Merton In Asia

A Journey Complete

2008-12-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

This marks, for me, the end of a significant journey with Thomas Merton. It has definitely been a pilgrimage of discovery and delight! Though this particular stage is over I look forward to Thomas being an ongoing mentor and companion on my own spiritual journey. Indeed, as Merton says of his pilgrimage a few days ago... "the journey is only begun".

Over the next little while I'll be editting this site, adding an index and tags for better navigation, and generally cleaning it up a bit. Then it will remain as a "cyber-memorial" both to Merton's incredible Asian journey and to the tumultuous historical context of his day.

Thanks to all who have visited over the past 8 weeks. It is always nice to have company on a journey! Special thanks to Donald Grayston, who has been a valued guide and companion on this e-pilgrimage (not to mention a great editor!).

Deepest blessings... Rob

"A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No one can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire." Thomas Merton

Merton and Barth

2008-12-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

December 10, 1968
Thomas Merton and Karl Barth both died on December 10, 1968. I'm not sure what personal connection this monk and theologian had in life. Merton was obviously very familiar with Barth's work and certainly devotes considerable ink to writing about Barth, the opening chapter of "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander" is titled "Barth's Dream", but I don't know if he ever wrote to Barth.

In any event they share a significant date of passage and are featured together in an article in the December 20, 1968 edition of TIME.

The Death of Two Extraordinary Christians
"One was a Protestant theologian who labored quietly in university towns of Switzerland and Germany for half a century. The other was a Roman Catholic monk who worked hermitlike on his writings in the hills of central Kentucky. But while Karl Barth gave his life to scholarship and Thomas Merton to contemplation, both men were Christian activists who found in the Word a command to do. Barth stood courageously against Nazi totalitarianism. Merton drove himself endlessly in championing the cause of the poor and oppressed. On their journey toward their deaths last week, each brought to his age, and to his fellow man, a message of love that was ardently Christian." TIME read more...

TTFN... Rob

"Fear not, Karl Barth! Trust in the divine mercy. Though you have grown up to become a theologian, Christ remains a child in you. Your books (and mine) matter less than we might think! There is in us a Mozart who will be our salvation." Thomas Merton CGB p.12

The Death of Thomas Merton

2008-12-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

January 31, 1915 - December 10, 2008
On December 10, 1968 Thomas Merton died of an accidental electric shock from a faulty electric fan in his cottage at the Red Cross Conference Center in Samut Prakan, Thailand. Merton had presented a paper at a conference of monastics that morning.

Merton's Death and Journey Home
For an excellent summary of the circumstances around Merton's death in Thailand and his journey home to Gethsemani I invite you to visit Beth at "Louie, Louie". She posted on this a couple of years ago and it is still a worthwhile read. Read more...

Grayston Reflects
International Thomas Merton Society President Donald Grayston provides the following reflection on Merton's death...

Merton dies at Suwanganiwas, the Red Cross Centre at Samut Prakan, 30 km outside Bangkok, accidentally electrocuted. It is 27 years to the day since he entered Gethsemani, and a mere eight days after his deep experience at Polonnaruwa.

Red Cross Center (Grayston Photo)

His Christian identity was expressed and symbolized for us by the fact that he said mass in Bangkok on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic calendar, two days before his death. I mention this because some commentators have said that towards the end of his life he abandoned Christian faith and became a Buddhist. On the contrary, he opened himself fully to Buddhist experience and understanding, which he much valued, as a fully-formed Catholic Christian.

Death of the Master
Both east and west share four kinds of death—natural causes, accident, murder, suicide. But in the east there is a fifth category, the death of the master. This involves the master gathering his disciples around him, giving them his last words, doing or saying something absurd, and then dying.

So I Will Disappear
The example of this with which we are most familiar is that of Jesus at the last supper, the “absurd” element being his strange words about the bread and wine of the meal being his body and blood. At the conference Merton was attending, all the Catholic participants had read Merton’s books, and were eagerly awaiting his words (pp. 326-43), at the end of which he said “So I will disappear”—this much in the AJTM (p. 343), and followed this with a classically Mertonian comment—“and we can all get a Coke or something” (not included in the AJTM, but clearly audible in the film of his talk).

