Snowmass, Nov.6,2000

Snowmass, Nov.6,2000 Thomas Keating

"Who are you voting for?" Pause. "The straight Communist ticket."(much laughter) So began Thomas' third lecture to the advanced retreatants. As we continue the journey, we note some things addressed in scripture. Paul (1 Corinthians 1:22) The Jews require signs and the Greeks seek after Wisdom. But I preach Christ crucified.' Who are the Jews? They are people on the spiritual journey. One of the hazards of being on the journey is a desire to seek signs or miracles. But Jesus responds they will only see the sign of Jonah, a reference to himself. We want to be affirmed, acclaimed, reassured. Miracles are a way to convert people, but this is God adjusting to our weakness that leads God to give these signs.

In the parables, the banquet was a flop. The householder's friends turned him down, and even the poor, the blind and the lame invitees didn't fill the house. Then he sent for the local bums---us, because the Israelites reneged on God. Jesus is "undermining', or 'doing a take-off' of Israel's view of the Kingdom of God as a great banquet on the mountain with the Messiah. So when this banquet was a flop, rather than canceling it, he invited in the prostitutes, tax collectors--us. He joins us.

Thus, there was a banquet, but not what was expected. Once in a while God may do miracles for us, but this is on account of our weak faith. The signs we get on the journey are muted - you sometimes need a super-microscope to see them. The synchronicity of events is what we get.

Thus Jesus is saying, 'don't expect the miraculous, sudden cures. The spiritual journey is a long one. Partly this is so because WE AREN'T READY FOR INSTANT PURIFICATION. OUR BODY AS WELL AS OUR MIND AND EMOTIONS ARE NOT READY BECAUSE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION. So, we keep wondering if we are on the right road on this journey. Jesus says the Kingdom comes in the most surprising, unexpected ways and places. So, take your time. Routine, normalcy, occasional synchronicity. "That's all there is", says Paul. So, people have moved beyond the naivit`e of expecting miracles, locutions, etc. and know to LET GO OF THE NEED FOR CERTITUDE. That need is just the false self expressing itself.

Paul does not preach WISDOM, the unperterbed contemplation of the Truth sought by the Greeks. Some look for INVINCIBLE VIRTUE and IMPERTERBABILITY, a shortcut to a misinterpretation of the Buddah. People misunderstand the imperterbability of the Buddah. They are looking for a "PASS". People get tired of being in the middle of all this corruption. But this is exactly where the Kingdom of God is found. People want the secondary benefits - which do come, up to a certain point -of lower blood pressure, sleeping better, etc. But, it's only when you GIVE UP THE DESIRE FOR ENLIGHTENMENT that you resume progress on the Spiritual Journey. This expectation will be shattered in the Dark Night.

We may say consciously, "I don’t need miracles," but on the unconscious level we want more than the routine. This brings to the fore the faults of the false self, worrying that we don't measure up to the saints and the great people of the past. We must accept the routine and reality of daily life. This acceptance of the humdrum, and learning from it, is living in imitation of Christ. We let God decide what the path is going to be. Paul preaches Christ crucified, not glorified. This crushing is where the journey goes. In the Dark Night, the original motivation shifts and shakes. It is an education in reality and the mixed motivation of our best intentions.

One of the chief causes of Jesus' death was that the Kingdom of God as Jesus taught it was not a political success or a vindictive triumph. Christ's conduct is the TRUE POWER OF GOD AND THE WISDOM OF GOD. God as Abba.

All three synoptic gospels and the Gospel of Thomas agree, through the same parable, on where to look for the Kingdom of God. Three measures of leaven into 50 measures of dough, leavens the whole lump. Leaven is the symbol of the profane, the evil, the elite. (

note 2 (cont) of Nov. 6 Snowmass

The same message is found in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. At that time, the sacred was not to be found in the ordinary, it was found in the Temple. The leaven parable teaches not only is God present in the marginalized, but also in the corruption of the world; those in prison, the public sinners, or what we consider evil. The Kingdom is found in the BIG BATCH of evil. Consider, this same recipe of 3 to 50 is what Abraham cooked up for the visiting angels in the Forest of Mamre, and that Samuel's mother used. Fifty measures is an epiphany of God. Monumental corruption. That's the parable. Then Jesus just walked on down the street and left them to ponder that parable.

