Fr. Keating's Newsletter...cont'd

By José Blanco
Fr. Keating starts the 'boat rocking' with:

"Many paths lead to the source". Some call this source the Absolute, the One God, the Holy Trinity, Brahman, Great Spirit, Allah, Ultimate Reality or other names, depending upon the cultural or religious frame of reference. For the purpose of this discussion, I use the term “Ultimate Mystery” to designate the meaning that these words are trying to signify.

All who seek to participate in the experience of Ultimate Mystery — that is, the meaning of the Reality underlying the cosmos through the practice of religion, love of nature, science, art, dedicated service of others, deep friendship — are united in the same fundamental search. They can remain in their own chosen path or religious tradition and still contribute to the unprecedented awakening of trans-cultural values that has begun to take place throughout the world. The most significant contribution they can make is to cultivate the experience of oneness with Ultimate Mystery, oneness with all other human beings, and oneness with the cosmos."

Don't choke on me...yet, that is! "Many paths lead to the source"...? My "GOD" thrown in together with all the other..."gods"? Even with the American Indian...with Allah?!!! With the Indian "Brahman"?: the animal and fetish lovers? What? What about the words..."The one and true church"?...ehem...How about "I am the truth, the Way..."? Is Fr. Keating losing his senses?

And then he makes it worse, equating religion with science, with art, with the love of nature? I can hear my own past stages clamoring: "Is he pantheist?  Blaspheme! Science is the anti religious movement! Evolution is not true! I can not descend from apes!"

Do you mean to tell me that even if I spend - as I have - all this life in the pursuit of the 'after life' thru religion; that those that go to the park with prissy binoculars looking for the tweets of small birds; or who study the skies, and are desperately searching for data and listening for the latest vestiges of the "big bang"; or who have spent their lives behind the curtains jumping onto stage on cue and dancing with those ridiculous tights and holding women up in cutsie-frenchy "pliés"; or who work in the devilish ACORN type organizations, helping - so they say - the lazy, the drug addicts and prostitutes who would rather live that life and not earn a living working hard as I do, and so many other examples, are "united with me in the same fundamental search"? I can hear the inner voice of "You must be out of your 'f...g' mind", or better yet, I am tempted to use ...better not, let's keep this 'decent'. I feel like...saying something that would sound like...an "exploding expletive expelling existentially accumulated excrement and thus minimizing the exasperation felt by these excerpts"!!! . 

How can I cultivate the experience of oneness with U.M. or ultimate mystery, if it is so "!@#$%" difficult to attempt to approach some 'people', like...or like..., or even ..., the list is humongous! And then practice oneness with the cosmos? Are you going to tell me I am now to do like the marijuana smoking beatniks chanting "OM" for hours on end? You must be out of...sorry! I mean, what ARE YOU talking about?   

This is just the start: just 2 paragraphs. How much more is there to read? 

Am I curious or scared? 

Break. 

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