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Has anyone ever read this western classic? What are your thoughts about this method of prayer?

Is the editor Ira Progoff?

I had read this many years ago and then was advised that it had been condemned in its time. It's been brought back to life because the New Age people like its technique.

Progoff is one of the people deeply involved in promoting New Age spirituality. He is a psychotherapist, professor, and author, who has studied with Carl Jung and Zen master T. D. Suzuki. He's written about how to enter altered states of consciousness much like those achieved by Hindu and Buddhist masters. He's mentioned as one of the major players in a study of New Age penetration into the Catholic Church during the years after the Vatican Council and up to 1990. If he's the editor, and I have little doubt he is, give it a pitch into the trash. You don't need this kind of poison in your spiritual life.

BOB

A group of Benedictines from England have been promoting it as "centering prayer." Centers are found all over the world, just wondered if it was anything like the prayer methods used by the desert Fathers...

I tried to read it, I have a copy but I set it aside for other things and never got back to it.
This link might help:

http://www.anamchara.com/mystics/

Interesting English mystical tradition.

Odo:

"Centering Prayer" is the same as Transcendental Meditation (TM) promoted by the famous guru to the Beatles, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Maharishi also called this the "Science of Creative Intelligence" and is really Hindu meditation parading as science. It also passes as Silva Mind Control.

The basic premise of the whole thing is that one should alter his state of consciousness so that "evolved spirits" can reveal ancient wisdom while he is in a state of trance. Other similar techniques include self-hypnosis, yoga, and even some of the positive thinking books and tapes popular in the business world.

The sad part is that those who dabble in this stuff always come away with the same or similar experiences. And they think that all such experience is valuable, refusing to critically evaluate it. People even are taught that they should not critically evaluate their experiences. Most of it is anti-Catholic, anti-Church, and anti-Christ.

Take a look at the thread about the Vatican refuting the New Age--started by the Administrator.

Yes, many Catholic religious orders are heavily invested in this poison. And many of our clergy. One very prominent archbishop recently retired and admitting his involvement with seminarians was an ardent promoter of this stuff.

The lie is that it is similar to the Jesus Prayer. No one who is Catholic or Orthodox has ever claimed that we possess the ability to call our Creator to answer questions at our will and whim, but that is one of the premises of this book and all of these techniques.

Real Christian contemplation is a gift that God gives to those who have persevered over time. But it is His gift; not something one earns or may deserve for prolonged adherence to religious life or anything else. Some never are given it.

This technique claims that you and I can instantly become a contemplative if we just do the technique. The warnings from the Hindus, though, indicate that one can open oneself to dark spiritual powers and beings and that this stuff should only be done with and in constant relationship with someone more experienced in its use. So it should make one wonder why so many Christians use it so indiscriminately.

I have a book that was published in 1990 that is an overview of this poison and I believe that it is out-of-print. However, I have found the author, a recognized expert in the New Age and its dangers, on the Internet. I am trying to find out if he has had it reprinted. Will let you know.

In the meantime, compare 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.

BOB

P.S.: I threw my copy of this book away years ago.

One more post.

Sorry if this sounds a bit down on this book or the techniques. My brother got caught up in TM many years ago and will not enter a Christian church of any kind since he started it.

I had an experience of what he was doing once. I went into the room where he was meditating and found him sitting in the dark in the lotus position barely breathing. He was oblivious to me. The room had become so cold that one could see one's breath. I was surprised because the house was heated. And the really interesting part is that the room instantly became warm again when he was finished and came out.

Take this for what worth you may or may not see. This experience scared me and it was many years later before I came across the literature about the New Age and found it to be connected.

Makes you wonder.

BOB

Dear Odo,

Thanks for your inquiry. This is a very complicated question, and a number of different movements and techniques have been thrown in together. I shouldn't say anything, but of course prayer is one of the most important things we can encourage. Perhaps it would be better to separate them?

I share our friend Theophan's cautions about "TM", transcendental meditation. I think much caution has to be used here. I haven't yet had a chance to study the new teaching from Rome on the New Age movement, but I think there will be some good guidance there. I must bring the new document to the top of my "things to read" pile (which only seems to get bigger and bigger).

I think the "Cloud" and Centering Prayer, need to be treated separately from "TM".

