Thomas Merton – Intelligent Christian Spirituality

Deepening Spirituality: Wisdom from Modern Sages

The ideas below come from my ongoing reflections on the works of some of the greatest sages of the 20^th and 21^stcenturies, people like Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Thomas Merton, Ken Wilber, Karen Armstrong, and Richard Rohr. I think about their ideas until I make them my own, then rewrite them in my own words. Here are some of my favourites:

A proof of God everyone can experience: we long for truth, freedom, goodness, and happiness and we long to have all these supreme goods to the max, which is what God is, so what we all long for is God.

The loyalty of Jesus is not to Catholics or Protestants, Muslims or Buddhists, but to anyone who is suffering, whether believers or non-believers. Jesus is always on the side of the crucified.

Religion gives wider meaning to our lives. It makes us realize we are children of God, not just producers and consumers.

It is important to plumb the depths of at least one religious tradition. If you chase ten rabbits you catch none. If you dig ten shallow wells you never reach water.

Full conversion is intellectual (wisdom), emotional (compassion), and moral (individual and social responsibility). Conversion is many-sided.

Meaning is the bottom line in life, not money. Money is important, but life without meaning is not worth living.

The truly religious do not take themselves too seriously. The ability to laugh at yourself is similar to humility. A sense of humour is a sign of spiritual health and holiness. It is the joy of the gospel.

God does not want suffering. The only cause of suffering, beside human folly, is natural processes which are necessary in an evolving universe. Human folly is inevitable but unnecessary.

Religion and spirituality are far more about intuition than reason. Theology is very rational, but reason is very limited. It does not understand the ways and reasons of the heart.

Your relationship with others, particularly your partner, can be part of your spiritual practice.

Your true self is love, peace, and joy, and so the only real sin is to act contrary to your true nature, to violate who you really are, to not let your own God-given holiness shine forth.

Wisdom permeates everything, enters into our souls, and urges us to be friends of God.

God must be very familiar with letting go, because humans insist on being in control. God very seldom gets what God wants. This explains most of the problems of the world.

The purpose of evolution is to bring everything to the point where compassion and wisdom can be born through humans, so that the survival of only the fittest no longer applies.

Humans only live fully if freely joined to God. Therefore, God works by invitation not force.

Jesus chose a child as the model of discipleship. If we lose the qualities of our inner child: humility, innocence, playfulness, creativity, and genuineness, we have essentially lost our soul.

Mysticism, the profound experience of God, gives us the courage and energy to do justice.

Our desires are God-given gifts meant for living life to the full. Contrary to Buddhist teaching, desire is not evil. It is good to desire good things. This is the Holy Spirit working in us.

Most atheists think religious people are out of touch with reality. Most religious people think God is Reality, and therefore, atheists are out of touch with reality.

What matters is not so much doctrine as internal transformation. Kindness and goodness are praised by all religions, humanists, and atheists. These virtues are what unite all people.

Let no one delude themselves that knowledge of the path is an adequate substitute for walking in it. To know spiritual truth is one thing, to live it is quite another.

Bruce Tallman is a spiritual director and an educator of adults in religion. http://www.brucetallman.com

