Thomas Merton was a Roman Catholic monk and writer who died rather young in 1968, in suspicious circumstances. He was in Bangkok, Thailand, at that time, teaching a class to the superiors of RC religious orders of Asia, male and female. He was engaged in a deep dialogue with Buddhists, he fiercely opposed the Vietnam War and, during the class in Bangkok, he said very openly that, although Marxism was wrong in its applications, Jesus had said some things very similar to Karl Marx.
This was enough to qualify him as a troublemaker, as indeed he was. Perhaps he chose to enter into a strict contemplative order, the Trappists, because he felt the need to keep under control the riotous aspect of his nature, yet his creative and adventure-leaning soul took always the lead, much to the chagrin of his silent, humble, unworldly Trappist brothers.
Merton was a leading intellectual in the Roman Catholic Church, before, during, and immediately after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), despite his staying clear of polemics around it. He was too much of a prophet and a contemplative to engage parties within the Church. He cared about big things, such as war and peace, racism, and spirituality beyond dogma.
At the same time, willy-nilly, he was a poster boy for the Catholic Church. So many young men since the 1950s have read ravenously his very well-written autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, finding inspiration in it for their religious vocation. I was one of them, and Timothy Fox was one of them, before becoming Matthew as a Dominican.
But, in Matthew’s case, the relationship with Merton did not stop at that. Although their correspondence was cut short by Merton’s untimely death, Matthew credits him with his choice to study in Paris, as well as with several other suggestions, as he details in his book A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey, published in 2016, which I recommend heartily.
In this book, after discussing his relationship with Merton and their common love and discovery of Meister Eckhart’s works, Matthew analyzes the gist of Merton’s spirituality applying to it the scheme of the four paths of creation spirituality. As Matthew says, these paths are archetypal, and they do not fail to help us get to the real meat of Merton’s life and his considerable body of work.
In this week’s daily meditations, I will present some quotes from Merton together with Matthew’s comments on them, moving through the four paths. I believe it is important, at a time of great confusion, while we are engaged in fighting the biggest dragon we have yet encountered, to tap into the lives and struggles of some great ancestors, and Merton has the quality — among many others — to have lived not very far in time from us.
Although the context has changed in some deep ways since the late 60s, there is still enough overlapping that his words may ring fresh and immediately comprehensible. Take, for example, the following quote that Matthew excerpts from Merton’s book Contemplation in a World of Action:
If the deepest ground of my being is love, then in that very love itself and nowhere else will I find myself, and the world, and my brother and Christ. It is not a question of either-or but of all-in-one. It is not a matter of exclusivism and “purity” but of wholeness, wholeheartedness, unity, and Meister Eckhart’s Gleichheit (equality) which finds the same ground of love in everything.*
* Thomas Merton. Contemplation in a World of Action, 2nd ed. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, Copyright © 1998.
See also Thomas Merton. The Seven Storey Mountain. New York: Harcourt Brace, Copyright © 1948.
Quotations from Matthew Fox, A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey, pp. 44 and 47.
See also Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity.
And Fox, Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: A view of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gesthemani in Trappist, Kentucky. Photo by Mind meal. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
What does it mean to be grounded in love at a time of upheaval?
Recommended Reading
A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey
In A Way to God, Fox explores Merton’s pioneering work in interfaith, his essential teachings on mixing contemplation and action, and how the vision of Meister Eckhart profoundly influenced Merton in what Fox calls his Creation Spirituality journey.
“This wise and marvelous book will profoundly inspire all those who love Merton and want to know him more deeply.” — Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story
A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality & The Transformation of Christianity
A modern-day theologian’s call for the radical transformation of Christianity that will allow us to move once again from the hollow trappings of organized religion to genuine spirituality. A New Reformation echoes the Reformation initiated by Martin Luther in 1517 and offers a new vision of Christianity that values the Earth, honors the feminine, and respects science and deep ecumenism.
“This is a deep and forceful book….With prophetic insight, Matthew Fox reveals what has corrupted religion in the West and the therapy for its healing.” ~Bruce Chilton, author of Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography
Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart
Matthew Fox’s comprehensive translation of Meister Eckhart’s sermons is a meeting of true prophets across centuries, resulting in a spirituality for the new millennium. The holiness of creation, the divine life in each person and the divine power of our creativity, our call to do justice and practice compassion–these are among Eckhart’s themes, brilliantly interpreted and explained for today’s reader.
“The most important book on mysticism in 500 years.” — Madonna Kolbenschlag, author of Kissing Sleeping Beauty Goodbye.
