Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
Image credit: 4th and Walnut Streets, Louisville, Kentucky, looking south, 1956.
"Mysticism: Week 2"
"Thomas Merton, Part II"
Friday, October 6, 2017
. . . At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. . . . It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely. [2]
There it all is in very few—but stunning—words!
-------"Mysticism: Week 2"
"Thomas Merton, Part II"
Friday, October 6, 2017
I learned the terms “True Self” and “false self” from Thomas Merton—words he used to clarify what Jesus surely meant when he said that we must die to ourselves or we must “lose ourselves to find ourselves” (Mark 8:35). Merton rightly recognized that it was not the body self that had to “die” (which much of Christian history seemed to believe), but the “false self” which is a substitute for our deepest truth. Our attachment to our small, separate, false self must die to allow our True Self—our basic and unchangeable identity in God—to live fully and freely. [1]
Merton beautifully describes the True Self in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. I quote this lengthy passage because of the importance of this mystical experience for Merton and also because it is a classic example of unitive consciousness:
In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness. The whole illusion of a separate holy existence is a dream. . . . This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud. . . . I have the immense joy of being [hu]man, a member of a race in which God . . . became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now [that] I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. . . . Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed.. . . At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. . . . It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely. [2]
There it all is in very few—but stunning—words!
Gateway to Silence: We are all one with You.
References:
[1] See previous meditations on True Self and False Self by Richard Rohr, August 6-12, 2017, cac.org/who-am-i-2017-08-06/, and James Finley, August 13-19, 2017, cac.org/our-ultimate-identity-2017-08-13/.
[2] Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Doubleday: 1966), 140-142.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self (Jossey-Bass: 2013), 38-39.
The Center for Action and Contemplation of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for Thursday, 5 October 2017 "Richard Rohr Meditation: Thomas Merton, Part I"
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
Image credit: 4th and Walnut Streets, Louisville, Kentucky, looking south, 1956.
"Mysticism: Week 2"
"Thomas Merton, Part I"
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Merton wrote, “Paradoxically, I have found peace because I have always been dissatisfied. My moments of depression and despair turn out to be renewals, new beginnings. . . . All life tends to grow like this, in mystery inscaped with paradox and contradiction, yet centered, in its very heart, on the divine mercy . . . and the realization of the ‘new life’ that is in us who believe, by the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [3]
It was in the power of this Spirit that Merton struggled against “the evil [that is also] in us all . . . [and] the blindness of a world that wants to end itself.” He fought against violence, war, racism, poverty, and consumerism. He said, “Those who continue to struggle are at peace. If God wills, they can pacify the world.” [4]
My friend, John Dear writes of Merton:
The contemplative work of inner conversion, inner disarmament, and inner peacemaking as the key to peace for the world held Merton’s interest throughout his life. It’s what he admired most about Mahatma Gandhi, and what he tried to achieve for himself. . . . Merton observed that Gandhi’s political revolution sprang from an inner, spiritual revolution of the heart. . . . Merton wrote . . . “The whole Gandhian concept of nonviolent action and satyagraha is incomprehensible if it is thought to be a means of achieving unity rather than as the fruit of inner unity already achieved.” [5]
Gateway to Silence: We are all one with You.
References:
[1] M. Scott Peck, “Introduction,” A Thomas Merton Reader, ed. Thomas P. McDonnell, rev. ed. (Doubleday Image: 1996), 5-6.
[2] James Finley, Intimacy: The Divine Ambush, disc 4 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2013), CD, MP3 download.
[3] Thomas Merton, A Thomas Merton Reader, 16-17.
[4] Ibid., 18.
[5] John Dear, Thomas Merton, Peacemaker: Meditations on Merton, Peacemaking, and the Spiritual Life (Orbis Books: 2015), 17, orbisbooks.com/thomas-merton-peacemaker.html.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life(Jossey-Bass: 2011), 161; and
Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening, disc 4 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2008), CD, DVD, MP3 download.
