More on "integrity" - Thomas Merton.
There can be an intense egoism in following everybody else. People are in a hurry to magnify themselves by imitating what is popular - and too lazy to think of anything better.
Hurry ruins saints as well as artists. they want quick success and they are in such haste to get it that they cannot take time to be true to themselves. And when the madness is upon them they argue that their very haste is a species of integrity.
Isn't this what commercialism is all about?...convincing people that we all need the same kind of life and material goods with which we will move through life? Therefore, there are fashions that come and go and we are told that we will be somebody if we take part in this essential coming and going of mere fashion. When this is the case, the somebody I become is simply a part of the everybody around me. Do we lose ourselves as we enter into that pursuit? To a point....yes. But we must consider how many ways outside of fashion that we lose ourselves through imitation as we search to be someone. Our God has made us each to be unique. That is the blessedness of each of our lives. We are invited to trust that move by our God!
Connection: It may not be easy to come to grips with who each of us is when we are so used to being seduced by the forces around us. We can be a part of a community without being consumed by the community.
When you create us, O God, we are each a part of a wonderful mural. In that picture, none of us is to be lost in the vastness of the project. Rather, we need to be reminded by your Spirit that as we become the person you created, the whole mural becomes more brilliant. Amen.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Monday 7 July 2008
More from "Solitude is Not Separation" by Thomas Merton.
Physical solitude has its dangers, but we must not exaggerate them. The great temptation of modern humanity is not physical solitude but immersion in the mass of other people, not escape to the mountains or the desert (would that more people were so tempted!) but escape into the great formless sea of irresponsibility which is the crowd. There is actually no more dangerous solitude than that of the person who is lost in a crowd, who does not know s/he is alone and who does not function as a person in a community either.
What is it to not know one is alone but to also not know that one is not a part of a community?!? The other day I was at an event at which a woman was to appear in a parade...a quite public event. I didn't know she was going to be in the parade but I noticed that from the time she stepped out of her car she wore the biggest smile I have ever seen. I could be that it wasn't the biggest...but rather it was the length of the smile...the stamina...the endlessness to it. The smile on this person's face was meant to attract others - a politicians smile - and yet, it saw in it a smile that made absolutely no connection to others. The smile seemed to be a way to be noticed and yet it was also a type of facade that kept some distance from the crowd while being deep within it. I was taken back by the lack of life present. I wondered how hard one had to work to keep that smile in place and what was the expectation behind the smile. Maybe it is to be known in the crowd without having to know the crowd.
Connection: It is good to know when we are moving into places of solitude. That is a healthy move. And yet, when we are with others it is good to be with them and not simply among them. "Being with" others demands our attention and our commitment.
Lord of Life, you make us social people and when we are with others we need be empowered to give ourselves to the life of the community. In that engagement, we make more of ourselves and bring new life to the community. Remind us of the joy of community and the wonder and joy of intentional solitude and retreat. Amen.
Physical solitude has its dangers, but we must not exaggerate them. The great temptation of modern humanity is not physical solitude but immersion in the mass of other people, not escape to the mountains or the desert (would that more people were so tempted!) but escape into the great formless sea of irresponsibility which is the crowd. There is actually no more dangerous solitude than that of the person who is lost in a crowd, who does not know s/he is alone and who does not function as a person in a community either.
What is it to not know one is alone but to also not know that one is not a part of a community?!? The other day I was at an event at which a woman was to appear in a parade...a quite public event. I didn't know she was going to be in the parade but I noticed that from the time she stepped out of her car she wore the biggest smile I have ever seen. I could be that it wasn't the biggest...but rather it was the length of the smile...the stamina...the endlessness to it. The smile on this person's face was meant to attract others - a politicians smile - and yet, it saw in it a smile that made absolutely no connection to others. The smile seemed to be a way to be noticed and yet it was also a type of facade that kept some distance from the crowd while being deep within it. I was taken back by the lack of life present. I wondered how hard one had to work to keep that smile in place and what was the expectation behind the smile. Maybe it is to be known in the crowd without having to know the crowd.
