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Only when we can accept God as he is can we give up the desire for spiritual experiences that we can feel.
Thomas Keating -
Technology isn't fulfilling its promise of unlimited progress and solving every problem through technology. With the Enlightenment and its aftermath, there already was a general loss of confidence in the Western religions.
Thomas Keating
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Religions have a special responsibility to encourage and inspire people to love planet earth, which as far as we know, is the only place in the cosmos that works in such a harmonious way that it can support intelligent life.
Thomas Keating -
In human relationships, as mutual love deepens, there comes a time when two friends convey their exchanges without words. They can sit in silence sharing an experience or simply enjoying each other's presence without saying anything.
Thomas Keating -
We need to develop the intuitive capacities of the brain that some geniuses have manifested over humanity's lengthy history.
Thomas Keating -
The capacity for emotional sobriety belongs to everybody in the human family and leads to a fully human response to the adventure and goodness of the gift of human life.
Thomas Keating -
It's obvious that humanity continues to be torn by religious violence.
Thomas Keating -
It is essential for world peace that the world religions make peace with each other. If they don't, we can hardly expect the nations of the world to lay down their arms.
Thomas Keating
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In centering prayer, the sacred word is not the object of the attention but rather the expression of the intention of the will.
Thomas Keating -
Perhaps the shortest and most powerful prayer in human language is help.
Thomas Keating -
We're obviously at the edge of something quite new in humanity's experience. That is this globalization process which isn't just economic or social, but involves the interpenetration of cultures, people moving to different places several times in their lifetime, traveling for business or pleasure, and marrying people of very different cultural backgrounds, all of which was almost impossible a hundred years ago.
Thomas Keating -
The word "emptiness" for example, is a very important word both in Christianity and in Buddhism. It has shades of meaning however, that are different in the respective traditions.
Thomas Keating -
Your relationship with God, others, yourself, and all creation keeps changing for the better. Most of the world's religions have developed maps to describe this process.
Thomas Keating -
For us to remain in this world, our animal brain has to be there to support us.
Thomas Keating
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Finding out what particular insights mean to people in other traditions enables us not only to respect but to love the wisdom of other religions.
Thomas Keating -
God is a tremendous supporter of creation, especially of all living beings.
Thomas Keating -
We may experience moments of profound inner peace, a sense of oneness with nature, or a sense of something that is more important that we're not reaching by the usual goals of human society. Perhaps we could say there's a common heart to all the religions.
Thomas Keating -
The wisdom of all religions has to be respected. The discoveries of science are also essential for our time and the future.
Thomas Keating -
In the Christian perspective, the love of God and of all other human beings invites us to share and enjoy not just the best of the human potential as it evolves, but participation in the divine life itself.
Thomas Keating -
For human beings, the most daunting challenge is to become fully human. For to become fully human is to become fully divine.
Thomas Keating
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By deepening the spiritual dialogue between the spiritual traditions of the various religions in a spirit of friendship, one begins to understand just what the classical terms of the various spiritual traditions really mean.
Thomas Keating -
To see everything in God and to see God in everything normally takes a lifetime of practice.
Thomas Keating -
Over time we are able to undermine habitual modes of thinking formed by our self-made self in early childhood, which tries to squeeze happiness from the gratification of our desires for the symbols in our culture of survival and security, power and control, and affection and esteem.
Thomas Keating -
The acceptance of all that God has given us and the willingness to let it go - to give it back to him at a moment's notice - that's true human freedom.
Thomas Keating