher ones, and is transformed, causing a spiritualization of the personality. For Christian philosophy the vegetative and animal dimensions of the soul are rooted in the spiritual dimension. The soul is not in the body, but the body is in the soul. The soul is not hindered by having a body, but the body is the way in which the soul becomes activated and fulfills its spiritual potentialities.
Therefore, the activation of the vegetative and animal levels of the soul are the way the spiritual dimension realizes itself. Seen in this light kundalini looks like a conscious awareness of this natural process of spiritual activation. But what is most important in all this is an understanding of the goal of this process.
In kundalini the energy reaches the highest center and causes union with the Absolute. How this is described varies according to different Hindu schools of philosophy. Some are more theistic, while others, like the Advaitan school, identify the soul with the Absolute. Christian philosophy in the person of Jacques Maritain has begun to develop its own explanation of this kind of union. It is as if we were to voyage to the center of the soul, and there encounter the point where God is pouring existence into it. Then we would experience the substantial existence of the soul as it comes forth from the hand of God like a powerful spring of fresh water.
We would experience God in and through the existence of the soul. Therefore, we could call this experience a natural union with God, or even a natural mystical experience, or an experience of the Self, meaning an experience of the existence of the soul as it comes forth from God, the source of existence.
But why, then, do some Hindu schools of philosophy identify the soul with the Absolute? The way in which we travel to the center of the soul is by putting aside all limited ideas, feelings, sensations, and so forth. But when we arrive at the center in this way we experience God in and through this emptiness which was the means we had to take to come to this center.
Therefore, it becomes very easy to identify the existence of the soul with God as the source of existence and with the existence of all things, for they are, indeed, experienced in a night that does not allow them to be distinguished. From a Christian point of view, however, they are distinct. This kind of mystical experience should be of the highest interest to Christians because it is a foretaste of what appears to be the natural goal of the human spirit, and it can teach us about the nature of the soul and what its destiny would have been if it had not been elevated by grace.
This kind of understanding is a wonderful foundation for grasping the nature of Christian mystical experience. This does not make this kind of mystical experience identical with Christian contemplation. The one could be called a natural metaphysical mysticism, and the other a supernatural interpersonal mysticism. But ideally they should both go hand in hand, and this, indeed, seems to be happening more and more as Christians seriously undertake various kinds of Hindu and Buddhist kinds of meditation. It is worth going into these matters in more depth.
A Jungian View of Kundalini. The basic elements of the Hindu view of kundalini, that is kundalini energy itself, pictured as a serpent coiled sleeping at the base of the spine, chakras or energy centers strung like beads along the spine, the energy channel through which the energy ascends and the ultimate goal at the crown of the head towards which this energy tends, find counterparts in C.
He, too, knows of a fundamental energy that he called psychic energy, centers of psychic activity that he named archetypes and a final goal of psychological development that he described under the heading of individuation. Jung, following the physical sciences, conceived of the psyche as a closed system endowed with a fixed amount of psychic energy.
The energy in one part of the soul did not differ qualitatively from that in another part, but the psyche as a whole possessed a definite quantity of energy that flowed through both the conscious and unconscious. After carefully observing the psyche Jung framed what he called the law of equivalence. Since there is a fixed amount of energy in the psyche, if energy is expended or disappears from one area of the psyche, we can expect it to appear somewhere else. If, for example, I was to devote my energy to a form of meditation in which the discursive mind is quieted, that energy would flow elsewhere and I might find myself suddenly daydreaming about the dinner I was going to have when my period of meditation was over, or it might give rise to the kinds of illusions that are familiar to Zen meditators.
The important point is that this energy is never destroyed, but flows throughout the psyche activating now this part and now another. Jung founded his natural science of the psyche on an intensive observation of psychic images and the energies attached to them, and this intensive observation led him to what he called archetypes. He noticed that all over the world, whether in ancient myths or modern dreams, certain basic patterns seemed to organize different images in similar ways.
The actual images were different but the pattern was the same. For example, I might dream of climbing the stairs in a tall building, another person might be climbing a mountain, and an ancient shamanistic ritual might call for the shaman to ascend the pole of his tent. Yet all three sets of images could have the same underlying meaning. This pattern Jung called an archetype and compared it to the axial system of a crystal which somehow guides the formation of the actual structure of the crystal. Put in another way, the hypothesis of archetypes allowed Jung to begin to describe the underlying structures of the soul.
The myriads of psychic images that he examined were not simply random debris cast off by the psyche, but point to the very nature of the psyche that gave birth to them. The psyche, then, could be said to be in some way made of archetypes. But these archetypes are not simply static parts of the psyche. Psychic energy flows from one of them to the next and the more energy that an archetype possessed the more it attracts our interest and attention. Further, both archetypes and psychic energy aim at a goal that Jung called integration or individuation.
In simplest terms this meant that the whole personality, both conscious and unconscious, has to be given its due. Consciousness or the ego is not the only part of ourselves and not even the center of our psyches. Our real center, which Jung called the self, manifests itself in a dialogue between the conscious and the unconscious. The self is the realization of the whole being of the psyche. Both psychic energy and kundalini are depicted as energies intrinsic to the soul, and they both have a built-in sense of direction and purpose.
Archetypes and chakras have close affinities, as well. They are the articulations of the soul and manifest its structural complexity. Although less overtly than chakras, archetypes invoke the different dimensions and layers of the soul and body.
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In fact, on occasion Jung identifies the farthest reaches of the unconscious with the body. Both are the focal points where energy gathers and is transformed. Both the chakras and the archetypes are interconnected among themselves and form purposive energetic systems. It is certainly true that Jung was well acquainted with kundalini. In the fall of , for example, he gave a series of seminars on kundalini. But these notions did not play a formative role in the creation of his psychology. What Jung does in regard to Eastern thought is to create a Jungian-style interpretation of it.
The convergence we see is that of two very different and independent ways of thinking about the deeper aspects of the psyche, and all the more eloquent for that. The process of individuation is intimately connected with kundalini realization which appears to be a form of enlightenment, for they both are fundamental processes taking place in the depths of the same psyche, and there is no doubt they strongly influence each other.
Growth in individuation is not necessarily accompanied by the arousal of kundalini energy in the classical sense even though it is surrounded by powerful transformations of psychic energy. The attainment of some degree of enlightenment can coexist with serious psychological problems, and thus a lack of integration. Nor is there any immediate correspondence between the chakras and their rather precise localization and the various Jungian archetypes. This lack of identity in no way diminishes the important role that Jungian psychology can play in our understanding of kundalini energy.