I know some very prayerful monstics who are supporters of the "Centering Prayer" ministry. It was not started in England, but here in America! The leading light seems to be Cistercian Father Thomas Keating (author of "Open mind, open heart; the contemplative dimension of the Gospel, 1986). I believe that Father Basil Pennington has also been involved in the ministry (author of "Centered living; the way of Centering Prayer, 1986).

Centering prayer accepts all the common and traditional teaching about contemplative prayer, and affirms that such prayer is a simple gift from God, never the result of our effort. However, discipline and attention in 'prayer time' is a task worthy of a Christian. For this, certain methods of concentration and physical stillness are involved. However, it does not claim to force "contemplation" or spiritual stillness, which it readily accepts are God's gifts to us.

"Centering Prayer" does seem to build upon the "Cloud of Unknowing" and its apophatic spiritual tradition. Its contribution seems to be to make this 'method' more accessible.

I think the object of the "Centering Prayer" ministry, is really only to encourage people to enter into their prayer time with a certain order, and with regular commitment. God will do the rest.

It is not completely different to some of the hesychastic tradition which seeks to encourage the praying person to take the mind into the heart, and wait there to welcome the gift of stillness and prayer.

The books on "Centering Prayer" encourage the practise of the faith, the pursuit of the virtues, humble self-knowledge, humility, etc. etc., and seems sufficiently within the tradition of orthodox spiritual theology.

Theophan's caution about "TM" and the New Age movement is well made, and I would also second his suggestion to keep clear of such techniques. Their focus is quite different, and can be dangerous to a Christian. As I said, I think I need to spend some time with the new document from Rome.

However, I think we have to be careful about throwing in the "Cloud" as a 'new age' document. I think we must also keep an open mind about "Centering Prayer" which seems to be within the tradition. If it is perilous, it is only because it has taken spiritual experience and guidance, happily conducted in a monastery (Cistercian in this instance), and presented it to the laity. I rejoice at this, as all are called to contemplation (not just Cistercian monks), and God desires intimacy and loving converse with all his sons and daughters. However, in a monastery one has the safeguards of a spiritual father "on site" (what a blessing in the religious life). In the monastery, there are experienced and tried 'elders' to guide the young, and to help at the first sign of trouble. Someone taking up a book, and beginning this task on their own, without the support of a praying community and 'elders' must exercise great caution. But the teaching itself is not bad or heretical. I think the books can be read with profit.

Prayer is God's life in us, his gift, and he gives it freely. Our dignity as human beings, includes the powers (also given by God to Christians), to discipline our faculties, to struggle with attentiveness, to still our bodies and focus our minds.

As opposed to "TM" the context in Christian prayer is our faith and worship, the object is our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, teacher and master of prayer. We trust in the Lord, and he will show us the ways of prayer. If he is with us, we are not afraid.

When we say "never try silent prayer, without a spiritual father, or a staretz" we might scare people away from prayer, or cause them to be too afraid to begin. I think there are dangers setting foot outside our house, but do we become recluses for fear of dangers? No, we accept risk, and place our trust in God. There are dangers in prayer, but it is well worth beginning, it is worth the risk, it is God's will for us.

Silent prayer, hesychastic prayer, contemplation, is the vocation of every Christian. The Lord longs to speak to us in our hearts, for the language of love is often silent in that place.

Accept the caution, but do not fear prayer. There is always a simple test about these things.

Always ask yourself if you are being more charitable, more forgiving, more generous, more concerned about your neighbor in need. Anyone will tell you if you ask them, any friend can judge this about you (he or she doesn't have to be a staretz). If you find yourself more irritable, more judgemental, more angry, more distressed by injustices done to you, (again a good friend will tell you), then in that case stop! Something is wrong, go to confession, and begin again.

How you pray is a gift of God, and his gifts are always suitable to the person. God respects us, and our prayer is from him, but in us suitably. That is why there is not just one rule, one method, one journey.

What is suitable to you, you will discover when you are gifted. It is a journey worth taking, for you will know God better, and know yourself better in it.

The most important thing is not to discuss prayer, or read about prayer, or study prayer methods. The only important thing is to pray. And so words of caution are prudent, but mustn't stop us.

Elias

I cut and pasted the following intro to centering. Sound very hinduish if you ask me.

Theological Background

The grace of Pentecost affirms that the risen Jesus is among us as the glorified Christ. Christ lives in each of us as the Enlightened One, present everywhere and at all times. He is the living Master who continuously sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and to bear witness to his resurrection by empowering us to experience and manifest the fruits of the Spirit and the Beatitudes both in prayer and action.