Connection: It is good to know when we are moving into places of solitude. That is a healthy move. And yet, when we are with others it is good to be with them and not simply among them. "Being with" others demands our attention and our commitment.
Lord of Life, you make us social people and when we are with others we need be empowered to give ourselves to the life of the community. In that engagement, we make more of ourselves and bring new life to the community. Remind us of the joy of community and the wonder and joy of intentional solitude and retreat. Amen.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Thursday 3 July 2008
Here's a simple comment that follows from yesterday's devotion. (Merton)
Go into the desert not to escape other people but in order to find them in God.
Sometimes we can be so close to other people that we do not see them as they are before God. They are simply our enemies or work mates...etc. Often time, we run away from the presence of such people. We do that simply by "going home" and secluding ourselves with ourselves. At other times we may do that by being only in the presence of those who are just as we are...in other words, secluding ourselves with ourselves. But we are invited to step away and re-view all things as we contemplate the presence of the Living God nurturing in us this love that is often beyond our comprehension. The desert magnifies the love and it magnifies what life looks like when love is absent. Our God is a God who makes it quite clear that we will find others as we long to find God. And then...in re-viewing others - even those from whom we flee - God dances with us and invites us to take hold of those from whom we thought we needed to escape.
Connection: I know I often want to be with people like me...and yet I always find that as I am urged to move beyond myself, some bit of the beauty of God's images comes into view in those from whom I have been trying to separate myself. Sin...it is an amazing power that can really destroy everything.
Lord, with your wind of life you move us to come closer to one another. It is not easy and it is not at the top of our life agenda...but you keep blowing through our lives and we find ourselves facing one another and beginning to experience the life you have promised from the beginning of time - life full of your love. Amen.
Go into the desert not to escape other people but in order to find them in God.
Sometimes we can be so close to other people that we do not see them as they are before God. They are simply our enemies or work mates...etc. Often time, we run away from the presence of such people. We do that simply by "going home" and secluding ourselves with ourselves. At other times we may do that by being only in the presence of those who are just as we are...in other words, secluding ourselves with ourselves. But we are invited to step away and re-view all things as we contemplate the presence of the Living God nurturing in us this love that is often beyond our comprehension. The desert magnifies the love and it magnifies what life looks like when love is absent. Our God is a God who makes it quite clear that we will find others as we long to find God. And then...in re-viewing others - even those from whom we flee - God dances with us and invites us to take hold of those from whom we thought we needed to escape.
Connection: I know I often want to be with people like me...and yet I always find that as I am urged to move beyond myself, some bit of the beauty of God's images comes into view in those from whom I have been trying to separate myself. Sin...it is an amazing power that can really destroy everything.
Lord, with your wind of life you move us to come closer to one another. It is not easy and it is not at the top of our life agenda...but you keep blowing through our lives and we find ourselves facing one another and beginning to experience the life you have promised from the beginning of time - life full of your love. Amen.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Wednesday 2 July 2008
Here are some more insights about solitude - again, Thomas Merton.
True solitude is the home of the person, false solitude the refuge of the individualist. The person is constituted by a uniquely subsisting capacity to love - by a radical ability to care for all beings made by God and loved by God. Such a capacity is destroyed by the loss of perspective. Without a certain element of solitude there can be no compassion because when a person is lost in the wheels of a social machine s/he is no longer aware of human needs as a matter of personal responsibility. One can escape from people by plunging into the midst of a crowd!