This can happen in two ways. In the first there can be a dialogue between Jungian psychology and Eastern thought, and in fact this dialogue began with Jung and has continued to today. The other possibility for dialogue is much less known but potentially very fruitful for a Christian understanding of kundalini. In it the philosophy of nature of St. Any progress that can be made in understanding Jungian psychology in this way will help our understanding of kundalini because of the close interrelationship between them.
A Philosophical Explanation of Kundalini Energy. God and the intuition of being. Thomas Aquinas saw with an exceptional clarity into the very depths of things, into the heart of their being, and this insight Jacques Maritain, one of his greatest followers, later called the intuition of being. We are intimately familiar with the differences among things. Thomas saw that it was possible to probe deeper. There was another fundamental aspect of things which was the very fact of their existence. No matter how different things are, they all exist.
He saw that the very differences, or whats, of things were certain capacities to be, to receive existence.
Existence revealed itself to him as richer and denser than how it appeared in this or that thing. It was as if both the apple and rose manifested different faces of what it meant to exist. They existed but with a limited existence which was limited by their very nature which made them to be what they are, and these natures or essences could be seen as certain capacities for existence.
Once Thomas saw this, the very depths of things became transparent to him, and shimmering in those depths was the mystery of Existence itself. Existence as received and limited demanded Existence unlimited and unreceived. All things pointed by their very being to Existence as uncontracted by this or that limited capacity for existence which makes a thing to be what it is. This fullness of Existence transcends all the limited things of our experience, and in this way it is no thing, not in the privative sense of nothing, but without the limits that come from being the existence of this or that thing.
This intuition of being became the heart of St. God as Creator and End. Therefore all things are partial reflections of existence itself. They are a rainbow of creatures that come forth from the fullness of existence and are meant to find the fullness of their meaning and purpose by returning to God. How do we return? By becoming what we are most fully, for our deepest natural bond with God is our very being. The more we are ourselves the more we are united to God.
God did it for our sakes so we could enjoy existence: It takes the whole of creation to express as fully as possible the mystery of existence, and all creatures have as their deepest goal to return to God by achieving the full development and activation of their natures. The ladder of being. To be a pure spirit means to have an interior transparency of being that expresses itself in self-awareness and choice. As soon as God created these purely spiritual beings they immediately grasped themselves in knowledge and love.
Their whole nature was present to them, and this was so true that God discovered that it was not possible to create more than one being at each rung of the ladder of being for each of these beings, because each one was purely spiritual, filled up completely that certain kind of possibility so that there would be nothing to differentiate it from another creature of the same kind. Purely spiritual beings could only be one of a kind. However, since spirit is very deep and rich, God was busy for a long time filling these spiritual rungs. But finally God was done, and since the process had been so enjoyable God looked around to see what to do next.
The human soul and the material universe. What to do next was a real puzzle. Was if possible to make something that was not spiritual? And even if it were, what would be the point, for it would not truly know it existed and could not blossom in knowledge and love. God pondered this for a long time and then the inspiration came for a bold experiment. It was true that every rung in the ladder of spiritual beings was filled, but what if it were possible to use the bottom side of the lowest rung?
The result would not be an active spiritual being - all those places were filled - but a new sort of spiritual being, one in potency to become a spiritual being. It would not have an immediately fully activated intellect, but a passive one that had the capacity to become activated. This idea created even more problems. What could activate it? It could not be the higher spiritual beings, for it did not have the capacity for such rich messages.
It could not be itself for it was starting off in potency. God thought and thought and finally discovered a way out of this dilemma. What if the ladder of beings could be extended so that there could be an entirely new kind of being which was not spiritual, but found an ultimate expression in knowledge and love, not in itself, but in virtue of its relationship with this new kind of spiritual being in potency, and this spiritual being, in turn, would be nourished by these other kinds of beings so that it could activate itself.
This posed a whole new set of problems. If a creature was not spiritual, then that meant its very essence or nature was such that it was not transparent to itself. It could not immediately become what it was meant to be, and it could never reach spiritual awareness. God saw that below the threshold of spiritual beings, then these new material creatures would have a new kind of fundamental capacity to lose their existence and become something else.
Their natures or forms were too weak to immediately express and activate themselves. This was no longer the fundamental capacity that all things had by the fact that their natures were certain capacities for existence. This was a new kind of capacity, a capacity we can call matter. Matter, space and time. All this was very puzzling. God saw that creating this lowest spiritual being in potency was going to be quite a complicated task.
If it were to be stimulated in order to activate itself, it would need some sort of stimulus that was as active as possible and as close as possible in nature to it, something as digestible as possible, as it were. It would need the highest and most active form of this whole new class of non-transparent beings. Unfortunately, this highest material form could not exist if it, in turn, were not aided to full development by the next highest form, for it, too, was very much a being in potency to become what it was.
And this next highest form demanded the one immediately below it, and so forth down the whole new ladder of material beings. So God saw that it was necessary to start at the very bottom rung of this ladder and create the most elemental forms of this new kind of material being. God created this kind of being and was amazed at what it was like. By nature it had no capacity to be present to itself like spiritual beings did. It simply lacked the necessary ontological density.
Therefore if it could not be partless, it had to express itself in part outside of part. It had to exist as a material body. And since it could not be all at once fully what it was meant to be it could not completely fill this lowest rung of the ladder of being. It needed other beings of identical nature to try to express what it meant to be this particular kind of thing. Thus was born a multiplicity of bodies, and the relationship between these bodies is what we call space.
And all these bodies in virtue of their common nature were dynamically bound together and interacted and moved each other to realize their potential, and this change and motion are what gave rise to time. In this way God created the material universe, and inscribed in it was a primordial urge to reach up in ever greater complexity toward consciousness, which was its own way to return to God. Stages in the journey. He would have plotted the main stages of that journey something like this.
First came the basic elements which arranged themselves into systems of greater and greater complexity, and after a very long time they reached the threshold of vegetative life. This life could not be the simple outcome of a random association of minerals, but demanded, according to Thomas, a life principle or soul. He reasoned that life was more than being a body, for not every body is alive. There must be a vital principle that makes something be alive and organizes and directs that life. This new vegetative life had within it its own instinct to develop in the direction of greater self-awareness, and finally it reached the threshold of animal life with its motion and sense knowledge, rooted in an animal soul.
Animal life, too, continued the long ascent toward genuine spiritual consciousness until it had reached the very threshold of the lowest of spiritual creatures. There was no way a material being could cross this threshold and give rise to spirit, for it was a different kind of being, but its own inner instinct had brought it to a peak of receptivity, and when this happened God infused in it the lowest of spiritual beings which is the human soul. The union of body and soul. Finally, all the rungs of the ladder of being were filled. The creation of the lowest of spiritual beings had demanded the creation of the whole material universe.
