Consciousness of God as God is: The phenomenology of Christian centering prayer

<p>In this study I aim to give an alternative approach to the way we theorise in the philosophy and comparative study of mysticism. Specifically, I aim to shift debate on the phenomenal nature of contemplative states of consciousness away from textual sources and towards reliable and descriptively rich first-person data originating in contemporary practices of lived traditions. The heart of this dissertation lies in rich qualitative interview data obtained through recently developed second-person approaches in the science of consciousness. I conducted in-depth phenomenological interviews with 20 Centering Prayer teachers and practitioners. The interviews covered the larger trajectory of their contemplative paths and granular detail of the dynamics of recent seated prayer sessions. I aided my second-person method with a “radical participation” approach to fieldwork at St Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass. In this study I present nuanced phenomenological analyses of the first-person data regarding the beginning to intermediate stages of the Christian contemplative path, as outlined by the Centering Prayer tradition and described by Centering Prayer contemplatives. My presentation of the phenomenology of Centering Prayer is guided by a synthetic map of Centering Prayer’s (Keating School) contemplative path and model of human consciousness, which is grounded in the first-person data obtained in this study and takes into account the tradition’s primary sources. This includes: (1) an outline of the stages of the contemplative path; (2) the levels of consciousness (ordinary, spiritual and divine) and the type of experiential content (coarse, subtle and very subtle/divine presence) proper to each stage of the path; and (3) corresponding types of self (false, true and separate-self sense). My study addresses three meta-issues in the field pertaining to method, description and theory. First, I offer a new framework for the comparative study of contemplative practices and experiences, alongside a sound second-person method for collecting first-person data from contemplative practitioners. Second, I provide an effective framework for developing phenomenological accounts that are descriptively faithful, analytically transparent and theoretically useful. Third, I draw on the phenomenological accounts developed in this study to reconsider important theses advanced in the contemporary philosophy and comparative study of mysticism. On this basis, I argue that practitioners phenomenally apprehend union states, specifically prayer of full union, through experiential primitives, such as a “sense of presence”, and without a “God-identification element”. Consequently, union states are phenomenologically of an unidentified reality and therefore not theistic, in Katz’s and Pike’s senses. However, there might be some sense in which they are phenomenologically of God, because they could be practitioners’ consciousness of God as God is; but this would empirically disconfirm received views of how God should be experienced. This finding challenges arguments for a unique theistic experience, designed to uphold a fundamental distinction between theistic and nontheistic experiences. Since Christian practitioners do not necessarily have unique theistic experiences in union, in the way that Katz and Pike require, there is at least some sense in which contemplatives from different traditions and cultures could have experiences similar in content and structure.</p>

Consciousness of God as God is: The phenomenology of Christian centering prayer

<p>In this study I aim to give an alternative approach to the way we theorise in the philosophy and comparative study of mysticism. Specifically, I aim to shift debate on the phenomenal nature of contemplative states of consciousness away from textual sources and towards reliable and descriptively rich first-person data originating in contemporary practices of lived traditions. The heart of this dissertation lies in rich qualitative interview data obtained through recently developed second-person approaches in the science of consciousness. I conducted in-depth phenomenological interviews with 20 Centering Prayer teachers and practitioners. The interviews covered the larger trajectory of their contemplative paths and granular detail of the dynamics of recent seated prayer sessions. I aided my second-person method with a “radical participation” approach to fieldwork at St Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass. In this study I present nuanced phenomenological analyses of the first-person data regarding the beginning to intermediate stages of the Christian contemplative path, as outlined by the Centering Prayer tradition and described by Centering Prayer contemplatives. My presentation of the phenomenology of Centering Prayer is guided by a synthetic map of Centering Prayer’s (Keating School) contemplative path and model of human consciousness, which is grounded in the first-person data obtained in this study and takes into account the tradition’s primary sources. This includes: (1) an outline of the stages of the contemplative path; (2) the levels of consciousness (ordinary, spiritual and divine) and the type of experiential content (coarse, subtle and very subtle/divine presence) proper to each stage of the path; and (3) corresponding types of self (false, true and separate-self sense). My study addresses three meta-issues in the field pertaining to method, description and theory. First, I offer a new framework for the comparative study of contemplative practices and experiences, alongside a sound second-person method for collecting first-person data from contemplative practitioners. Second, I provide an effective framework for developing phenomenological accounts that are descriptively faithful, analytically transparent and theoretically useful. Third, I draw on the phenomenological accounts developed in this study to reconsider important theses advanced in the contemporary philosophy and comparative study of mysticism. On this basis, I argue that practitioners phenomenally apprehend union states, specifically prayer of full union, through experiential primitives, such as a “sense of presence”, and without a “God-identification element”. Consequently, union states are phenomenologically of an unidentified reality and therefore not theistic, in Katz’s and Pike’s senses. However, there might be some sense in which they are phenomenologically of God, because they could be practitioners’ consciousness of God as God is; but this would empirically disconfirm received views of how God should be experienced. This finding challenges arguments for a unique theistic experience, designed to uphold a fundamental distinction between theistic and nontheistic experiences. Since Christian practitioners do not necessarily have unique theistic experiences in union, in the way that Katz and Pike require, there is at least some sense in which contemplatives from different traditions and cultures could have experiences similar in content and structure.</p>

