[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fpzNolzW9wMJxnzS84uXJFxnFSdmaAuLlltItO12bo0Q":3,"$f_5zliZz5VN6RuKI0li6pUj7FJEmMGkHNmF34l9Q65Uc":52},{"author":4,"tags":51},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":10,"bio_jsonld":11,"slug":49,"image_url":50},25245,"Thomas Keating","T",110,"On October 25, 2018, Thomas Keating died in Spencer, bringing to a close a life that had begun nearly a century earlier in New York City and carried him into religious vocation and theological writing.\n\nBorn on March 7, 1923, in New York City, Keating was an American citizen who received his early education at Deerfield Academy. From those beginnings he moved into religious life, becoming a Catholic priest and a monk, and working as a writer who composed in the English language.\n\nAs both monk and theologian, Keating occupied roles that drew on different but related forms of commitment — the communal discipline of monastic life alongside the intellectual work of theology. His identity as a writer ran alongside his identity as a priest, and the English language was the medium through which he pursued both. His career brought together the demands of religious practice and the work of sustained theological thought.\n\nHe died in Spencer, far from the New York City of his birth. That he lived and worked as a Catholic priest, a monk, a theologian, and a writer across the span of his long life is the shape the facts give to his biography — a life organized around religious vocation and expressed, in part, through writing in English.","On October 25, 2018, Thomas Keating died in Spencer, bringing to a close a life that had begun nearly a century earlier in New York City and carried him into religious vocation and theological writing.",{"@graph":12,"@context":48},[13,25],{"@id":14,"name":6,"@type":15,"sameAs":16,"birthDate":22,"deathDate":23,"description":24},"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q551244","Person",[14,17,18,19,20,21],"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Keating","https://viaf.org/viaf/102031354/","https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n78060977","https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL78779A","https://d-nb.info/gnd/119482363","1923-03-07","2018-10-25","American Trappist monk (1923–2018)",{"@type":26,"author":27,"headline":30,"isBasedOn":31,"mainEntity":32,"reviewedBy":33,"articleBody":9,"dateCreated":34,"dateModified":35,"additionalProperty":36,"creativeWorkStatus":47},"Article",{"name":28,"@type":29},"Editorial Team","Organization","Thomas Keating — biography",[14,17,19,20],{"@id":14},{"name":28,"@type":29},"2026-05-25T00:49:35.339048+00:00","2026-05-25T00:56:50.958310+00:00",[37,41,44],{"@type":38,"value":39,"propertyID":40},"PropertyValue","Q551244","wikidata",{"@type":38,"value":42,"propertyID":43},"1.000","factscore",{"@type":38,"value":45,"propertyID":46},"claude-sonnet-4-6-r1","draftModel","AI-drafted, auto-published","https://schema.org","thomas-keating",null,[],{"quotes":53,"pagination":119},[54,62,69,75,81,88,94,100,106,113],{"id":55,"quote_text":56,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":59,"source":60,"quote_tag":61,"commentary":50},3474297,"To live in the presence of God on a continuous basis can become a kind of fourth dimension to our three-dimensional world, forming an invisible but real background to everything that we do or that happens in our lives.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":63,"quote_text":64,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":65,"source":66,"quote_tag":67,"commentary":68},3474291,"The great treasure that interreligious dialogue among the world religions could unlock is to enable people to get to know and love other religions and the people who practice them. The.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nThomas Keating, a Trappist monk and spiritual leader, likely penned this quote in the context of his efforts to promote interfaith understanding and dialogue. During the latter half of the 20th century, Keating was at the forefront of a movement to foster greater harmony and respect among different religious traditions. His own experiences as a monk and his encounters with people from various faith backgrounds likely influenced his views on the importance of interreligious dialogue.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nWhat lies beneath the surface of this quote is a profound acknowledgment that the greatest obstacle to understanding and loving other religions is often not their differences, but rather our own lack of familiarity with them. Keating's words suggest that the primary challenge is not the \"other,\" but rather our own ignorance, misconceptions, and preconceptions that prevent us from genuinely engaging with and appreciating the richness of other faith traditions.\n\n**How to Use This**\nTo apply this mindset today, take the first step towards bridging the gap between your own faith tradition and others by seeking out opportunities to learn about and engage with people from different religious backgrounds. By doing so, you can begin to break down the walls of ignorance and build a foundation for genuine understanding, love, and respect for the diversity of human spirituality.",{"id":70,"quote_text":71,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":72,"source":73,"quote_tag":74,"commentary":50},3474288,"Gifts of the Holy Spirit grow in direct proportion to the depth and sincerity of our love.