Spiritual Authenticity: The Power of Letting Go
Thomas Keating
This morning I was thrilled to read: Spiritual authenticity is always in some way or on some level about letting go. That appeared in Richard Rohr‘s Center for Action and Contemplation meditation.
I enjoyed feeling clarity thanks to the explicitness of his statement. Just let go. I understood the words and I felt I had a grasp of their meaning. But thankfully I continued to read.
We become free as we let go of our three primary energy centers….
That triggered my recollection of reading Thomas Keating, about centering prayer. He explains that we experience virtue, awareness of the Christ we are, by releasing three instinctual needs. We are born, Keating says, with theses innate desires:
- Survival and security
- Power and control
- Affection and esteem
Those are what Rohr called “energy centers”. And they are strong energies, certainly. How hard do we work–well into our adulthood, perhaps our entire lifetime? We strive to surround each of ourselves with security of job, family, community, education, and more. Consider our often ongoing efforts to obtain and then maintain power and control over our very existence. Finally, none of us can deny we are intent in desiring and seeking affection that conveys esteem.
Some may call these “ego centers”.
So, to what is letting go really the key? What lies between letting go and knowing spiritual authenticity? Is there a sequence we can expect and even follow? Is there a how-to?
Keating suggest we experience spiritual authenticity. Such are virtues which are the fruit of humility and results of human development “in the right direction.” By the way, pride is the result of developing “in the wrong direction”. Such pride is cause and effect of our refusal to let go. It fuels our demand that we ourselves fulfill — conquer! — the instinctual needs.
In a wonderfully in-depth interview Keating responds to the question: What practices would help us grow in humility?
He answers simply: The first one is prayer. Ask God for humility. The second practice is to spend time every day in silence, to be with yourself at a deep level, without thinking.
Check these links to a couple of previous Prayerful Life posts about praying…and silence.
Praying in Our Authenticity
Our efforts, Sweet Spirit, are to find, to know, to love
true Oneness with you.
Thank you for the awareness that the truest path
to such Oneness is by letting go.
Thank you for helping us see our effort
is not to fill those needs ourselves.
Our effort is to let go of feeling need
and therefore know the wonderful truth:
that our Christ Spirit, One with you,
fulfills our every need.
Thank you, God, for this key to our authenticity.
And so it is. Amen.
22 June 2017
In: Authenticity, Christ Spirit, God, Humility, Prayer, Praying · Tagged with: Authenticity, Christ, Humility, Prayer
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