Mornings with Merton: Part II

In 2014 I posted a blog called "Mornings with Merton," which ended with the words:

I guess I have to keep on reading. Page by page. Meditation by meditation. As always, I am a work in progress.

Well, two years and change later, I am definitely still a work in progress.

I also continue to come back to Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in the mornings before I meditate.

For those who are not familiar with him, Merton was a Catholic monk who lived in Kentucky at the Cistercian Abbe of Gethsemani, and he authored multiple books about Christian mysticism and the contemplative life.

I myself do not identify as a Christian, but I still find much value and meaning in Merton's writings that to me exemplify the divine relationship, the contemplative relationship, with god.

Currently I am piecing my way through No Man Is an Island--two years ago it was Seeds of Contemplation--which was first published in 1955.

I've decided not to read this book in any sort of order (e.g. the chapters chronologically).

Yet I find, like in Seeds of Contemplation, that I encounter exactly what I need.

Take this past weekend for example.

On Friday I had just posted a blog entitled "A More Humane Spirituality of Both-And." It was about the need to attend to a universal awareness and a particular or more day-to-day awareness.

Then, the very next day, I read this meditation about what Merton calls "Recollection:"

Recollection makes me present to myself by bringing together two aspects, or activities, of my being as if they were two lenses in a telescope.  One lens is the basic substance of my spiritual being: the inward soul, the deep will, the spiritual intelligence.  The other is my outward soul, the practical intelligence, the will engaged in the activities of life...

Recollection, then, makes me present to whatever is significantly real at each moment of my existence.  The depths of my soul should always be recollected in God.  When they are so, they do not necessarily prevent me from engaging in practical, outward activity...Recollection as such is compatible with physical and mental activity, and with any ordinate kind of work...

True recollection is known by its effects: peace, interior silence, tranquility of the heart...

Recollection is more than a mere turning inward upon ourselves, and it does not necessarily mean the denial or exclusion of exterior things. Sometimes we are more recollected, quieter, simple and pure, when we see through exterior things and see God in them than when we turn away from them to shut them out of our minds. Recollection does not deny sensible things, it sets them in order...

For recollection brings the soul into contact with God, and His invisible presence is a light which at once gives peace to the eye that sees by it, and makes it see all things in peace.

I re-read these passages several times over the course of the weekend as they resonated so deeply- it felt as if it had been written for me.

Then, after I finished my period of formal sitting meditation, I would make an effort to try to carry the essence of Merton's message into the rest of my day as I confronted certain challenges in my various roles as a caretaker.

I particularly held these words close to my heart-mind: Recollection does not deny sensible things, it sets them in order, because it seems to me, Merton's view of the spiritual life is like-minded in my desire for a where-the-rubber-meets-the-road-type of faith.

So, here's to more mornings with Merton.

Perhaps you might find his insight and wisdom to be helpful too.