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina is the most traditional way of cultivating friendship with Christ. It is a way of listening to the texts of scripture as if we were in conversation with Christ and he was suggesting the topics of conversation. The daily encounter with Christ and reflection on his word leads beyond mere acquaintanceship to an attitude of friendship, trust and love. Conversation simplifies and gives way to communing, or as Gregory the Great (6th century), summarizing the Christian contemplative tradition, put it, "resting in God." This was the classical meaning of contemplative prayer for the first sixteen centuries.

Contemplative Prayer

Contemplative Prayer is the normal development of the grace of baptism and the regular practice of Lectio Divina. We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. Contemplative Prayer is the opening of mind and heart - our whole being - to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions. We open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing - closer than consciousness itself. Contemplative Prayer is a process of interior purification leading, if we consent, to divine union.

The Method of Centering Prayer

Centering Prayer is a method designed to facilitate the development of contemplative prayer by preparing our faculties to cooperate with this gift. It is an attempt to present the teaching of earlier time (e.g. The Cloud of Unknowing) in an updated form and to put a certain order and regularity into it. It is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer; it simply puts other kinds of prayer into a new and fuller perspective. During the time of prayer we consent to God's presence and action within. At other times our attention moves outward to discover God's presence everywhere.

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The Guidelines
Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within.

Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God's presence and action within.

When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.

At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.
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Explanation of the Guidelines

"Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within." (cf. Open Mind, Open Heart, chap. 5)

The sacred word expresses our intention to be in God's presence and to yield to the divine action.

The sacred word should be chosen during a brief period of prayer asking the Holy Spirit to inspire us with one that is especially suitable for us.
Examples: Lord, Jesus, Abba, Father, Mother
Other possibilities: Love, Peace, Shalom
Having chosen a sacred word, we do not change it during the prayer period, for that would be to start thinking again.

A simple inward gaze upon God may be more suitable for some persons than the sacred word. In this case, one consents to God's presence and action by turning inwardly toward God as if gazing upon him. The same guidelines apply to the sacred gaze as to the sacred word.
"Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God's presence and action within."

By "sitting comfortably" is meant relatively comfortably; not so comfortably that we encourage sleep, but sitting comfortably enough to avoid thinking about the discomfort of our bodies during this time of prayer.

Whatever sitting position we choose, we keep the back straight.

If we fall asleep, we continue the prayer for a few minutes upon awakening if we can spare the time.

Praying in this way after a main meal encourages drowsiness. Better to wait an hour at least before Centering Prayer. Praying in this way just before retiring may disturb one's sleep pattern.

We close our eyes to let go of what is going on around and within us.

We introduce the sacred word inwardly and as gently as laying a feather on a piece of absorbent cotton.

"When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word."

"Thoughts" is an umbrella term for every perception including sense perceptions, feelings, images, memories, reflections, and commentaries.

Thoughts are a normal part of Centering Prayer.

By "returning ever-so-gently to the sacred word", a minimum of effort is indicated. This is the only activity we initiate during the time of Centering Prayer.

During the course of our prayer, the sacred word may become vague or even disappear.

"At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes."

If this prayer is done in a group, the leader may slowly recite the Our Father during the additional 2 or 3 minutes, while the others listen.

The additional 2 or 3 minutes give the psyche time to readjust to the external senses and enable us to bring the atmosphere of silence into daily life.
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Some Practical Points

The minimum time for this prayer is 20 minutes. Two periods are recommended each day, one first thing in the morning, and one in the afternoon or early evening.

The end of the prayer period can be indicated by a timer, providing it does not have an audible tick or loud sound when it goes off

The principal effects of Centering Prayer are experienced in daily life, not in the period of Centering Prayer itself.

Physical Symptoms:
We may notice slight pains, itches, or twitches in various parts of the body or a generalized restlessness. These are usually due to the untying of emotional knots in the body.
We may also notice heaviness or lightness in the extremities. This is usually due to a deep level of spiritual attentiveness.
In either case, we pay no attention, or we allow the mind to rest briefly in the sensation, and then return to the sacred word.

Lectio Divina provides the conceptual background for the development of Centering Prayer.

Extending the Effects of Centering Prayer into Daily Life

Practice 2 periods of Centering Prayer daily.

Read Scriptures regularly and study Open Mind, Open Heart.

Practice one or two of the specific methods for everyday, suggested in Open Mind, Open Heart, chapter 12.

