Q: More than a year ago, I had just finished a Centering Prayer session when I hear Father Thomas say to me as clear as day, “I want a new earth.” I later found out his final public pronouncement was on that topic. I am honored and humbled that he shared this message with me. Has anyone else received inner locutions from this wonderful man that you know of?
A: Your “locution” sounds authentic and credible to me, Michael—particularly if, as you claim, you only discovered later that Fr. Thomas’ deathbed oracle was on exactly that topic —it even used that identical phrase “make a new earth.”
Of course, your subconscious could be playing tricks on you, but what to my mind adds additional credibility to your report is that the message is totally congruent with the spiritual post that Thomas was clearly growing into toward the end of his days. He was emerging steadily into what the Buddhists call “Boddhisattva consciousness”—applied to a person who, having attained a state of spiritual enlightenment such as would allow them to permanently escape the treadmill of endless rebirth, instead opts to stay close to humanity to serve as a wise and compassionate ombudsmen for his fellow sentient beings. That is clearly where Thomas was headed in the last decade of his life; his growing transfiguration and spiritual power were witnessed and attested to by any number of his students, spiritual colleagues, and admirers. It makes perfect sense that this trajectory, already well established in the final years of his earthly life, would continue to grow right along with him in the continuing life beyond his planetary body.
It’s important to keep reminding ourselves that advanced beings at Thomas’ level of spiritual realization do not simply cease to exist, or go into some sort of celestial cold storage. This is actually true of all our beloveds—as the 4th century spiritual teacher Isaac of Ninevah pointed out, “The dead do not sleep; they actually live far more intensely” — but it is even more true for those who have attained such boddhisattva critical momentum. They hover close to our planet, not as ghosts but as witnesses to the enduring power of truth and love. They shelter us, they hold us, they wipe our tears; they share our load; they continue to prick our consciences and kick our butts as they prod us gently forward into a future waiting to be born.
To my mind, there is no doubt whatsoever that Thomas Keating is now one of these attained planetary midwives.
So what you’re reporting feels perfectly congruent to me. In my own way I have felt his quietly insistent presence in my life as well, and I suspect that that many others of you in the Contemplative Outreach community and beyond it have also tasted your own version of this continuing connection. And this should be a matter of great collective rejoicing, because his continuing subtle presence among us is the real living water through which Contemplative Outreach can keep itself vibrant and resilient, pointed firmly in the same direction that he himself is pointed.
To be able to meet him halfway in this subtle inter-realmic terrain (“where the two seas meet,” as one of my favorite Sufi mystics puts it), for most of us requires a bit of a learning curve. You have already taken the important first steps, Michael, by reaching out to a larger community for validation, and by not making this all about yourself. Thank you so much for modeling this!
Beyond this, the way will continue to open to any of us who are willing to be scrupulous in the exercise of these two basic spiritual disciplines:
- Pay attention to the message, not the messenger. Don’t get sidetracked by speculation or wondering where Fr. Thomas is right now or why you should be the one “worthy” to receive such a message. The reason is because the message is important!!! Pay attention to it. If a new earth is what he is calling us to, what is my own part in helping build it? What is our collective part? How do we say yes to his invitation?
- Stick close to your practice of Centering Prayer, with its core teaching of spiritual non-possessiveness. It’s the best discipline there is for safe conduct in this elusive terrain. Don’t cling, speculate, ruminate, analyze, or try to fill in the blanks. Let them fill in on their own, as they will to the extent that you can remain quiet and receptive. As we all learned in those very first workshops: “Reject no thought, retain no thought, react to no thought, return (ever so gently) to the sacred word.” And if Thomas is indeed alive and in our corner, the rest will unfold rightly.
Cynthia Bourgeault
Author, Love Is Stronger than Death; Thomas Keating: The Making of a Modern Christian Mystic
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And a response from the questioner:
Thanks for taking my email seriously. I was hesitant to reach out. But I know what I heard and I was surprised, not only by the inner locution and the later confirmation, but by the way Fr. Thomas started the message, “I want…” I remember thinking at first that that construction proves it was a creation in my head. It should have started with “God wants…” However, those simple words have proven fruitful as they have directed me to reflect on the divine nature of our humanity and, ultimately, our Oneness. Something I hear clearly nowadays, particularly when I relisten to Thomas.
Please know that this is not the first time Thomas has given me a message that was later confirmed. I was introduced in person to him in 2005 at a conference he and Richard Rohr had on the Eternal Now in Albuquerque. I was struggling with a fear of flying back then. I don’t remember being so worried about flying to the conference, probably because I was going to see two of my heroes. But the fear hit me in the evening on the second to the last day. It consumed me throughout the night and into the morning on the last day of the conference as I had to fly out later that afternoon. The fear was so irrational; it was not about crashing but about losing control, something that was going to happen no matter what when the doors of the airplane closed. I was having difficulty focusing and I was praying to God in my hotel room for deliverance. “Take this away from me,” was my plea. I wept all morning long and I missed the early session but made it to Mass.
Thomas gave the homily. It was a masterpiece centered on the dynamic between Jesus, Martha, Mary and Lazarus. The message I heard clearly was that there is no easy way to relinquish the false self. It has to die and we have to experience its death. “I am sorry. It cannot be done another way,” Thomas exclaimed. “It has to die. If it could be done another way, it would be.” So, I had to get on the plane. I had to experience the closing of the doors. But, the rewards of going through that experience are so good and freeing. They are inner resurrection and fuller participation in the divine life, which I greatly desired. The message fit so well with the turmoil I was going through that I remember thinking, “Wait, is God answering my prayers?” It was confirmed a little later in the homily when Thomas slyly noted, “Don’t cry when you’re praying for something. You’ll always get it or something better.” I got on the plane that day, experienced the death of letting the doors close, and then flew back home.
At that conference, Thomas proved to be so wise and gentle, loving and kind. I have loved him ever since and I thank God for his continued presence in my life.
Please, please, please thank Cynthia for responding at length. Her words are beautiful. I see them as a development of the message and I will follow her direction. She was so gracious to me. I am touched that someone so erudite (and busy!!) would take the time to respond to my random question.
I thank God, too, for Contemplative Outreach and the good work you all carry on.
With much love,
Michael
