The Contemplative Journey

In the darkest hour of the darkest age, Christian monks developed a meditation tradition unique in the Western world. A 14thcentury author described their profound mystical experience as entering "the cloud of unknowing." Yet during the 500 years after this great monastic flowering, this precious tradition-and the direct path to union with God it described-was virtually lost. For decades, Father Thomas Keating, together with other monks, examined this great question: could anyone enter the cloud of unknowing through a prayer practice specifically created to attain it? On The Contemplative Journey, Father Keating shares the authentic tradition of Christian contemplation that emerged from his spiritual search. This complete two-volume curriculum teaches every facet of Father Keating's "Centering Prayer" technique, a uniquely Christian meditation technique that is similar to Eastern mystical practices. From infancy, Father Keating begins, we accumulate emotional layers, or "programs," as a result of traumatic experiences. Centering Prayer engages directly with the unconscious and loosens old traumas that hinder our spiritual development. This "divine therapy" has brought profound inner transformation into the lives of thousands of practitioners. Here is Father Thomas Keating's great masterwork: more than 20 hours of direct instruction for resting in the still point of God.

Father Thomas Keating