Hello and welcome to another episode of Mindfulness Plus.

I'm your host Thomas McConkey. Thanks so much for listening today. So I was at a gathering a couple weeks ago

in Aspen, Colorado, and I finally got some time to just sit in the studio and share some of my

thoughts, some of my heart with you about what that gathering was and what it means. I can't really begin to put into words everything I felt and everything I'm feeling,

but it feels important to share what I can with you,

and hopefully this pricks something in your own heart

and become some part of the next step in your own path as you're living a contemplative life.

So this gathering, it was an honor of the life and legacy of Father Thomas Keating.

Father Thomas Keating, for those of you who don't know about him, is very worth getting acquainted with.

He lived his life as a Benedictine monk and passed

away recently just last October at the ripe age of 95. He left at least two legacies behind

that I want to talk about, particularly the latter of the legacies.

The first one, centering prayer, a lot of people know about Thomas Keating in his work

of helping to restore, revive Christian contemplation in this modern era.

For those who are acquainted with Christian history,

you'll know that contemplation meditation played a very prominent role in Christian life and Christian faith.

And we're in somewhat of an anomalous or irregular time period dispensation, where if you grew up Christian and are, you know,

continuing to practice as a Christian, you would be forgiven to have never heard of a Christian

meditative practice or let alone to have practiced one. Father Thomas took issue with that

and felt that it was really important to restore this aspect of Christianity and was extremely successful in doing so.

So, you know, he's left a beautiful record of gorgeous books behind extensive audio material, interviews, teachings, the contemplative journey from

Sounds True as a, it might be a 10, 15, 20 hour audio series of just Father Thomas teaching,

...