The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Thomas Merton and
the Search for Our True Selves 03/06/2023 |
Addressing the avalanche of lies that pass for news on a certain cable news station recently, we have invoked the centrality of the search for truth in mystics/prophets such as Teresa of Avila,
Jesus, Thomas Aquinas, bell hooks, and Sister Dorothy Stang. |
Truth and the search for it lies at our core as human beings. To dress up falsities and lies as facts and truth is an insult to
everyone’s intelligence as well as a path to the killing of community, the eroding of society and the end of democracy. Fascism is constructed on lies. The prophets are engaged wholeheartedly in telling the truth about how things really
are. Whistleblowers do this as part of their work of interfering which, as Rabbi Heschel makes clear, is the primary work of the prophet. | |
Another way to speak about truth and
truth-telling is in terms of the search for our true self. St. Paul and Meister Eckhart talk about our “inner person” as distinct from our “outer person.” Today’s parlance speaks of our “true self vs. our false self.” The latter is about external reference, a self trying to please others. The former is where we truly reside, who we really are. Of course we evolve as all things do but keeping track of that evolution in self-understanding is itself a continuing search
for the “true self.” |
Catholic monk Thomas Merton spoke of the importance of being true to oneself, and on this point, Merton was unbending. He wrote that people are “at liberty to be real or unreal . . . be true or false, the
choice is ours.”
|
He insisted that we not hide behind masks that cover up our true selves– that some people wear “one mask and now another and never if we so desire to appear with our own true face.” The true self is
to come first, for “we have a choice of two identities: | |
the external mask which seems to be real and which lives by a shadowy autonomy for the brief moment of earthly existence;” and the true or inner self. |
But to live with the hidden, inner
person is to give oneself “eternally to the truth in whom [one] subsists.” Living under a mask, playing a role, makes a person “itch with discomfort,” till some must eventually pay “a psychiatrist to scratch him.” To be continued. |
| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM.
If you can't reach today's post on the website directly, click HERE.
If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, A Way To God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey, p. 185. Also, Fox, Passion for Creation:
The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart, p. 70. To read a transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE. Banner image: Removing the mask. Image by Mike T on Flickr |
Queries for Contemplation Do you agree with Merton that playing a role or living out a “false self” makes one “itch with discomfort”? And that we all have a choice to find and live out our true self? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
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 | |
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 | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox for a lecture and Q&A on “The Reinvention of Work – A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, March 16, 4:00-6:00 pm PT.
Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox and Isa Gucciardi for a new Lecture & Q&A on “ Liberation and Salvation: Healing Teachings in Buddhism & Christianity” at Convergence Hosted by
Cameron Trimble, Tuesday, March 21, 4:00-6:00 pm PT Register HERE. Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Matthew Fox speaks on "Jung and Teilhard in Dialogue" to the Creation Spirituality Communities at their Global Kinship event in January 2023. | |
Please share this post! Just click the buttons below.
OR share your insights on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox
|
|
|
|
