Intimacy with God and the Growth of Non-Dual Consciousness

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.

View Transcript

Video Archive

English Transcript

We are saturated, really, with God. We just have not been taught to see it this way, and science is contributing. But, it is basically not science or intellectual reflection that awakens to this reality, but experience and this is the experience of relating to God out of a developing relationship that becomes more and more intimate, more and more one, so that the self is no longer dominating, and the emotional programs for happiness have been laid to rest or moderated so that they are not the main focus of conversation or of a communion with ourselves, with God, or with others. So, as that grows, duality diminishes somewhat like a deep friendship in marriage, where the couple grows through the various difficulties and become more and more appreciative of each other and sharing trials and bearing with each other’s imperfections and limitations. They are concerned with each other and helping each other, serving each other, and bringing up a family, if that is involved. And so, are these people two or are they more and more one? When Jesus speaks of marriage, he says, does he not, that “the two become one flesh” in their marriage? So, this is certainly a non-dual concept.

La Intimidad con Dios y el Crecimiento de la Conciencia no Dual

En realidad, estamos impregnados de Dios. Simplemente no se nos ha enseñado a verlo de este modo, y la ciencia está contribuyendo a hacerlo. Pero esencialmente no es la ciencia ni la reflexión intelectual la que nos despierta a esta realidad, sino la experiencia, y es la experiencia de relacionarnos con Dios como parte de una relación que va creciendo, y que se vuelve cada vez más íntima, más y más, de modo que el yo ya no es dominante, y los programas emocionales para la felicidad han dejado de operar o se han moderado de tal modo  que ya no son el principal tema de conversación o de comunión con nosotros mismos, con Dios o con los  demás. Entonces, a medida que esto crece, la dualidad disminuye, como lo que ocurre con una amistad profunda en un matrimonio, en la que la pareja crece al atravesar las diversas dificultades y se aprecian cada vez más el uno al otro, y comparten las pruebas y soportan las mutuas imperfecciones y limitaciones. Se preocupan el uno por el otro y se ayudan mutuamente, se sirven el uno al otro y construyen una familia, si es el caso. Y por lo tanto, ¿son estas dos personas, o son cada vez más una sola? Cuando Jesús habla del matrimonio, acaso no dice que “los dos se harán una sola carne” en su matrimonio? Este es, ciertamente, un concepto no dual.