Again here is that important distinction between a person and an individual. The person - the whole me and you - is complete within the play between solitude and community. In fact, the person is made whole by just such a movement. The individualist finds any journey to be a journey with one's self and for one's self - beginning and end of story! The key word is love. Love bring community into being. Love is the power the bridges the separation that is so easily established between us and is the very sin that fights against the love of God. The interesting and important move in today's piece is to establish that we lose our sense of self and the meaning of community when we simple choose to slip into the world of social activity that does not call forth relationship or the need for growth of self and others. Simply being with people is not being in community. Many churches know what that means. Sometimes we come together but never let ourselves be together as one body...only a mixture of individuals....church is so much more than that.
Connection: Some folks say it is important to go visit other countries and cultures because a brief visit can often open up our eyes to the expansiveness of our humanity. Well, this can also happen within this day...within the places we find ourselves....and, without leaving home. But...we must be willing to let go and let in.
Come, Living Water, and pour your life over us. When we are drenched with your presence and see that you pour yourself over all your people, we may then be liberated and find that in, with, and under the life of community, we each blossom and then flower into persons in your image. Amen.
True solitude is the home of the person, false solitude the refuge of the individualist. The person is constituted by a uniquely subsisting capacity to love - by a radical ability to care for all beings made by God and loved by God. Such a capacity is destroyed by the loss of perspective. Without a certain element of solitude there can be no compassion because when a person is lost in the wheels of a social machine s/he is no longer aware of human needs as a matter of personal responsibility. One can escape from people by plunging into the midst of a crowd!
Again here is that important distinction between a person and an individual. The person - the whole me and you - is complete within the play between solitude and community. In fact, the person is made whole by just such a movement. The individualist finds any journey to be a journey with one's self and for one's self - beginning and end of story! The key word is love. Love bring community into being. Love is the power the bridges the separation that is so easily established between us and is the very sin that fights against the love of God. The interesting and important move in today's piece is to establish that we lose our sense of self and the meaning of community when we simple choose to slip into the world of social activity that does not call forth relationship or the need for growth of self and others. Simply being with people is not being in community. Many churches know what that means. Sometimes we come together but never let ourselves be together as one body...only a mixture of individuals....church is so much more than that.
Connection: Some folks say it is important to go visit other countries and cultures because a brief visit can often open up our eyes to the expansiveness of our humanity. Well, this can also happen within this day...within the places we find ourselves....and, without leaving home. But...we must be willing to let go and let in.
Come, Living Water, and pour your life over us. When we are drenched with your presence and see that you pour yourself over all your people, we may then be liberated and find that in, with, and under the life of community, we each blossom and then flower into persons in your image. Amen.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Tuesday 1 July 2008
From "Solitude is Not Separation" - Thomas Merton
Humanity seeks unity because it is the image of the One God. Unity implies solitude, and hence the need to be physically alone. But unity and solitude are not metaphysical isolation... Solitude is not and can never be a narcissistic dialogue of the ego with itself. Such self-contemplation is a futile attempt to establish the finite self as infinite, to make it permanently independent of all other beings. And this is madness. Note, however, that it is not a madness peculiar to solitaries - it is much more common to those who try to assert their own unique excellence by dominating others. This is the more usual sin.
As we are always drawn back into the unity of the whole, we find that the solitude in which we enter is always very connected to the unity of the image of God. The way I best envision this is when I find myself far away from the community of faith in which I serve. Out there, in solitude, my mind and my vision and my openness to the future and my imagination spring to life and is very involved in the ongoing creation of community. Solitude helps in that conversation...it is quite necessary. It is good to hear that the madness that can become a part of a narcissistic adventure in solitude can be the same kind of madness that comes about within a community in which a person seeks to dominate the others in community. I would agree with Merton that this second madness is really the usual way we encounter sin. The person in solitude who may be narcissistic is not someone who would have a great impact on others.
Connection: One of the responsibilities we have as followers of Jesus is to make sure that others among us do not fall prey to isolation. We do not simply seek community for ourselves, we are also called to respond to the others who grace our table with their presence. If they are not around, we all lose a bit of this image of God among us.