THE POWER OF PENANCE

The major challenge to Immanuel Kant’s view of religion

as morality came from Friedrich Schleiermacher

the greatest theologian of the 19^th century

who conceived of religion not as morality or belief

but as an immediate awareness of our absolute dependence

on God – religion is thus pre-moral and even pre-cognitive

and expressed everywhere in different ways

we are absolutely dependent on God

but in human relationships co-dependency is a betrayal

of wholeness because co-dependent people

have no personal center

whereas the enlightenment we seek already dwells within us as our center

like a mustard seed/treasure buried in a field/pearl of great price

when Jesus said “if you call another ‘fool’ you are in danger

of hellfire,” he did not mean “if you get angry, God will condemn you

to hell,” he meant that “unjustified and indulged anger

is hell” – you put yourself in hell and hell in your self

to break through into nondual consciousness

we need to overcome the domination of ego and reason

and forgive ourselves and reality

for being exactly what they are: a mixed bag

of goodness and darkness –

we are all simultaneously sinners and saints

even proto-saints like Thomas Merton

who never wanted to be a plastic saint

on the dashboard of someone’s car

finally realized after nine long years as a monk

that penance is pleasing to God

and “enables God to take undisturbed possession

of the soul” because in penance

your ego is reduced to nothing

unlike the Pharisee who thanked God “I am not

a sinner like that tax-collector” who at the back of the synagogue

beat his chest and cried out “Lord have mercy on me

a sinner” – Jesus said it was the latter not the former

who went home justified in God’s eyes – for penance tells you

“the old sinful self is not dead”

but absolution tells you

“God’s love is greater than the old self.”

INTEGRATING POLAR OPPOSITES

In some mythology and theology

all contradictions/opposites/polarities

emanate from Providence: good and evil/life and death/

pleasure and pain/prosperity and destitution –

God is everywhere and in everything –

God is with us/for us in all things – even dark things.

“Meister Eckhart, more than any other thinker

knew how to integrate opposites:

biblical theology and spirituality

prophecy and mysticism

faith and reason

art and life” – Matthew Fox

Asking questions in search of integration

can help us with polarities –

asking questions was the basic method of Thomas Aquinas

in his monumental Summa Theologica

in which he integrated all medieval theology –

in his search for Truth/God, he kept asking questions

and turning over in prayer the profound mysteries of

philosophy/scripture/church teaching/the universe.

Thomas Merton also used questions to find Truth/God –

he questioned how can we integrate polarities like

Church as Beloved Community versus

Church as Institution of Individuals under Church Law?

If you use questions and search hard enough you will find

your True Self/your ground floor spirituality/an absolute

reference point that is at one and the same time

utterly within you

and utterly beyond you.

If you are aware of your True Self’s original blessing

you can handle your original sin/

if you are aware of your True Self’s ultimate security in God

you can handle earthly insecurities/

if you are aware of your True Self’s original dignity

you can handle insults easily/

if you are aware of God as your heavenly Father/Mother

your earthly father/mother

cannot hurt you too much.

COMMITMENT/FREEDOM/MERCY

Wholeness and liberation not perfection and control

are the goals of authentic human spiritual development.

Individuals/societies that affirm

existentialist autonomy from God

think they are supporting life/hope/

freedom from sin/guilt

but they really move people

toward death and destruction.

The supposed freedom of casual sex

is not love, which requires commitment –

true freedom involves committing yourself to lifelong love –

conjugal love in marriage involves the good

of the whole person – it enriches their body/mind

expresses the unique friendship of spouses

and opens them to the healing and grace of God.

Without commitment you remain not in love

but in the prison of your own ego.

God draws humans to each other and to God

in hidden/subtle/wonderful ways.

The supposedly good self and bad shadow

are not opposites – just as the self/ego

can have destructive attitudes

so the shadow can have good qualities –

moral instincts and creative impulses.

Thomas Merton, the great rescuer of contemplation

and mysticism, constantly wrestled with his shadow

but ultimately found it liberating

to realize his whole life was one

of paradox and self-contradiction

and that, although this caused constant insecurity

it was his greatest security

for it was the sign of God’s mercy

and the only way God could deal with someone

so complicated and confused

as he found himself to be.

God loves and liberates the whole person

shadow and all.

FINDING UNITY IN SPITE OF PLURALITY

In the inter-spirituality approach of Brother Teasdale

authentic enlightenment/awakening can be had

by deeply following any of the branches of the religious tree

of humanity’s search for the Godhead.

However, New Age/Alternative Spirituality’s rejection of dogma/

Joseph Campbell’s injunction to follow your bliss/

Krishnamurti’s radical openness to any spirituality

can lead naïve seekers into dabbling in the occult

and thus vulnerable to dark forces/false prophets.