The Great Compassion
The other monks and nuns who held a vigil after his death said that “In death Father Louis’ [his monastic name] face was set in a great and deep peace ….” (p. 346). He had fulfilled the intention with which he set out on his Asian pilgrimage. He had settled the Great Affair, and had found also the Great Compassion, mahakaruna (see p. 4).

With thanks again to Don Grayston

Peace and blessing... Rob

"Death is someone you see very clearly with eyes in the center of your heart: eyes that see not by reacting to light, but by reacting to a kind of a chill from within the marrow of your own life." Thomas Merton

2008-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Prelude to a Pilgrimage

2008-12-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

I've been reading through some of Merton's 1968 journal entries and correspondence to get a sense of "where he is at" in the period before his pilgrimage. Throughout 1968 Merton expresses a clear yearning for "silence", "real solitude", "deepening", and "transformation". He often says that he is tired of "talking and writing". He also seems worn down by the violence and turmoil in the world. In the wake of Kings assassination he notes that "1968 is a beast of a year". And it was only early April!

I note the following passages from Mertons journals, from "The Intimate Merton" (IM).

March 14, 1968
"Every week now I refuse two or three invitations to meetings and conferences - important ones - but I do not think I can get mixed up in them or that there is any point in so doing... Still a question about Bangkok. This I should go to... But will Bangkok be a place one can get to in Decemeber? Or will the whole place be up in flames?" IM p.321

March 16, 1968
"Almost every day I have to write a letter to someone refusing an invitation to attend a conference or workshop or to give talks on the contemplative life, or poetry, etc. I can see more and more clearly how for me this would be a sheer waste, a Pascalian diversion, participation in a common delusion. (For others, no: they have the grace and mission to go around talking.) For me what matters is silence, meditation, and writing: but writing is tertiary." IM p.322

April 6, 1968
"The murder of Martin Luther King lay on top of the travelling car like an animal, a beast of the apocalypse. It finally confirmed all the apprehensions- the feeling that 1968 is a beast of a year, that things are finally and inexorably spelling themselves out." IM p322-23

April 18, 1968
"The problem of real solitude: I don't have it here. I am not really living as a hermit. I see too many people, have too much active work to do, the place is too noisy, too accessible. People are always coming up here... All I have is a certain privacy, but real solitude is less and less possible here. Everyone knows where the hermitage is, and in May I am going to the convent of the Redwoods in California. Once I start travelling around, what hope will there be?" IM p.323

May 14, 1968
Our Lady of the Redwoods, California: "How many incarnations hast thou devoted to the actions of body, mind and speech? They have brought thee nothing but pain. Why not cease from them" (Astravakra Gita). Reincarnation or not, I am as tired of talking and writing as if I had done it for centuries. Now is the time to listen at length to this Asian ocean. Over there, Asia." IM p.327

May 21, 1968
Gethsemani: "I, for one, realize that now I need more. Not simply to be quiet, somewhat productive, to pray, to read, to cultivate leisure -otium sanctum! There is a need of effort, deepening, change and transformation... But I do have a past to break with, an accumulation of inertia, waste, wrong, foolishness, rot, junk, a great need of clarification of mindfulness, or rather of "no mind" - to return to genuine practice, right effort, need to push on to the great doubt. Need for the spirit. Hang on to the clear light!" IM p.331

September 9, 1968
"I go with a completely open mind. I hope without special illusions. My hope is simply to enjoy the long journey, profit by it, learn, change, perhaps find something or someone who will help me advance in my own spiritual quest. I am not starting out with a firm plan never to return or with an absolute determination to return at all costs. I do feel there is not much for me here at the moment and that I need to be open to lots of new possibilities. I hope I shall be! But I remain a monk of Gethsemani. Whether or not I will end my days here, I don't know. Perhaps it is not so important. The great thing is to respond perfectly to God's Will in this providential opportunity, whatever it may bring." IM p.337

Until tomorrow... Rob

"The great thing is to respond perfectly to God's Will in this providential opportunity, whatever it may bring." Thomas Merton

The Last Posts

2008-12-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

December 8, 1968

Journal Entry

Thomas Merton posts the last entry to his journal on December 8, 1968 from the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. For the most part it is a matter-of-fact post, summarizing some the days meetings, events, and preparation for the conference. Ordinary stuff in the duties and labours of a pilgrim!

