Center

*CENTER/*CENTERED/*CENTERING/+*38

Without the center, the surface means nothing. Detachment doesn't mean giving up, but opening ourselves up to the Tao, the source of life. For our center is our source of peace, our link with the infinite, the treasure we carry next to our hearts. Centered we can enjoy the blessings of our lives but cannot possess them. (Tao Peace, p90-7)

To keep your center is to endure (Tao 33). (Tao Peace, p171)

Centering prayer is a method of moving our developing relationship with God to the level of pure faith. Pure faith is faith that is moving beyond the mental egoic level of discursive meditation and particular acts to the intuitive level of contemplation... It is not done for the sake of having an experience, but for the sake of its positive fruits in one's life... The experience of interior silence or "resting in God" is beyond thinking, images, and emotions. This awareness tells you that the core of your being is eternal and indestructible and that you as a person are loved by God and share his divine life. To know God in this way is to perceive a new dimension to all reality - the awareness of His abiding Presence in, through, and beyond everything. HE WHO IS - the infinite, incomprehensible, and ineffable One - is the God of pure faith. (Open Mind, p5,109,114-5)

With centering prayer, the sacred word is not a means of going where you want to go. It only directs your intention toward God. You do not turn on the presence of God, rather, it is a way of putting yourself at God's disposal; it is He who determines the consequence. As your sensitivity to the spiritual dimension of your being develops through the daily practice of this prayer, you may begin to find the awareness of God's presence arising at times in ordinary activity. It is like color added to a black-and-white television screen. Centering prayer is not so much an exercise of attention as intention. You do not attend to any particular thought content, rather, you intend to go to your inmost being, where you believe God dwells. Whatever word you may choose is sacred not because of its meaning (and the less it means to you, the better off you are), but because of its intent. The sacred word is only a symbol. It is an arrow pointing in the direction intended by our will. You are opening yourself to God by pure faith, not by means of concepts or feelings, and accept Him as He is and being content with God as He is and as He acts. Exactly what that is, we don't know. God's presence is available at every moment, but we have a giant obstacle in ourselves - our world view. It needs to be exchanged for the mind of Christ, for His world view. By letting go of every thought and thought pattern, we gradually develop freedom from our attachments and compulsions. The object is not simply let go of all thoughts, but to deepen our contact with the ground of our being. (Open Mind, p36-51)