A sense of the numinous can lead to deep calm/awe

or wild bacchanalian debauchery/dread.

Psychoanalysis/depth psychology was rejected

by many religious people because it disturbed

their ‘undisturbed conscience’ by showing them

the depths of their cruelty and hatred

that only the Cross of Christ can handle –

simplistic Christians were ironically afraid

of the depths of their own tradition

of deep Christianity.

Thomas Merton revealed western religion had lost

the deep wisdom/unitive tradition Jesus taught –

even in monasticism there are monks and nuns

dualistic in their thoughts/practices.

God created the universe with an end in mind:

a Christified cosmos.

Thus, despite the immensity of the universe

which could induce ‘cosmic terror’ in the naïve

the universe is a unity not an unrelated plurality

it is meaningful and purposeful

because it is grounded in the Cosmic Christ.

FRESH AND GREAT REVELATIONS

St. Gregory of Nyassa wrote that the contemplative life

cannot be lived in secular society

but St. Basil claimed it is possible while you work

to pray with your mouth/heart/mind.

At the monastery, Thomas Merton learned:

– how to pray while working as a laborer

– how to be a member of the human race

– that every other human being is no more crazy

and ridiculous than he claimed to be – than we all are.

Merton also learned and contemplated:

– fear is the awareness of one’s own finitude

– the possibility of one’s own nonbeing

– that anxiety is natural for mere mortals.

All these were great revelations to him.

Today extreme theological traditionalists

try to overcome anxiety by ignoring the past two centuries

while extreme theological progressives

subordinate Christianity to worldly philosophies.

The former flounder like fish-out-of-water in contemporary culture.

The latter flounder like fish-out-of-water in the church

and, despite their protests, are not Christian –

you have to draw the orthodox line somewhere.

The years when the religious right ordains

fundamentalist presidents always result in religious disaster –

alienating all young Americans

who hold completely different values

about women/homosexuality/poverty/climate change.

According to the great Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel

the problem for both extreme right and left is: no awe.

After all, radical amazement lies in all reality:

not only in amazing things I can see – like the Milky Way –

that filmy white night banner overhead – but also in the fact that:

– I can see

– I can reflect on my ability to see

– I have a self that can reflect on things

– that this self is part and parcel of all that was/is/will be.

All these were great revelations to Heschel

and revelations always light up our footsteps on the path to God.

WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Few of us can run off

to the wilderness or hermitage

so the older religions

to break us out of

our normal, comfortable, sleepwalking trance

help us get into liminal space

through pilgrimages, fasting, silent retreats

Lent or Ramadan.

You are baptized with the Holy Spirit

not by believing in the Holy Spirit

as a doctrine, but by drawing upon

the Divine Indwelling already within you.

According to Thomas Merton

the Holy Spirit is the Soul of the Church

so when the Holy Spirit prays within you

whether in public or private

it is the Soul of the Church

praying within you.

Bad things happen to good people

but the Holy Spirit is always present

prompting you from within

to take care of your self

and comforting you from within

when your health, work, or marriage fails.

Quantum theology befriends and redeems

the pain, the dark, the chaos

by helping people see the interdependence of

darkness and light

pain and pleasure

sickness and health

death and rebirth.

The Holy Spirit shows us

there is a virtue to be practiced for every sin:

pride/humility, anger/patience

avarice/compassion, lust/chastity

gluttony/sobriety

all the Enneagram

vices and virtues.

If you are engaging with those

who have not suffered

“rings of fire”

your attempts to explain

the reasonableness of faith

or prove God’s existence

will fail.

Systematic atheism insists

humans must be free

of any kind of God

as their author and goal

in order to be responsible

for their own life.

Since YOU are your own author, goal and end

you cannot foist off onto God

responsibility for your own life.

Atheism relies upon science

but science believes only

what can be physically located is real:

cells, brains, stars.

