the thought that we are separated

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chief thing that separates us...

 is the thought that we are separated.

 

 If we get rid of that thought, our troubles will be greatly reduced. 

We fail to believe that we are always with God

 and that is part of every reality. 

 

The present moment, every object we see,

 our inmost nature are all rooted in God. 

 

But we hesitate to believe this until our personal experience

 gives us the confidence to believe in it. . . . 

 

God constantly speaks to us through each other as well as from within. 

The interior experience of God’s presence activates our capacity to perceive

 the divine in everything else, in people, events, and in nature. 

 

We may enjoy union with God in any experience

 of the external senses as well as in prayer. 

 

 

 

 

~ Thomas Keating

 

 

 

 

 

a gift

The gift of God is absolutely gratuitous.  It's not something you earn. It's something that's there. It's something you just have to accept. This is the gift that has been given. There's no place to go to get it. There's no place you can go to avoid it. It just is. It's part of our very existence. And so the purpose of all the great religions is to bring us into this relationship with reality that is so intimate that no words can possibly describe it.

~ Thomas Keating