"Mysticism: Week 2"
"Thomas Merton, Part I"
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was born in France and lived most of his adult life as a Cistercian (Trappist) monk at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky. He died tragically in Bangkok of accidental electrocution. Merton has been a primary teacher and inspiration to me since I first read his book The Sign of Jonas in my high school seminary library around 1959. Merton almost single-handedly pulled back the veil and revealed the contemplative, mystical wisdom that had been lost in the Western Church for the last five centuries. He remains a spiritual master for many Christians and non-Christians to this day.
Scott Peck explains that Merton “‘left the world’ for the monastery . . . because he was afraid of being contaminated by the world’s institutionalized evil. . . . [But he] continued to consistently and passionately protest the sins of greater society. This burning desire to be in the world but not of the world is the mark of a contemplative.” [1] James Finley, who learned from Merton for six years as a monk in Gethsemani, says Merton would tell him, “We don’t come to the monastery to get away from suffering; we come to hold the suffering of all the world.” [2] This can only be done by plugging into a larger consciousness through contemplation. No longer focused on our individual private perfection—or what Merton called “our personal salvation project”—we become fully usable by God.Merton wrote, “Paradoxically, I have found peace because I have always been dissatisfied. My moments of depression and despair turn out to be renewals, new beginnings. . . . All life tends to grow like this, in mystery inscaped with paradox and contradiction, yet centered, in its very heart, on the divine mercy . . . and the realization of the ‘new life’ that is in us who believe, by the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [3]
It was in the power of this Spirit that Merton struggled against “the evil [that is also] in us all . . . [and] the blindness of a world that wants to end itself.” He fought against violence, war, racism, poverty, and consumerism. He said, “Those who continue to struggle are at peace. If God wills, they can pacify the world.” [4]
My friend, John Dear writes of Merton:
The contemplative work of inner conversion, inner disarmament, and inner peacemaking as the key to peace for the world held Merton’s interest throughout his life. It’s what he admired most about Mahatma Gandhi, and what he tried to achieve for himself. . . . Merton observed that Gandhi’s political revolution sprang from an inner, spiritual revolution of the heart. . . . Merton wrote . . . “The whole Gandhian concept of nonviolent action and satyagraha is incomprehensible if it is thought to be a means of achieving unity rather than as the fruit of inner unity already achieved.” [5]
Gateway to Silence: We are all one with You.
References:
[1] M. Scott Peck, “Introduction,” A Thomas Merton Reader, ed. Thomas P. McDonnell, rev. ed. (Doubleday Image: 1996), 5-6.
[2] James Finley, Intimacy: The Divine Ambush, disc 4 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2013), CD, MP3 download.
[3] Thomas Merton, A Thomas Merton Reader, 16-17.
[4] Ibid., 18.
[5] John Dear, Thomas Merton, Peacemaker: Meditations on Merton, Peacemaking, and the Spiritual Life (Orbis Books: 2015), 17, orbisbooks.com/thomas-merton-peacemaker.html.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life(Jossey-Bass: 2011), 161; and
Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening, disc 4 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2008), CD, DVD, MP3 download.
We are honored to sponsor . . .
Mystic Soul Conference
January 11-13, 2018
Chicago, Illinois
The Mystic Soul Conference is a People of Color (POC) centered event focusing on the intersection of contemplation, action, and healing. This conference is creating space to raise up the voices, teachings, and wisdom of communities of color around contemplation and mysticism—to bring forward the unheard stories, lineages, ancestries, practices, and the diversity of the mystical tradition as it has formed in the margins.Join our teachers and facilitators, including Therese Taylor-Stinson, Robyn Henderson-Epsinoza, Jade Perry, Teresa Pasquale Mateus, Ra Mendoza, Kenji Kuramitsu, Emma Eagle-Heart White, Reesheda Graham-Washington, and others.
Learn more and apply by October 11, 2017, at
mysticsoulproject.com/conference.
Please note: The CAC is unfortunately unable to assist with questions about Mystic Soul. Visit mysticsoulproject.com or email mysticsoulproject@gmail.com for more details.
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The Center for Action and Contemplation
PO Box 12464 (mailing)
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87195, United States
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