[Does this mean we need to know and accept the disease, handicaps, problems, corruption, bankruptcy, divorce, addictions which are necessary for us and humanity to accept and take on ourselves in compassion before we can all be redeemed?]

This is necessary for transformation. Some Fulsom Prison inmates told Fr. Thomas, in his ministry there, they were glad they were in prison now so they could come to know the Kingdom.

Sarah Johnson [Pat's badly injured daughter from a fall while an infant] her fall symbolizes the Retreat Center here at Snowmass. What she means to us all is symbolic of how we do not lower some Iron Curtain on people who are badly damaged. It is transforming. Leaven can extend, when it involves us personally. Bi-polar disease, addictions. [The monumental corruption of life may have laid the foundation for spiritual development.] This is what the Divine Therapist may use to make us know our need. Maybe there is great treasure in bodily, mental, social or spiritual problems. So, what we think of as evil may be The Kingdom; that is, how we handle these evils.

How can God let all these nice things the Church used to be fall apart. The familiarity of pre-Vatican 11, the old familiar Protestant Church forms...How come my church?...Where is my reward? The Kingdom is to see the disaster in all its horribleness and still trust God and lean on God - when our ideas of who and what we are are shattered. This ecological crisis, this disaster we have done nothing about, is pointing towards a great tragedy. We don't seem to want to think about it. Maybe He can only heal us by letting the human family fall into a terrible tragedy.

Our little part may only be a mustard seed. The Kingdom of God is not grandiosity. It is not a place. It's a state of consciousness, a state of mind.

We may be the rich man who needs to be squeezed of our identifications and over-identifications; we need to let go of our baggage to get through the eye of the needle. This is the narrow road.

And on the other side of the eye of the needle is freedom; freedom to move on to higher states of consciousness.

We may be moving to a Dark Night of the Soul for humanity.


