Wednesday,
April 4, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 36:Inward Destitution
Questions for your
personal reflection.
Do you share Merton’s view that “when we accept what we are
and what we are not, we begin to realize that this great poverty is our
greatest fortune”? If so, in what
way do you see this as fortunate for your interior life?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
When I read this chapter I couldn’t help thinking about the character
called “Lowly Worm” in Richard Scary’s children’s books. Merton’s view of humanity can sometimes
be depressingly negative and, as others have observed, he descends into a rant.
So I am beginning to rebel
or resist. Do I have to accept a
worm-like status to address my own egotism or pursue a path of integrity? Is it really necessary to become
nothing in order to be the something contained in my true identity?
How I wish Merton had lived beyond 1968 because I
would so much like to have followed his thinking, especially after his trip to
Asia and his intended residence with a Sufi mystic in Iran.
Posted by Genevieve
Posted by Second Thoughts
ReplyDeleteToday I again resisted the impulse to agree or disagree with Merton. When I started to disagree with his view of human nature, I stopped myself. I looked for what I could apply to my life today. For example, I have an meeting coming up that could result in me losing income so I was planning what to say and do. Merton helped me put this in perspective. "Without any need for complicated reasoning or mental efforts or special acts...life is a prolonged immersion in the rivers of tranquility that flow from God into the whole universe and draw all things back into God...All events are intelligible, if not in their details at least in their relation to the great wholeness of life."
From Genevieve
DeleteI fell into the trap of critiquing Merton and reacting to some of the things he says and now I regret that. Really, there is much wisdom in this chapter and I miss it if I start defending human nature or my own ideas.
When I took the time to read the chapter again, I could see that it was about reaching a state of tranquility and acceptance where we allow ourselves to be carried along in the river or stream of life which has a coherence, whether or not we can detect it.
I appreciate the opportunity to reconsider what the chapter is about.
I found this chapter somewhat depressing- Try hard to reach a goal-almost attain it or even reach it and then be thwarted by yourself, not once but time and again. Merton made the task seem Sisyphus like. Although I still consider the goal both lofty and worthy- contemplation of the divine from a truly sacred space he did try my patience here
ReplyDeletepost by william