Love Matters are wisdom words from Fr. Thomas Keating spoken during the filming of the new series God is Love: The Heart of All Creation. Some are included in the series; others are from footage published here for the first time. A new word will be posted every Monday throughout the year. May they serve to inspire hope and lift your heart.
English Transcript
What religions should do above all is to recover their contemplative dimension and to present it in ways that are accessible to different kinds of people, including the poor, the middle class and the well to do, so that everybody has some opportunity to consider the great truths of philosophy and faith that have been developed in the world while not overly depending on them as the last word and being willing to move into more intuitive and direct practices for a personal relationship with God. That seems to be the purpose of religion individually and corporately, but individually with the assistance of the community without which its individuality is somewhat suspect. It needs to be nourished and over a long time and there have to be examples of more dedication that people can imitate if they want to.
My answer would be – if that is your question – is you have to get people to meditate, with a meditation that leads or cultivates silence, on a daily basis, if you’re going to offset the endless propaganda of worldly motivation and opportunities for shallow gratifications that don’t speak to the deeper needs of humanity, but which are multiplied almost infinitely in the present diversity of cultures and opportunities.
El Propósito De La Religión
Lo que las religiones deberían hacer ante todo es recuperar su dimensión contemplativa y presentarla de manera accesible para todo tipo de personas, incluyendo a los pobres, la clase media y la clase acomodada, para que todos tengan la oportunidad de considerar las grandes verdades de la filosofía y la fe que se han dado en el mundo, y a la vez no depender de ellas como si fueran la última palabra, y estar dispuestos a pasar a prácticas más directas e intuitivas para establecer una relación personal con Dios. Ese parece ser el propósito de la religión a nivel individual y corporativo, pero individualmente con ayuda de la comunidad, sin la que esa individualidad es algo sospechosa. Necesita ser alimentada y necesita serlo durante mucho tiempo. Y es necesario que existan ejemplos de mayor consagración, que puedan ser imitados si así se lo desea.
Mi respuesta sería – si esa es tu pregunta – que hay que hacer que las personas mediten, con un tipo de meditación que cultive el silencio, a diario, para compensar la interminable propaganda de motivaciones mundanas y oportunidades para la gratificación frívola, que no se dirigen a las necesidades profundas de la humanidad, pero que se multiplican casi infinitamente en la presente diversidad de culturas y oportunidades.
