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God will bring people and events into our lives, and whatever we may think about them, they are designed for the evolution of His life in 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
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The modern world lies under a pervasive sense of anguish, of being abandoned, or at least experiencing God as absent. Yet events that seem to turn our lives upside down and inside out are part of God's redemptive plan, not only for us, but for the world in which we live. God may be preparing a great awakening for the world, if God can find enough people to cooperate in this mysterious plan.
Thomas Keating
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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
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We rarely think of the air we breathe, yet it is in us and around us all the time. In similar fashion, the presence of God penetrates us, is all around us, is always embracing us.
Thomas Keating
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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
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Science and technology have been embarrassed by two world wars, many smaller ones, and the spread of weapons that could destroy humanity. As a result, there is some loss of confidence in the great achievements of technology.
Thomas Keating
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The chief thing that separates us from God is the thought that we are separated from God.
Thomas Keating
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To see everything in God and to see God in everything normally takes a lifetime of practice.
Thomas Keating
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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
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Perhaps the shortest and most powerful prayer in human language is help.
Thomas Keating
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One of the great purposes of religion itself is being hindered by an exclusive-ism that doesn't take into account the common elements and values that we actually share.
Thomas Keating
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Silence is God's language, and it's a very difficult language to learn.
Thomas Keating
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Every time you have a major breakthrough in self-knowledge, and see the way the divine works within your own psyche, external events, and interior experiences of the divine, you are transformed in some degree.
Thomas Keating
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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
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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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Only when we can accept God as he is can we give up the desire for spiritual experiences that we can feel.
Thomas Keating
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Science and technology has tried to offer an alternative to religion by making a god out of human reason, but that didn't work out too well.
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
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Difficulties arise whenever a committed relationship is succeeding. Love makes you vulnerable. . . . Your defenses relax and the dark side of your personality arises. . .
Thomas Keating
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The wisdom of all religions has to be respected. The discoveries of science are also essential for our time and the future.
Thomas Keating
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God is a tremendous supporter of creation, especially of all living beings.
Thomas Keating
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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
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We need to develop the intuitive capacities of the brain that some geniuses have manifested over humanity's lengthy history.
Thomas Keating
