• The Heart of Centering Prayer

  • Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice
  • By: Cynthia Bourgeault
  • Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
  • Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (198 ratings)

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The Heart of Centering Prayer  By  cover art

The Heart of Centering Prayer

By: Cynthia Bourgeault
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
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Publisher's summary

Centering prayer is the path to a wonderful and radical new way of seeing the world. It is not, as is sometimes thought, simply an act of devotional piety, nor is it a Christianized form of other meditation methods. Cynthia Bourgeault here cuts through the misconceptions to show that centering prayer is in fact a pioneering development within the Christian contemplative tradition. She provides a practical, complete course in the practice and then goes deeper to analyze what actually happens in centering prayer: the mind effectively switches to a new operating system that makes possible the perception of nonduality. With this understanding in place, she then takes us on a journey through one of the sources of the practice, the Christian contemplative classic The Cloud of Unknowing, revealing it to be among the earliest Christian explorations of the phenomenology of consciousness.

Cynthia Bourgeault's illumination of the centering prayer path provides compelling evidence of how important the practice has become in the half century since it first arose among American Trappist monks and of its maturation and refinement over the ensuing years of sincere study and practice. It will resonate with beginners on the centering prayer path as well as with seasoned practitioners.

Cover image: Mark Tomalty / Masterfile.

©2016 Cynthia Bourgeault (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Heart of Centering Prayer

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A gift for the centering prayer movement

This is a bold, provocative and challenging study by someone who obviously has genuine experience as well as brilliant insight. This book is a real gift to the centering prayer movement, which is currently at a critical crossroad. I very much appreciate the author's exploration of the Cloud of Unknowing, which I have struggled with for years. More of that, please. I'd like for her to write a study of the whole book. I was not happy with the reader, whom I found detached from the material, a little smug, and too rushed for this deep material. I regret that Cynthia didn't elect to read it herself.

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16 people found this helpful

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Not a fan. Complicated my quiet prayer time

Come to me all ye who are weary and I will give you rest. This book made coming to Jesus in quiet contemplation complicated and wearisome.

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9 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Too much research, too little practice

What disappointed you about The Heart of Centering Prayer?

The book sounds like someone reading a doctoral thesis in a hurry. The concepts presented are referred to as if they were part of a physics or philosophy lecture, making them dry and uninteresting.

Has The Heart of Centering Prayer turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, just turned me off from this author.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator should slow down and use inflection at the right location. Even slowing the speed down to .85 it sounds fast. Slowing the speed more than that makes it sound like they're on drugs.

Any additional comments?

Read Teresa of Avila or Brother Lawrence, throw this book away.

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5 people found this helpful

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Narration is difficult to listen to

I could not get past the first chapter because the narration was too fast and harsh sounding especially for a book called the heart of centering prayer

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Listen to last chapter first.

I have gone through this book twice and find that the run-on writing and narrative along with the need for frequent use of a dictionary is not worth the read. I found myself wanting the narrator to take a breath!
Her story may be very high minded and sincere but this is written for only a few elite who are already familiar with her terminology.
The “cloud of unknowing “ and the works of Father Keating are more useful and more accessible.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Being present in the Heart of it all

She reconnected me to the 12th Cent book The Cloud of Unknowing What a Gift

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Book! Read Too Rapidly.

Excellent book! I recommend reading it rather than listening to this recording. The recorded reading is so rapid that the beautiful concepts are presented like a story moving quickly from start to finish. A slower, more thoughtful presentation would allow the listener to absorb and grasp the beauty and depth presented with the inner ear.

I will order the hard copy.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Best spiritual book in 32 years

I have been on a spiritual quest for 32 years and this is the best contemplative book I have read. Cynthia Bourgeault has beautifully summarized so many STEs (spiritually transformative experiences) and this has helped me to better ‘see the terrain I have already traveled through’ and it has also given me an overwhelming sense of ‘quenched thirst’ while I long for much more of the same ‘to drink’.

The first part of the book is a good introduction to contemplation in the “centering prayer” tradition. So, this book is both for an introduction to contemplation and also for the advanced, who has been given the divine gift of contemplation many times. I’ve listened twice to this book and will listen several more times as I follow along in the physical book.

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    3 out of 5 stars

Some 5-Star Content and Some Not

I wanted to learn more about the Centering Prayer and Reverend Cynthia Bourgeault is a genuine expert and scholar. This book often shows up on my "recommended for you" list in both Audible and Kindle.

Like all "movements" there are different schools of the Centering Prayer practice and there is that underlying narrative of institutional comparison and critique which rises to the surface at places. All books are written from within a social and intellectual frame of reference and this one is no different.

The first part of the book is instructive and seems targeted for the seeker. However, in the later sections of the book, the tone decidedly changes to that of a academic apologetic. Reverend Bourgeault delves into the Cloud of Unknowing and writes a brilliant critique of various translations, as she herself translates from Middle English. While I admire the scholarship, this is not why I bought the book. It felt like two books - one for the seeker and one for the institutional practitioner/philosopher.

The second order effect of this academic excursion is that as I listened to the discussion of the translations and the literal words of the original Cloud of Unknowing author, what seemed originally to me as a call to a deeper way of prayer and worship, now feels like a rabbit trail off into something so esoteric and obscure that I am going to search elsewhere in the contemplative movement. For me, I find the work of Fathers Richard Rohr and Thomas Merton more accessible, inspiring, and while challenging, implementable.

The other critique of the book has to do with the quality of the audio recording. While Gabra Zackman is a superb reader, the audio itself has places where her voice is tinny, dragging, and mechanical sounding. It doesn't happen everywhere but it is very annoying and the first time I have had this problem on any audible book.

All in all, I don't know if I would recommend spending money on this book, especially with the poor recording quality.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Very Informative and Clarifying

The depth and breadth of the Christian meditative tradition were presented very well. I now have a much clearer understanding of the Centering Prayer and of the kenotic intention which is its basis. As a three decade Buddhist practitioner who has renewed interest in the depth teachings of Christian Mystics, particularly Meister Eckhart, this book has been very helpful.
My fear that centering prayer was just a watered down mantra practice without connection to the deeply mystical teachings of Christianity has been put to rest. Cynthia’s teachings on the Cloud of Unknowing and how it informs centering prayer was fascinating.
Overall I really enjoyed the book, which I both read on kindle and listened to on audible. My only negative comment was that I found the audible narration slightly off putting. There was a strange two phase or two tone to the narrator’s voice that at times was very nice to listen to and others quite metallic sounding and harsh. Almost like two people were trading off narration, even within a sentence. Hate to complain though as I still very much enjoyed both formats and will reread and re-listen to this book again in the future.

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