He says a little more about his "excess baggage" on the fight from Singapore... "They made me weigh my hand luggage, which put me overweight for the economy class allowance, so instead of just paying more for nothing I paid the difference for a first-class ticket, thus covering it with a bigger baggage allowance. And had a very comfortable ride, overeating, drinking two free, and strong, Bloody Marys, and talking to a diplomatic courier for the State Department..." AJTM p.253

Thomas Merton's last journal words... "Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In a little while I leave the hotel. I'm going to say Mass at St. Louis Church, have lunch at the Apostolic Delegation, and then on to the Red Cross place this afternoon." AJTM p.254

December 8, 1968
Letter Home

Patrick Hart and Thomas Merton

Brother Patrick Hart notes in the Postscript that Thomas Merton also wrote to him on December 8th. In the conclusion of what was to be his last letter Merton writes... "I think of you all on this feast day and with Christmas approaching I feel homesick for Gethsemani. But I hope to be at least in a monastery - Rawa Seneg (in Indonesia). I also look forward to being at our monastery at Hong Kong, and may be seeing our three volunteers there (or is it two?). No more for the moment. Best love to all. Louie." AJTM p.257

Peace and blessings... Rob

“It is in the ordinary duties and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God.”
Thomas Merton

John Lennon

2008-12-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980

Singapore - Bangkok

2008-12-07T21:51:00.000-08:00

December 7, 1968

Merton has traveled from Singapore to Bangkok. His last remarks on December 6th reflect his mood and hopes at this stage of his journey. Merton writes... "My next stop will be the Bangkok meeting to which I do not especially look forward. Then Indonesia, a whole new journey begins there. And I am not sure where it will take me or what I can or should plan on. Certainly I am sick of hotels and planes. But the journey is only begun. Some of the places I really wanted to see from the beginning have not yet been touched." AJTM p.238

Excess Baggage

In Bangkok Merton confesses to being "secretly enraged and humiliated by the fact of having overweight baggage yesterday." He engages in a ruthless purging of his belongings and eliminating of everything he won't be needing in the next stage of his journey... (if only he knew!!) "Stupid books I bought can be discarded here or somewhere. I make a desperate plan to finish several books here in Bangkok." AJTM p.248

Herman Hesse - Steppenwolf

Merton appears to be reading "Steppenwolf" by Herman Hesse. It is probably one of the books he is desperately trying to finish!! He quotes from it in his journal on both the 6th and 7th of December. He was reading "Siddhartha" by Hesse at the start of his Asian journey.

He quotes from "Steppenwolf"...

"Most men will not swim before they are able to." Novalis, quoted with approval by Hesse's "Steppenwolf".
"The human merry-go-round sees many changes: the illusion that cost India the efforts of thousands of years to unmask is the same illusion that the West has laboured just as hard to maintain and strengthen." Herman Hesse: "Steppenwolf"

Bye for now... Rob

“Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.” Hermann Hesse

Steppenwolf - Trilogy

2008-12-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

Steppenwolf - "Born to be Wild"
And finally to complete the "Steppenwolf Trilogy"... here's "Steppenwolf" with the classic 1968 Hit "Born to be Wild" as made famous in the 1969 film "Easy Rider". Note that at the time of recording this song the band "Steppenwolf" had really no idea of what the book "Steppenwolf" was about! (See Below) Enjoy Anyway!

>_______________
About the Name
John Kay of "Steppenwolf" notes... ''Steppenwolf" was originally a book written by Herman Hesse (a German author), and it was a book I was totally unfamiliar with when the band that became Steppenwolf was in its infancy. The young man who lived next door to where Steppenwolf started to rehearse... had read the book. When it came time to put a name on the demo box that was going to go to the first label, he said... 'Well look, how about Steppenwolf? I think it's a word that looks good in print, and it denotes a certain degree of mystery and power and you guys are kind of rough and ready types." Everybody said that sounds pretty interesting and if we don't get a deal we can always scrawl another name on the box and send it to somebody else, so let's go with that for now. Well, that's what it's been now for many years and, to be honest, it's been a very good name." Steppenwolf Website

Pretty superficial inspiration! "Born to be Wild" seems to resonate with the theme though... coincidently or not!
TTFN... Rob
PLEASE NOTE: There is no truth to the rumour that Donald Grayston is leading a Harley Davidson pilgrimage from Vancouver, BC to Gethsemani, Kentucky in 2010!

