Fr. Keating, cont;d: 3rd. paragraph...!
This article by Fr. Keating has been quite extraordinary. I think it is one of the most significant socio-cultural-spiritual-humanistic-theistic related readings of late for me.
The 3rd. paragraph continues hitting hard:
"Seekers of Ultimate Mystery can relate to everything that is of genuine spiritual value in every religion and cultural tradition. They can relate to human values wherever they can be found. This is not at all an attitude of eclecticism, a kind of homogenizing of religions and human values. Still less is it an abdication of one’s personal convictions and experience. It is, rather, a centering of one’s attention
upon what unites rather that what divides; the developing of a unity in which trans-cultural values come first, without denying or denigrating the particular values of one’s own race, culture or religion. Thus, true unity can be expressed in pluralism: unity in the experience of the fundamental values of human life and pluralism in one’s unique response to these values in the concrete circumstances of one’s life."
Striking to me is that if we seek UM, we can relate, adapt, and even adopt human values wherever they are found. Wow! Of course! How many times have I done this...multiple times! Then, It is a centering of one’s attention upon what unites rather that what divides. The focus is on that, not on the differences. It is on and in the pleasure of discovering that which is in that moment sublime, and fitting like a glove, that goes on the hand for the first time, wondering where did it come from and why it had been inaccessible in one's life before.
The next sentence is a kicker: true unity to be expressed in pluralism, as I, as we, experience the fundamental likeness of that which was unknown and foreign experientially, and thus it becomes a conjoining, unitive experience, AND, further more, pluralism in the sense that my reaction to the moment, and the circumstances, and that which confronts me, is unique - one among the many possibilities available in potential, and which erupts from the singularity constituted by the multiplicity of experiences and values I bring to life.
So, how can I live being open to those key and wonderful differences? Do I need to stop imposing the "wisdom and sanity of my criteria" in and on the world and those around me? Do I need to abandon "the world according to José"? Does this call on my vulnerability, opening myself to differences and 'new - nesses' that will be - maybe - adverse and unpalatable? After all, what is 'vulner - ability'?
And what does that say, in a larger social context?
Maybe we'll see that in the next paragraphs...
The 3rd. paragraph continues hitting hard:
"Seekers of Ultimate Mystery can relate to everything that is of genuine spiritual value in every religion and cultural tradition. They can relate to human values wherever they can be found. This is not at all an attitude of eclecticism, a kind of homogenizing of religions and human values. Still less is it an abdication of one’s personal convictions and experience. It is, rather, a centering of one’s attention
upon what unites rather that what divides; the developing of a unity in which trans-cultural values come first, without denying or denigrating the particular values of one’s own race, culture or religion. Thus, true unity can be expressed in pluralism: unity in the experience of the fundamental values of human life and pluralism in one’s unique response to these values in the concrete circumstances of one’s life."
Striking to me is that if we seek UM, we can relate, adapt, and even adopt human values wherever they are found. Wow! Of course! How many times have I done this...multiple times! Then, It is a centering of one’s attention upon what unites rather that what divides. The focus is on that, not on the differences. It is on and in the pleasure of discovering that which is in that moment sublime, and fitting like a glove, that goes on the hand for the first time, wondering where did it come from and why it had been inaccessible in one's life before.
The next sentence is a kicker: true unity to be expressed in pluralism, as I, as we, experience the fundamental likeness of that which was unknown and foreign experientially, and thus it becomes a conjoining, unitive experience, AND, further more, pluralism in the sense that my reaction to the moment, and the circumstances, and that which confronts me, is unique - one among the many possibilities available in potential, and which erupts from the singularity constituted by the multiplicity of experiences and values I bring to life.
So, how can I live being open to those key and wonderful differences? Do I need to stop imposing the "wisdom and sanity of my criteria" in and on the world and those around me? Do I need to abandon "the world according to José"? Does this call on my vulnerability, opening myself to differences and 'new - nesses' that will be - maybe - adverse and unpalatable? After all, what is 'vulner - ability'?
And what does that say, in a larger social context?
Maybe we'll see that in the next paragraphs...
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