Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part 1 A Short Course on Centering Prayer
Overview 11
Lesson 1 Getting (Re)oriented 13
Lesson 2 Intention Is Everything 17
Lesson 3 Choosing a Sacred Word 19
Lesson 4 The Mechanics of Sitting 22
Lesson 5 Putting It All Together 25
Lesson 6 Handling Thoughts during Centering Prayer 29
Lesson 7 Putting on the Mind of Christ 32
Lesson 8 The Fruits of Centering Prayer 36
Part 2 The Way of the Heart
Chapter 1 What Is Nonduality? 43
Chapter 2 The Way of the Heart 53
Chapter 3 Centering Prayer and Attention of the Heart 66
Chapter 4 Centering Prayer as Witnessing Practice 77
Chapter 5 Further to Simeon the New Theologian 94
Chapter 6 Centering Prayer: Perspectives from the Neurosciences 102
Part 3 The Cloud of Unknowing Revisited
Chapter 7 Centering into The Cloud 117
Chapter 8 Objectless Awareness 127
Chapter 9 Nothing but God (Cloud 3) 137
Chapter 10 The Heart of the Cloud (CLOUD 5 and 6) 147
Chapter 11 Jousting with Thoughts (CLOUD 7) 155
Chapter 12 The Art of Contemplation (CLOUD 8) 165
Chapter 13 The Mystery of Love (CLOUD 13-23) 176
Chapter 14 Sorrow of Being (CLOUD 43-44) 193
Coda: The Elastic Universe (CLOUD 4) 199
Going Forward 201
Notes 209
Index 226