Another Snapshot in TIME

2008-12-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

December 6, 1968

TIME Magazine's December 6, 1968 edition provides a snapshot of the world in this week preceding Merton's visit to Bangkok.

Poised for the Leap
"This month, fulfilling the yearnings and predictions of untold generations, man will attempt to propel himself across 230,000 miles of emptiness in a bold voyage toward a shining and beckoning target: the moon." TIME

Chicago Examined:
Anatomy of a "Police Riot"

"In Chicago, during the Democratic National Convention last August, two American rights collided headon: the acknowledged right to dissent within certain limits, and the equally valid right of a city to protect its citizens and its property... Months after the event, the conflict remains significant and symbolic of the deep divisions, the warring judgments in American society." TIME

Normalization, Almost
"The Russian invaders have almost succeeded in "normalizing" Czechoslovakia to their satisfaction. Last week one of the few remaining and most popular of Alexander Duběek's reforms vanished when the government announced sweeping new controls on foreign travel. From now on, Czechoslovaks are prohibited from taking trips to the West "not conforming with state interests." TIME

Keeping Biafra Alive
TIME has an interesting article on the ongoing war between Nigeria and the break-away state of Biafra. The situation in Biafra is typical of the tragic violence of post-colonial Africa... a brutal violence involving an intersection of tribal rivalries, colonial powers, super-power politics, famine, and lucrative resource development, in this case oil. The Biafrans are being armed by the French (and others) the Nigerians by the British, starvation strategies and civilian massacres abound. From out of this chaos would emerge a new international aid organization that remains active today, "Médecins Sans Frontières" (Doctors without Borders).

More Ferment
Another story speaks of the continued unrest in Pakistan with President Ayub Khan ordering the arrest of "Pakistans Peoples Party" (PPP) leader Zufikar Ali Bhutto. TIME notes: "...last week, in one of Pakistan's most turbulent periods since independence in 1947, thousands of angry citizens, mostly students, surged through the streets virtually every day in protest against Ayub's rule."

Footnote:Bhutto would eventually become the leader of Pakistan before being executed in 1979. His daugther, Benazir, served twice as Pakistans Prime Minister and was seeking another term before she was assassinated in December 2007.

Miscellaneous Chaos
Other TIME stories on this day include...

civil unrest and protests in Egypt,
the 1968 currency crisis,
challenges facing Nixon in Vietnam and the Middle East,
an epidemic of airline hijackings,
plans for a new US "super-sonic" bomber, and
a review of a new book on the JFK assassination.

Just a few of the stories from December 6, 1968...

TTFN...Rob

"Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land... he is the harbinger of death." Planet of the Apes 1968

Beware the Beast Man

2008-12-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

Planet of the Apes - 1968

Merton's Three Epiphanies

2008-12-05T16:48:00.000-08:00

Gary Commins wrote a wonderful piece in "Theology Today", "Thomas Merton's Three Epiphanies", in April 1999 describing three significant epihanies in Thomas Merton's life. He summarizes these three events as follows...

Havana, Cuba, 1940: Thomas Merton goes to church and sees heaven.
Louisville, Kentucky, 1958: He goes to town and sees the human race.
Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka, 1968: He goes to Asia and sees creation.

St. Francis - Havana

"One experience came as a "thunderclap," another woke him "from a dream," the third "suddenly, almost forcibly" yanked him into a deeper level of awareness. The events and his interpretation of them are markers of his personal transformation, stations on his journey with Christ, icons through which to gaze into Merton's personal eternity." Gary Commins

Fourth and Walnut

After some insightful analysis of each of these events Commins goes on to say...

