Hero #072: Thomas Keating … (03/23/16)
Born in 1923, Keating is a Trappist monk known as one of primary architects of the Centering Prayer, a contemporary method of melding the mind with the Divine.
His interest in contemplative prayer began during his freshman year at Yale University, when he became aware of the writings of early Christian mystics. Prompted by these studies and time spent in prayer and meditation, he experienced a profound realization that, at the very least on a deep spiritual level, the Scriptures call for people to form both a very practical and a very personal relationship with what many call “God”.
Later, during his term as abbot at St. Joseph’s Abbey in the 60’s & 70’s — and in response to then fresh reforms of Vatican II, he invited spiritual teachers from the East to his monastery. As a result of this exposure to Eastern spiritual traditions, Keating was inspired to help develop the modern form of Christian contemplative prayer called Centering Prayer.
Also since the reforms of Vatican II, Keating has been a core participant in and supporter of interreligious dialogue. He helped found the Snowmass Interreligious Conference, which had its first meeting in the fall of 1983 and continues to meet each spring to this day. Each year the conference invites leading practitioners from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Native American, and Islamic traditions to compare philosophies, connect spiritually, and clarify the religious commonalities within their respective faiths. One result of this has been the distillation of several profound points of agreement shared by all the world’s primary religions.
Perhaps the biggest testament to Thomas Keating’s dedication to selfless service is his choice to — somewhat ironically, and quite self-sacrificially — live a busy, public life instead of the quiet, monastic one for which he originally felt called.
“The more we know about nature, the more we know about the mind of God … If we refuse to think of anything except what we are doing or the person that we are with, we develop the habit of being present to the present moment. In a way, the present moment becomes as sacred as being in church … [Prayer is the world in which] our private, self-made worlds come to an end; a new world appears within and around us and the seemingly impossible becomes an everyday experience.” ~ Thomas Keating
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