Ray
Yungen speaks on Thomas Keating and Basil Pennington
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"In the
book Finding Grace at the Center, written by these two
Catholic monks, the following advice is given: 'We should not
hesitate to take the fruit of the age-old wisdom of the East and
"capture" it for Christ. Indeed, those of us who are
in ministry should make the necessary effort to acquaint ourselves
with as many of these Eastern techniques as possible … Many
Christians who take their prayer life seriously have been greatly
helped by Yoga, Zen, TM and similar practices … "Thomas
Keating and Basil Pennington have taken their Christianity and
blended it with Eastern mysticism through a contemplative method
they call centering prayer. I met a woman who once enthusiastically
told me that in her church 'we use a mantra to get in touch with
God.' She was referring to centering prayer … Keating and
Pennington have both authored a number of influential books on
contemplative prayer thus advancing this movement greatly. Pennington
essentially wrote a treatise on the subject called Centering Prayer
while Keating has written the popular and influential classic,
Open Mind, Open Heart, and both are major evangelists for contemplative
prayer.
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"For
the centering prayer practitioner, regular practice of "contemplative"
prayer sets in motion a dynamism of "divine psychotherapy, organically
designed for each of us, to empty out our unconscious ... As this
false self is dismantled, we come to see our true Self, the center
of which, so say proponents, is God"
"[I]f
you are aware of no thoughts, you will be aware of something and
that is a thought. If at that point you can lose the awareness
that you are aware of no thoughts, you will move into pure consciousness."
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