From this May 2013's Festival of Faiths, this is a wonderful talk by Fr. Richard Rohr, the heir apparent to the contemplative lineage of Fr. Thomas Keating (Centering Prayer). Fr. Rohr is the author of several excellent books, including Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer (2003), The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (2009), Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self (2013), and Yes, and...: Daily Meditations (2013), among many other books.

Fr. Rohr's vision of a contemplative, nondual Christianity has been a blessing to several of my Christian clients, even those who see Catholicism as essentially broken. As a non-Christian, I enjoy his sense of the possible within silence . . . and the conviction that we all can find the compassion and vitality of being fully alive.

Fr. Richard Rohr: Finding God in the Depths of Silence

Published on May 15, 2013

Fr. Richard Rohr, ecumenical teacher, author and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation.


Rohr shares his perspective on Silence as the only thing broad enough and deep enough to hold all of the contradictions and paradoxes of Full Reality and our own reality, too. 99.9% of the known universe is silent, and it is in this space that the force fields of life and compassion dwell and expand. We can live there too!

The 2013 May edition of the Festival of Faiths was presented in partnership with:

• Brown-Forman
• Thomas Merton Center
• Archdiocese of Louisville
• WFPL news 89.3 FM
• Idea Festival
• Muhammad Ali Center
• Compassionate Louisville
• Fons Vitae
• The Drepung Gomang Institute
• Earth & Spirit Center

James Finley Interviews - The Contemplative Way in Christianity

James Finley, PhD, spent six years in the cloistered Trappist monastery of the Abbey of Gethsemani. Finley leads retreats and workshops throughout the United States and Canada, attracting people from all religious traditions who seek a contemplative path in their Christian practice. He is also a clinical psychologist in private practice with his wife in Santa Monica, California.

James Finley is the author of Merton's Palace of Nowhere, The Contemplative Heart, and Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God.

Jami (my girlfriend) was listening to an audio program of his from Sounds True and I really liked his integration of Christian mysticism and contemporary psychology as a form of nondual practice. His work is not dissimilar to that of Father Thomas Keating (Centering Prayer) and Father Richard Rohr (his seven themes).

Here are two interviews he has posted as his site - each is a good introduction to his thinking.

The following interview was conducted by Sounds True and will give the reader a sense of Dr. Finley's understanding of Thomas Merton and the Contemplative Way. 

Thomas Merton and His Path to the Palace of NowhereSounds True

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The following interview was conducted by Gary Moon for Pathways Magazine and will give the reader a sense of Dr. Finley's understanding of Christian Meditation. 

Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God Pathways Magazine: April-June Issue 2000, Vol. 9, Number 2.