Join a Centering Prayer Support Group or Follow-up Program (if available in your area.)
It encourages the members of the group to persevere in private.
It provides an opportunity for further input on a regular basis through tapes, readings, and discussion.
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Points for Further Development

During the prayer period various kinds of thoughts may be distinguished. (cf. Open Mind, Open Heart, chapters 6 through 10):
Ordinary wanderings of the imagination or memory.
Thoughts that give rise to attractions or aversions.
Insights and psychological breakthroughs.
Self-reflections such as, "How am I doing?" or, "This peace is just great!"
Thoughts that arise from the unloading of the unconscious.

During this prayer, we avoid analyzing our experience, harboring expectations or aiming at some specific goal such as:
Repeating the sacred word continuously
Having no thoughts.
Making the mind a blank.
Feeling peaceful or consoled.
Achieving a spiritual experience

What Centering Prayer is not:
It is not a technique.
It is not a relaxation exercise.
It is not a form of self-hypnosis.
It is not a charismatic gift.
It is not a para-psychological phenomenon.
It is not limited to the "felt" presence of God.
It is not discursive meditation or affective prayer.

What Centering Prayer is:
It is at the same time a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship.
It is an exercise of faith, hope, and love.
It is a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion.
It habituates us to the language of God which is silence

It sounds Christian enough to me. I read this quote, and I do not find anything heretical or inherently dangerous.

That other religions (including Hinduism) have forms of meditation and prayer which may sound similar in some aspects, is not completely beyond probability.

The only thing I would not suggest to others is "choosing a secret or sacred word". This strikes me as a little odd, and I never liked this aspect of the "Centering Prayer" ministry. In fact, I think if one were to use the Jesus prayer the other advice would do just fine. Some have used the Jesus prayer with simply the word "Jesus", or "Jesus mercy" or "Lord Jesus". There would be nothing wrong with that. And these are words sacred in themselves, and not so because they have been chosen by me (or some meditation expert).

Perhaps it would be helpful to study the "Lectio Divina" tradition of the Roman Church, through its monastic history. Or even Jesuit spirituality, and Saint Ignatius' rules for meditation in the Exercises. The works of Bruno, and others, would be similar enough.

There is nothing in this program that is particularly new or innovative.

Perhaps the Western Church has hidden its spiritual heritage, and so it sounds odd to us. Fear of the mystics, and suspicion about mystical theology is common enough.

What Father Thomas Keating has tried to do, is draw on centuries of spiritual tradition (the Cloud, the Lectio Divina, monastic prayer) and try to re-present it to the whole Church, taking it out of the preserve of the monasteries. If we label it as Hinduism, then might it show us just how unfamiliar we are with our own tradition?

The section entitled "what Centering Prayer is not" clearly seeks to differentiate it from Himdu meditation, and such techniques.

But in the end, if one does not buy it, if it is not helpful, then disregard it. If it is helpful then use it. If it is not, then ignore it.

All I wanted to do, is to say that "Centering Prayer" is not "TM" and I do not think they should be considered as one and the same. The directors of the ministry say it is not. The very thought would horrify Fathers Thomas and Basil.

"Centering Prayer" is not my way of praying. I do not teach it, but I do not condemn those who do. I do not think it is "TM" or Hinduistic, and I think a distinction needs to be made.

Fr. Elias:

I'm posting some excerpts from the New Age expert that I have studied. He wrote the first book-length examination of this phenomenon in the Catholic Church. I think that this is what Rome is finally addressing. He cites books, seminars, lectures, conferences, and other venues where this thing has gotten a foothold. The links in the meditation methods that have been so widely promoted are disturbing to say the least.

I agree with you that we ought to pray. However, I have been told by people who use this method that we should stopusing the traditional forms altogether and use this exclusively. I've also been told that opening ourselves in this way is something wherein there is no danger and that the Enemy cannot touch us at this level--something that simply cannot be proven or guaranteed.

______

I (Randy England, the author) spoke with the Omaha co-ordinator for the Hermitage (1) (also a Catholic). . . . "Do you see any similarity between Silva meditation and what is now called Centering Prayer"

"It's all exactly (emphasis in the original) the same thing!" she insisted. "All of these things (meditation techniques) are the same thing>"(2)

(1) Note: "The Hermitage," a group from Indianapolis, Indiana, which teaches the Silva Method of meditation, Christian Astrology and Buddhist meditation. (cf., book reference below (2).

