Journey to Oneness are wisdom words from Fr. Thomas Keating spoken during the filming of his last DVD series That We May Be One in July 2016. Some are included in the series; others are from footage published here for the first time. A new word will be posed every Monday throughout the year. May they serve to inspire hope and lift your heart.
English Transcript
A corollary of this, is the importance of cultivating an awareness or a faith or a conviction in the Divine Indwelling. That is really the source and root of the spiritual life: That it is possible, that it is here, and so we do not have to become anybody. We already are all that we can be, so when there is nobody to become, think of how free you would be! Relaxed. We only have to be what we are already, which is the creature and the beloved of God, created perhaps eternally along with the emerging of the Word of God from the bosom of the Father and sent by the Father into this world for reasons that we may not understand but are perfect.
So, everything just as it is, as Zen Buddhists say, is perfect. But from God’s perspective, because he sees how this creature heavily endowed, but of almost incredible powerlessness and weakness, is able to consent to the divine action, to enrich it, and to bring it into fullness of love and to give the Trinity what several mystics have said … to allow God to love us. So, this is implied in Centering Prayer, which is to consent to God where he is in relation to us and what his plans are. So, non-duality for the Christian is to be guided by the Spirit, not by one of the false selves or the ego.
Semana del 15 de julio – La No Dualidad Cristiana
Un corolario de esto último es la importancia de cultivar una conciencia o una fe o una convicción en la Inhabitación Divina. Esa es en realidad la fuente y la raíz de la vida espiritual: que es posible, que está allí, y por lo tanto no tenemos que convertirnos en otra persona. Ya somos todo lo que podemos ser, así que, cuando no hay nadie en quien deban convertirse, ¡piensen que libres se sentirán! Relajados.
Solo tenemos que ser lo que ya somos, que es la criatura, la amada de Dios, creada quizá eternamente junto con el surgimiento de la Palabra de Dios, del seno del Padre, y enviada por el Padre a este mundo por razones que podemos no comprender pero que son perfectas.
Por lo tanto, todo, tal como es, como dicen los budistas Zen, es perfecto. Pero lo es desde la perspectiva de Dios, porque ve cómo esta criatura, ricamente dotada, pero casi increíblemente impotente y débil , es capaz de consentir a la acción divina, de enriquecerla, y de llevarla a la plenitud del amor, y de dar a la Trinidad lo que muchos místicos han dicho… permitir que Dios nos ame. Esto está implícito en la Oración Centrante - el hecho de consentir a Dios dónde Él está en relación con nosotros, y a lo que son sus planes. Por lo tanto, la no dualidad para los cristianos es ser guiado por el Espíritu, no por uno de los falsos yoes o por el ego.