"In Havana, he had seen heaven; God belonged to him. In Louisville, he had seen the human race; they belonged to one another. At Polonnaruwa, the inert rock pulsated with divinity, reality, life: all matter was charged with compassion, the cosmic body of Buddha, the essence of all things. He had seen emptiness (sunyata) and compassion (karuna), the primary elements of enlightened-mindedness, the All and the Nothing of St. John of the Cross. Theologically, he had written, there were differences, but psychologically, there was "an exact correspondence between the mystical night of St. John of the Cross and the emptiness of sunyata." All religions, Merton had said, end up "with the simplest and most baffling thing of all: direct confrontation with Absolute Being, Absolute Love, Absolute Mercy or Absolute Void." Gary Commins

Polonnaruwa

Regretably Merton was not afforded the opportunity to subject his Polonnaruwa experience to the kind of reflection, interpretation, and presentation that he applied to the Havana and Louisville experiences. Perhaps that is how it should be. We are left with the simple yet profound remarks of a person who has realized in large measure the goal of a great quest, to "settle the great affair" and find "the great compassion".

Holy Ground

As a minister I am often blessed to hear personal stories of "epiphanies" and experiences of "The Absolute", in whatever way they choose to name it. Often a person will relate a story of an experience, a dream, or a sense of "presence" which they clearly know connects them with God, the Holy, the Spirit, the Ancestors... For some, they will choose not to share this experience with friends or family because they feel it will not be believed, understood, or respected. But for most of them the common result is a deeper faith grounded in an experience which lets them say with confidence "I KNOW", or "I HAVE SEEN", or "I BELIEVE". When I find this in a person I am always inspired by how much a single "epiphanic episode" can sustain a lifetime of faith and compassion in the midst of trials and suffering. Merton's contemplative gaze on all things helped him to live in a place that most of us experience only fleetingly, if ever. We are truly blessed by what he has written and shared of his experiences!

Advent Peace and Blessings... Rob

"Buddhist words such as compassion and emptiness don't mean much until we start cultivating our innate ability simply to be there with pain with an open heart and the willingness not to instantly try to get ground under our feet." Pema Chodron

The Fool on the Hill

2008-12-05T15:16:00.000-08:00

A clip from the Magical Mystery Tour movie...

Colombo - Singapore

2008-12-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

December 4, 1968
"Today I fly to Singapore and the long day of sitting around has begun..."

Asian Kites

"Outside on Galle Face Green the kites rise and dip in the strong sea wind - wild and happy Asian kites - two like big black dishevelled and long-legged birds that flap and jump in the wind. Others with long spotted tails twist in the air like freckled dragons or serpents. Others have unidentifiable shapes. Asia is a kite-loving continent; there were wrecks of small Tibetan boys' kites on all the roofs and wires of Darjeeling." AJTM pp.228-229

The Beatles in Vancouver
December 3, 2008

(where's Thomas)

Last night I had a great opportunity to do a "historical context" fieldtrip as part of this "e-pilgrimage". My daughter Morgan (22) and I took in the "Classical Mystery Tour" as it passed through Vancouver. The "Classical Mystery Tour" is a Beatles tribute band who play with symphony orchestras (Vancouver Symphony in this case) to create an incredibly AWESOME concert experience. I had to imagine everyone there as 40 years younger but otherwise it was a great trip to 1968. The evening included 37 songs from throughout The Beatles history. We enjoyed every one of them from our front-row seats!!

TTFN... Rob

"Life is very short and there's no time, for fussing and fighting my friend."
The Beatles

The Beatles - 1968

2008-12-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

Kandy - Colombo

2008-12-03T23:36:00.000-08:00

December 3, 1968
"The mountains are all buried in rain-mist. The valleys are full of it..."

Merton takes the "Kandy Express" back to Colombo and the coast. A piece of his poetry from this day...

Rattling down the mountain
the Kandy Express sings
Tsongkapa, Tsongkapa, Tsongkapa
Praise of Yellow Hats.
Mirigama East.
Pink orchids among coconuts.
Veyangoda.

That which grew slowly toward me on Friday
Flies rapidly away from me Tuesday.
I have seen that buffalo before
I have seen that boy before.

