Welcome to The PATH (Monday Meditation) — A weekly reflection with three timeless insights for daily life. This week’s reflection searches for ancient lessons on how to think like a Trappist Monk.
1. Contemplation
Thomas Merton was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, and scholar of comparative religion. He wrote more than 50 books throughout his short life, mostly on spirituality. His book New Seeds of Contemplation was the topic of last month’s Reading & the Good Life (a free weekly meetup every Friday at Noon EST), a space for readers to connect over conversations on the art of living.
One of the passages we discussed from Merton was on the meaning of contemplation:
"Poetry, music, and art have something in common with the contemplative experience. But contemplation is beyond aesthetic intuition, beyond art, beyond poetry. Indeed, it is also beyond philosophy, beyond speculative theology. ...
Contemplation is always beyond our own knowledge, beyond our own light, beyond systems, beyond explanations, beyond discourse, beyond dialogue, beyond our own self."
Merton continues by explaining that the only way to get rid of misconceptions about contemplation is to experience it. In his own life, Merton observed, one who does not actually know the nature of this breakthrough and this awakening to a new level of reality cannot help being misled by most of the things that are said about it.
“For contemplation cannot be taught. It cannot even be clearly explained. It can only be hinted at, suggested, pointed to, symbolized." — Thomas Merton
2. Integrity
“Many poets are not poets for the same reason that many religious men are not saints: they never succeed in being themselves,” wrote Merton.
Are you living with integrity?
How does one know if they are living an authentic life?
Merton believed that we tend to never get around to being the particular poet or monk we are intended to be by God. We never become the man or artist called for by all the circumstances of our individual lives. We waste our years in vain efforts to be some other poet or some other saint. “There can be an intense egoism in following everybody else. People are in a hurry to magnify themselves by imitating what is popular,” according to Merton.
Merton writes,
In great saints you find that perfect humility and perfect integrity coincide. The two turn out to be practically the same thing. The saint is unlike everybody else precisely because he is humble.
What is required to start being who you are?
Merton called it “heroic humility,” to be yourself and to be nobody but the man, or the artist, that God intended you to be.
3. Solitude
The notion of solitude is an interesting and unique topic. For some, it brings up feelings of peace and tranquility, and for others — anguish. In my conversation on In Search of Wisdom with Kieren Setiya (author of Life is Hard), revealed,
The pain of social disconnection, loneliness, is not to be confused with being alone. One can be by oneself, in quiet solitude, without feeling lonely; and one can be lonely in a crowd. There’s a distinction, too, between transient or situational loneliness—a reaction to loss or displacement—and chronic loneliness, which persists for months or years. Some are more prone to loneliness than others.
Merton put it this way in his classic No Man is an Island, “The man who fears to be alone will never be anything but lonely, no matter how much he may surround himself with people.” Similarly, the mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal observed, “All of man’s misfortune comes from one thing, which is not knowing how to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Although silence and contemplation can open us up to anguish and doubt, my conversation with Dr. Beverly Lanzetta (author of A New Silence) uncovered the practical benefits and wisdom of learning to be alone.
Lanzetta explained, “Rather than a detriment, it can be healthy to be alone. In solitude, we can find our heart of hearts, the inextinguishable flame that burns brightly within.” The call to silence and solitude occurs in the depth of the soul and is not dependent upon or subject to whether the seeker resides in a monastic enclosure, wears the proper religious garment, or spends hours a day in prayer.
“Physical solitude, exterior silence, and real recollection are all morally necessary for anyone who wants to lead a contemplative life,” at least according to Merton.
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Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,