Father Thomas Keating: Oneness & The Heart of the World

[hoagy918]

My sister is a member of a CCH and I am concerned. My research so far indicates there is not enough emphasis on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel - Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sin, was buried, and rose 3 days later. His resurrection validated Who He is and what He did. Salvation is only found by believing in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Seems exclusive, because it is; however, it is fair because it is freely offered to everyone. This CCH appears to be demonic.

[elmobrother]

@bob0wonder I think the idea of eastern religions, and the point where visionaries like Keating and Merton have been able to have a dialogue, is that of personal accountability of your actions and acitvely seeking God/ enlightenment. Modern Christianity has a sort of "I can do whatever I want as long as I'm saved" mentality. I think what he and other spiritual leaders are trying to do is foster an actually lifestyle change that is conducive to being in communion with God as much as possible.

[dajesusblues]

@azandi2 You can be like him. You don't even need to be a monk. All you need is to realize God's Love as the energy of all creation, to Love God with all your mind, heart, and soul, and to Love others as Jesus Loves you. Pray to Love. Pray to Forgive. Pray to be of Service. Love is Always the answer. God Bless.

[stanante]

Truly magnificent talk. Speaks so deeply to my inner experience. A beautiful and dear man. With love

[Prophets4Christ]

Interesting that in the Bible incense is a symbol of prayer,and the gifts at Jesus birth, given with gold by the wise men.

[8432614563]

Just read an article called Resemblances between the Buddist and Roman Catholic Religions-Magazine-The Atlantic. Please check this article out if you love the indepth truth beyond our judgements,humanism and human misunderstanding. I'm a buddist catholic and am begiinning to undestand why. Was raised catholic but was not enough at the time. Through studying and semi-practicing buddhism found a renewal of the truth in western tradition

[Prophets4Christ]

If the question be asked, whether this be anything different from what we do when we pray, the answer is, that there may be much praying but with very little waiting on God.

In praying we are often occupied with ourselves, with our own needs, and our own efforts in the presentation of them.

In waiting upon God, the first thought is of the God upon whom we wait. We enter His presence, and feel we need just to be quiet, so that He, as God, can reveal Himself, to fill us with Himself.

[playbak]

32:05 gave me hope for myself...

Now if only I can find the discipline to try centering prayer.

[bettysman]

@playbak It is difficult sometimes in this secular world. God will never stop inviting us back until our relationship is solidified.

[throohiker]

Wonderful.

[opethgarzaMD]

video.google.com/videoplay?doc­id=-3920462332440487748#

check this documentary, is called One: The Project, it feats father keating and other spiritual leaders

btw, i think this guy is one of the few christians (leaders, priests, not the regular people) that still has worth in this planet

[bettysman]

"... how to grasp something with your hands always open, this is the paradox of prayer..."

Awesome.

[jhgosnell]

He seems to be a devout Christian, But, also he recognizes the unitive thread that runs through "religion." From this angle, the religions can be cast as a stained glass window, the light shining through the different colors of glass being God or the Source of existence.

[joedereko]

One Love! May the blessings flow freely through you all

[bob0wonder]

This man is so new age/pagan. It says in the Bible God never changes! He is on a comitee for one world religion! Look it up! This man is NOT of God!

[Monoprixchen]

@bob0wonder

How can a man not be of god? its not possible to not being of god. maybe just not your god. youre so old age.

[bob0wonder]

@Monoprixchen

What I mean is that we all may be from God as in created by Him, but we are not all doing His will. Father Keating says he is a Christian, but he is not following biblical teachings which all Christians should (the new testement laws anyway). What religion are you?

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder How is he not following biblical teachings?

[bob0wonder]

@jhgosnell because he uses meditative prayer, something he learned from a buddhist. the bible says in Matthew 6:7 not to repeat words in prayer because it's the way the pagans prayed. meditative prayer is praying the same words over and over again.

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder Thanks for responding. According to another author, it looks like it was developed from The Cloud of Unknowing and based also on the ideas of Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross. The idea of inner stillness is from the experience of those disciples of Christ within the Catholic monastic tradition of deep meditation (or "contemplation"). You don't repeat the words, rather the sacred word is used as a reminder of your intention to allow God's presence and action within.

[bob0wonder]

@jhgosnell Yes, but it is still not the way the bible teaches us to pray. My pastor told me a very good analogy about contemplative prayer: it's like opening your mind like a jar and hoping God fills it with water, but at the same time, it's open to let Satan put stones in it. I think if you simply open yourself and expect to become "one" in the spirit with God, you are opening yourself up to other things. The way the bible teaches us to pray leaves no room for this kind of danger.

