The centering prayer movement is popular in the United States. In some areas, for example, you will find centering prayer meetings almost as common as rosary prayer groups …
@James Manning The people I have ever known - particularly one who comes to mind - who have been into 'centering prayer', have without exception been anti-traditional Latin Mass, anti-rosary and Marian devotion in general, and anti-any kind of devotion to the Angels and Saints. Maybe I have been particularly 'unlucky' in my experience with those who practice 'centering prayer' but I don't think so …More
@James Manning The people I have ever known - particularly one who comes to mind - who have been into 'centering prayer', have without exception been anti-traditional Latin Mass, anti-rosary and Marian devotion in general, and anti-any kind of devotion to the Angels and Saints. Maybe I have been particularly 'unlucky' in my experience with those who practice 'centering prayer' but I don't think so. Also, I noticed that 'centering prayer' was often being used as a means to reduce/eliminate anxiety and depression - in other words, not true prayer, but attempted therapy.
Honestly, I don't think you're unlucky. I don't think the good Fathers meant any harm when they wrote their books, but they're very much in line with that Modernist ambiguity that we've seen in Church documents for the last 100 years. The logical conclusion of that ambiguity is apostasy but most people don't think it through. Centering prayer and mindfulness (another concept borrowed from the East …More
Honestly, I don't think you're unlucky. I don't think the good Fathers meant any harm when they wrote their books, but they're very much in line with that Modernist ambiguity that we've seen in Church documents for the last 100 years. The logical conclusion of that ambiguity is apostasy but most people don't think it through.
Centering prayer and mindfulness (another concept borrowed from the East) are often linked together. I actually don't think mindfulness is a bad thing in of itself. Focusing on what's going on immediately around you is a good way to short circuit a panic or anxiety attack, since those obsess on potential threats in the future. It's the same thinking behind worry stones (and honestly, when I feel amped up, I tend to touch my Rosaries to bring me down and remind myself to breathe). But it doesn't have a place in Catholic spirituality.
@James Manning Strangely enough, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) were all over mindfulness when it first became a mainstream fad. Since then, many serious evidence-based online articles (not associated with NICE) have highlighted possible problems. So-called 'secular' mindfulness is often used as a ruse to lure people into the full-blown 'Buddhist mindfulness'. I have personally …More
@James Manning Strangely enough, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) were all over mindfulness when it first became a mainstream fad. Since then, many serious evidence-based online articles (not associated with NICE) have highlighted possible problems. So-called 'secular' mindfulness is often used as a ruse to lure people into the full-blown 'Buddhist mindfulness'. I have personally witnessed this ruse. There have also been claims in the mainstream UK press that mindfulness can make you more selfish: Mindfulness 'can make you more selfish' I have also witnessed an example of this, although obviously I realise that one example can't be used to condemn the whole practice. My ex-neighbour was a mindfulness teacher and was one of the most selfish, disagreeable and arrogant people I have ever had to contend with. She managed to alienate a few neighbours within a very short space of time. Without a doubt, she had some kind of narcissistic personality disorder, and treated her husband (who was clearly on the autistic spectrum) like a dog. Yet presented herself to her wider 'audience' as a 'green, caring and compassionate' person. I'll stick with the rosary and all my many faults!
@English Catholic - Thanks for the article. That news hasn't made it across the Atlantic, to my knowledge. I think it makes some good points, especially how any psychological technique isn't going to be as effective as religious belief. Maybe what I've been taught isn't mindfulness, or is a stripped-down version. What I was taught was essentially consciously focusing on my breathing or to engage …More
@English Catholic - Thanks for the article. That news hasn't made it across the Atlantic, to my knowledge. I think it makes some good points, especially how any psychological technique isn't going to be as effective as religious belief.
Maybe what I've been taught isn't mindfulness, or is a stripped-down version. What I was taught was essentially consciously focusing on my breathing or to engage my physical senses as a sort of distraction (focus on how the worry stone feels, focus on how the beads feel, focus on how my feet feel in my shoes, etc). It's worked well for me when I start to get sensory overload (I'm on the spectrum but can usually "pass"). And I only do it when I'm on the verge of getting overwhelmed. It's not a continuous practice. When I deliberately contemplate my faults, it's in the context of prayer. Our Lady of Sorrows is wonderful at letting you know what your vices are.
One technique I used with young students is 5-4-3-2-1, which is name five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can touch, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. Usually by the time you do that, you usually calm down.
When I was in undergrad, one of the friars loaned me some books on centering prayer by the big proponents of the day (Fr. Basil Pennington and Fr. Tom Keating). Having done martial arts as a kid and possessing a natural interest in religion/philosophy in general, I recognized that most of the techniques described were more aligned with a Buddhist understanding of metaphysics than a Western one. …More
When I was in undergrad, one of the friars loaned me some books on centering prayer by the big proponents of the day (Fr. Basil Pennington and Fr. Tom Keating). Having done martial arts as a kid and possessing a natural interest in religion/philosophy in general, I recognized that most of the techniques described were more aligned with a Buddhist understanding of metaphysics than a Western one.
The Cloud of Unknowing (which both Pennington and Keating claim to be re-presenting for a contemporary audience in their texts) describes what St. Teresa of Avila would consider the fourth stage of prayer - the prayer of simplicity or perhaps something akin to the hesychism of the Orthodox. During this stage, the Christian is to be more receptive than active in their prayers - a sort of waiting for God. When I would explain it to my catechumens back in the day, I usually liken it to Elijah in the cave waiting for the gentle breeze of the Lord rather than the powerful and chaotic shaking of the earth and wildfires. As the kids would say, if you know, you know. The author of The Cloud recommends mentally repeating a single word and gradually reducing the frequency of repetition to still the mind and prepare it for God's action (if He chooses to act).
The issue is that the post-modern spirituality has been strongly influenced by Eastern practices via the New Age movement. In Buddhist meditation (and some Hindu schools of thought), the repetition of the mantra (a word/syllable/phrase) is meant not to still the mind but to prepare it for enlightenment, which is best understood as annihilation of the self.
In short, Catholic contemplation encourages the mind/soul to assume a passive/receptive position to be filled by God's grace, while an Eastern understanding of meditation has the goal of total annihilation of the self. The externals are similar, but the end goals are radically different. I think it's possible to read Pennington and Keating in a more traditionally Catholic sense, but it's ambiguous at best. For that reason, the author of The Cloud strongly discourages neophytes and non-religious from reading his work until they have a particular maturity.
