Invitation to Love

Thomas Keating, Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation. New York: Continuum, 1995. 151 pages.
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Last Updated: November 14, 1999

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Review: Appendices I & II

Chapters 1-3 of Invitation to Love deal with the false self in action, which reacts to frustrations of our emotional programs for happiness with afflictive emotions, traditionally called the seven deadly sins. These include the following:

• Grief, the refusal to let go of a loved possession, which leads to self-pity and discouragement;
• Apathy, withdrawal from life, leading to boredom, bitterness, aversion to others, sloth, and despair;
• Lust or greed, which results in overweening desire for bodily, mental, or spiritual satisfactions and compulsive acting out;
• Pride, the overweening desire for fame, wealth, or power, the desire for vindictive triumph, leading to vanity and self-hatred in the face of failure;
• Anger, hostility, and the desire for revenge;
• Envy or Jealousy (sadness at another’s good), which leads to competitiveness and, ultimately, loneliness.

We respond in different ways, according to our temperament: withdrawal, aggression, or dependency.

We express our emotional programming in various ways. Materialistically, we might fall into workaholism, luxuriousness, or even an obsession with sports. Emotionally, we could seek happiness through people pleasing, relationships, or sexual misconduct. Overconcern with academic excellence or the need to be always right could be the expression of an intellectual program. Socially, we might be status seekers, racists, nationalists, or authoritarians. In religion, emotional programs result in legalisms, pharisaism, hypocrisy, prejudice, bigotry, and cults. Even in the spiritual realm, we can become overattached to psychic powers and spiritual consolation.

Chapters 4-6 discuss the human condition and associate the levels of consciousness with cultural and individual evolution.

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