No man twice crosses the same river.

I have seen that felled coconut trunk before.

We rush blindly
In a Runaway train Through great estates
Headlong to the sea...
AJTM p.227

____________________________

Peace and blessings... Rob

"Wisdom can be found traveling." Sri Lankan Proverb

Polonnaruwa

2008-12-02T06:37:00.000-08:00

December 2, 1968

Grayston Photo

Thomas Merton visited the ancient ruins of Polonnaruwa on Monday December 2nd, 1968 and wrote about it on Thursday, December 5th. (AJTMpp. 231-236) With another "guest post" Donald Grayston provides the following reflection, and accompanying pictures, regarding this significant day in Thomas Merton's pilgrimage and life. (For the fuller meaning of this event it needs to be read in conjunction with Don's post regarding Merton's visit with Chadral Rinpoche several weeks ago in Dharamsala link here)

I Have Now Seen...
Merton’s time with the great statues of the Buddha at Polonnaruwa, carved out of the living rock, was the high point of his journey. He says that he was “knocked over with a rush of relief and thankfulness at the obvious clarity of the figures,” “jerked clean out of the habitual half-tied vision of things” (p. 233).

Grayston Photo

Merton speaks of his Asian pilgrimage as having come clear and purified itself. “I mean, I know and have seen what I was obscurely looking for. I don't know what else remains but I have now seen and have pierced through the surface and have got beyond the shadow and the disguise. This is Asia in its purity ….” (p. 236).

Grayston Photo

Emptiness and Compassion

By experiencing the union of “emptiness” and “compassion,” Merton had reached what Buddhists would call the first level (there are nine more) of bodhisattvahood—the bodhisattva being the realized human being who, having been enlightened, postpones his enjoyment of Nirvana until all other beings can join him or her in that enlightened state.

_____________________

With thanks to Don Grayston... Rob

____
"I don't know when in my life I have ever had such a sense of beauty and spiritual validity running together in one aesthetic illumination."

Thomas Merton on Polonnaruwa

2001 A Space Odyssey

2008-12-02T05:26:00.000-08:00

2001 was released in April 1968. It's a fitting post for today in that Arthur C. Clarke lived in Colombo, Ceylon during the time of Merton's visit, and until the time of his death earlier this year. No wonder he is a noted guest at the Galle Face Hotel!! This brief clip also fits Merton's "epiphany" experience in Polonnaruwa... Enjoy!

ADVENT 1

2008-12-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

December 1, 1968
"He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Prophet Isaiah

"Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." Matthew 24:42

_________________________

Advent in Kandy

"It is hardly like any December or Advent I have ever known! A clear, hot sky. Flowering trees. A hot day coming. I woke at the sound of many crows fighting in the air. Then the booming drum at the Temple of Buddha's Tooth. Now, the traffic of buses and a cool breeze sways the curtains. The jungle is very near, it comes right to the top of the city and is visible a bare hundred yards from this window. Yet I am on a very noisy corner as far as traffic is concerned." AJTM p.219

Merton spends the first Sunday of Advent with Bishop Nanayakkara. They visit a local monastery, a seminary, and an Anglican ashram. He has some quiet time in the afternoon - "...I walked a little by the lake in the cool breeze, thinking of my Advent sermon to be preached in the cathedral where I said the most crowded evening Mass." AJTM p.220

Advent Prophets
Advent is, of course, a wonderful time of the year to remember the prophets. Merton would be familiar with the cycle of Advent readings, including the two above, which likely would have been the readings for the First Sunday in Advent in Kandy in 1968. Thomas Merton lived and wrote in the tradition of the Prophets.

Franciscan priest and teacher Richard Rohr describes the prophet not so much as "one who sees into the future", but rather as "one who sees clearly in the present". It's less about "foresight" and more about "insight". The prophet is one who stands in the midst of the community, tells it like it is, and says WAKE UP! Merton was such a prophet.