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder some of that is true i think...in doing typical verbal prayer, and in song, the mind is focused, so this is a help. maybe for most people this is better. "Satan" as I experience that (so far) is my own inner negativity, ignorance, greed, hatred, etc. You WANT this to rise in centering prayer so that you can observe it as part of your psychology and release it. We want to stop projecting this stuff as "out there" ONLY. 

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder How do we know we are doing his will though? and this guy isn't? That seems too egoic to me...maybe we are each doing his will based on our capacity to do so. As Paul said, there are different aspects of the Body of Christ.

[bob0wonder]

@jhgosnell We know we are doing God's will when we do what the Bible tells us to do. I'm sorry if I made my case sound egotistical. I think everyone has an unlimited capacity to do God's will, we just have different talents to show it through. Look at the top comment on the page. If Father Keating was teaching God's word, would a Buddhist really find "truth" of his religion in Christianity?

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder This may be Father Keating's talent, for one. Perhaps the Holy Spirit expresses itself through him in THIS way. Within the religious forms, Buddhism is very different, but at the top, God or Love or Being, there is a light that informs all the religions. To me, this doesn't mean Buddhism should literally be Christianity, but the Infinite Light that shines through both can be known. blessings, j.

[bob0wonder]

There is a light that informs religions. Satan is the angel of light. This may sound harsh, but what else would come of another religion? The Bible clearly states that if you don't accept the love of Christ and repent, you will go to hell (if you are old enough to be held accountable for your sin and know what sin is). Father Keating does not teach what the bible says. He's all about being "one" with God. The bible is about salvation. I have never heard him teach repentence once.

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder The Light of God. From an symbolic perspective, "Lucifer" reflects humanity's tendency to try to grasp that light for themselves. We are made of Light, but we try to play God in some literal sense. Repent means to turn around...turn around to God. The bible teaches oneness with Christ and God. This IS repentance...to me anyway. Keating is teaching repentance via centering prayer. Anything that results in putting on the mind of Christ is a form of repentance.

[bob0wonder]

@jhgosnell Please google "centering prayer is pagan". The bible gives out the outline for prayer in Matthew 6:9. Centering prayer and the attempt to "become one with God" is derived from pagan religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, and Wicca. Father Keating learned centering prayer from a buddhist monk, not from a christian.

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder Thanks for your feedback. To me, to be one with God, or Christ, or the Spirit is the whole point of the Christian path. What on earth are you doing if you are not doing that? Paul states and restates this over and over. Centering prayer is the state of "not I that live, but Christ." It doesn't say in the bible LITERALLY "do centering prayer." Is that what you are looking for?

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder Pagan may be a regression though to our early tribal mind. It's mostly magical thinking, not wrong, but limited. This is a forward movement to Unity. Theresa of Avila taught the path in stages culminating in silent prayer. The "kataphatic" approach (Greek for active use of symbols and verbal prayer) was emphasized early on and through the intermediate stages, then the "apophatic" path (letting go of symbols) was emphasized at the end of the path. For me, I do both. Blessings, j.

[bob0wonder]

@jhgosnell but is it biblical? like i said, Matthew 6:9 tells us how we should pray. Pagan and magic is totally wrong, it's satanic. the bible says in the old testement not to let a sorcerer or medium (practicers of magic) live.

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder Thanks for your feedback. Maybe we will not agree on this issue! It's OK. To me, it is "biblical."

[opethgarzaMD]

@bob0wonder

that was written thousands years ago, time changes and people should too

[bob0wonder]

@opethgarzaMD i'm sorry there's so many comments here. which one of my comments are u responding to?

[bettysman]

@bob0wonder

If you have never heard Keating teach on repentance then you have not listened much. Simple as that. Please inform yourself before making blanket statements. They are not helpful.

[bob0wonder]

@bettysman can you give me a link to a video or website where he speaks about repentance?

[bettysman]

@bob0wonder

Most videos that include that particular issue are Centering Prayer teaching videos sold through Contemplative Outreach.

Repentance as turning away from former ways of pursuing happiness is fundamental to centering prayer's idea of transformation, and is often recalled explicitly in many of Keatings talks and writings. Just a quick look turns up references in these books:

Invitation to Love, p.9

Intimacy With God, p74

The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation, pp.17, 30

[bob0wonder]

@bettysman sorry for my last comment, i guess i didn't look hard enough. when i read about his idea of repentance, i don't see anything about Jesus at all, in fact i hardly hear anything about Him in anything Father Keating teaches. the whole point of repentance is to give up on running from God and ask Him to forgive your sins in the name of Jesus Christ who has died for our sins. Father Keating only speaks of looking for happiness, which is what everyone is doing.

