Customer Reviews

Manifesting God

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Having read three of Father Keating's other books, I had high expectations for "Manifesting God." While perhaps not quite as good as some of his other work, this latest offering does provide the interested reader substantial material for challenging a number of preconceived notions and unexamined assumptions about the Ultimate Reality. At the heart of Keating's teaching is the call for each individual to relinquish the limitations we place on our relationship with God as a result of the "emotional programs for happiness" we carry with us from childhood. This release of unconscious forces through Centering Prayer, plus a greater detachment from group identification, enables the seeker to expand his relationship with God.

Keating illuminates key biblical parables relating to this divine relationship. Each of us is cautioned to avoid the extremes of loathsome unworthiness or special favoritism resulting from consolations or ecstatic experiences, for truly all are invited to the banquet. While, intellectually, many of us might scoff at the presumptions that we are either deserving of God's special favor or so completely unworthy of his love that we are, in fact, not loved at all, nevertheless if we dig deeper into our subconscious motivations we may be surprised to find some of these antiquated impulses fueling our spiritual life.

Expanding our relationship with God also means making that relationship evermore personal. Keating frequently refers to Christ's experience of God as "Abba," the Aramaic word roughly meaning "daddy." This is an intimate way of relating to God characterized by a deep trust, an abiding faith, and a certain sense of playfulness. That trust is particularly important when the well has run dry on our religious motivation and when we are devoid of the spiritual consolations that may have motivated us at the beginning of our journey toward God. Although we can never, of course, be abandoned by God, without our spiritual props, as Keating often refers to them, it can certainly feel as though we have been abandoned. Keating maintains that it is precisely during these times of spiritual aridity that we are being challenged to a greater faith and a deeper relationship with God, a relationship that does not simply anticipate the Divine in some grand epiphany or peak moment of ecstasy, but experiences God in an ever expanding realization most often glimpsed in the common and ordinary details of our daily lives. This is a dance with the Divine Partner perfected over time through a life of prayer ("in secret"), acceptance, and surrender. Thus are we submitting ourselves to the Divine Therapist who will eventually transform our entire relationship.

Thomas Keating's Mainfesting God became a "Lectio Divina" for me. It was being at prayer. As he so beautifully writes, "We believe that God is already present. Hence, there is no place to go to find him and no need to run away from ourselves."

Keating helps with the translation of the word Jesus uses for Father, ABBA, meaning "daddy". That helped confirm what has always been in my heart, God loves me and everyone UNCONDITIONALLY. All we have to do is sit in silence to hear his voice.

This book is to be used and studied carefully. If you have an interest in contemplative prayer you will find it to be very informative. It is not the sort of material that you can absorb or even understand with a simple scanning or quick read.
The author approaches the subject of prayer in several different ways. It teaches a technique of prayer that is ageless but the method has not been made available to the average spiritual seeker. It is exactly what I wanted but let me emphazize that it is not a simple "how-to" book.

Fr. Keating's book has such insight and power that it is an answered prayer to those seeking a vibrant and joyful spiritual life. It is full of hope and a true gift to the People of God.

absolutely thrilled to read the authors views on love... and an interesting question arises. is God 'unconditional' love and does he punish. one is open to the idea that hell was a cultural context. derived from the philosopher heraclitus perhaps, and as a concept is not found in the jewish scriptures i believe. does God punish? we will wait and see, but it must be realised that some of the teaching taught by the early christians was influenced by the world (context) in which they lived. some say for example that the trinity was derived from pythagoras who passed it through plato to the early christians. (of course, not all of them accepted platos 'triad', of which the logos (reason) was the overarching principle. though for christians it is often the father that is supreme... i guess you can never match up concepts perfectly. i myself as a christian believe in the holy trinity and for me this is a directly experienced reality.

yes, the authors talk of love is beautiful. but this book - on a wisdom level with say Thich Nhat Hahn - is short on advice about things like meditation in centering on the holy spirit within us. i think a mantra could actually be distracting. however i guess that the tool of a mantra is used to control or focus and still the mind. it is however still a thorn (to remove a thorn) that would best be disgarded. i personally find buddhist vipassana (focus on the breath) the best tool for stilling the mind and therefore enabling one to move from there into focus on God within us.

a sticky plum is that christians, not all, have received the gift of the holy spirit, by the laying on of hands and prayer/blessing. could this unspeakable gift have been bestowed on those of other faiths... i like to think so that this is sometimes the case. one can argue that God is love, and therefore that all experience God directly at one time or another, one can also argue that all are made in Gods image. an analogue of the tathagatagharba (buddha nature). ie. that all have unlimited potential within themselves, or their nature to attain to any spiritual summit. there is still however the clear message in the new testament that there is an extra blessing... the sealing (of the heart) with the holy spirit, which comes through prayer and grace, and that therefore a christian who has become the temple of this one true god, is able to go within, and find God within.

as a side track... i have been focusing on emotionality today, which relates to love. emotionality, or emotions can be understood as: time + feeling + truth. the same approach may also be pointed to as peace + truth + revelation, or understanding + seeing + seeking. emotions reveal the depths and truth of a matter or relationship. emotions involve perception, but most important can inform on the truth of a matter... ie, it can be proposed that without the guidance of emtions, there can be no understanding of truth. it can also be said that the ultimate truth is love, of which feeling can be an important dimension. as one who tends to lack feelings, my friend Tom encouraged me when he said "seek feeligs and you shall find them".

centering prayer, a form of christian contemplation or meditation would best be entered into through vipassana (in my opinion!). using a holy word would be a good place to start out, but is not as pure a technique in my mind.

so, all in all enjoyed this book, but feel it is candy and not meat. a start and a good start, but still not in depth enough to really plunge into the deep pool of spiritual communion with "He that is".

anyway my dear friends, have a nice day and God bless you.

love, from, snow-flake. xxx