Fiery Words
Merton's passion for the prophets is reflected in a short piece he wrote about a "typical day" in the Gethsemani hermitage. In "Day of a Stranger" Merton writes..."There is the deep vegetation of that more ancient forest than mine: the deep forest in which the great birds Isaias and Jeremias sing. When I am most sickened by the things that are done by the country that surrounds this place I will take out the prophets and sing them in loud Latin across the hills and send their fiery words sailing south over the mountains to the place where they split the atom for the bombs in Tennessee." WTSN p. 170

Advent with Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton will be my companion through Advent thanks to a little book published by the Redemptorists "Advent and Christmas with Thomas Merton." A sample...

"Many of the Zen stories which are almost always incomprehensible in rational terms are simply the ringing of an alarm clock, and the reaction of the sleeper. Usually, the misguided sleeper makes a response which in effect turns off the alarm so that he can go back to sleep. Sometimes he jumps out of bed with a shout of astonishment that it is so late. Sometimes he just sleeps and does not hear the alarm at all..." Thomas Merton - Zen and the Birds of Appetite

Good night... Rob

"To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion—all in one."
John Ruskin

Veni, Veni, Emmanuel

2008-12-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

A beautiful version sung by Loreena McKennitt. I also love the forest scenes!!

Kandy Express

2008-11-30T22:34:00.000-08:00

November 30, 1968

Colombo - Kandy

Kandy Express - Grayston Photo

Thomas Merton travels by train to Kandy on November 30, 1968. He is impressed by the low cost of train travel in Ceylon and the private compartment for "clergy".

Kandy Temple - Grayston Photo

Nyanaponika Thera

While in Kandy, Merton visits German-born, Buddhist monk Nyanaponika Thera. Bhikkhu Nyanaponika Thera is of the Theravada tradition and lives in a hermitage in the jungle near Kandy. Nyanaponika Thera is a co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society and author of numerous books on Theravada Buddhism. Born Siegmund Feniger in 1901 in Germany, he died in 1994 at his forest hermitage outside of Kandy at the ripe old age of 93. Wikipedia. The Buddhist Publication Society continues its work today as a major publisher of books on Theravadda Buddhism. 2008 is its 50th Anniversary.

Merton was familiar with Nyanaponika Thera's writing including "The Power of Mindfulness: An Inquiry into the Scope of Bare Attention and the Principal Sources of its Strength".

TTFN... Rob

"Ceylon is incomparable!" Thomas Merton

On Love

2008-11-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

A reflection on Love from Nyanaponika Thera, "The Four Sublime States".

Love, without desire to possess, knowing well that in the ultimate sense there is no possession and no possessor: this is the highest love.

Love, without speaking and thinking of "I," knowing well that this so-called "I" is a mere delusion.

Love, without selecting and excluding, knowing well that to do so means to create love's own contrasts: dislike, aversion and hatred.

Love, embracing all beings: small and great, far and near, be it on earth, in the water or in the air.

Love, embracing impartially all sentient beings, and not only those who are useful, pleasing or amusing to us.

Love, embracing all beings, be they noble-minded or low-minded, good or evil. The noble and the good are embraced because love is flowing to them spontaneously. The low-minded and evil-minded are included because they are those who are most in need of love. In many of them the seed of goodness may have died merely because warmth was lacking for its growth, because it perished from cold in a loveless world.

Love, embracing all beings, knowing well that we all are fellow wayfarers through this round of existence — that we all are overcome by the same law of suffering.

Love, but not the sensuous fire that burns, scorches and tortures, that inflicts more wounds than it cures — flaring up now, at the next moment being extinguished, leaving behind more coldness and loneliness than was felt before.

Rather, love that lies like a soft but firm hand on the ailing beings, ever unchanged in its sympathy, without wavering, unconcerned with any response it meets. Love that is comforting coolness to those who burn with the fire of suffering and passion; that is life-giving warmth to those abandoned in the cold desert of loneliness, to those who are shivering in the frost of a loveless world; to those whose hearts have become as if empty and dry by the repeated calls for help, by deepest despair.

Love, that is a sublime nobility of heart and intellect which knows, understands and is ready to help.

Love, that is strength and gives strength: this is the highest love.

Love, which by the Enlightened One was named "the liberation of the heart," "the most sublime beauty": this is the highest love.

And what is the highest manifestation of love?

