Saturday, December 03, 2005
Merton quotations a-plenty
Right - here's some more:
"...this should somehow be done with such authority and force (moral not juridical) that the U.S. would be shamed into slowing down its escalation and holding back from an invasion of North Vietnam and China. this in itself would be an achievement. Then perhaps the conference might be able to bring the whole affair to the point of negotiation and the next world war be averted." This written in 1966. How exhausting to think that a world war might be a regular occurrence at twenty years from its predecessor.
"The great peril of the cold war is the progressive deadening of conscience. This of course was a process that was already well under way after World War I, and received a great impetus during the second war."
"Since it is to me perfectly obvious that a Sadhu might well know God better and love Him better than a lukewarm Christian, i see no problem whatever about declaring that such a one is closer to Him and is even, by that fact, closer to Christ. The distinction lies in the fact that Catholics believe that the Church does possess a clearer and more perfect exoteric doctrine and sacramental system which 'objectively' ought to be more secure nd reliable a means for men to come to God and save their souls. Obviously this cannot be argued and scientifically proved, I simply state it as part of our belief in the Church. But the fact remains that God is not bound to confine His gifts to the framework of these external means, and in the end we are sanctified not merely by the instrumentality of doctrines and sacraments, but by the Holy Spirit...
There is only one point in your letter with which I take issue. I would not agree that Pseudo-Denys teaches the 'divine nature of all things,' or that man is essentially divine by nature. This of course is the point where a genuine understanding between Christianity and Vedanta must seek to begin, and we must begin by making clear the distinction. It cannot be said that a Christian (or at least a Catholic) believes that man is by nature divine. If he did, the whole point of Christian teaching would be lost. The Christian belief is, let me state it clearly and without ambiguity, that man is divine not by nature but by grace, that is to say that his union with God is not an ontological union in one nature but a personal union in love and in the Holy Spirit, that is to say by God's gift of Himself to man, in Christ. Man is divine then not insofar as he has Being, but insofar as he is personally redeemed by and united with God in Christ.....for a Catholic the exoteric explanation of it is that these holy men have received the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, and have become 'divine' not by nature but 'by adoption,' not by creation but in the Spirit and in love. I state this, ou understand, merely as an exposition of what all Catholics must hold, not as an attempted 'refutation/ of Advaita."
"We do have to open our hearts and 'flow with God' with self-forgetfulness and the renunciation of mental objects, even the highest forms. In this of course we must always be called and led. He (Benet of Canfield) makes it clear. We are too rational. We do not permit anything to remain unconscious. Yet all that is best is unconscious r superconscious."
"I have heard of The Mirror of Simple Souls. It is attributed to Marguerite Porete, an unfortunate Beguine who was burned for some very innocent statements."
"I do not think strictly that contemplation should be the goal of 'all devout souls,' though I may have said this earlier on. In reality I think a lot of them shoudl be very good and forget themselves in virtuous action and love and let the contemplation come in the window unheeded, so to speak. They will be contemplatives without ever really knowing it. I feel that in the monastery here those who are too keen on being contemplatives with a capital C make of contemplation an 'object' from which they are eternally separated, because they are always holding it at arms' length in order to see if it is there. As for the call to solitude it is in some respects unavoidable, and imperative, and even if you are prevented by circumstances (e.g., marriage!) from doing anything about it, solitud will come and find you anyway and this is not always the easiest thing in life either. It may take the form of estrangement, and really it shouldn't. But it does. However, that should not be sought or even too eagerly consented to. On the contrary. In any case the right result should be a great purity of heart and selflessness and detachment.
I know what you are trying to say about loving God more than anything that exists but at the same time this is a measure of self-preservation. Beyond all is a love of God in and through all that exists. We must not hold them apart one from the other. But He must be One in all and Is. There comes a time when one loses everything, even love. Apparently. Even oneself, above all oneself. And this will take care of the rapture and all the rest because who will there be to be rapt?"
