{"id":19449,"date":"2020-10-30T09:39:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T13:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19449"},"modified":"2020-10-30T09:39:25","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T13:39:25","slug":"the-freedom-of-consent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19449","title":{"rendered":"The Freedom of Consent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Thomas Keating: The Secret\nEmbrace<br>\nPart Two<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nFreedom of Consent<\/strong><br>\nFriday, \u202fOctober 30, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7rK6O0YtBRY\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Over the past two weeks Cynthia Bourgeault has generously\nshared her thoughts on the poems and spiritual legacy of Thomas Keating. Today,\nI (Richard) want to emphasize Thomas Keating\u2019s final message, the subject of\nCynthia\u2019s commentary in yesterday\u2019s meditation. I have edited the text very\nslightly for greater clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps\nit was his many decades of \u201cconsenting to God\u2019s presence and action within\u201d\nthat allowed him to glimpse a new world. Thomas\u2019 final message was the\nfollowing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dear friends: In the universe, an\nextraordinary moment of civilization seems to be overtaking us. . . . It\u2019s a\ntime of enormous expectancy and possibility.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We are called to start\u2014not with the\nold world contracts, now that we know that they are all lies\u2014but [with] what we\nknow as the truth. . . . &nbsp;So I call upon the nations to consider this as a\npossibility: that we should begin a new world with one that actually exists.\nThis is the moment to manifest this world, by showing loving concern for\npoverty, loving appreciation for the needs of the world, and opportunities for\naccelerated development. We need to find ways to make these really happen. I\nmake this humble suggestion, that now arms-making is of no significance in the\nworld. It hinders its progress. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This will allow and offer the world\nthe marvelous gift of beginning, [of] creating, of trusting each other, of\nforgiving each other, and of showing compassion, care for the poor, and putting\nall our trust in the God of heaven and earth. I leave this hope in your hands\nand hearts, coming as a real inspiration from the heart of God. What does [God]\ncare about who has this or other lands, when the power to begin with the truest\nhistory is coming from religion as expression of the Source that has been\nrealized for centuries? Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Indigenous, and\nChristianity\u2014all religions\u2014oneness is their nature. Amen. [1]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Richard\nagain: In this injunction to the world, Father Thomas Keating says what he has\nbeen given to know. The only path forward for the survival of our species and\nperhaps even our planet is a path of nonviolence, of contemplation and action\nprioritizing justice and solidarity, an affirmation of Oneness and the\ninterconnectedness of all things, which science confirms, and spirituality has\nalways known on its deepest level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think <em>the real purpose of the spiritual journey is to expand\npeople\u2019s ability to do good by liberating them. <\/em>This is what Jesus did,\nafter all\u2014free people from their pain, their sin, their \u201cuncleanness,\u201d and even\ntheir deaths. Then he sent them back to their families and to society to live\nin relationship and live lives of freedom and wholeness. As a devoted student\nof Jesus and lover of God, Thomas Keating did the same through the gift of\nCentering Prayer; he helped people connect to an inner stillness and experience\nof God that liberated them from egoic strongholds\u2014so they could become free and\nwhole. His final words help us imagine the possibilities for ourselves and our\nworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas Keating: The Secret Embrace Part Two The Freedom of Consent Friday, \u202fOctober 30, 2020 Over the past two weeks Cynthia Bourgeault has generously shared her thoughts on the poems and spiritual legacy of Thomas Keating. Today, I (Richard) want to emphasize Thomas Keating\u2019s final message, the subject of Cynthia\u2019s commentary in yesterday\u2019s meditation. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19450,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19449\/revisions\/19450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}