The sacred word is a simple thought that you are thinking at ever deepening levels of perception. That's why you accept the sacred word in whatever form it arises within you. The word on your lips is exterior and has no part in this form of prayer. The thought in your imagination is interior; the word as an impulse of your will is more interior still. Only when you pass beyond the word into pure awareness is the process of exteriorisation complete. That is what Mary of Bethany was doing at the feet of Jesus. She was going beyond the words she was hearing to the Person who was speaking and entering into union with Him. This is what we are doing as we sit in Centering Prayer, interiorising the sacred word. We are going beyond the sacred word into union with that to which it points, the Ultimate Mystery, the Presence of God, beyond any perception that we can form of Him.
Thoughts then are the greatest distraction for this form of prayer. Various kinds of thoughts may come down the stream of consciousness when we start to quiet our mind. Fr Keating arranges them into five groups. The appropriate response to each one varies according to the thought.
1. The wool-gathering of the imagination. The most obvious thoughts are the superficial ones that the imagination grinds out because of its natural propensity for perpetual motion. It is important just to accept them and not to pay any undue attention to them. Such thoughts are like the noise in the street floating through the window of an apartment where two people are carrying on a conversation Their attention is firmly directed to each other, but they cannot avoid hearing the street noise Sometimes they reach a point where they don't notice it at all. At other times the honking of horns may distract them momentarily. The only reasonable attitude is to put up with the noise and pay as little attention to it as possible. In this way they give as much of their undivided attention to each other as circumstances allow.
2. Thoughts with an emotional attraction to them. The second kind of thought occurs when you get interested in something that is happening in the street. A brawl breaks out and attracts your curiosity. This is the kind of thought that calls for some reaction. Returning gently to the sacred word is a means or getting back to the general loving attention you were offering to God. It is important not to be annoyed with yourself if you get involved with these interesting thoughts. Any annoyance that you give into is another thought, and will take you farther away from the interior silence that is the proximate goal of this prayer.
