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
Fr. C: The quantum leap on the spiritual journey – is our awareness of our basic goodness, Is there any approach for a person to clearly grasp the beauty of our basic goodness?
Fr. T: I think the principal source of affirming the basic goodness is that we’re created in the image and likeness of God. And even if it were true we’re no good, God is infinitely merciful, so, and has identified with our faults and sins is such a way that he’s taken them away; so that, where did they go? Perhaps we should let them go.
The evolutionary perspective could help to heal that: God expects us to have all kinds of faults when we’re coming out of, you know, less than nothingness as far as intelligence goes. It’s going to take time for the faculties that are physiologically being prepared to really be able to function in an organism that’s previously programmed to opposite kinds of behavior.
El Salto Cuántico en la Travesía Espiritual
Padre C: El salto cuántico en la travesía espiritual es tomar conciencia de nuestra propia bondad. ¿Cuál sería la manera adecuada para poder comprender la belleza de nuestra bondad esencial?
Padre T: Creo que lo principal para afirmar nuestra bondad esencial es el hecho de que somos creados a imagen y semejanza de Dios. Y aún si fuera verdad que no somos buenos, Dios es infinitamente misericordioso, y se ha identificado de tal modo con nuestras imperfecciones y pecados que nos los ha quitado; ¿Dónde se han ido? Quizá debamos dejarlos ir.
La perspectiva evolutiva nos podría ayudar a sanar: Dios espera que tengamos todo tipo de imperfecciones cuando surgimos de lo que podríamos decir que es menos que nada en términos de inteligencia. Va a llevar tiempo que las facultades estén fisiológicamente preparadas para ser capaces de funcionar en un organismo que ha sido programado originalmente para una manera de comportarse que es opuesta.