[bettysman]

@bob0wonder

Aren't you being a bit of a "stickler" about a word Jesus used maybe three times in all of the Bible? You do realize that Thomas Keating is a Catholic? If that's what the problem is, just say it. If you have certain semantic hoops that one absolutely has to jump through in order to appreciate them, I'm not sure anyone will satisfy you. Simply reiterating a certain set of words in

[bob0wonder]

I'm not saying any of this because he's a Catholic. Anyone who believes in Jesus and has repented of their sins is a Christian, regardless of denomination. Now I'm not be a stickler about the word Jesus said only three times because that word is the basis of salvation. Salvation can only be achieved through repentance in Jesus Christ (John 14:6, John 13:16), and I don't find that's what Father Keating teaches.

[bettysman]

@bob0wonder

I hope you find one day the truth that God is bigger than the box you (any one of us) try to stuff Him into.

Goodbye. God Bless.

[bob0wonder]

@bettysman

Trust me, I know that our God is amazing and unable to be put into a box. He created the universe! I am not putting Him in a box, I'm following the laws that He put into place for our salvation, namely to surrendur to Jesus Christ and ask the forgiveness of our sins. It's that simple. My only problem was that Father Keating doesn't teach that, I wasn't trying to downplay our Creator.

[Rsvohi]

@bob0wonder Father Keating is teaching what Jesus taught.....where do you think he got it from?

[jhgosnell]

@bob0wonder This is because he is normally speaking of the apophatic path...plunging into the silent aspect of God.

[henjokongo]

I'm a Buddhist but it is nice to hear the truth in different verbiage sometimes. Every approach has its advantages, including the Christian one.

[theeonionbagel]

I love this man.

[meredithself]

I love this statement on smell and the attraction that provides motivation, faith, to embrace and to investigate the delicious smell of divine

[TomTIGER69]

Whatever

[psylence101]

Ah, this is where my mind splits of on another tangent than the integral gang.

It's the assumption that this current time is the first time human-level intelligence evolves in the universe. Sorry but that is categoricaly not feasable, it's even akin to a geocentric world view or to use a clichéd similie a flat earth.

It imposes a chronological linearity to awakening, or the evolution of god/consciousness. I don't buy it, it seems too yesterday of a thought.

[oldboy777]

Well said, however the practice remains the same despite whether the explanation is accurate or not.

[caseyjonas86]

I don't think it implies that it's the first time, I think it implies that we perceive it that way. Any thoughts?

[psylence101]

"How do you grasp something with your hands always open?"

What a wonderful koan.

[paxinterris2]

I am so thankful to Fr. Keating for his overflowing love and wisdom. He always gives me hope and incouragement when I am in most need...

[elena2360]

I love you father Thomas,thank you.

[IChoseTheRedPill]

that was cool... thank you for sharing this with us...

peace2U...

[escandell]

careful to read and discern your self so the purity of the word and the purity of the phenomena of contemplative prayer remains paramount to our own desires. lecto divina and contemplation are beautiful together. see his comment on third eye, faith and the movement of trust in sensitivity to the divine. Galatians 2:20.

[greenrate]

Father Keating's spiritual insight/understanding is so deeply elaborated . . . that conventional Church theology can't evaluate what he has to say with any confidence.

Normally (and quite rightly) . . . that would mean he'd be required to keep his understanding non-public (as is Church policy for contemplatives in general).

It's a testimony to his personal character that he's avoided that. It's unlikely that the same privilege will be extended to his successors in Centering Prayer . . .

[38vausa]

Thank you Father Thomas Keating!!

[38vausa]

Father Thomas Keating is the first Christian teacher I have come across that would have convinced me more into the christianity. Budhism and Christianity are the same in the root.

[PredatorMagic]

its nice to see that even in christianity is tolerance and wisdom:)

[Paranormalponderings]

Wonderful & wise. Cherish his words & apply his teachings. Blessed be.

[megansspark]

thank you for this... and the quality is grand!

[TheWeatherMan2012]

Great!

[claudelebel55]

wow - this is not the religion I was brought up on which simply said believe, believe, believe - especially that you are a sinner and therefore unworthy of receiving God, Silence, Perfect Peace. I wonder if the priests of my time understood what they were talking about - 50's and 60's.

[graph180]

Wow, its been awhile since I've heard Fr. Keating.

Glad to see he's still going strong!