The human soul was at once the crown of this material universe and the recipient of all its riches which it needed in order to activate itself. And it would be wrong to imagine that the human soul was somehow added to a physical body, a vegetative soul, and an animal soul as one more principle of organization or life. Its union with the universe was much more intimate than that. Thomas insisted that the human soul took up in itself and virtually contained these other principles.
They were now contained within it in order that the unity of the human being would not be impaired. They became dimensions within the higher density of the spiritual soul and thus were present to it from within to help it activate itself. Our bodies then in all their richness of elemental forms, vegetative life and animal awareness, do not contain the soul, but rather they are contained in the soul.
As human beings we straddle the very boundary that divides the universe into pure spirits and material beings. We possess the material part of the universe within us and it stimulates us to become aware of our spiritual natures, and the bond of being that unites us with all material things. The human soul is one of the strangest of creatures. It is spiritual but it is meant to be united with the whole universe through the body, and since it starts out as spiritual being in potency and is so united with material creation, one soul does not fill its rung in the ladder of being.
A multitude of human beings are necessary in order to express what human nature is really like. And because all human beings are partial expressions of this same human nature, we are drawn to each other and are meant to help each other find full expression of what it means to be human. We are now in a position to begin to create a philosophical explanation of kundalini energy. The first step is to examine the nature of enlightenment itself, for kundalini appears to be a particular kind of enlightenment, a direct non-conceptual seeing or awareness that I am and that all things are, that we all exist.
It is an experience of the unity of things that they have in virtue of their existence, their common isness. In enlightenment there is an almost overwhelming sense of the oneness of things and our interior bond with all creation. Yet there is no explicit awareness of God as separate from this experience.
What is enlightenment from a philosophical perspective? It is the counterpart to the intuition of being. It is a direct perception of the existence face of creation. Everything is perceived just as it is with a vibrant richness and depth of being that comes from the very fact that it exists, and this face of existence is the bond of unity among all things. In the intuition of being we go conceptually from an understanding of essence as the source of difference to essence as a capacity for existence, and the beings around us as limited and received existence to unlimited existence.
In enlightenment, non-conceptual means are used to experience the existence of things more deeply and directly. Everything is seen with the freshness with which it has come forth from the hand of God, but since there is no reasoning present, there is no explicit pointing to the existence of God. Rather, each thing shines from within with the infinite mystery of existence, and since this happens in a non-conceptual way it does not lend itself, in the experience itself, to reflection about the distinction between God and creatures.
While awareness of and reflection on the experience of enlightenment is new to Christians, the intuition of being opens the way to do it. Enlightenment is the culmination of a natural process of development in which we experience our true natures as sharers in the mystery of existence, and as such it is a precious part of what it means to be a human being.
It can only enrich Christianity and allow it to enter into deeper dialogue with those religions of Asia that hold this experience so much to heart. Enlightenment allows us to experience the wondrous mystery of existence that embraces all things, and as such it must be seen as the flowering of that instinct that is in all things to return to God by becoming what they were meant to be, and in the case of the human soul this instinct has blossomed into a spiritual experience of the highest intensity.
Kundalini as an Integral Form of Enlightenment. Kundalini is meant to lead to enlightenment but it does so in a highly distinctive way, for it is a thorough-going activation not only of the mind but the body as well. From the Thomistic perspective we have just reviewed, is it possible to make sense of this energy? Does such a process of development contradict what St. Thomas had to say about the union of soul and body? Rather, they can mutually illuminate each other.
Kundalini is that fundamental energy or instinct of the soul that is inscribed in its very being which urges it to become fully alive and activated so that it can be and see its own existence and that of all things, and experience in them the radiant mystery of existence that we call God. But if the human soul contains within it all the riches of elemental, vegetative and animal levels of existence, then this fundamental soul energy is animating all the levels of the human organism from within.
But this presence of the soul is in some sense dormant, lying like a seed in these depths. In order to realize itself it must realize each and every level of its being. In short, the human soul is the inmost animator by which these levels exist and by which they become activated.
In a certain way each of us contains the whole evolution of the material part of the universe, and our physical, psychological and spiritual growth is the activation of that heritage.
Christian contemplation
Kundalini is not some strange freakish force coming from without, but it is a striking visible manifestation of an energy that is ceaselessly at work in all of us, both unconsciously and in our conscious strivings. The whole purpose of this energy is to make each level of our being, starting from the most elementary, fully alive and fully nourishing of the next highest level so that at the end of the process the deepest intuitive powers of the soul are awakened and we can see who we really are and that we are.
Kundalini can appear as an impersonal energy because it is not something under the control of the ego. It is very personal in the sense that it is an energy of the soul, but this energy must activate those levels of our being which are far from our conscious control. Larkin below, which I think are well founded. The gift of contemplation should not be identified without qualification with the indwelling of the Trinity. Infused contemplation is, indeed, intimately connected to this indwelling, but it is an actual experience of it that takes place through the activation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Everyone in the state of grace has the Trinity dwelling in his or her heart, for that is the central reality of sanctifying grace. But not everyone has a proximate call to infused contemplation, and thus has the gifts activated in the manner necessary for contemplation, and can therefore take up an attitude of passivity in relationship to this indwelling. Further, infused contemplation, when it grows past its delicate beginnings, is a state that is often discernable to the one who receives it. I think it would be valuable if the Centering Prayer movement could show what the relationship actually is between Centering Prayer and the doctrine of St.
The Western Christian tradition seems to presuppose some experience in discursive prayer before encouraging the practice of contemplative prayer. Christians with no previous prayer experience are not likely to be attracted to Centering Prayer. If they are attracted, I would think they need to be taught Lectio Divina as well as Centering Prayer. I think your description of Centering Prayer and contemplation in the context of the terminology of St.
John of the Cross is accurate. He does counsel simple attention or loving awareness at the onset of the dark night. While it is tempting to identify this practice with our contemplative prayer, the advice applies to a different situation. We are dealing with the beginning of infused contemplation in the strict sense. Pennington was one of the early leaders of the centering prayer movement. We do not judge people. We presume they come seeking a deeper union with God. This is a thing of grace. Could they not benefit from exercising themselves in forms of meditation where they use their senses, imagination, intellect, memory and will in a more active fashion Yes, this is why Fr.