Lord of Life, you shine throughout the gathering of your saints so that as each of us looks around, we are reminded of the essence of your being that comes to be more complete as we continue to gather and come to life as one body. Thanks to you, O God. Amen.
Humanity seeks unity because it is the image of the One God. Unity implies solitude, and hence the need to be physically alone. But unity and solitude are not metaphysical isolation... Solitude is not and can never be a narcissistic dialogue of the ego with itself. Such self-contemplation is a futile attempt to establish the finite self as infinite, to make it permanently independent of all other beings. And this is madness. Note, however, that it is not a madness peculiar to solitaries - it is much more common to those who try to assert their own unique excellence by dominating others. This is the more usual sin.
As we are always drawn back into the unity of the whole, we find that the solitude in which we enter is always very connected to the unity of the image of God. The way I best envision this is when I find myself far away from the community of faith in which I serve. Out there, in solitude, my mind and my vision and my openness to the future and my imagination spring to life and is very involved in the ongoing creation of community. Solitude helps in that conversation...it is quite necessary. It is good to hear that the madness that can become a part of a narcissistic adventure in solitude can be the same kind of madness that comes about within a community in which a person seeks to dominate the others in community. I would agree with Merton that this second madness is really the usual way we encounter sin. The person in solitude who may be narcissistic is not someone who would have a great impact on others.
Connection: One of the responsibilities we have as followers of Jesus is to make sure that others among us do not fall prey to isolation. We do not simply seek community for ourselves, we are also called to respond to the others who grace our table with their presence. If they are not around, we all lose a bit of this image of God among us.
Lord of Life, you shine throughout the gathering of your saints so that as each of us looks around, we are reminded of the essence of your being that comes to be more complete as we continue to gather and come to life as one body. Thanks to you, O God. Amen.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday 30 June 2008
The month ends and the week begins with a new chapter in "New Seeds of Contemplation" - Solitude is Not Separation, by Thomas Merton.
Some people have perhaps become hermits with the thought that sanctity could only be attained by escape from other people. But the only justification for a life of deliberate solitude is the conviction that it will help you to love not only God but also other people. If you go into the desert merely to get away from people you dislike, you will find neither peace nor solitude; you will only isolate yourself with a tribe of devils.
It is so important to understand that we are who we are as God's people when we are drawn back to that which we are - God's people. We are no isolated faithful ones...we come to the fullness of our being as we are brought home again into the midst of others. Solitude has a way of helping us come back and be reattached and welcome the other. Again, Merton has a way of pressing the point so that it is shocking. Isolation as a move into a "tribe of devils" is a powerful image. For in such a tribe, no one is close...it is a tribe of separation that is sustained by such separation and therefore misses the wonder and joy of what it is to be the community of God's people - saints...all of us.
Connection: When we breathe, we let out and we take in. Taking time to enter into moments of solitude within this day is a part the blessed cycle that includes taking time to enter into moments of relationship with others.
Holy Spirit and Power of Life, you bring us together and you give us space to walk alone. In all times, we are inspired to enter more boldly into the life you offer us. At times it is not as we would like and yet it carries us to new levels of experience that continue to shape the whole community of saints. Amen.
Some people have perhaps become hermits with the thought that sanctity could only be attained by escape from other people. But the only justification for a life of deliberate solitude is the conviction that it will help you to love not only God but also other people. If you go into the desert merely to get away from people you dislike, you will find neither peace nor solitude; you will only isolate yourself with a tribe of devils.
It is so important to understand that we are who we are as God's people when we are drawn back to that which we are - God's people. We are no isolated faithful ones...we come to the fullness of our being as we are brought home again into the midst of others. Solitude has a way of helping us come back and be reattached and welcome the other. Again, Merton has a way of pressing the point so that it is shocking. Isolation as a move into a "tribe of devils" is a powerful image. For in such a tribe, no one is close...it is a tribe of separation that is sustained by such separation and therefore misses the wonder and joy of what it is to be the community of God's people - saints...all of us.
