Thomas Keating Born : 1923 Browse All Authors Top 64 quotes by Thomas Keating The chief thing that separates us from God is the thought that we are separated from God. Thomas Keating chiefs 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 fashion air thinking St. Teresa of Avila wrote: 'All difficulties in prayer can be traced to one cause: praying as if God were absent.' This is the conviction that we bring with us from early childhood and apply to everyday life and to our lives in general. It gets stronger as we grow up, unless we are touched by the Gospel and begin the spiritual journey. This journey is a process of dismantling the monumental illusion that God is distant or absent. Thomas Keating growing-up prayer spiritual God's first language is Silence. Everything else is a translation. Thomas Keating language silence firsts If one completes the journey to one's own heart, one will find oneself in the heart of everyone else. Thomas Keating oneself journey heart We are kept from the experience of Spirit because our inner world is cluttered with past traumas . . . As we begin to clear away this clutter, the energy of divine light and love begins to flow through our being. Thomas Keating light love-is past 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 events people thinking For human beings, the most daunting challenge is to become fully human. For to become fully human is to become fully divine. Thomas Keating humans divine challenges Psychotherapy is what God has been secretly doing for centuries by other names; that is, he searches through our personal history and heals what needs to be healed - the wounds of childhood or our own self-inflicted wounds. Thomas Keating childhood self names Perhaps the shortest and most powerful prayer in human language is help. Thomas Keating powerful prayer helping The spiritual traditions of all the religions have certain similarities that are unmistakable. They share many of the same basic practices like sacred reading, spiritual guidance, moderation in eating, drinking and sexual expression, and above all, trying to be aware of the presence of God in other people and in everyday life. Thomas Keating reading spiritual drinking What I really wanted was to fall in love with God. It's amazing what obstacles there are within us, or at least in me, that seem to slow this process. Thomas Keating obstacles falling-in-love god-love 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 events lying people 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 let-it-go acceptance giving You should not take prayer too seriously. There is something playful about God. You only have to look at a penguin ... to realize that He likes to play little jokes on creatures. Thomas Keating prayer play looks The root of prayer is interior silence. Thomas Keating silence prayer roots Silence is God's language, and it's a very difficult language to learn. Thomas Keating difficult language silence 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 deep-love two-friends silence 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 childhood self thinking 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 tradition mean people