Good night for now. More soon.
"...this should somehow be done with such authority and force (moral not juridical) that the U.S. would be shamed into slowing down its escalation and holding back from an invasion of North Vietnam and China. this in itself would be an achievement. Then perhaps the conference might be able to bring the whole affair to the point of negotiation and the next world war be averted." This written in 1966. How exhausting to think that a world war might be a regular occurrence at twenty years from its predecessor.
"The great peril of the cold war is the progressive deadening of conscience. This of course was a process that was already well under way after World War I, and received a great impetus during the second war."
"Since it is to me perfectly obvious that a Sadhu might well know God better and love Him better than a lukewarm Christian, i see no problem whatever about declaring that such a one is closer to Him and is even, by that fact, closer to Christ. The distinction lies in the fact that Catholics believe that the Church does possess a clearer and more perfect exoteric doctrine and sacramental system which 'objectively' ought to be more secure nd reliable a means for men to come to God and save their souls. Obviously this cannot be argued and scientifically proved, I simply state it as part of our belief in the Church. But the fact remains that God is not bound to confine His gifts to the framework of these external means, and in the end we are sanctified not merely by the instrumentality of doctrines and sacraments, but by the Holy Spirit...
There is only one point in your letter with which I take issue. I would not agree that Pseudo-Denys teaches the 'divine nature of all things,' or that man is essentially divine by nature. This of course is the point where a genuine understanding between Christianity and Vedanta must seek to begin, and we must begin by making clear the distinction. It cannot be said that a Christian (or at least a Catholic) believes that man is by nature divine. If he did, the whole point of Christian teaching would be lost. The Christian belief is, let me state it clearly and without ambiguity, that man is divine not by nature but by grace, that is to say that his union with God is not an ontological union in one nature but a personal union in love and in the Holy Spirit, that is to say by God's gift of Himself to man, in Christ. Man is divine then not insofar as he has Being, but insofar as he is personally redeemed by and united with God in Christ.....for a Catholic the exoteric explanation of it is that these holy men have received the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, and have become 'divine' not by nature but 'by adoption,' not by creation but in the Spirit and in love. I state this, ou understand, merely as an exposition of what all Catholics must hold, not as an attempted 'refutation/ of Advaita."
"We do have to open our hearts and 'flow with God' with self-forgetfulness and the renunciation of mental objects, even the highest forms. In this of course we must always be called and led. He (Benet of Canfield) makes it clear. We are too rational. We do not permit anything to remain unconscious. Yet all that is best is unconscious r superconscious."
"I have heard of The Mirror of Simple Souls. It is attributed to Marguerite Porete, an unfortunate Beguine who was burned for some very innocent statements."
"I do not think strictly that contemplation should be the goal of 'all devout souls,' though I may have said this earlier on. In reality I think a lot of them shoudl be very good and forget themselves in virtuous action and love and let the contemplation come in the window unheeded, so to speak. They will be contemplatives without ever really knowing it. I feel that in the monastery here those who are too keen on being contemplatives with a capital C make of contemplation an 'object' from which they are eternally separated, because they are always holding it at arms' length in order to see if it is there. As for the call to solitude it is in some respects unavoidable, and imperative, and even if you are prevented by circumstances (e.g., marriage!) from doing anything about it, solitud will come and find you anyway and this is not always the easiest thing in life either. It may take the form of estrangement, and really it shouldn't. But it does. However, that should not be sought or even too eagerly consented to. On the contrary. In any case the right result should be a great purity of heart and selflessness and detachment.
I know what you are trying to say about loving God more than anything that exists but at the same time this is a measure of self-preservation. Beyond all is a love of God in and through all that exists. We must not hold them apart one from the other. But He must be One in all and Is. There comes a time when one loses everything, even love. Apparently. Even oneself, above all oneself. And this will take care of the rapture and all the rest because who will there be to be rapt?"
Good night for now. More soon.
// posted by MSR @ 11:12 PM 
