Q. I feel strongly drawn to the Father in Centering Prayer. I also feel a void in my relationship with Jesus as a Roman Catholic. I know about him but I don't feel that I am close to him. This void concerns me. Can you say something about this?

A. When you are practicing a nonconceptual form of prayer habitually, your ordinary way of relating to Jesus may change. The conversational aspect during the time of formal prayer gives way to a mysterious attraction for silence. Silence is more characteristic of the presence of the one whom in Christianity we call the Father. The Father is the source of infinite possibilities. The Son is the expression of all that the Father is. The Son returns everything that he has received to the Father, utterly empties himself, and becomes nothing, so to speak. The experience of a kind of void in our conceptual understanding of Christ can be misinterpreted as a loss of devotion to Jesus or the disregard of his sacred humanity. Teresa of Avila was very concerned about the danger of losing contact with the sacred humanity of Jesus.

In actual fact, what may be happening is that we are becoming identified with Jesus. We have entered into a new kind of relationship that is not so much one-on-one, as one inside the other. In actual fact it is an increase of Jesus' presence that gives rise to this sense of inner void that we are dealing with. Christ is now praying in us. We don't separate ourselves from him as we did when he was a presence outside of us. We become, so to speak, the Word of God. We don't normally think about something that we already are. We take it for granted. Our psychological state may be a void with regard to Jesus, but the reality of our experience is that our union with him has reached a certain level where we no longer think of him as separate from us or we from him.

Q. You mentioned Satan. Is he an actual spirit or being who has power over humanity?

A. The problem of evil and Satan is a very complicated question. The Christian tradition, as other religious traditions, has always believed in demons and Satan, the latter as kind of boss of the evil spirits. Scripture tells us in several places that Jesus spoke of Satan. For example, "I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven" (Luke 10:18).

The Tibetan Buddhists have an intriguing description of how evil fits into the spiritual journey. In their view, the demons are personifications of the dark side of our unconscious, and consequently, there is a certain period in the spiritual life in which, for all practical purposes, they are real. In actual fact, however, according to this teaching, they are simply a stage of spiritual development. Similarly, there are angels who are personifications of the positive side of our unconscious. As one rises from stage to stage towards higher states of consciousness, both angels and demons disappear and the soul is reunited with ultimate reality.

While I think that a lot of things that used to be attributed to demons are simply manifestations of the false self, I believe that demons do exist. I have met people who had experiences of demons. For instance, a young monk came to me once in the middle of the night. He was terrified and said, "I was lying in bed and something got on top of my chest and nearly suffocated me. I knew it was the demon." Usually our intuitive faculties can sense when evil is around, just as we sometimes feel when there is a certain evil energy in a room or in people. Then the monk said, "The devil started pulling me out of bed." If this is a projection of the unconscious, it's pretty powerful stuff!

There are cases in history such as exorcisms where a possessed person reportedly had the strength of three or four strong men. In the Acts of the Apostles there is a passage where a demon mocks seven itinerant exorcists, saying, "Jesus I recognize and Paul I know, but who are you?" (cf. Acts 19:13-16). Whereupon the possessed man proceeded to send them packing. In addition, there are some acts of human maliciousness that are beyond belief. Think of the horrors of this century such as the Holocaust, Cambodia, the Russian Gulag, Armenia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo. Is this just the human condition or does the demon reinforce human malice? Do extreme forms of malice point to a demonic element? Scott Peck wrote a book called The People of the Lie. In it he writes that he did not believe in demons until he attended an exorcism. That changed his mind. So if you are in doubt about the existence of demons, you might do the same.

One last point is extremely important. We believe as Christians that Jesus, through his passion, death, and resurrection, has completely taken away the devil's power. The only way the devil can have any influence over us is if we deliberately invite his help. There are large numbers of satanic cults in this country. The damage that is done to participants and sometimes to innocent people is appalling. For one thing, it is very difficult to get out of such cults. Stay away from any kind of satanic rituals, pacts, or persons who are involved in such practices.

Q. When persons are meditating and they feel overwhelmed with a compulsive thought, evil impulse, or some experience of evil, what would you suggest that they do?

A. The first thing I would suggest is that they return to their sacred symbol. Sometimes primitive emotions are so strong that the sacred symbol or a mantra is not a help. We feel submerged in a sea of distress. In that case, let the pain of the unwanted and compulsive temptation become your sacred symbol of consenting to God's presence and action within you. Wait out the storm with trust in God's mercy and power, remembering that God is present even in the greatest of storms. If the situation continues, they might consider consulting a psychotherapist to rule out psychological factors that might be present We should not assume too easily that demons are involved in our lives even when we believe that it can happen.

Q. Does the Spirit come to those who meditate in a non-Christian contemplative form such as Vipassana and Buddhist meditation? And when a Christian meditates in the Vipassana form, is she or he still open to the Holy Spirit?

A. Definitely. It is important for Roman Catholics to be fully aware that the Second Vatican Council in its teaching on the non-Christian religions made a hundred eighty degree turn from the previous teaching and explicitly recognized that the Holy Spirit is at work in them. The church now holds what is theologically called "an inclusive position"; that is to say, persons practicing other religions reach salvation in virtue of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection, even if they are not aware of who he is. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the savior of the human family and that through his divine nature he has been present to every human being from the beginning of time. In other words, all people are called to be saved through God's infinite mercy, whether they know the historical Jesus or not.

There are many people who know Christianity only in a very distorted form, and could not possibly identify with the kind of religion that they see expressed in the lives of some Christians. Obviously, it is not Christ they are rejecting, but a distorted manifestation of the Christian religion.

Religion is not the only means of coming to know God. Nature, spiritual friendship, conjugal love, service of others, art--these are all ways in which God calls people to himself. Religion is only one way. There may be personal reasons why one cannot identify with any religion at all. God takes all that into account and provides other paths. Moreover, like the spokes of a wheel, all paths to God tend to come closer to each other as they come closer to God, who is the center and source of them all. For example, it is normal for someone who has taken the religious path to begin to perceive the wonders of God in nature as a further means of uniting with God.

Q. What is the connection between contemplative prayer and world problems like war, pestilence, sexism, and racism?

A. Contemplative prayer is a major contribution to the diminishing of world problems of injustice, prejudice, health, and peace. If enough people progressed in contemplative prayer, they could reduce a sizable portion of the negativity in our world. The atmosphere of the planet has been filled with negativity from the endless procession of false selves that have peopled it from the beginning of time, including ourselves. But charity (divine love) is so strong that just a little of it can negate an enormous amount of negativity. A critical number of people actually meditating is an insight our Hindu and Buddhist friends also have. Contemplative prayer enables people to clean up their lives through the insights of self-knowledge that flow from such a practice, so that at least they don't continue to pour negative energy into the atmosphere. We would all do everyone on earth a great favor if we would die to our false selves and pour the divine energy of pure love into the atmosphere instead of the energy of our selfish drives for happiness. When contemplative persons get together in prayer, there is an enormous amount of positive energy generated, especially if they have been practicing a long time.

Continued . . .

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Excerpted from The Better Part by Fr. Thomas Keating

You can obtain a copy by visiting the Contemplative Outreach Bookstore.