The Selah pilot study of spiritual, mindfulness, and stress inoculation practices on stress-related outcomes: A non-randomized participant preference control pilot study

Background The job-demand-control-support model indicates that clergy are at high risk for chronic stress and adverse health outcomes. Methods A non-randomized participant preference design with a control group was used to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and range of outcome effect sizes for four potentially stress-reducing interventions: stress inoculation training, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), the Daily Examen, and Centering Prayer. All United Methodist clergy in North Carolina were eligible and recruited via email to attend their preferred intervention: in-person workshops of one (Daily Examen, Centering Prayer) or two days (stress inoculation training) at retreat centers, or eight weekly online 90-minute sessions (MBSR). Surveys at 0, 3, and 12 weeks assessed symptoms of stress, anxiety, and perceived stress reactivity. Heart rate variability was assessed at baseline and 12 weeks using data from 24h ambulatory heart rate monitoring. A patched-up control group was recruited after recruitment commenced. A subset of participants completed in-depth interviews and reported skill practice using daily text messages. Standardized mean differences with 95% and 75% confidence intervals were calculated for each intervention relative to control to determine the range of effect sizes likely to be observed in a definitive trial. Results 78 clergy participated in an intervention and 7 provided data as a control group. The daily percentage of participants engaging in stress management practices ranged from 47% (MBSR) to 69% (Examen). Every participant interviewed (n=23) reported that learning content was acceptable and they would recommend their intervention to others. Small-to-large effect sizes on measures of stress and anxiety were observed for Daily Examen, stress inoculation, and MBSR relative to control. Little evidence for change in HRV was observed between intervention and control, with the most favorable effects observed for MBSR. Results were mixed for Centering Prayer. Conclusions All four interventions were feasible and acceptable, with the best trends in outcomes for MBSR, although other interventions were promising. Participants welcomed daily text messages reminding them to engage in practice and wore ambulatory heart rate monitoring devices without incident. Three-week survey data did not contribute to study findings. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov trial registration number: NCT04625777, November 12, 2020 (retrospectively registered).

The Influence of Spiritual Transcendence on a Centering Meditation: A Growth Curve Analysis of Resilience

The authors longitudinally examined a spiritual meditation based on centering prayer. The study consisted of two primary aims: (1) to determine the effectiveness of centering meditation on increasing resilience and (2) to examine the temporal dynamics of spiritual transcendence on resilience during the meditation. Participants (n = 150) engaged in a 4-week randomized controlled trial, in which the treatment group practiced the centering meditation twice a day. The growth curve model includes a three-way interaction to determine if there were group effects in the relationship between spiritual transcendence and time. The interaction between treatment group, time, and spiritual transcendence was statistically significant in explaining the trajectory of resilience, p < 0.05. Based on the findings, the centering meditation was effective in statistically significantly increasing resilience in the treatment group compared to the waitlist control group. In addition, spiritual transcendence significantly potentiated the effect of centering meditation on improving resilience over time, p < 0.05. The authors discuss limitations and implications for research and practice of centering meditation.

Coping with Pastoral Burnout Using Christian Contemplative Practices

Three Christian Devotion Meditation (CDM) practices—lectio divina, centering prayer, and the examen—will be offered to aid in coping with ministerial stress and to prevent burnout. CDM or Christian contemplative practices are uniquely suited to develop the emotional resources pastors need for coping with burnout. The office of the pastor faces pressures which can cause burnout and threaten their ministries and personal relationships. The experience of pastoral burnout consists of acedia. Pastors experience spiritual emptiness due to two unique aspects of pastoral life. First, because pastors often work alongside with their families in the church while simultaneously serving their congregants, they experience inter-role conflict due to the high level of boundary ambiguity between their vocational and family lives. Second, pastors need to rely on their psychological resources to provide for their church members due to the emotional labor required of their positions. Consequently, pastors must rely on emotional labor strategies to respond positively to their congregations, which in turn can lead to emotional exhaustion.