(2) England, Randy, Esq., The Unicorn in the Sanctuary, the Impact of the New Age on the Catholic Church, Trinity Communications, Manassas, VA, c. 1990, pp. 148-149.

What is the Difference anyway?

It is important to further distinguish between occult meditation, which is the foundation of all New Age beliefs, and Christian meditation which is basic to true spiritual growth. First, what New Agers call meditation is nothing like Christian meditation. Meditation (or discursive) prayer, for the Christian, consists of a rational examination of God's truths, commands, mysteries or events from Holy Scripture. Notice how the psalmist uses meditation:

I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways.

Make me understand the ways of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.

I have more understanding than all my teachers when your decrees are my meditation. (Psalm 119:15, 27, 99)

How I love your law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day. (Psalm 119:97)

Happy the man who . . . delights in the aw of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night. (Psalm 1:1,2)

Beyond meditative prayer, there is the genuine mystical experience of contemplation. Contemplation is the absorption of the soul not the partial vision of God. While various Catholic traditions employ differing practices to prepare for contemplation, the Divine vision is a gift God gives as He wills. Neither human reason nor the mindless techniques of bearded gurus have power to produce visions of God. Yet here, at the level of such a towering gift, Satan best earns his title the "ape of God." The practice of contemplation is dangerous because, as a gift independent of reason, the impact is upon the senses and the emotions, fertile ground for counterfeiting by the devil. The Catholic tradition is one of great caution and the need for proper spiritual direction and the discernment of a good director. Otherwise, we are easily fooled by the fraudulent offerings of spiritual quacks in their imitation of contemplation.

Unlike occult meditation, whose goal is an opened and emptied mind, Christian prayer has God as its object. (3)

(3) Ibid., pp. 110-111.

Randy England goes on to link the people and the methods from Sadhana, a Hindu meditation form adapted by Fr. Anthony de Mello, to TM, to Silva Mind Control, and finally to Centering Prayer, the product of Fr. M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. in a chapter of this book entitled "The New Age Mystic." (cf., Anthony de Mello, Sadhana: a Way to God, Christian Exercises in Eastern Form, The Institute of Jesuit Sources, St., Louis, 1978; and M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O., Centering Prayer: Renewing an Ancient Christian Prayer Form, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, 1980.)

". . . Zen (and) all forms of Buddhism are going to make an enormous impact on the Christianity if the coming century . . . Indeed this process has already begun."
Here, England quotes Anthony de Mello in the above book, Sadhana: a Way to God, Christian Exercises in Eastern Form at p. x of Sadhana.

______

BOB

P.S.: Note the publication dates for some of these books. This author's research covers the period from about 1975 to 1990.

Dear Theophan,

I have read the posting by Odo about what Centering Prayer is and is not. Like Fr. Elias, I cannot find in that statement anything which makes it non-Christian. Do you see in what Odo posted something else?

The practice of lectio divina is an ancient way of Spiritual growth in the West for monastics and lay people also. It has been and still is a cornerstone of Benedictine spiritual practices. St. Benedict made it a part of his rule. That rule predates the separation of the Churches. Lectio is used by many Catholics who are not involved in the Centering Prayer movement as well as by those who are.

I am not sure that because someone says that a practice that is used by Chrisitans is similiar to a practice that is used by non-Christians makes the practice to be less Christian. Even the fact that some practices might be exactly the same does not mean that they are being practiced for the same reason or in the same context.

The cautions raised by the teaching of the Church on new age beliefs and practices are invaluable. Thank you for sharing the resources that you have. I only want to caution that we do not lead people to find evil where no evil exists on the basis of a cursory discussion among us here.

Fr. Elias has outlined valuable context guides for the use of methods of the practice of meditation and contemplation. Working with a spiritual guide and in a community of pray-ers for example provide a reality check and a ready resource when problems arise. I think it is wise to heed his words of caution.

It might not be wise, on the basis of circumstantial evidence presented on the internet, to rush to find error in a spiritual practice because of its origin. In so doing a valuable resource for growth in Christ might be overlooked. Alex has on many occasions pointed out practices used by us that have Christian meaning now that originated in pagan practices of our ancestors.

The spiritual writers cited by Fr. Elias, Fr. Thomas and Fr. Basil, have a long history of teaching orthodox belief. Their teachings about some practices for meditation and preparation for contemplation might resemble some used by followers of other religions. None of their writings have been condemned as far as I know.

