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📿 Notes on Contemplation
This week’s Saturday meditation comes from the American Trappist monk Thomas Merton (1915—1968). Merton is arguably the most influential American Catholic author of the twentieth century. In his short book, The Inner Experience (edited a mere days before his passing), Merton wrote,
Reflect, sometimes, on the disquieting fact that most of your statements of opinions, tastes, deeds, desires, hopes, and fears are statements about someone who is not really present. When you say “I think,” it is often not you who think, but “they”—it is the anonymous authority of the collectivity speaking through your mask. When you say “I want,” you are sometimes simply making an automatic gesture of accepting, and paying for, what has been forced upon you. That is to say, you reach out for what you have been made to want.
The first step, explains Merton, before we even start thinking about contemplation, is to try to recover our basic natural unity and attempt to reintegrate our compartmentalized being. We must learn to live as a unified human person. This means that we have to bring back together the fragments of our distracted existence so that when we say “I,” there is really someone present.
Contemplation Questions (Pick one or create your own!):
Who is this “I” you imagine yourself to be?
What does it mean to become whole?
Deep Dive Spirituality Conversations
Interested in hearing more about Merton and contemplation? If so, you might enjoy the conversation I had with Dr. Brian Russell on his Deep Dive Spirituality Conversations podcast. We discuss, Merton, searching for wisdom, love, Stoicism, and many other topics.
This Week’s Meditations…
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Thank you for reading this week; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. Feel free to comment, ask questions, or make suggestions!