The One Who Loves Us

The One Who Loves Us: Centering Prayer and Evolving Consciousness

This far-ranging book presents God, the Ultimate Mystery of non-created Reality, as Christ—the One Who loves us. Spirituality beyond language and in general; the inner mystical meaning of the Cross of Christ; differing Christian windows found in the stages of evolving consciousness identified by Integral Theory; and Centering Prayer’s close relationship to all of this are core themes in this work. An important insight of Integral Theory reveals that when people are unaware of the stages of evolving consciousness, they tend to believe that the perspectives of their own stage(s) are the only true or realistic views—which is actually untrue and leads to needless confusion, conflict and misunderstandings among individuals in different stages of evolving consciousness.

Additionally: prayer; the allegorical sense of Scripture; Lectio Divina; grades of evolving love; duality/non-duality; and apophatic theology are also major topics discussed. The gift of non-conceptual contemplation, into which Centering Prayer leads us, is shown to be a key to Christian unity and harmony among all religious and spiritual traditions seeking to serve the One Who loves us. Non-conceptual Centering Prayer—as a movement into simplicity and silence—is readily available to people seeking a deeper spirituality in all denominations and in all stages of evolving consciousness.

C O N T E N T S:

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Fr. Carl J. Arico
Introduction

1. What Is Spirituality?
2. Beyond Language
3. Through a Mystical Christian Window
4. Evolving Consciousness and Christian Windows, Part One:
• The Tribal, Warrior, and Traditional Stages
5. Evolving Consciousness and Christian Windows, Part Two:
• The Modern, Postmodern, and Integral Stages
6. Prayer Is Related to God
7. Three Grades of Love: Bronze, Silver, and Gold
8. Apophatic Theology: Duality and Non-duality
9. Christian Unity and Harmony of Religions

Notes
References

About the Author

Kess Frey, born in 1945, grew up in Eagle Rock, California (North Los Angeles). He graduated in Psychology at the University of California, Irvine, and has studied Eastern and Western philosophy, psychology, and religion since 1965. He met Thomas Keating in 1989 and has been involved with Centering Prayer ever since. Mr. Frey lives in Anchorage, Alaska, where he offers introductory Centering Prayer workshops, facilitates prayer groups and retreats, and is active in prison ministry. Kess is the author of Human Ground, Spiritual Ground: Paradise Lost and Found: A Reflection on Centering Prayer’s Conceptual Background (Portal Books, 2012) and Centering Prayer and Rebirth in Christ on the Tree of Life: The process of Inner Transformation (Portal Books, 2013).