An Invitation to Love:
The Contemplative Life in a Busy World

The purpose of this course is to equip you with insights, necessary for healing and wholeness so that you will be better able to engage in the spiritual journey of transformation and love. Thomas Keating says: "We are called to this journey not just for our own personal growth, but also for the sake of the whole human community. As this book will show, one of the biggest impediments to spiritual growth is that we do not perceive our own hidden motivations. Our unconscious, pre-rational emotional programming from our childhood....are the sources from which our false self...emerges. The influence of the false self extends into every aspect and activity of our lives, either consciously or unconsciously. Centering Prayer, and more particularly contemplative prayer...brings us face to face with this false self in several ways." [Pg.3]

There are no right answers to the questions. The aim is to get us thinking "theologically." You may or may not agree with Keating. That is fine. The object is to begin thinking the faith and working toward a life of love.

Read chapters before you come to class.  Be ready to discuss material and questions.

Session 1 – Healing Thy Self (pages 1-25)

Questions to reflect upon after reading material:

1. [pg. 3] Keating claims that one of the biggest impediments to spiritual growth is that we do not perceive our own hidden motivations.  Discuss.   What are the biggest impediments to spiritual growth in your own life?

2. [pg. 8] Keating says that the human heart is designed for "unlimited happiness, for limitless truth, and for limitless love- and nothing less can satisfy."  Do you agree?  How do you deal with your unfulfilled hunger for happiness and love? 

3. [pg. 9] Keating defines the word "repent" in the following way:  "To change the direction in which you are looking for happiness."  Think about yourself and family.  What are the key ways that you and they seek happiness?  Are they sustainable in the long run?  Which of the emotional programs for happiness (e.g. survival/security, affection/esteem, power/control) may be operating?

4. [pg. 22] In Romans 7:16-25, St. Paul claims that ego strength is not enough in doing and choosing the good.  Keating says:  “The conscious resolution to change our values and behavior is not enough to alter the unconscious value systems of the false self...only contemplative prayer can effect this profound healing.”  Do you agree or disagree?  If you disagree, what else works?

Class Notes #1

Handout #1

Session 2 (October)

Questions to reflect upon after reading material:

In these chapters, Keating talks about one’s movement through different levels of consciousness.  In the early years, we are not a conscious self.  The baby is not able to distinguish herself from the mother/parent/environment and is totally immersed in matter and pleasurable sensation.  Keating calls this the reptilian consciousness (although this is not a precise definition). Over the years, we develop into a "separate self," having the capacity to make decisions based on rational, logical, thinking.  However, our “false self” hinders us from making rational decisions (especially in stressful times).  Instead, we react emotionally, controlled by our frustrated emotional centers.

1. [pg. 31-32]  Over-identification with the group is a dominant characteristic of mythic membership consciousness.  When we derive our identity from the social unit of which we are a member, we give the group unquestioning loyalty.  This can lead to problems such as tribalism, unreflective nationalism, gang identification, intellectual or personal stagnation, shunning, even death.  Group loyalty includes membership in a family, a sports team, a fraternal order, one’s country, religion, political party, etc.  Jesus directs strong words to people at the mythical membership level:  "If anyone comes to me without turning his back on his father & mother, wife, children, etc. s/he can not be my follower." (Lk. 14:26) 

   • What loyalties do you have?  (i.e. What groups are you part of?)

   • Do you place any of these loyalties before your loyalty to God?

   • What problems exist in your life by these loyalties?

   • What problems exist in the world because of people’s loyalty to a particular mythic membership?

2. [pg. 36]  Review insights about guilt.  Keating says, "Guilt feelings that last longer than half a minute, are neurotic.  Pervasive, prolonged, and paralyzing guilt is the result of the superego at work."

   • Which of these do you consent to and which ones do you struggle with?

   • Do you understand why you struggle with a particular consent?

   • What do you plan to do to heal and move beyond struggle to acceptance?

3. [Chapter 7, begin at pg. 44]  The four consents: to the goodness of life, the full development of our being (talents, energies), non-being and diminution of self, consent to be transformed. 