It may be that there are those who have gone beyond the realm of Catholic teaching. I don't think that anything that I have read by either priest has done so. Of course, I could be wrong!

Thanks again the information that you've shared.

Steve

In regards to the Cloud of Unknowing:

I think part of the problem may be that Ira Prokoff did a translation (from middle English) of The Cloud of Unknowing on his own and probably intended it to bolster his own teachings. There may be a particular slant to his edition.

The original work itself is said to have been popular for generations and is thought of as a classic. The New Agers seem to be hijacking spirituality from all over the cultural spectrum. At least they may be recognizing that there is some value in traditional Christianity.

It is likely that the original middle English work is in the public domain and is available to anyone that may wish to publish it provided that they do their own translation. I suppose we must rely on the credibility of the translator and be aware of their bias. Much as if we were choosing a Bible or translations/anthologies of the Fathers.

My copy of The Cloud was published by Image books, edited by William Johnston and forward by Huston Smith. I know of another edition released by the Paulist Press:

http://www.paulistpress.com/cgi/ppos/2972-8.html

I honestly did not know that there was a connection between the Cloud and Centering prayer, although it is clearly in the contemplative and mystical tradition.

Michael

I always seem to stir people up, I�m sorry.

Take a look at the writings of Thomas Merton�he is very suspect to eastern teachings, especially his latter writing. He made the same arguments that are listed above for Zen. I�m worried that these teachings are slipping into the Church under a false face.

I return to the writings of the Church Fathers and pray the Jesus Prayer.

Dear Odo,

The Spirit is said to stir things up, too. Don't worry bout asking or commenting.

Look at the discussion that you started!

Sounds like you're headed in a good direction.

Steve

A good plan! The Jesus Prayer always repays the time spent with it. Don't be sorry, thanks for the discussion.

Elias

To my brethren on this thread:

I have read the posting that Odo did about Centering Prayer, what it “is and is not.” This is the standard introduction by all authors who write about this particular method. It is also the standard introduction used by the authors who write about the non-Christian versions of this meditation method.

I have had the particular grace to have had solid Catholic and Orthodox spiritual directors for the better part of the last 40 years. None of them has ever recommended this or similar methods. Each has insisted that I follow time-tested, saint-proven methods in prayer and meditation. In fact, when this book that I cited came into print I was guided to spend considerable time with it.

Recently my parish became a magnet for this sort of thing—Centering Prayer--when we had a new pastor assigned. In addition to this prayer method, we have had a steady dose of what Pope St. Pius X condemned in Pascendi Gregis, the condemnation of Modernism. I have even been told that the truth depends on who is talking, not some objective source like the Church. We don't even have to listen to the Pope, the bishop, or even a priest anymore because we can listen to the voice inside when we “center.”

For example, it is one thing to say that I am part of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. It is also correct to say that I have Christ dwelling in me because of grace or deification or by my reception of the Eucharist. But it is, to my mind, something quite different to say that I AM CHRIST, stating it as an equality. Many have developed an almost pantheistic view of what God is and who they are from the revelations they have supposedly received.

I'm sure that there are many sincere people who have begun their journey in this direction. But I've seen enough damage to people who have gone down this road and don't think that it was an accident that I had spent so much time with this study over a decade ago. Perhaps there is something there, but when people who have studied the New Age and who are recognized as expert by the Church warn against it, I listen and pass along what I have been told.

I use the Jesus Prayer, the Byzantine prayer book, the Desert Fathers, the Philokalia, and most importantly the Scriptures. There are many time-tested, saint-proven sources of spirituality in the wide treasury of the Catholic Church (and I mean to include my Orthodox brethren in this). However, Thomas Merton, Teilhard de Chardin, Dom Bede Griffiths, Fr. Edward Hays, Fr. M. Basil Pennington, Fr. Anthony de Mello, and others don't seem to me to be on the same track as traditional Catholicism or Orthodoxy.

I write because I care. I care because I've already lost a brother in the flesh.

BOB

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I stumbled upon two copies of the "Cloud of Unknowing" last night during a random bookstore browse. Penguin published one version and Paulist Press published the other as part of their classics of Western Spirituality series. I did not note the editors.

A brief read of the book covers noted that this was an anonymous work composed in the time of the plague. After a brief (and I mean brief) read of the review notes, I understood that the author believed we alone cannot break through the "cloud of unknowing", [lack of belief], and we must rely on God for the gift of breaking through that cloud.

For those who have read this work, is this the point?