So science scrubs the universe clean of

values, meaning, consciousness, ethics and depth

since these things cannot be located in the cosmos

they are unreal fantasies/illusions.

What Alfred North Whitehead called

“the fallacy of simple location”

leaves us with a culture of superficiality.

We are like seed

that falls upon gravel

and withers because it has no roots.

Merton studied the “archaic wisdom”

of Mayans, Zapotecs, Toltecs

to learn how to counter the efficiency, ambition

and triviality of technocratic society.

Science saps us of passion

but Eros is the Holy Spirit in action – and passion

deserves a home among spiritual people

– passion for pleasure and sharing it

– compassion: awareness of suffering

– passion for restorative justice

– all these are works of the Holy Spirit.

LOVE YOUR TRUE SELF

RECONCILING ANCIENT RELIGION AND MODERN SELF-HELP

All world religions would agree with St. Catherine of Sienna who said “Every evil is founded in self-love.” So how do we put ancient religion together with the modern self-help doctrine that you cannot love others if you don’t love yourself?

When we are born, we are unitive thinkers: we sense our oneness with everything. However, as we develop we learn the word “no” from our parents trying to curtail our behaviour. We start to separate from our parents and others and develop our own identity. We learn we are a boy or girl and a human being not a dog or cat. Later we learn our race, nationality and everything else that separates us from others.

Developing a sense of identity or ego is natural, healthy, and necessary to function in the world. However, if you think your ego, what separates you from everything, is all you are, it creates individualism, the source of all our problems. The illusion of separation transforms your ego into your false self, and life becomes every one for himself/herself.

Separation from others causes all social problems, and separation from nature is the root of all environmental problems. If you are really separate from others and the planet, what happens to them is not your concern. You can misuse them without any consequences. However, what happens to others and nature does impact us.

I was pondering why, in indigenous paintings, there are fish, bears, and birds inside peoples’ bodies? Suddenly I got it: indigenous people are unitive thinkers – fish, bears, and birds are part of who they are. They and the environment are one.

This is the solution to our environmental problems: the earth is us and we are the earth. Until we get that, we will continue to abuse the earth we depend on.

Jesus was also a unitive thinker. He said “God and I are one,” and what we do to the least among us – people who are starving, naked, or homeless – we do to him.

He also said the second greatest commandment, after loving God, is to love others as yourself. Perhaps he didn’t mean, as contemporary self-help would have it. “love others by first loving yourself,” but rather “love others because they are yourself.”

God is everywhere and that includes inside you, in your depths. As Thomas Merton, a Catholic monk, frequently said “When you meet your deepest self you meet God.”

God is not only love, God is peace, goodness, wisdom, forgiveness, patience, and kindness, and so are you. Your true essence, your true self, is all these things. In this sense you and God are one. This is what being the “imago dei,” the image of God, means. You are not God, God is greater than you, but you and God are one in spirit.

That is why it is good to love your true self, your soul, the self that is love, peace, and goodness. When you love your true self, you are loving God within you, and since God is in everything, you are loving everything through God. When you love all the virtues of your true self, you are doing exactly what others and the earth need: people who love peace, goodness, and love.

It is necessary to develop an ego, but it is also necessary to transcend the ego and realize that you have a larger, truer self. It is not healthy or wise to just love your ego, your false, illusory self. Loving just your ego is the root of all evil as St. Catherine said. She was thinking of love of the false self; contemporary self-help is presumably thinking of love of the true self, which is the foundation of all good.

What we need now is a civilization built on love of the true self, the soul, our best self, our “better angels,” not one based on love of ego, our “worst demons.” This would solve many of our problems.

As another holy woman, Mechthild of Magdeburg said:

“The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest or happiness in other things. It must lose itself in love. By its very nature it must seek God, who is love.”

Bruce Tallman is a London spiritual director, marriage coach, and religious educator of adults. www.brucetallman.com. For his weekly reflections on spirituality, see “The Big Picture” at https://brucetallmanblog.wordpress.com