Thomas and I regularly insist on Lectio and share it at most prayershops. Centering Prayer is not only an opening to contemplative prayer but it is often contemplative prayer. John of the Cross describes two fundamental kinds of prayer Are we bound to accept John of the Cross a great mystic but a man of his times -- post-reformation rationalist period in the Church as the norm for all our philosophical and theological thinking about prayer?
There were fifteen centuries of tradition before him. He belongs to a particular school or tradition, the Carmelite. Centering Prayer comes from the Benedictine-Cistercian tradition, a more ancient, beautiful and simpler tradition. According to this distinction, Centering Prayer is a simplified form of meditation,. This does not reflect an adequate understanding of Centering Prayer.
Centering Prayer does not cease in those times within those twenty minutes when God takes over more completely. To tell someone that he is doing Centering Prayer when he begins, then when the Lord begins to move him by the gifts he is now doing contemplative prayer, then when some thought or sound or something comes along and he uses his prayer word again he is back in Centering Prayer and then when he again is moved by the Spirit he is in contemplative prayer, etc….
Let the scholars play with their distinctions if they want but leave pray-ers at peace. It is also, therefore, an active form of prayer rather than a passive reception, Centering Prayer is a totally active prayer - we give ourselves as fully as we can to God in love -- and it is totally passive -- we are wide open to whatever God wants to do with us during the prayer. Not if they are truly practicing CP and understand what they are doing.
Would the process of Centering Prayer, therefore lead to an activation of the unconscious? Whenever we become aware of anything we very simply, very gently return to God by use of our word. CP is not properly a process, it is rather a state of being with natural effects as well as supernatural which are not an integral part of the prayer but something that can result from it. Yes -- the essence of CP is to give oneself in love to God -- if one is seeking anything else it is not CP and will not have the same effects.
CP itself is an ancient Christian form of prayer which was in no wise influenced by Zen. Yes -- the whole Christian tradition, beginning with our Lord, of going apart for prayer. CP aims at and enters into union with God in love. Zen cannot conceive of such a reality. Christian Zen masters believe so. Centering Prayer includes infused contemplation if God wants to give it.
Centering Prayer has often been described as a preparation for infused contemplation, By whom? This reflects an incomplete understanding of CP. Is everyone to be burdened with squaring with John of the Cross? Let the scholars of John of the Cross worry about this and let us contemplate in peace. Jim Arraj responds to Fr. There is certainly more to the Christian mystical tradition than John of the Cross. But looking at Centering Prayer from his perspective is worth while because of the tremendous influence that both he and Teresa of Avila have had on the Western Christian mystical tradition over the last years, and because Thomas Keating has stated that John of the Cross, especially in his Living Flame of Love , where he talks about the transition from meditation to contemplation, had an important influence on his development of Centering Prayer.
That is just what we would like to do. If so, then it is fair to call it a preparation for contemplation. But if we identify Centering Prayer with the prayer of quiet, that is, with the beginning of infused contemplation, then it is hard to see how we can call it a method, or recommend it to all sorts of people. Do many practitioners of Centering Prayer actually receive graces of infused contemplation? Do they realize that they are receiving these graces?
These points are not purely theoretical, but very practical because they help determine whether we should try to be active in prayer, or passive. I can only offer my personal experiences and am not an expert. I offer these experiences in order to facilitate the discussion with the hopes of arriving at a deeper mutual understanding, if possible. I began experiencing kundalini-like symptoms three months after beginning the practice. They were quite intense at first. They have continued in various forms since then.
Lately, I only experience them at the very beginning of prayer. I am not aware of any other moral manifestations. He also recommended an encouraging book by Philip St. Romain, entitled Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality. A New York resident: He makes it sound so simple and easy, which, where there have been no real traumas, it may, in fact, be. Of course, God can heal even deep emotional scars. In a good therapeutic relationship, psychotherapy and a spiritual pilgrimage can be harmonious - the goal of emotional health is not at all at odds with that of total surrender to God, since grace builds on nature.
Since I have experienced the grace of infused contemplation, you asked for my comments. I would like to comment on numbers 1 and 6. Regarding different prayer forms, I would say that the more the entire personality is engaged in prayer, the closer the prayer is to infused contemplation, because in infused contemplation, it is the whole person that is raised up to God.
The greater the recollection in God, Scripture, and Church teaching throughout the day, the deeper the prayer life. I believe there is much confusion regarding detachment in general and the senses in particular with respect to infused contemplation. From one perspective, it is true that we do not have the ability to experience God with our senses. However, in infused contemplation, God is experienced in a concrete and tangible way.
How can this be? The answer is simply this: While we ourselves do not have the ability to perceive God, he has the ability to communicate himself to us in a way that we can directly experience. For myself, once I had received the grace of infused contemplation, I found that the following activities and prayers were conducive to infused contemplation. In other words, these activities seemed to open the flood gate, once the inflow of infused contemplation had begun: The Liturgy of the Hours.
Genuine expression of sorrow for faults and failings, along with regular participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This makes sense, since God is directly present in the Mass, in the Word, and in the sacrament of reconciliation. That being said, I would add that there is no type of prayer or meditation that specifically leads to infused contemplation. It is a sheer gift, given for reasons that are known by God alone. Rather, I would say that someone who receives the grace of infused contemplation will generally pass through the various stages of infused prayer described by St.
John of the Cross and St. All Christians are called to a life of prayer. Some people experience infused contemplation. Others experience the same growth in faith, hope, and charity without experiencing infused contemplation. I would like to stress that the holiness of the latter may well be greater than the holiness of the former. With respect to Centering Prayer, in all fairness I must say that my experience is limited. For me, it is not conducive to infused contemplation. In infused contemplation, the personality is transcended, but in an entirely different way, and not by a process of elimination.
Every part of the person is divinized -- sometimes in a highly accelerated way, as in a rapture; sometimes to a lesser degree in an ecstasy; and also gradually over time, as infused contemplation is experienced during prayer and outside of prayer as one continues through the purgation process that plays itself out in everyday life. Gradually, the more intense experiences of infused contemplation level out into a peaceful resting in God. This may be where the confusion arises between infused contemplation and the experience of Centering Prayer. No one knows for sure what someone else experiences in prayer.
Words are so inadequate. The response of Jim Arraj to Fr. Pennington seems to miss his point. The questions you pose may have theoretical value to academics or theologians but add little to the actual process of drawing closer to God. Trying to push C. John of the Cross seems misguided. Having read a good many Fr. John, and as Pennington states C. God took care of my formation, for I was unable to find spiritual direction relevant to my journey. I had heard about Centering Prayer, but as I was secure on the way God had chosen for me, I felt no urge to try it.
