Jesus Prayer vs. Centering prayer part 1.

THE JESUS PRAYER IS NOT CENTERING PRAYER part 1

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Education

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• hesychasm
• eastern
• catholic
• byzantine
• rite
• ruthenian
• orthodox
• jesus
• prayer

[pmginkc]

The centering prayer is a beautiful form of meditation. We empty ourselves of worldly, secular thought and invite God to fill that void. It is not "manipulating" God, it is answering God's invitation to join ourselves to him.

[catholicbible]

@pmginkc And who is that fills this void when the person engaged in this prayer is living a sinful lifestyle? It has been proven many times that the psychosomatic effects of this prayer can be experienced by religious and non-religious alike.

[pmginkc]

Everyone is a sinner. Some moreso than others. No one is deserving of God's presence. But the Lord God comes to all who call upon him with sincererity, the religious and the non-religious. There is NO limit to God and the ways he can save us.

[catholicbible]

@pmginkc Being a "sinner" and practicing sin are two different things.

[catholicbible]

@pmginkc In addition, calling upon the Lord is a prayer to a person-not a centering prayer technique that induces a psychosomatic state

[tuffguytofiles]

bro i dont think theres no difference really..both are the same, both call out to Christ, both call for a union with God. the Jesus prayer is actually for a higher spirituality..the Jesus prayer calls to empty your mind also. and prayer should be able to be done by anybody. we obviously can manipulate the presence of God but He can come to us on His own free will. reguardless both r good, both do something to you psychologically.

[catholicbible]

@tuffguytofiles From Elder Sophrony in his book "On Prayer"he once practiced that type of prayer. " I will say from my own experience that the True, Living God - the I AM - is NOT here in all this... All contemplation arrived at by this means is self-contemplation, not contemplation of God. In these circumstances we open up for ourselves created beauty, not First-Being. And in all of it there is no salvation for man. "

[3devdas777]

...(continued) Part 7 - Even here in America we have Desert Fathers who are filled with many spiritual gifts and who pray ceaselessly. It is my hope that those interested in learning to pray and growing spiritually will not be trapped in the false spiritualities offered through Centering Prayer and Christian Meditation, but will come to drink of the Living Waters which continue to flow through Orthodox Church.

[3devdas777]

...(continued) Part 6 - Through Dom John Main and others I came to know and love the Desert Fathers and John Cassian, but I was saddened that the spirit of the Desert Fathers was absent from this contemplative prayer movement. In Orthodoxy, I found that the Desert Fathers are still alive and John Cassian is greatly venerated as a saint. I came to learn of St. John the Wonderworker of San Francisco who reposed in the 1960s, the ascetics of Mt. Athos outside of Greece, and others....

[3devdas777]

...(continued) Part 5 - After many years of involvement with Christian Meditation and Centering Prayer, I eventually realized that I could not hope to progress in true prayer within the full Christian tradition unless I was received into the Orthodox Church.  By God's great mercy and grace, my family and I were received into the Orthodox Church a few years ago, and we have found here everything we need for our salvation...

[3devdas777]

...(continued) Part 4 - Since Dom John Main learned to meditate from a Hindu Swami, and Basil Pennington and friends learned their practice from Transcendental Meditation, it should not be surprising that these practices share the same spiritual origins and arrive at the same experience. By contrast, the practice of the Jesus Prayer is inseparable from a commitment to the Orthodox faith, the following of the commandments, and full participation in the sacramental life of the Orthodox churh.

[3devdas777]

...(continued) Part 3 - mistaking one's own created being for God, one is led to the self-contemplation of Satan before the fall, a self-contemplation which leads man to the satanic delusion that he is one with the essence of God. The experience of "oneness" that one comes to in CP & CM are universal to Hinduism and Buddhism, which is why practitioners of CP & CM find such affinity with non-Christian meditators, yoga practitioners, etc. These traditions have the same origin and goals......

[3devdas777]

...(continued) Part 2 - I came to see that the tradition of the Jesus Prayer continues authentically today from apostolic times, and that it leads a man to theosis, to become like God by His grace. Centering Prayer and Christian Meditation, on the other hand, lead a person to spiritual pride and delusion. One is taught in these latter traditions on how to come quickly to some experience of God, but what man is led to experience is not God but his own created being, his own soul....

[3devdas777]

You are right that Centering Prayer has nothing to do with the Orthodox tradition of the Jesus Prayer. I was very involved with the Christian Meditation of Dom John Main and Fr. Laurence Freeman OSB for a number of years.  I started Christian Meditation groups, led retreats, and in general was immersed in the entire teaching and practice. As I became familiar with the Orthodox tradition of the Jesus Prayer, I became convinced that the two traditions take a person in opposite directions...