Centering Prayer

Centering prayer in the Oriental Tradition is focused on the heart. Indeed, a prime component has to do with the necessary detachment from the periphery of human consciousness (kenosis) and then moves inward toward an attentive watchfulness that is deeply aware at the level of the heart. The wisdom that is gained through detachment is balanced with the extraordinary experience of Presence that is not simply empty, but full. Kardial fullness is a characteristic of centering prayer in the Oriental Tradition. But what does that mean? Two quotes powerfully illustrate this experience. The first is from St. Hesychios and found in the Philokalia, Vol. I, and the second is from the text of the Masnavi and Rumi’s deep insight into centering prayer.

A heart that has been completely emptied of mental images gives birth to divine, mysterious intellections that sport within it like fish and dolphins in a calm sea. The sea is fanned by a soft wind, the heart’s depth by the Holy Spirit (190).

As I enter the solitude of prayer, I put matters before God, for only God knows. That is my prayer-time habit, to turn and talk, and that’s why it is said, “My heart delights in prayer.” Then through such purity a window opens in my soul, and God’s messages come immediately to me. Through that window the Word, the rain, and the Light all pour into my inner room from their gleaming Source. Hell is the room in which there is no window. The goal of all prayer is to open that window (Book 3:2400-4)