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":76,"quote_text":77,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":78,"source":79,"quote_tag":80,"commentary":50},3474286,"Your relationship with God, others, yourself, and all creation keeps changing for the better. Most of the world’s religions have developed maps to describe this process.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":82,"quote_text":83,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":84,"source":85,"quote_tag":86,"commentary":87},3474284,"Technology isn’t fulfilling its promise of unlimited progress and solving every problem through technology. With the Enlightenment and its aftermath, there already was a general loss of confidence in the Western religions.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nThis quote is attributed to Thomas Keating, a Catholic priest and spiritual writer, likely from his writings or lectures in the latter half of the 20th century. During this time, Keating was grappling with the implications of modern technology and its impact on human spirituality. As a contemplative Christian, Keating was concerned about the erosion of traditional values and the rise of secularism in Western society.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nWhat lies beneath Keating's statement is a subtle yet profound critique of the Enlightenment's legacy. He suggests that the promise of technological progress, which has long been tied to the Enlightenment's ideals of reason and scientific inquiry, is actually a symptom of a deeper crisis of faith. By highlighting the loss of confidence in Western religions, Keating reveals that the Enlightenment's emphasis on human reason and progress has led to a kind of spiritual vacuum, where technology becomes a surrogate for transcendence.\n\n**How to Use This**\nTo apply this insight, modern professionals and creatives can recognize that their pursuit of innovation and progress often masks a deeper spiritual hunger. By acknowledging this tension, they can begin to cultivate a more nuanced approach to technology, one that balances the benefits of progress with the need for meaning, connection, and transcendence. This might involve incorporating contemplative practices, such as meditation or journaling, into their daily routine to foster a deeper sense of purpose and fulfillment.",{"id":89,"quote_text":90,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":91,"source":92,"quote_tag":93,"commentary":50},3474280,"Science and technology has tried to offer an alternative to religion by making a god out of human reason, but that didn’t work out too well.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":95,"quote_text":96,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":97,"source":98,"quote_tag":99,"commentary":50},3474268,"Where am I? Where am I in relation to God, to myself, and to others? These are the basic questions of human life.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":101,"quote_text":102,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":103,"source":104,"quote_tag":105,"commentary":50},3474267,"As the years go by, I find myself experiencing God’s extraordinary concern, consideration, healing, and what I call in my books, the divine therapy.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":107,"quote_text":108,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":109,"source":110,"quote_tag":111,"commentary":112},3474262,"Contemplative prayer is a deepening of faith that moves beyond thoughts and concepts. One just listens to God, open and receptive to the divine presence in one’s inmost being as its source. One listens not with a view to hearing something, but with a view to becoming aware of the obstacles to one’s friendship with God.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nThis quote is likely from Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk and spiritual teacher, who was a leading figure in the development of Centering Prayer. In the 1970s and 1980s, Keating was experiencing a resurgence of interest in contemplative spirituality, particularly among Catholics. As a response to the spiritual dryness and superficiality of the time, Keating emphasized the need for a deeper, more intimate relationship with God.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nWhat's often overlooked in this quote is the distinction between listening to God as a means to an end (i.e., hearing something) and listening as an end in itself (i.e., becoming aware of one's own obstacles). This subtle shift in focus reveals that contemplative prayer is not about receiving answers or insights, but about cultivating a deeper awareness of one's own limitations and biases.\n\n**How to Use This**\nTo apply this mindset in your own life, try reframing your prayer or meditation practice as an opportunity to become more aware of your own thought patterns, emotional reactivity, and spiritual blind spots. By listening to yourself, rather than trying to hear from God, you'll develop a greater sense of self-awareness and humility, which are essential for deepening your friendship with God.",{"id":114,"quote_text":115,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":116,"source":117,"quote_tag":118,"commentary":50},3474259,"What I really wanted was to fall in love with God. It’s amazing what obstacles there are within us, or at least in me, that seem to slow this process.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"currentPage":120,"totalPages":121,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":122},1,11,10]