A holy woman in my parish involved in prison ministry however, said it was wonderful; she has been doing it some years. But this same woman a year ago said that she now has to pray for protection from the Devil before engaging in her Centering Prayer. She did not seem to have good guidance to help her deal with this. Why should a person with a healthy prayer life, and supposedly a good spiritual director, need a therapist?
This sounded odd to me! There were Carmelites of both branches and all stripes there, priests and cloistered nuns, a few hermits, and many laymen, including some third-order novices who, in conversation, revealed that they barely had a notion of what contemplative prayer really was. One of the general assembly sessions, to hundreds of people, was an explanation of and an experience of Centering Prayer. Discernment over the next few days told me this experience was a desolation, not a consolation — it disturbed my interior peace and was not of God. Though no neurophysiologist, I did study biology, I am a retired ornithologist and came to the conclusion that Centering Prayer — in me at least — was moving my brain waves from an alpha to a theta state; this was in fact a kind of self-manipulation of the mind-consciousness.
Even if done with the intention of pleasing God, Centering Prayer could present serious problems for mentally or emotionally stressed or potentially unstable individuals. I found it disturbing therefore, that this technique was taught to a huge crowd, without knowing if it was suitable for all in the audience, especially at a Carmelite conference; it was presenting Centering Prayer as endorsed by the Carmelite Order.
This bothers without upsetting me; God and Our Lady protect and guide the superiors of the Carmelite Order without regard to my opinions, which are entirely insignificant. Now it so happens that I am formation director of a third order O. I think Centering Prayer may do no harm to those long past the purgative way, and this of course includes its teachers. However, after much prayer and discernment, I am emphatically not recommending it if any novice in my group asks me about it, recommending instead the classic Carmelite ways.
Let me comment, in turn, on a couple of points. First, the woman who has to pray for protection from the devil. This seems to indicate some real activation of the psyche, and it points in the same direction as the experience you relate which you liken to an awakening of kundalini energy. If there is a vacuum it will tend to be filled by things like Centering Prayer, or even Eastern forms of meditation like Vipassana that some Carmelites are promoting. In my book From St. John of the Cross to Us I try to look at the historical reasons - the why and how - this took place.
Clearly it seems to be that most people do not go by the way of manifest contemplation, but equally clearly, this is what the great Carmelite mystics were talking about, so this is a practical issue that needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, Centering Prayer seems to side-step this problem by acting as if what it does is equivalent or identical to St.
Shalomplace Discussion of Centering Prayer. Jim Arraj has proposed some good questions for discussion at innerexplorations. Before getting into them, however, I want to acknowledge that some of these exchanges might seem negative, nit-picky and head-tripping. I think it will be demonstrated that there are serious pastoral issues at stake here. I know many of these people and consider Fr.
He would be the last to discourage an honest in-house discussion on this topic. Then, continuing to read, reflect and respond will be pointless. Otherwise, however, Lectio Divina helps one to connect with God through the mediation of the sacred word via the use of the faculties. This is no trivial matter and its importance should not be minimized simply because one is not experiencing contemplation.
The teachers of CP often speak of Lectio Divina as a preparation for contemplation, or a means by which the faculties are formed to enable a more contemplative encounter with God. If one really has a choice between Lectio and contemplation, then indeed, that is the case. But for those who do not experience contemplative graces, I am convinced that Lectio Divina is the most worthy alternative.
So what is the value of CP, then? Perhaps at the end of a period of Lectio, it can serve to summarize the recollection that has developed. Concerning CP as a kind of bridge to contemplation? I even have my doubts that what some who practice CP call contemplation really is contemplation. Notice the logical fallacy here. Because infused contemplation goes beyond thoughts and words, then any going beyond thoughts and words must somehow be contemplation.
Also, when you stop and consider: Same goes for God, Who has communicated to us through the Word, the incarnate, visible, Christ. Jim Arraj disagrees with the whole idea of acquired contemplation, and I am inclined to agree especially with his main point to the effect that John of the Cross did not teach this. In fact, I even wonder if the experience of silence that CP aims for can even be called contemplation.
Let go of sensible and spiritual consolation. When you feel the love of God flowing into you, it is a kind of union, but it is a union of which you are aware. Therefore, it is not pure union, not full union. There is no greater way in which God can communicate with us than on the level of pure faith. This level does not register directly on our psychic faculties because it is too deep. Do you see the problem here? John would have us give ourselves over to this flow of love, not treat it as a kind of distraction we have to go beyond through the practicing of a method of some kind.
Keating teaches, that the gift of contemplation is one which is already given the divine indwelling and Centering Prayer simply cultivates our receptivity to the gift and helps to remove the obstacles to our awareness of it. Jim Arraj has responded to this in some detail, but I want to add my two cents here. I would submit to you that this is not the traditional understanding of contemplation, especially infused graces. At best, what we can obtain through our own efforts would be something akin to enlightenment, or natural beatitude, which is not infused contemplation.
What I am saying is that doing so does not guarantee one any kind of contemplative grace or experience of union with God as it has been described by Christian mystical writers. Also, if one is not careful, one can get the idea that the reason one does not experience God more is because one still has all these inner blocks, and that can be discouraging. A counterpoint to all of this, and one that is seldom mentioned by CP teachers and Contemplative Outreach, is the plain fact that there are many, many Christians who do not manifest contemplative graces and who do not practice CP, yet who are nonetheless very close to God.
So many of the religious sisters I work with and have come to know in Great Bend fit this description. So does my wife! Their prayer style is almost completely kataphatic, and this nourishes them. Their will is habitually oriented to God, and they have a sense of God through the faith that so informs their identity and lifestyle. There is no doubting that these holy souls are in union with God. So this is very much prayer, and it is open to even more even possibilities for encountering God than CP.
Mystical graces often have nothing to do with where one is in the divine therapy. God can communicate them to us at the most random of times and long before all the inner blocks and imperfections have been resolved. What Jim Arraj wrote about gifts of the Spirit is very important. It seems to be another fallacy in thinking -- i.
In other words, contemplative grace is being rejected in favor of discursive meditation which Centering Prayer is, albeit radically simplified -- with a goal of deeper union in mind, no doubt. As long as meditation as understood in the West is fruitful, why go looking for God elsewhere? It is a good in its own right, and for many people, it will be their primary means of contact with God through their entire lives. There is a sense in which CP, if practiced rigorously and as taught in contemplative outreach, rejects kataphatic graces during the prayer time.