	Snowmass, Nov.6,2000 Thomas Keating "Who are you voting for?" Pause. "The straight Communist ticket."(much laughter) So began Thomas' third lecture to the advanced retreatants. As we continue the journey, we note some things addressed in scripture. Paul (1 Corinthians 1:22) The Jews require signs and the Greeks seek after Wisdom. But I preach Christ crucified.' Who are the Jews? They are people on the spiritual journey. One of the hazards of being on the journey is a desire to seek signs or miracles. But Jesus responds they will only see the sign of Jonah, a reference to himself. We want to be affirmed, acclaimed, reassured. Miracles are a way to convert people, but this is God adjusting to our weakness that leads God to give these signs. In the parables, the banquet was a flop. The householder's friends turned him down, and even the poor, the blind and the lame invitees didn't fill the house. Then he sent for the local bums---us, because the Israelites reneged on God. Jesus is "undermining', or 'doing a take-off' of Israel's view of the Kingdom of God as a great banquet on the mountain with the Messiah. So when this banquet was a flop, rather than canceling it, he invited in the prostitutes, tax collectors--us. He joins us. Thus, there was a banquet, but not what was expected. Once in a while God may do miracles for us, but this is on account of our weak faith. The signs we get on the journey are muted - you sometimes need a super-microscope to see them. The synchronicity of events is what we get. Thus Jesus is saying, 'don't expect the miraculous, sudden cures. The spiritual journey is a long one. Partly this is so because WE AREN'T READY FOR INSTANT PURIFICATION. OUR BODY AS WELL AS OUR MIND AND EMOTIONS ARE NOT READY BECAUSE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION. So, we keep wondering if we are on the right road on this journey. Jesus says the Kingdom comes in the most surprising, unexpected ways and places. So, take your time. Routine, normalcy, occasional synchronicity. "That's all there is", says Paul. So, people have moved beyond the naivit`e of expecting miracles, locutions, etc. and know to LET GO OF THE NEED FOR CERTITUDE. That need is just the false self expressing itself. Paul does not preach WISDOM, the unperterbed contemplation of the Truth sought by the Greeks. Some look for INVINCIBLE VIRTUE and IMPERTERBABILITY, a shortcut to a misinterpretation of the Buddah. People misunderstand the imperterbability of the Buddah. They are looking for a "PASS". People get tired of being in the middle of all this corruption. But this is exactly where the Kingdom of God is found. People want the secondary benefits - which do come, up to a certain point -of lower blood pressure, sleeping better, etc. But, it's only when you GIVE UP THE DESIRE FOR ENLIGHTENMENT that you resume progress on the Spiritual Journey. This expectation will be shattered in the Dark Night. We may say consciously, "I don’t need miracles," but on the unconscious level we want more than the routine. This brings to the fore the faults of the false self, worrying that we don't measure up to the saints and the great people of the past. We must accept the routine and reality of daily life. This acceptance of the humdrum, and learning from it, is living in imitation of Christ. We let God decide what the path is going to be. Paul preaches Christ crucified, not glorified. This crushing is where the journey goes. In the Dark Night, the original motivation shifts and shakes. It is an education in reality and the mixed motivation of our best intentions. One of the chief causes of Jesus' death was that the Kingdom of God as Jesus taught it was not a political success or a vindictive triumph. Christ's conduct is the TRUE POWER OF GOD AND THE WISDOM OF GOD. God as Abba. All three synoptic gospels and the Gospel of Thomas agree, through the same parable, on where to look for the Kingdom of God. Three measures of leaven into 50 measures of dough, leavens the whole lump. Leaven is the symbol of the profane, the evil, the elite. ( note 2 (cont) of Nov. 6 Snowmass The same message is found in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. At that time, the sacred was not to be found in the ordinary, it was found in the Temple. The leaven parable teaches not only is God present in the marginalized, but also in the corruption of the world; those in prison, the public sinners, or what we consider evil. The Kingdom is found in the BIG BATCH of evil. Consider, this same recipe of 3 to 50 is what Abraham cooked up for the visiting angels in the Forest of Mamre, and that Samuel's mother used. Fifty measures is an epiphany of God. Monumental corruption. That's the parable. Then Jesus just walked on down the street and left them to ponder that parable. [Does this mean we need to know and accept the disease, handicaps, problems, corruption, bankruptcy, divorce, addictions which are necessary for us and humanity to accept and take on ourselves in compassion before we can all be redeemed?] This is necessary for transformation. Some Fulsom Prison inmates told Fr. Thomas, in his ministry there, they were glad they were in prison now so they could come to know the Kingdom. Sarah Johnson [Pat's badly injured daughter from a fall while an infant] her fall symbolizes the Retreat Center here at Snowmass. What she means to us all is symbolic of how we do not lower some Iron Curtain on people who are badly damaged. It is transforming. Leaven can extend, when it involves us personally. Bi-polar disease, addictions. [The monumental corruption of life may have laid the foundation for spiritual development.] This is what the Divine Therapist may use to make us know our need. Maybe there is great treasure in bodily, mental, social or spiritual problems. So, what we think of as evil may be The Kingdom; that is, how we handle these evils. How can God let all these nice things the Church used to be fall apart. The familiarity of pre-Vatican 11, the old familiar Protestant Church forms...How come my church?...Where is my reward? The Kingdom is to see the disaster in all its horribleness and still trust God and lean on God - when our ideas of who and what we are are shattered. This ecological crisis, this disaster we have done nothing about, is pointing towards a great tragedy. We don't seem to want to think about it. Maybe He can only heal us by letting the human family fall into a terrible tragedy. Our little part may only be a mustard seed. The Kingdom of God is not grandiosity. It is not a place. It's a state of consciousness, a state of mind. We may be the rich man who needs to be squeezed of our identifications and over-identifications; we need to let go of our baggage to get through the eye of the needle. This is the narrow road. And on the other side of the eye of the needle is freedom; freedom to move on to higher states of consciousness. We may be moving to a Dark Night of the Soul for humanity.
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