Thursday, March 1, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 7: Union
and Division
Questions for your
personal reflection.
What do you think
about Merton’s distinction between a “person” and an “individual”?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
Sorry, but I don’t
buy the statement, “I am born in selfishness.” It may be partly valid, but it’s incomplete, for I am born
with the potential for both selfishness and altruism, and which of the two
manifests is a product of circumstances, upbringing, choice and dozens of other
factors. Nor does it trouble me
that people assert their own desires and ambitions and appetites. That’s precisely how we manifest in the
world and how we learn who we are.
One person has an impulse for music. Another for business. Another for
athletics. Merton’s wisdom is in identifying
that these instincts become problematic when they are asserted to make us feel
superior to others. “Who can
escape the desire to breathe a different atmosphere from the rest of men?” Well said.
Posted by Genevieve
Posted by Second Thoughts
ReplyDeleteI paused when I got to the distinction between a person and an individual. "The man who lives in division is not a person but only an 'individual'."
I spent the rest of my lunch hour just letting that sink in. I dawned on me that when I am being an individual, I am really isolating myself, existing in a kind of fictitious independence and - here I felt slightly ashamed - setting myself up against others by what Merton calls "contrast and distinction".
This individualism must be the false self that we are so invested in, and Merton has been trying to tell us to let go of that because we are unique, dignified and whole at the core; we become our true selves in relation to other people and in union with the divine mystery.
I didn't expect this insight and I am really grateful for it.
I was whacked up side the head with Merton today. His observation is that we are unique and that makes us just like everyone else. This is the essence of making a person.
ReplyDeleteThe differentiation that I try to make between myself and others is just a conceit., an attempt to blow my own horn- or as he puts it -have someone blow it for me.
WOW- have I seen this behaviour in myself -YES -and others-again yes . It really takes work to recognize it and try to eliminate it. But I understand that isolating myself is self defeating. I have to work with and be with others to find the real me.
post by william
From Second Thoughts
DeleteI've been playing with this idea of uniqueness too and have learned a lot about it from Merton. Our uniqueness is a fact of our existence. It is not something we can bestow on ourselves. So when we recognize our uniqueness, we are not being arrogant. We are being attentive and grateful. The problem that Merton has pointed out (and that I am slowly beginning to understand) occurs when we try to inflate ourselves in order to make ourselves look superior, as opposed to unique. He's telling us to just relax into our uniqueness, to chill out, and if we do that we see that we don't need to invest so much energy in ourselves.
This is exciting. I wish more people would join us in this discussion. I would really like to hear what others think..
thinking you're special is spiritual pride. In christian terms- its' a problem if you do something for what it brings instead of for the thing itself
ReplyDeleteW