Viewing other nudgings of grace presenting through imagination, thought, feeling, etc. I cannot imagine relating to another person that way -- not even in the interest of developing a deep relationship. What we have here is a relatively new teaching, references to The Cloud of Unknowing and John of the Cross notwithstanding. Phil, I agree with your criticisms. I know that Keating knows St.
Keating himself seems to speak from an experience of ongoing divine union. But most hermeneutical philosophers would likely argue that even if this union accompanies him through daily life, it is in some way mediated, if only because he remains embodied. Thomas, too, we remain embodied even in the beatific vision, and even this has a kind of mediation via the lumen gloriae, though Thomas insists that it is really God whom we apprehend without of course, comprehending him.
This is not, in my opinion, Christian. I wish he would correct or clarify these problems before he dies, because I think his movement would have a stronger legacy as a result, at least within the church. As I see it now, the distortions in his thought may only become more magnified in his followers, many of whom do not have the level of theological training he has, and as a result may not be able to maintain the balance he has achieved despite the flaws in some of his concepts. This was my sense, at least, from some of those I met at a CO retreat, though they were very good and well-intentioned people whose lives have as much value as anyone with theological training.
In this sense, it truly is receptive prayer rather than a concentrative practice. Nevertheless, one can predict that the dynamics of disidentification will lead to experiences similar to what Buddhism and Advaita report. More on this a little later, although PG has made a good start on it by noting how strongly Fr. Keating relied on Wilber and other Eastern-leaning sources in some of his early books.
Because what goes on in that realm is obviously outside of the domain of our control. Perhaps the unconscious plays a role, here, but, so must the Holy Spirit, if it is really to be about faith. Given the understanding of pure faith expressed here, it would seem that CP could have really nothing to do with its deepening or growth. At best, it would enable us to wake up to ourselves at that level without the static of psychological life obscuring our sense of it. There are the teachings on letting oneself rest, but so long as one is having thoughts even if one is not identified with them , consolations, and even infusions of divine love, the rest is somehow impure, or marred by psychological content.
Keating is fine with these discussions, and I think he has tweaked his teaching through the years because of the ongoing dialogues with many. There are Contemplative Outreach fundamentalists, however, who have little knowledge of spiritual matters and who tend to regard questioning and reflecting like this to be an instance of the false self wanting to control things. At a week-long workshop in Snowmass one time, one of the Contemplative Outreach leaders told me I was mired in mythic membership thinking because I was concerned about some of the doctrinal implications of CP teaching.
On the importance of recollection as a pre-requisite for Centering Prayer. I think it might help to note that the over-arching context for the development of a formal teaching on CP was to respond to the growing number of Christians who were turning East for inner experiences, believing there to be just nothing similar in Christianity.
Keating, Pennington and Menninger came up with this method, or, actually, systematized a teaching about it and began offering retreats. Even the structure of the retreats is modeled on zen, however -- dinging the bell, sitting for 20 min. Lectio is given only perfunctory attention -- a short psalm or other reading at the beginning of a sit. Teresa of Avila writes about this at length. The pray-er is recollected -- i.
A simple word or phrase helps to maintain the state of recollection, and generally this comes from the Scriptures just read or prayers prayed. It also happens that mature Christians who take time regularly for prayer and who lead virtuous lives are in a state of perpetual or habitual recollection. But for those who are not in a state of recollection, I think CP is tough going. It would be far better for people in this state to do Lectio Divina and postpone CP until such time as they are recollected.
There, the thinking seems to be that most anyone can benefit from CP even from the start. I have my doubts about this. Keating, when asked if he practiced CP himself, admitted that he is not sure what he does. I know he has done Sesshins with Zen masters for many a year.
This is over sixty years of experience in practice and most of that in directing others. His resume is indeed most impressive. I trust his intentions and in this day of litigation I have never heard of any lawsuit against Contemplative Outreach. This surely is a miracle on the order of Moses or Isaiah.
If I have the story straight, Keating had this idea and approached Pennington, who was practicing TM at the time. Menninger actually developed the method based on The Cloud of Unknowing , an apophatic method. They decided not to call it meditation and to sit in a chair to make it more accessible.
It was originally intended for clergy and religious only. It developed a life of its own after awhile. Keating noticed that people often made more progress on a retreat than monks had in years of monastic life. Thanks, Michael, for sharing your understanding of the beginnings of Centering Prayer. As there seems a kind of uneasiness with this ongoing evaluation, I think it might be profitable to acknowledge the good that comes from CP practice.
Positive aspects of Centering Prayer. First, I think CP helps to strengthen and purify what we might call our will-to-God. By learning to assert this will and to extricate it from distracting thoughts, feelings, and images, one is doing something similar to what Step 3 of the Twelve Steps invites -- a turning our lives and will over to the care of God.
This is not contemplative prayer, but it is a surrendering of oneself to God. Second, there is growing awareness of inner dynamics. One begins to recognize subtle thoughts, movements, etc. Awareness of the false self and its games becomes more obvious, as are mixed motives of all kinds. This, too, is a good in and of itself. This, too, is a good -- one pursued in the East as an end in itself.
I think CP practice enables one to become more attuned to this aspect of consciousness, and this enables a growing capacity for detachment and discernment. Activation of the unconscious. That seems to be a key ingredient. What starts to happen with this activation of the unconscious is that defenses are loosened and repressed material begins to emerge.
This is a new way of looking at what John of the Cross was describing, especially since it is the practice of CP that is plunging one into the unconscious rather than the onset of contemplative graces unless one equivocates CP with such, which is a mistake, in my opinion. Two parts of this bother me. One is the assumption -- often expressed -- that it is the Holy Spirit that is driving the unloading. But we do not have to work through all of this to be in union with God. Neither does the unloading require the guidance of the Holy Spirit; the unconscious itself can be regulating this adjustment.
Again, please do not hear this as a personal criticism of anyone. Cutting down on CP and using a prayer approach like Lectio Divina that engages one in prayer through the faculties and gently leads one to rest could be of great help to many. Instead, they feel compelled to keep pushing through to get rid of the blocks separating them from God. On references to The Cloud of Unknowing.
As CP teachers frequently point to The Cloud of Unknowing as a touch-point in the Tradition, it might help to listen to what the author of The Cloud is saying: It does not matter whether this book belongs to you, whether you are keeping it for someone else, whether you are taking it to someone, or borrowing it; you are not to read it, write or speak of it, nor allow another to do so, unless you really believe that he is a person deeply committed to follow Christ perfectly. Do your best to determine if he is one who has first been faithful for some time to the demands of the active life, for otherwise he will not be prepared to fathom the contents of this book.
