I am amazed by the degree to which Thomas Merton’s writing inspires and informs my faith. This is not a new phenomena for me. I have been reading him for years and years now. But I often return after some time away, and find myself “flying closer to the flame”, so to speak. By that I mean I feel like each successive time I’m orbiting that much closer to the root of what Merton was getting at. I have definitely noticed a trajectory here.
This contemplative approach to spirituality makes more and more sense to me as I get older and, hopefully, wiser. The deep mysteries of life lie in these spaces. And so that’s where I more and more frequently find myself drawn. Perhaps its also because, as I get older, and rack up additional experiences, I become more and more convinced that what these successes, fleeting fames, gains can offer, really pale in comparison to the deep riches of the spiritual life.
Right now I am reading through Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation. Interesting, I’ve actually previously read the earlier version of this same book, when it was simply titled Seeds of Contemplation. Merton, in the forward, explains that he felt the need to add additional chapters to the book, because, in hindsight, there were large elements he felt he missed the first time around. I’m glad he made the effort. This book is definitely the better for it. Its more rounded, filled out, clarified – in this expander form.
Interestingly enough, a large part of the expansion in this book deals with contraction. Put more simply, much of what Merton added to the book has to do with what contemplation is not, rather than what it is. And that’s important. Because while contemplation is in many ways simple, its not so easily defined – if by “defined” you mean wrapped up in a near little package, ready for modern dissection. I find this approach so helpful. Mainly because it honors the mystery of true experience with the Divine. As Merton points out, dogma is helpful, even essential in many ways. But we should not mistake it for the real thing that we worship. Dogma points towards, suggests, paints in broad strokes about. But It can never contain or fully explain the deep mysteries of our communion with God.
This gets at something I find so fascinating, and compelling about Merton. Here was a man fully immersed in deep Catholicism, deep Trappist tradition. And yet he wrote about spiritual experience in a way that calls others forward, rather than alienating them with the foreign dogmas and route ritual of organized religion. And, interestingly, I don’t think Merton struggled in order to accomplish this. I don’t think he was trying to be “seeker-sensitive”. I think he just told it like he saw it. And the credibility of his daily experience with God came shining through in a way that both paid homage to, and ultimately superseded, language.
After finishing Thomas Merton’s No Man Is An Island, not long ago, I am now working my way through another of his great works: The New Man. Because there is so much to chew on, so much to digest, so much to savor here, I have decided to blog a little each day (or so) as I work my way through the book. To do any less would almost be to fail to do justice to the profundity of Merton’s writing, and its great impact upon me. Today I begin with a snippet about “true religion”.
Just last night I finished reading one of Thomas Merton’s true gems. No Man Is An Island is actually one Merton’s works that somehow always escaped my eye – until recently. Other Merton books, like New Seeds of Contemplation, really made a significant impact on me. I was hoping “Island” would have some of the same effect. It had that, and then some. In fact, it may very well be my favorite Merton book of all. Though I still have several left to read.
