Monday,
April 2, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 34:The Wrong Flame
Questions for your
personal reflection.
To what extent is sentimentality, “sensible intoxication” or
“the stimulus of emotion” necessary to your spiritual life?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
I was brought up in a devout, religious family where
sentimentality and acts of piety were confused with holiness. We preferred a
warm interior glow to an encounter with a real human being. I now see that this is a form of
spiritual immaturity. I am
grateful to Merton and others who have helped me see that “holy feelings” have
no essential connection to sanctity and are only momentary “illusions” of
holiness.
Posted by Genevieve
Posted by Second Thoughts
ReplyDeleteToday I took a new approach. Instead of noticing where I did and didn't agree with Merton, I decided to look for something I could apply to my day. Not just in private moments, but out in the world.
As I read the chapter, I decided to remain "peacefully indifferent" to emotional reactions whether they were pleasant or unpleasant and to focus on the "pure love" that Merton says is at the centre of it all. I asked myself how I could enact that love throughout my day and in an upcoming meeting with someone who bugs me.
Merton says that there is danger in attaching too much significance to emotions when we're contemplating. Isn't that also true in our dealings with other people? Too much attention to our personal feelings can get in the way of a loving response. That's what I wanted to try out today.
When I read this the first time I thought he was saying that i had to avoid the highs and lows of emotion if I wanted to be a contemplative. But a second perusal said to me that what I should avoid was thinking that these highs and lows were truly part of the essence as contrasted with the simply ebb and flow of the tides of life.
ReplyDeleteWith that in mind I was returned to humility . Love is the answer, acceptance is the response.
I think Merton says to us that "inflating " these emotional experiences only leaves us confused at best and deluded at worst.
Maybe God's will is like a tide, it comes in and goes out -we don't control it and if we want to get anywhere we need to work with it"
post by william