For it is very possible that certain chapters do not stand by themselves but require the explanation given in other chapters to complete their meaning. I fear lest a person read only some parts and quickly fall into error. Note the implication that this kind of practice is not meant for beginners, and that the practice recommended presumes a committed Christian who has been striving to live the Christian life.
As one reads through the book, one finds other indications that the one for whom the book is being written is already beginning to experience contemplation, in some manner, or else feels a draw to it that indicates an invitation to come to God in that manner. This desire indicates the early stirring of contemplative graces. What did he do? Do you not see how gently and how kindly he has drawn you on to the third way of life, the Singular?
Yes, you love now at the deep solitary core of your being, learning to direct your loving desires toward the highest and final manner of living which I have called Perfect. The author of the Cloud is providing teaching on how to enter this new time of life -- to cooperate in surrendering to contemplative graces that are, in fact, being offered. Contrast this with CP teaching and practice, where anyone may attend a workshop and even intensive retreats, where the practice goes on for hours and hours every day.
It may seem as though I am picking nits, here, but there is a history behind all of this that many do not know, or have lost sight of. Jim Arraj has explored it in depth in From St. John of the Cross to Us: Basically, what this is about is the climate after John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, when people were excited about contemplative spirituality. Many wanted to experience what they described, and they recommended practices very similar to CP, thinking wrongly that this is what John was saying.
The decades that followed brought forth some truly bizarre teachings and practices, not the least of which was Quietism, which is ever-lurking in the shadows where contemplative methods are taught. Following this period, there was an anti-mystical backlash in the Church, which endured until after the Second Vatican Council. And so here we are today. Keating is aware of this history, and has tried to avoid the same mistakes by recommending Lectio Divina and by upholding the traditional doctrines of the Faith. Some of the early teachings his Wilber phase, I call it are problematic, however, especially in relating contemplative experience to Ruth Burrows.
The section on Quietism is particularly relevant to the current attempts to promote contemplative spirituality using Centering Prayer. See if this section on Michael Molinos sounds familiar: The theme of the book is that the soul should abandon itself completely to God through the practice of the prayer of simple regard, rejecting all other devotions and practices and cultivating an absolute indifference to everything that happens to it, whether it be from God, man or the devil.
It is not possible to say for certain whether Molinos deliberately set out to start a new spiritual movement or whether he simply took advantage of a quietistic and mystical ferment that was near the surface of Italian spirituality. As we have already indicated, there was in the 17 th century an unusually great interest in the practice of prayer, especially the more passive and affective types of prayer.
Acquired contemplation was considered to be within the reach of all, and the means for attaining it were carefully expounded.
So what are we to make of this? How closely does CP practice come to Quietism? Keating is surely well-aware of this period in Church history, but some of the teachings that have come down re. Keating, the error of the Quietists was in their wholesale devaluation of kataphatic spirituality and doctrinal teaching, in general. Once you break from that and extol, instead, the primacy of intentionality, you lose the accountability that comes from dialoguing with the exoteric tradition and maybe even hold yourself above the need for such.
So while CP practice itself is basically indistinguishable from the manner of prayer the Quietists were recommending, the overall context of the teaching by Fr. In the history of Christian spirituality, the apophatic tradition negative way, God-beyond-images was generally a corrective to the kataphatic sacramental way, God-mediated via symbol, creation.
It almost seems as though some CP teachers have turned things around so that the apophatic is considered normative and the kataphatic second-rate. First we hear Bonnie Shimizu: Is it just me, or is there a kind of bias against kataphatic spirituality manifesting, here? From the exchange with Fr. W henever we become aware of anything we very simply, very gently return to God by use of our word. Think about this statement. What would be far more natural in prayer is to meet God through kataphatic means when grace seems to move in that manner, then to go deeper when we are drawn in that direction, to use a sacred word or phrase at times, then return to reading, etc.
In other words, the kataphatic and apophatic ought to be a kind of dance -- even in a prayer time! CP categorically dismisses kataphatic connections with God, or else relegates them to a time before or after the time of CP practice, which, in a way, removes CP from the practice of ordinary prayer. In my own experience which is not normative or definitive, for sure , this introduces an un-natural manner of relating to God. One can be as desirous of meeting God and as intense in exercising the will-to-God through kataphatic means as through CP practice, the difference being that in the former case, one does not feel constrained to avoid times of quiet and rest when they come, while in the latter, one is restricting the exercise of the will-to-God and openness to receiving grace only to apophatic means.
The supernatural Spirit, God, who is beyond all thoughts, feelings, concepts, and images, can also be present to us through these mediums as well. Just a comment about Centering Prayer and how it may interfere with the simplicity facilitated in Lectio Divina. The mind needs to move from a state of discursiveness to a state of wonder which eases the internal dialogue while easing it further into a receptivity for prayer of simple regard and disposed to the gift of contemplation , and this transition is supported by the container of a meaningful passage of Scripture that suggests a relationship between Christ and the one praying.
This state of wonder allows the one praying to be open to receiving meaning without having to control the process. The sense of this relational quality, and how the will is being consented to a Person, is probably lost on most folks new to CP, where one word is far more like a mantra used to quiet the mind rather than engage the mind in meditating receptively on a relationship.
Christian contemplation - Wikipedia
And so the delicate, and often fragile movement from active to passive receptivity, so well-contained in Lectio Divina, is poorly taken up via CP where Lectio Divina is given such little attention. I would wager that those carefully taught Lectio Divina, in an experiential atmosphere, would see these differences quite clearly. As Jim Arraj points out, the psyche, during CP, is probably often pushed too quickly into a state of quiet before its faculties are treated and soothed by the Holy Spirit. I used Lectio Divina.
In my humble opinion, the women were not ready for CP or sitting in silence. Heavens, they are Marthas, they do not sit in silence at any time. Their husbands are farmers and they are nurses, administrators, therapists, etc. They do 3,4,5 jobs and sleep little. Self-care, not at all. Many women and men live this way in this world. They do not have time to think! Meditation would be a pure gift from God, if they could accept it!! In my humble opinion, they need to start with Lectio Divina.
To sit and to hear the word. To allow God to take them deeper when they are ready. To have their focus on the face of Christ. I believe for a believer who know I am talking about Christians because this is my experience knows who their God is can do CP, otherwise, I have to agree, I believe a person is just sitting in silence. Of course, God is still in control and can do all things!
