The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers
Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Merton & Eckhart on Nothingness & Solitude Merton expounds on the experience of nothingness: |
But to each of us there is a point of nowhereness in the middle of movement, a point of nothingness in the midst of being: the incomparable point, not to be discovered by insight. If you seek it you do not find it. If you stop seeking, it is there. But you must not turn to it. | “Dance of Soul.” Photo by Ahmad Odeh on Unsplash |
Once you come aware of yourself as seeker, you are lost. But if you are content to be lost you will be found without knowing it, precisely because you are lost, for you are, at last, nowhere. In his poem “The Fall,” Merton puts it this way: To enter there is to become unnameable….
Whoever is nowhere is nobody, and therefore cannot
Exist except as unborn:
No disguise will avail him anything
Such a one is neither lost nor found.* Both Merton and Eckhart are keen on the subject of solitude. Eckhart says: We must learn an inner solitude, wherever or with whomsoever we may be. One must learn to penetrate things and find God there. |
| In other words, solitude is wherever Divinity is and Divinity is everywhere and wherever we find ourselves. But it is learning to let go and let be, to taste nothingness, that allows us to experience the Divine in all circumstances. Yet this takes practice and
knowing ourselves and plenty of patience as well. |
Merton writes in his Asian Journal about a brief retreat he undertook while there. This is a good retreat and I appreciate the quiet more than I can say. This quiet, with time to read, study, meditate, and not talk to anyone, is something essential in my life. In his journal written on his sojourn in May, 1968 to northern California, he puts it this way: |
I am the utter poverty of God. I am His emptiness, littleness, nothingness, lostness. When this is understood, my life in His freedom the self-emptying of God in me is the fullness of grace. A love for God that knows no reason because He is the fullness of grace. A love for God that knows no reason because He is God; a love without measure, a love for God as personal. The Ishvara appears as personal in order to
inspire this love. Love for all, hatred of none, is the fruit and manifestation of love for God—peace and satisfaction. Forgetfulness of worldly pleasure, selfishness, and so on in the love for God, channeling all passion and emotion into the love for God. | |
We see that Merton draws very heavily from Eckhart in his passages of the Via Negativa. They are companions on
the “wayless way” (Eckhart). |
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Queries for Contemplation
How important is solitude to you? Are you able to find an “inner solitude” that Eckhart talks about both when alone and when with others around you? What follows from
that? *See Sister Therese Lentfoehr, Words and Silence: On the Poetry of Thomas Merton (NY: New Directions, 1979),, p. 107. Adapted from Matthew Fox, A Way To God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey, pp.
77f. Banner Image: Greeting the new day, Cadillac Mountain, Bar Harbor, Maine. Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash. |
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 | |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
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Join Matthew Fox as he offers a new, 12-week advanced course on the Shift Network:
7 Mystics on Recovering the Sacred and
Forging a New Story for Humanity: Timeless Wisdom to Deepen, Heal & Inspire Your Life Journey. NOTE: There is a prerequisite: In order to take this 12-week advanced course, one must have taken any prior shift course with Matthew Fox (not just the 7-week 7
Mystics course). Tuesdays, August 16-November 1, 5:00pm-6:30pm PT (GMT/UTC-7). Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie virtual retreat, discussing One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths. Thursday, August
18, 4:00-6:00pm PT. Learn more HERE.
Join Matthew Fox in a 6-week virtual course on “Mystics, Mysticism and Ourselves as Mystic-Prophets,” hosted by Creation Spirituality Communities. Wednesdays, 8/24, 8/31, 9/7, 9/14,
9/21, and 9/28, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Thursday, September 15, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality in Conversation |
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Host Sandie Sedbeer welcomes Matthew Fox in a discussion of Creation Spirituality: Fresh Perspectives and Approaches to the Most Vital Issues of Our Time on WHAT IS GOING OM. Navigate to the podcast page by clicking the image on the left. |
Announcing Matthew Fox's Newest Book!
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Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an introduction by Charles Burack
“This collection of Fox’s most life-giving insights blesses the connection between caring for our Mother-the-Earth and lifting up marginalized voices, between waking up from the dream of separation and stepping up to mend the net of creation.”
—Mirabai Starr, author, God of Love and Wild Mercy
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