Who is Thomas Keating?
In Search of the Spiritual
"Move over, politics. Americans are looking for personal,
ecstatic experiences of God, and, according to our poll, they
don't much care what the neighbors are doing" By Jerry Adler
Newsweek Aug. 29, 2005 Issue
"The 1960s did not penetrate very deeply into the small towns
of the Quaboag Valley of central Massachusetts. Even so, Father
Thomas Keating, the abbot of St. Joseph's Abbey, couldn't help
noticing the attraction that the exotic religious practices of
the East held for many young Roman Catholics. To him, as a Trappist
monk, meditation was second nature. He invited the great Zen master
Roshi Sasaki to lead retreats at the abbey. And surely, he thought,
there must be a precedent within the church for making such simple
but powerful spiritual techniques available to lay people. His
Trappist brother Father William Meninger found it in one day in
1974, in a dusty copy of a 14th-century guide to contemplative
meditation, 'The Cloud of Unknowing'."
"Drawing on that work, as well as the writings of the contemplatives Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila, the two monks began teaching a form of Christian meditation that grew into the worldwide phenomenon known as centering prayer. Twice a day for 20 minutes, practitioners find a quiet place to sit with their eyes closed and surrender their minds to God. In more than a dozen books and in speeches and retreats that have attracted tens of thousands, Keating has spread the word to a world of "hungry people, looking for a deeper relationship with God." Read all of "In Search of the Spiritual"
Thomas
Keating is the co-father of the modern day contemplative prayer movement. |
His views on contemplative prayer.
An interview with Thomas Keating reveals his beliefs.
"Thomas Keating teaches on centering prayer who tells us contemplative
prayer is a way of tuning into a fuller level of reality that
is always present …"(Open mind, Open heart p.37).
He explains "My acquaintance with eastern methods of meditation
has convinced me that … there are ways of calming the mind
in the spiritual disciplines of both the east and the west …
Many serious seekers of truth study the eastern religions, …"What
he is promoting is the concept of God permeating the air as
prana."
Let
Us Reason Ministries
"Through
the late 1960s and early 1970s, Father Keating and two other monks
met with Buddhist and Hindu teachers
in an effort to understand the mass defection of young Catholics at the time, people drawn in part to the East's meditation practices.
Their research led Keating, then an abbot at a Massachusetts monastery,
to begin unearthing a
similar meditative method based on the Christian tradition."
A
Quiet Revolution
"There
are already a number of Christians who are practicing the various
types of contemplative prayer promoted by Richard Foster, Thomas
Merton, Thomas Keating, and others. A good portion is being promoted
through the Catholic contemplative prayer movement. Many of these
same people are open to or already doing labyrinth walks as a
meditative practice."
Let Us Reason
Ministries
Study with Caution - These Sites are Pro-Contemplative Thus Anti Gospel.
Watch an interview between Thomas Keating and Ken Wilber where the discuss contemplative prayer.
