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I've just finished a first reading of Thomas Merton's Thoughts in Solitude. It's good. Really good. It a first reading kind of book, because I immediately acknowledge that it will take some time to digest his thoughts. The following lines come from several essays on what a spiritual life looks like. Enjoy...
- The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived. Like all life, it grows sick and dies when it is uprooted from its proper element...Jesus lived the ordinary life of the men of His time, in order to sanctify the ordinary lives of men of all time. If we want to be spiritual, then, let us first of all live our lives. Let us not fear the responsibilities and the inevitable distractions of the work appointed for us by the will of God. Let us embrace reality and thus find ourselves immersed in the life giving wisdom of God which surrounds us everywhere.
I think it's interesting that Merton wrote this in the midst of a year and a half separated from human contact, living entirely on his own. That doesn't feel like reality to me. And yet I really resonate with his point that spiritual life begins with living life. Way too often I separate those out, as if my "time with God" is somehow different than my...what? My time away from God? Preposterous! I want more of God in my life, not just my "spiritual" life.Labels: Merton
April 5, 2007 at 11:36 PM
Well said Droopy. It's tough reading mystics like Merton because they get some things right that most people don't, but they sometimes go about it in a 'wrong' way, if you'll forgive the hubris in my terminology.
this was stevie top
April 7, 2007 at 8:42 PM
I know b/c you're the only person on the planet who calls me Droopy...and I love you for it. top