So, sometimes just by opening ourselves up, we go where we did not know it was possible to go. My experience is, I did Lectio before doing CP. So, that is my comfort level or known. When I lead groups, I love to use Lectio and see where God takes us. This can be a desirable effect producing love and tolerance. The down side of it is that someone can let their guard down and embrace theological nonsense and New Age thinking.
It may be helpful then to have some corrective remedy for this, something to keep oneself individually and collectively close to Christ and His Body. I would propose that the Church Fathers be read and I can see that they are by visiting the bookstore at Contemplative Outreach. There is a very loving intention behind the movement and I feel that makes all the difference in the world. We may see some flakey spin-offs in the years to come as well as more conservative watchdog groups or whatever, but we have a year-old tradition and volumes and volumes of experience and good orderly direction.
I see how you keep reminding us that these are all good people with good intentions, and I agree. Keating pretty much abandoned his dependence on Wilber in articulating the spiritual journey? Is there a better alternative to CP to introduce to people who are interested in going deeper into prayer? Then, of course, charismatic prayer. I know there are some, but how common is this? Is it really true that all are called to experience contemplation? What about all the many mature Christians who are filled with faith and love, but who never seem to show much evidence of apophatic prayer?
Touching on a few concerns again, but in a new way, now. The emphasis on God being beyond all concepts. The emphasis on the apophatic quality of the exercising of pure faith. The emphasis on the activation of the unconscious caused by CP practice as divine therapy. The emphasis on divine union as finally manifesting when inner obstacles are removed. What gets lost in this is the great good news that Christ is actually present to us in our inner woundedness -- even those that are a consequence of self-indulgence and indiscretions.
In other words, those inner wounds need not be viewed as blocks, but as occasions where we encounter the One who entered so fully into the human condition as to experience the full consequences of sin. These inner wounds are also the spawning grounds for energies co-opted by false-self programming, but it would be a mistake to characterize them as belonging completely to the false self.
Christ meets us there if we turn our attention to him, and he communicates his love to us in that context -- maybe even contemplatively so. Again, without discounting the possibility of contemplative graces being given to CP practitioners, the more we go into this matter, the more it seems as though CP is more intrinsically oriented toward metaphysical enlightenment, albeit in a context of Christian faith.
I was a practicing Buddhist for about 5 years before having an experience of Divine grace, which has completely altered my own perceptions re: Such belongs to another thread, but here, in short, is the way I look now at the two different experiences: The present moment and the Eternal are not the same.
These two are equated in non-dual meditative systems. The radiance of the present moment is something the human organism is capable of intentionally opening to. Such is not the case with the Eternal, which stands outside time and space and all creaturely faculties.
In other words, the present moment inheres in the Eternal, its uncreated source, much in the same way the kundalini energy arises from its uncreated source, the Holy Spirit. Paul alluded to this distinction between creaturely perception and the darkness within the faculties during graced contemplation when he said: Now we know in part, then we shall know fully, even as we are fully known.
Resting in the present moment is actually an effort by comparison to the rest within graced contemplation, where the faculties are completely at home in their source beyond self-reflection. In non-dual awareness, there is still the need to maintain the rest, keeping the will and mind from distraction, which is not the case when the Holy Spirit fills those functions.
In the present moment, some degree of Eternal Light is no doubt experienced, but the present moment itself cannot fill the creaturely faculties, as it is itself an effect of the Uncreated. As a psychiatrist and Catholic Christian using Centering Prayer, I have to say that this kind of prayer is not without its dangers. I would definitely not recommend it to anyone who has not been reading the Bible and praying regularly for some years. I would not recommend it to those who are very suggestible, or those with significant mental problems Although there is a degree of anonymity in the forum, for medico-legal reasons I am not allowed to give what could amount to professional opinions in a public forum like this.
In any case, when in comes to prayer and God being a psychiatrist does not lead to any special competence, other than maybe a different perspective. For instance, I have heard this, and I have seen this mentioned either in this forum or elsewhere of people reporting that CP instructors have been asking the people to imagine being in an elevator, then going down to the 11 th floor, the 10 th floor and so on..
Those with major mental problems like schizophrenia, OCD etc tend to have problems if asked to sit quietly and distance themselves from all thoughts. The initial period of learning CP where the person learns to ignore images, thoughts and sensations can lead to considerable confusion. People with these kind of illnesses tend to have an overabundance of thoughts or sensations to begin with. Although they would in theory benefit from learning to ignore them, very often the reverse happens. To me this happens when prayers like this are taught to just anyone who happens to be present.
Ultimately for me, there is one question that needs to be addressed: Is CP and others like it something that should be taught to just anyone, or is it a call from God, that occurs after developing a relationship with God through other forms of prayer? I know that sounds awfully elitist but that is not my intention. My knowledge of John of the Cross and Teresa are second-hand, via the books of Fr. My understanding is that the traditional teaching was that contemplative prayer is something that some people are led to.
In this view going to a parish and sending a flyer saying that there will be a talk on prayer and then surprising people by teaching CP to everyone who is present would not be appropriate. Romain responding to geriodoc: There are numerous places in this thread where we take that up, and the consensus seemed to be that the best way to proceed with prayer is Lectio Divina, moving into a more simplified rest mode when grace moves one there. Let us know what you think of this book. Catholic Charismatics and the Unconscious The revival of Pentecostal spirituality dates to the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries when a number of small gatherings of Protestants met for prayer and asked to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as described in certain New Testament passages.
Of course, there are other explanations for glossolalia. One is that the inner prompting might originate from the deep Self, or human spirit, and the purpose is to help maintain psycho-spiritual balance and integration. Of course, if that were all there was to it, then one would expect glossolalia to be more common, as we all have a deep inner Self that is striving for realization.
Instead, we usually find it in pentecostal groups and in other religions where spontaneous worship is emphasized. Those who insist on a strictly psychological accounting for glossolalia must therefore ask why this religious context for the emergence of the phenomenon? What would be sheer idiocy on my part would be to suppress the utterance of glossolalia in order to discern whether it was of my human spirit or the Holy Spirit. Indeed, it may very well be that the Self is the inner temple of the Holy Spirit, and so separating the One from the other is, in practical experience, quite difficult to do.
According to this distinction, Centering Prayer is a simplified form of meditation, This does not reflect an adequate understanding of Centering Prayer. Quietism So what are we to make of this? Given the interest in Eastern and New Age mysticism, it is imperative, I believe, that Christianity offer the world an alternative from its own tradition -- which is precisely what Keating et al.
I think the error, here, is primarily one of offering such a small piece of the tradition, and a somewhat controversial one, at that. So here are some alternative suggestions for those who want to live a more contemplative life within the framework of Christian faith.