Connection: When we breathe, we let out and we take in. Taking time to enter into moments of solitude within this day is a part the blessed cycle that includes taking time to enter into moments of relationship with others.
Holy Spirit and Power of Life, you bring us together and you give us space to walk alone. In all times, we are inspired to enter more boldly into the life you offer us. At times it is not as we would like and yet it carries us to new levels of experience that continue to shape the whole community of saints. Amen.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Friday 27 June 2008
Today we end the week with a piece that follows up on the one who is self-satisfied or as Merton puts it, "I am not like other people."
I will write this piece without changing the pronouns.
Once he has started on this path there is no limit to the evil his self-satisfaction may drive him to do in the name of God and of God's love and for God's glory. He is so pleased with himself that he can no longer tolerate the advice of another - or the commands of a superior. When someone opposes his desires he folds his hands humbly and seems to accept it for the time being, but in his heart he is saying: "I am persecuted by worldly people. They are incapable of understanding one who is led by the Spirit of God. With the saint is has always been so."
Having become a martyr he is ten times as stubborn as before.
It is a terrible thing when such a one gets the idea he is a prophet or a messenger of God or a person with a mission to reform the world...He is capable of destroying religion and making the name of God odious to people.
I think I have been with such people. I pray that it has not been me.
I am always amazed at how little folks like this listen. Then again, I often wonder why they listen - as it seems to always come around to their qualities and gifts and goals for life. One of the most frightening aspects of Merton's comment is the intensity with which such a person is convinced of his/her status before God and others. Therefore, everyone else who is a different voice is really either someone easily dismissed or one who is attacking. Either way, this "prophet" separates from others. Rather than be a part of a blessed community, this one attempts to rule the community or simply reject what others have to offer. It appears to me that such a way of life may create some sense of power but it is through an isolation that does no one any good.
Connection: When we listen, often the words of religious people are words that use to support where they are and where they are going...and a spiritual life becomes merely a journey of self-satisfaction. It is good to watch our language and hear what we are saying as people of faith.
You alone are God, O Lord of Life. You alone create out of nothing at all and recreate that which is broken and dead. Guide us so that as we engage our lives, we will no attempt to take on your role but will peacefully remain the people you have created us. Amen.
I will write this piece without changing the pronouns.
Once he has started on this path there is no limit to the evil his self-satisfaction may drive him to do in the name of God and of God's love and for God's glory. He is so pleased with himself that he can no longer tolerate the advice of another - or the commands of a superior. When someone opposes his desires he folds his hands humbly and seems to accept it for the time being, but in his heart he is saying: "I am persecuted by worldly people. They are incapable of understanding one who is led by the Spirit of God. With the saint is has always been so."
Having become a martyr he is ten times as stubborn as before.
It is a terrible thing when such a one gets the idea he is a prophet or a messenger of God or a person with a mission to reform the world...He is capable of destroying religion and making the name of God odious to people.
I think I have been with such people. I pray that it has not been me.
I am always amazed at how little folks like this listen. Then again, I often wonder why they listen - as it seems to always come around to their qualities and gifts and goals for life. One of the most frightening aspects of Merton's comment is the intensity with which such a person is convinced of his/her status before God and others. Therefore, everyone else who is a different voice is really either someone easily dismissed or one who is attacking. Either way, this "prophet" separates from others. Rather than be a part of a blessed community, this one attempts to rule the community or simply reject what others have to offer. It appears to me that such a way of life may create some sense of power but it is through an isolation that does no one any good.
Connection: When we listen, often the words of religious people are words that use to support where they are and where they are going...and a spiritual life becomes merely a journey of self-satisfaction. It is good to watch our language and hear what we are saying as people of faith.
You alone are God, O Lord of Life. You alone create out of nothing at all and recreate that which is broken and dead. Guide us so that as we engage our lives, we will no attempt to take on your role but will peacefully remain the people you have created us. Amen.
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