   • Do you agree or disagree?  Discuss

   • What is the purpose of healthy guilt?

   • How do you handle guilt in your own life?

   • What is the difference between a mistake and a sin?

Class Notes #2

Handout #2a

Handout #2b

Session 3 (November)

Read pages 5-76;  Review 139-141 (Appendixes I, II)

1. The story of Bernie, exemplifies the positive way of dismantling the false-self by practicing unconditional love.  "Selfishness cannot survive in the climate of continuous self-giving."

   • When in your life did you consent to the goodness of life? 

   • When in your life did you enter into fear, or cynicism, or self-protection?

   • Do you understand why you moved from a place of love to a place of fear?

   • In fearful times, where do you put your trust.  (Trust and faith come from the same Greek word, pistis).

   • Can you imagine being joyful doing so-called "lowly" jobs, like cooking, cleaning, ironing?  How can you practice the presence of God during these tasks?

2. The story of Anthony is a different story than Bernie’s.  What are the differences?

   • Look at the discussion on original sin, pg. 59.  What are the self-serving habits in your life that have been woven into your personality?

   • What have been the "spirits" or dysfunctional familiar patterns that have been handed down to you from previous generations?

   • "The devil" is the tempter.  What temptations are the most challenging to you?  How does a spiritual life help or not help with temptation?

   • What spiritual practices are most helpful to you in your journey towards wholeness?

3. Night of the Sense:  Freedom from the false self (Chapter 10).  How many of these signs of the night of the sense are you experiencing?  Do you want to change?  How?

   • Generalized aridity in both prayer and daily life.

   • Fear you are going backwards and that through some personal fault have offended God.

   • Inability or disinclination to practice discursive meditation.

Class Notes #3

Session 4 (December)

Questions for December 6th:  Read pages 77-100;  Review 139 (Appendixes I)

1. "The night of the sense is about dismantling our immature programs for happiness which can’t possibly work in adult life."

   • In the night of sense, our primitive ideas of God are challenged.  How have your ideas about God evolved over time?  What images of God work for you?  What images of God do not work for you?

   • "The night of sense brings the nature of commitment into clear focus."  On a scale of 1-10, how committed are you to following the path of compassion that Jesus showed us?  Are you where you want to be?  What must you do to make a deeper commitment?

   • If you are married or in a life-long committed relationship, how often has that vow of commitment come into play during difficult times?  Which vow do you take more seriously:  your marriage vow or baptism vow?  Why?

2. "The spiritual journey is not a success story, but a series of self diminutions."

   • What is the difference between humility and putting one’s self down?

   • When/how have you been humble?

   • When/how have you put yourself down?

3. "The night of the spirit is designed to free us from the residue of the false self in the unconscious and thus to prepare us from transforming union."
   There are five significant fruits of the night of spirit. (pgs. 97-100) 

   • What are they?

   • Which one/s are the most important to you?

   • Have you experienced any of them?

Class Notes #4

Session 5 (January)

Questions for January 3rd: Read pages 101- 120 ; Review 139 (Appendixes I)

1. Read about apatheia. Do you think it is possible to live a life without being swayed by emotions? How do you develop into a person led by godly reason vs. emotions? What steps do you need to take to move forward?

2. On page 105, Keating talks about not trying to squeeze absolute happiness from passing pleasures. Think about the suffering/loss you have experienced in your life time. Does some of this suffering have to do with being attached to a specific loss? Articulate.

3. There are two basic love commandments articulated by Jesus.
   1. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
   2. “Love one another as I {Jesus} have loved you.”
   How do these two love commandments differ? How would they express themselves in your own particular life?

4. How does contemplative prayer differ from charismatic gifts and spiritual consolation? On pg. 117, John of the Cross says that contemplative prayer is fundamentally a ray of darkness. What does this mean? Where is the hope in this?

5. What hinders you in embracing contemplative prayer in your life? Write out the blocks. What can you do in a small way to overcome each of these blocks?

Class Notes #5

Session 6 (February)