Reading Invokes a Response

As Merton recalled of one of his favorite authors, “The Providence of God was eventually to use Blake to awaken something of faith and love in my own soul – in spite of all the misleading notions, and all the almost infinite possibilities of error that underlie his weird and violent figures.”[1]  God can use any avenue to bring people to his presence.  Blake was not always a man of faith, and therefore his poems were not strewn with Christian illusions.  Yet God used Merton’s love of literature to draw him nearer; He might use art or even sports to do the same for another.  It just so happened that Merton had a consistent stream of books which held his interest and therefore God entered the pages to come to life through his persistent reading.

So “just as his reading helped him in moving toward these goals, so our reading of Merton’s works can do the same for us.”[2]  We can take his example and draw nearer to God through reading, if that is a love of ours.  Spiritual reading as a whole can “assist in the reformation of our hearts and minds into the likeness of Jesus Christ.”[3]  Utilizing books for this purpose involves interacting with the words for the personal formation aspects rather than the head knowledge that can be gleaned. 

 

After his conversion, Merton wrote “to help people to be better Christians”[4] just as so many writers before him had done.  He appreciated the custom of Saint John of the Cross, who wrote out “short meditative phrases…that could be used as a meditative preparation for contemplative attention.”[5]  Merton utilized such a practice to help young monks approach meditation.  His theological writing assisted the deepening of faith for his fellow monks as well as superiors and even for readers today.  This practice was used in Merton’s own practices as one of his favorite things to do was to meditate “in silence on a spiritual author.”[6]  I think this is a very practical takeaway from how Merton utilized his love of literature to further his spirituality.

The act of reading is not merely for pleasure, but it invokes a response.   Personally, I have found certain quotes from Merton helpful in my own spiritual journey as I am able to contemplate his words as they relate to the Christian life.  He was able to “juxtapose whatever he reads and contemplates…with the reality of his monastic existence.”[7]  Likewise, the reader of Merton works and other spiritual writings can contemplate the words on the page in their own setting.  I, too, can appreciate the aspects of creation that are touched upon in Blake’s poems and the vividness of Hopkin’s verses.  Writers have the unique gifts to bring to life things that are often passed by without much thought since “words can travel beyond their confines into the mystery of God.”[8]  The importance of spiritual reading is to see how God works through these writers to bring his people closer to Him.  This was evident in Merton’s life as he became the same literary influence that other writers had been to him.

---

[1] Merton, Seven Storey, 97.

[2] Shannon, 122.

[3] Roller, xii.

[4] Cunningham, 30.

[5] Ibid, 40.

[6] Ibid, 131.

[7] Kountz, 156.

[8] Llavador, 1.

Thomas Merton & T.S. Eliot (Merton's Love of Books - part 3)

Merton acknowledged the fact that his life as a young man was one of “a great rebel.”[1]  He believed his intelligence allowed him to rise above the pettiness of an average life and spent this time drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, listening to records and reading modern literature.  “Popular literature of the time was centrally occupied with the analyses of the loss of the individual self.”[2]  

One such modern writer he approached who focused on this culture was T.S. Eliot, a popular poet and cultural critic.  In an effort to stay above modernity, Merton recalled selling T.S. Eliot’s essays “in a conscious reaction against artiness”[3] as if he had surpassed the writers of the day.  

Nonetheless, Merton still wanted Eliot’s opinions and prepared an article for his magazine Criterion which stopped publication during that time.[4]  His impact held steady regardless of what Merton thought of the poet, which infiltrated Merton’s own future writing.

Though Merton was drawn to Eliot’s writings in his life prior to conversion, he later critiqued the literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century because it was “deeply concerned with authenticity and the problem of finding one’s ‘true self’ in an artificial and inauthentic society.”[5]  As a more mature Christian at the time of this critique, he recognized the problems with Eliot’s use of “traditional spiritualities and symbols to rise above identity”[6] and to find freedom through oneself.  Nevertheless, the poetry of T.S. Eliot still influenced Merton’s spirituality.  

According to Lawrence S. Cunningham, after entering the monastery Merton “treasured the quiet moments when he could find a quiet place to sit while he read slowly something like Eliot’s Four Quartets which “had profound influence on him.”[7]    His attempts at crafting complex poems like, Cables to the Ace, was heavily influenced by Eliot and even utilizes similar imagery of urgency.  Later in life he even had correspondence with Eliot, yet did not heed advice given to “write slowly and with great care and publish less.”[8]  Merton was less invested in polished pieces of work, but rather focused his efforts on getting his thoughts down on paper to share with others.  

Still, his interactions with T.S. Eliot influenced the way he wrote whether he acknowledged it or not.

---

[1] Ibid, 103.

[2] Cunningham, 83.

[3] Merton, Seven Storey, 152.

[4] Ibid, 235.

[5] Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action, (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1998), 37.

[6] Ibid, 37.

[7] Cunningham, 43.

[8] Ibid, 159.

Nowhere to be

This is my first day with no homework to complete, no required reading, and no work I have taken home to do. There are no services to plan, no people to host, and nowhere I need to be. So of course I am slightly freaking out, but doing my best to be content with the day and read, drink coffee, and sit outside today!  I hope everyone can experience days like this once in a while too.

Fire + Books

Last night, while D was out, I decided the crisp fall weather that has snuck up on us was perfect for a fire.  I gathered my essentials- matches, wood, cardboard, and lighter fluid - and created a somewhat decent fire (for a girl..haha).

The best part? I could read some CS Lewis by the flickering light.

 Fire + books= perfect night!