In Search of the Spiritual

In Search of the Spiritual Father Thomas Keating, the abbot of St. Joseph’s Abbey, couldn’t help noticing the attraction that the exotic religious practices of the East held for many young Roman Catholics (Adler 1). He was a Trappist monk, so meditation was second nature, but he kept thinking there must be a precedent within the church for making such simple but powerful spiritual techniques available to laypeople. His Trappist brother Father William Meninger found it one day in 1974, in a dusty copy of a 14th century guide to contemplative meditation, “The Cloud of Unknowing” (Adler, 1). The two monks began teaching a form of Christian meditation that grew into the worldwide phenomenon known as centering prayer. Twice a day for twenty minutes, practitioners find a quiet place to sit with their eyes closed and surrender their minds to God (Adler, 1). In more than a dozen books and in speeches and retreats that have attracted tens of thousands, Keating has spread the word to a world of “hungry people, looking for a deeper relationship with God” (Adler, 1). There are many factors of religion that tie in to the article In Search of the Spiritual including socializing agents and culture, manifest and latent functions, and the profane and sacred.
Socializing Agents and Culture Increasingly, social scientists are recognizing the importance of both religion and government (“the state”) as agents of socialization, because of their impact on the life course (Schaefer 88). Traditionally, family members have served as the primary caregivers in our culture, but in the 20th century, the family’s protective function was steadily transferred to outside agencies such as hospitals, mental health clinics, and child care centers (Schaefer 88). Many of these agencies are run by groups affiliated with certain religions or by the state (Schaefer 88). Both organized religion and government have impacted the life course by reinstituting some of the rites of passage once observed in