The Harmonia Mundi Contemplative Congress

Abstract

At the conclusion of the Harmonia Mundi Contemplative Congress, the hundreds of participants agreed they had truly been filled with a rich banquet of spiritual food offered to them by seven wisdom teachers of the various world's religions. The congress, held October 4-7, 1989 at Newport Beach, California, was hosted by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and was coordinated by the EastWest Foundation. The three-day congress had as its theme, Awakening the Compassionate Heart. A number of monks and nuns, laymen and laywomen joined the many presentors in attending a semiprivate audience with H.H. the Dalai Lama just prior to the opening of the congress. This interfaith gathering with accomplished teachers of meditation and contemplation from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism offered an in-depth contemplative experience with one teacher of the participant's choice. Meeting together in mentor groups helped these participants develop a heightened awareness of how compassionate action, rooted in contemplation, could transform one's life. During the congress, participants examined and discussed the interfaith and interdisciplinary relationships of contemplation and compassion. They explored the application of compassion to everyday affairs and reflected on how to integrate contemplative values into the mainstream of society. A meditation room was reserved in which symbols of each of the world's great religions were fittingly represented. Meditation leaders from each tradition were invited to lead a group for forty-five minutes either early in the morning or afternoon. Ken McLeod coordinated the meditation leaders, several of whom were members of North American Board for East-West Dialogue (NABEWD). Father Thomas Keating, a Roman Catholic priest and Trappist monk, also chairman of the NABEWD, was the wisdom teacher invited to represent Christianity. Father Thomas offered the Centering Prayer form of contemplative prayer based on the Cloud of Unknowing but modified for contemporary users. He and others developed the method, which is based on the repetition of a short phrase in a way that develops the power of concentration and aids the meditator in the direct experience of God. Father Thomas was assisted by Mary