Today’s quote is from Inward/Outward.
I love their daily quotes which you too can receive from their website.
Enjoy!
Looking for Happiness
by
Thomas Keating
"Our spiritual journey does not
start with a clean slate.
We carry with us a prepackaged set
of values and preconceived ideas which,
unless confronted and redirected,
will soon scuttle our journey,
or else turn it into pharisaism,
the occupational hazard of religious and spiritual people.
The developmental character of
human life
has become much better known in the last hundred years,
and it has enormous implications
for the spiritual journey.
Our personal histories are
computerized, so to speak,
in the biocomputers of our brains and nervous
systems.
Our memory banks have on file
everything that occurred from the womb to the present,
especially memories with strong
emotional charges....
We may not remember the events of
early childhood, but the emotions do.
When events occur later in life
that resemble those once felt to be harmful,
dangerous, or rejecting, the same
feelings surface....
The human heart is designed for
unlimited happiness--for limitless truth
and for limitless love--and nothing
less can satisfy.
We travel down various roads that
promise happiness
but can't provide it because they are only partial goods.
Since the emotional programs from
early childhood are already in place,
our search for happiness in adult
life tends to be programmed
by childish expectations that cannot possibly be
realized....
We come now to the heart of the
problem of the human condition.
Jesus addressed this problem
head-on in the gospel.
What was his first word when
beginning his ministry?
"Repent."
To repent is not to take on
afflictive penances like
fasting, vigils, flagellation or whatever else appeals.
It means to change the direction
in which you are looking for happiness."
Source: Invitation to
Love
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