It is a Gift to Center Down

Rediscovering Thurman at the beginning of what promises to be a chaotic year feels somewhat providential, which is saying a lot for one who is reticent to ascribe such causal connections.

But here it is. Last week, I wrote of a Thurman conference that restored me to the deep waters of Howard Thurman’s soul. Our time together was initiated by the reading of one of my favorite Thurman pieces, How Good to Center Down, a reflection included in his book, Meditations of the Heart. This prompted (providentially?) me to pick up my copy, which led me (providentially?) to choose it as my Lenten reading.

I began my Lent a little early by spending five days focussed on that one meditation, finding it so rich, so ripe with insights into the spiritual life that I have aspired to, and striven for almost fifty years. “Centering” has been the main motif of my prayer life as my tendency to get distracted and scattered has been a constant issue.

For me, it began in college with a “quick trip” to the Transcendental Meditation center, seeking to find focus for my academic studies. Honestly, I was looking for the proverbial “edge” in the competitive environment that I found myself in with people who had been better prepared for that rigor. And the TM mantra, made cool by the Beatles, promoted by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, was effective, measured by the rise in my GPA, the gold standard.

About a year later, a trip to visit the Trappist monastery just outside of Atlanta bumped me into a renewed method of prayer called Centering Prayer. Like TM, it used a prayer phrase, a mantra, to regulate your breathing so that you could focus on the presence of God. The monks and the writings of Trappist monks in Spencer, Massachusetts, were appealing as it baptized my practice of meditation, connecting it with God.

I wrote last week of my tranfigurative encounter with Thurman which added another dimension to the mix. Dr. Thurman prescribed the use of an ancient method, unknown to me at the time, lectio divina. It simply, and profoundly entails the reading of scripture in a meditative mode, reading the text slowly, as Bernard of Clairvaux admonishes, “masticating” or chewing on the words rather than rushing through the text. As I said last week, Thurman offered up Psalm 139 for my “mastication” which seemed prescient to me. It has continued to be my “go-to” in times of press and stress. Trappist monks use lectio in their choir chant, going through all 150 Psalms in a month’s time.

However one chooses to “center” one’s Self is a good thing. For me, it usually means a time of being in the presence of God, as outside distractions are put aside. One of the things I learned from Tibetan Buddhism was our tendency to have a “monkey mind” with the image of monkeys jumping from tree to tree. That sounded just about right when I was learning another “centering” style of meditation at the Drepung Loseling Center here in Atlanta. What is needed is a method, a practical means to stop the monkeys, to settle down, to be present in the Eternal Now. Easier said than done, yelled the monkey as he jumped from the palm tree.

Thurman’s book, Meditation of the Heart, is chocked full of helpful images and practical advice around this notion of centering. I commend the book, available through Amazon (one day delivery…tell ’em Dave sent you). The article I began with, How Good To Center Down!, describes the situation/predicament well:

“How good it is to center down! To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by! The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic. Our spirits resound with clashings, with noisy silences, While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment and the resting lull.”

Now, Thurman’s not using the monkey-tree image, but if you live in Atlanta, the traffic metaphor works pretty well. You get a sense of where we are in our lives, with information highway overload, demands on our energy and time, and the very lack of a “center”. He goes on:

“With full intensity we seek, ere the quiet passes, a fresh sense of order in our living; A direction, a strong sure purpose that will structure our confusion and bring meaning to our chaos.”

This is what Centering does. It allows us to pause. To simply be in the moment, without distraction. “To abide”, quoting the Dude.

In this particular essay, Thurman uses the centering process to set up a moment of self-reflection in the service of self-awareness. This press seemed particularly appropriate to the season of Lent as we examine ourselves, not to beat ourselves up, but to commit to amend and improve our way of being in the world as faithful stewards of our lives and the Creation that we share.

Let me give you a taste of how Thurman procedes here:

“We look at ourselves in this waiting moment- the kinds of people we are. The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives?- What are the motives that are ordering our days? What is the end of our doings? Where are we trying to go? Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused? For what end do we make sacrifices? Where is my treasure and what do I love most in life? What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?”

No simple survey question that beats against us in social media, like “who you gonna vote for?” and “will you contribute?”. These are existential questions that get to the heart of the matter. For me, this is not an everyday exercise, as my centering is more of a quieting, calming of my spirit. But in seasons such as this, Lent, or in evaluative moments at the end or beginning of a quarter, these questions deserve answers whether you have the brass to face them or not. Who are you? What are you intending to do with your precious life? What values are driving you? How are you doing? What changes, amendments, do you need to make in your life?

Thurman concludes with a sense of hope:

“Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment. As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind-deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear. It moves directly to the core of our being. Our questions are answered. Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round, with the peace of the Eternal in our step. How good it is to center down.”

Transcendental Meditation (copyright TM), Centering Prayer, lectio divina, or Tibetan lovingkindness, they all are trying to get us to CENTER our Self in an awareness of this moment that we are gifted with, sharing with others. I hope you are finding this season of Lent as an oasis, or perhaps a desert, as you continue on in your journey in this life. I would value hearing if these questions of Thurman have prompted your reflection as they have me.

Blessings on your journey.+

The quotations here are from Howard Thurman’s, Meditations of the Heart, p. 12-13.