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The Heart of Centering Prayer

Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice

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The Heart of Centering Prayer

By: Cynthia Bourgeault
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
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About this listen

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.
Christian Living Christianity Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts
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What listeners say about The Heart of Centering Prayer

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Wonderful work

This book helped me better understand the role of what she calls the heart, which is not the physical heart itself but a wider centre of perception, in centering prayer approach to meditation. I found it very useful.

My only reservation was that the reader spoke too fast which didn’t allow me to process the message easily. I found I had to go back again and again to understand it. Bourgeault’s other books I listened to had better readers in my view.

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Disappointing experience

I find that I will not be able to see this book through! I cannot tolerate the narration. I will read hard copy as I am a follower of Cynthia’s work

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The complete intro to contemplative prayer

Once you turn the play speed to 0.9 it’s great! Cynthia’s keen insight into prayer and surrender makes her one of the most life changing teachers I’ve ever encountered. I’m not even a Christian, but her excellent transmission of the Mystery found in the Wisdom Tradition of Christianity truly speaks to my heart of hearts.

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Illuminating

Clarified so much about Christian nonduality and contemplative prayer and a beautiful exegesis of The Cloud of Unknowing. Highly recommended.

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review

This book is quite difficult for me to understand.
Maybe I choose a book that is too advanced for my spiritual progress.

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File corrupted Donald duck speaking

This file is corrupted, every 30 to 40 seconds you get speeded up voice - a Donald duck. Needs re-recording and withdrawn in spite of my comments and others nothing is being done about it

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    2 out of 5 stars

Doyouwanttolistentosomeonereadaveryinterestingbutcomplexsubjecttofastforyoutookeepup,nevermindunderstandit.

Do you want to listen to someone read a very interesting but complex subject too fast for you to keep up, never mind understand it? Then this narrator is for you. She is speed reading and I cannot get to grips with the writers ideas or instruction. However, I find the subject interesting and will just have to keep on pausing and going back.

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Truly Awful Narration

I love Cynthia’s books and her ‘soft’ American accent but didn’t check who was narrating this before buying. Gabra Zackman’s nasal high pitched American whine is un-listenable to and made worse by the poor production that emphasises her sibilance and abruptly clips the ends of her words making her sound robotic. They have also speeded her up. Nothing about this narration fits the content of the book and would be more suited to a high octane motivational sales pitch than a book on the beautiful mystical approach of Heart Centering Prayer. Wish I hadn’t wasted my money. I advise you to buy the book instead.

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2 people found this helpful