Ethik, Kontemplation und Spiritualität - Thomas Keatings ‚Centering Prayer‘ und dessen Bedeutung für die Theologische Ethik

<P>Eine Definition von mystischer Erfahrung bildet den Angelpunkt dieser Studie, die das kontemplative Gebet des <I>Centering Prayer </I>von Thomas Keating OCSO kritisch würdigt und weiterentwickelt. Seit dem Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil ist die Durchdringung der christlichen Berufung der Theologischen Ethik nachdrücklich aufgegeben. Mit Blick auf die Berufung zu einem spirituell-religiösen Leben ist es daher zentral, die Schnittstelle zwischen dem sittlichen Anspruch einer philosophisch und theologisch deutbaren Wirklichkeit und dem eines personalen Gottes zu erforschen. Unter Bezug auf Heinrich Rombach, Karl Rahner und Alfons Auer wird eine Kontemplativ Induzierte Ethik entfaltet, die den Fokus auf die in der Kontemplation gewonnene Einsicht in das ‹je Bessere› des Handelns richtet.</P>

Forming “Mediators and Instruments of Grace”: The Emerging Role of Monastics in Teaching Contemplative Ambiguity and Practice to the Laity

Drawing from long-term ethnographic research with a global network of contemplative Christians, this paper discusses an emerging teaching role for North American monasteries as the numbers of avowed religious decline. Since the Trappist community of St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, first developed the Christian meditation technique called Centering Prayer in the 1970s, monks and nuns have increasingly become teachers, models, and stabilizers of non-monastic practitioners who attempt to transform their ways of being and thinking towards monastic-inspired sensibilities. Their guidance includes the use of face-to-face, literary, and virtual means to teach methods of contemplative intersubjectivity and a commitment to lives based on service, hospitality, and humility, as well as on study and formalized rites. The paper focuses on non-monastics’ strong attraction to monastic teachings on ambiguity as a source of creativity and wonder in uncertain times, as practiced through a combination of cataphatic and apophatic ritual, including Centering Prayer. The number of monastic postulants continues to falter, yet a much larger, “non-gathered” community of non-monastic oblates and neo-monastic contemplatives has grown increasingly reliant on monastics to help provide alternatives. The rising interdependence of monastics and non-monastics may become the basis of a transformation of Christian monasticism and a new concept of religious community.

The Way of Divine and Human Handing-over: Pauline Apocalyptic, Centering Prayer, and Vulnerable Solidarity

The premise of this article is that in order for apocalyptic theology to be a valid form of God-talk, it must be explicit in its existential orientation by articulating the role of apocalyptic Christian practices. Following Barth’s exegetical insights, I first propose that the existential orientation for apocalyptic theology center on the divine handing-over ( paradidōmi) of Jesus in the incarnation and crucifixion, which has its positive human correlate in the apostolic handing-over of the tradition ( paradosis) by disciples like Paul. The confrontation by the apocalypse of the divine handing-over is therefore always existentially oriented. As Jesus hands over the Spirit to us (John 19:30), we are given the power to correspond existentially through the Spirit’s non-identical repetition of the death of Christ in us, to the divine prototype of handing-over through the vocation of witnessing to Jesus. Centering prayer is a Christian practice that functions within such an apocalyptic framework. Through centering prayer’s embodied practice of spiritual kenosis, the Spirit can form us, more and more, in the apostolic way of handing-over Jesus as we come daily into open situations of proclamation in which we are called to give embodied witness to the powerless power of God in the world.

Portico

Using evocative language, the book opens with a historical and contemporary exploration of the desire that motivates contemplative practitioners to seek an intimate relationship with the divine. It describes the effect of globalization and religious pluralism by noting a trend of Americans’ abandonment of mainline Christian institutions, their exploration of other contemplative traditions, and their subsequent return to Christianity when they discover its mystical history and current-day contemplative practices. The chapter describes core terms, concepts, research parameters, and basic sociological and historical information about the research community, a network of American monastic and non-monastic contemplative Christians who practice a meditation technique called Centering Prayer. Chapter 1 also introduces the terms apophatic and cataphatic to the ritual studies lexicon and offers a basic description of the novel ethnographic methodology that the author developed for research in silent communities.