Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

This was a really helpful introduction to the practice of centering prayer, a contemplative practice that is aimed at becoming awake to the constant presence of God rather than working with discursive thoughts and emotions. It includes a brief but lucid explanation of why contemplative prayer was lost to the Western tradition, a strange episode in our spiritual life that is thankfully now over, and of how Centering Prayer came to be developed. It also touches on some of the author's reservations or differences of opinion/emphasis with her mentor, Fr. Thomas Keating, which I appreciated, as it is important to appreciate and honor great teachers without necessarily agreeing with every single thing they say. I'll be reading more on Centering Prayer and more of Bourgeault's work.