To show to the world the path leading to the end of suffering, the path pointed out, trodden, and realized to perfection by Him, the Exalted One, the Buddha.

Nyanaponika Thera

All You Need is Love

2008-11-30T03:23:00.000-08:00

A reflection on love from the Beatles, Yellow Submarine...

Madras - Ceylon

2008-11-29T23:25:00.001-08:00

November 29, 1968
Galle Face Hotel - Colombo

Thomas has travelled from Madras to Colombo, Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka. "As usual I am in hotel karma. My Karma. Nineteen twenties, British Raj-karma. The faded cream splendor of Galle Face Hotel." AJTM p.213

Patio at Galle Face Hotel (Grayston Photo)

Merton pilgrim Donald Grayston was in Colombo in 2000, following in the footsteps of Merton. He snapped this great photo of notables who have stayed at the Galle Face.

Notable notables include...

60's sex symbol Ursula Andress,
Worldwide Church of God founder Herbert W. Armstrong,
sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke,
English actor Noel Coward,
Beatles guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi,
World Bank President Robert McNamara,
Trappist Monk Thomas Merton, and
US President Richard Nixon.

...to name but a few.

Pretty swank company!!

Good night, sleep tight... Rob

"The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of others! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else's imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real."

Thomas Merton

A Day in the Life of Asia

2008-11-28T23:02:00.000-08:00

November 28, 2008
Merton's Asian pilgrimage touched primarily on Thailand (Bangkok), India (Calcutta, Delhi, Madras), Tibet (exiles in Dharamsala and Darjeeling) and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). I found it interesting that there was a convergence of significant BBC reports from all of these places over the past few days.

Thai Police Confront Protesters
Protesters force Thai police to abandon a checkpoint as security forces seek to end a blockade paralysing Bangkok's airports. The confrontation at Suvarnabhumi international airport, which came as police tried to prevent more protesters arriving, ended without violence. The police have said they will continue trying to regain control of the sites. But the protesters say they will not leave until PM Somchai Wongsawat resigns, which he has refused to do. BBC 11/28/2008

Police Declare Mumbai Siege Over

Indian officials have said the siege at Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel is over, after the last few militants were killed. Police commissioner Hassan Gafoor said the hotel was now under their control. "All combat operations are over. All the terrorists have been killed."
Commandos began a new assault early on Saturday as fighting that has claimed at least 195 lives entered a third day. BBC 11/28/2008

Tiger Leader Makes Defiant Speech
The leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka has said that the government is living in "dreamland" if it expects outright military victory. In his annual speech, Velupillai Prabhakaran said that it was "a dream from which they would soon awake. BBC 11/27/2008

China Condemns France Over Tibet
China says it had "no choice but to postpone" a summit with the EU because of the French stance on the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader. China's foreign ministry said French President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to meet the Dalai Lama had "deprived the summit of a good atmosphere". Mr Sarkozy has said he will meet the Dalai Lama in Poland on 6 December. BBC 11/27/2008

TTFN... Rob

"Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances."
Gandhi

Which Way You Goin' Billy

2008-11-28T22:03:00.000-08:00

More Canadian Content
Vancouverites Susan Jacks and Terry Jacks made a few hits in the late 60's and early 70's before splitting and going solo. Susan has a concert in Maple Ridge tomorrow night... You Go Girl!

Madras - Chennai

2008-11-27T21:47:00.000-08:00

November 27, 1968

East India Company

"Some important dates in the history of the East India Company:

1639 Fort St. George, which become Madras.
1659 Fort William, a"factory" [trading post], to become the city of Calcutta.
1661 The British acquire Bombay from Portugal.
1686 The Company is at war with Aurangzeb, the Mogul emperor." AJTM p.194

Some important dates in the history of India:

1996 Madras was renamed Chennai.
2001 Calcutta becomes Kolkata reflecting Bengali pronunciation.
1996 Bombay was renamed Mumbai reflecting Marathi pronunciation.
1857 East India Company absorbed by British Government after "First War of Independence".
1947 India gains independence from British rule after non-violent civil disobedience campaign led by Mahatma Gandhi.

San Thome

Merton visits San Thome, Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Thomas. Indian Catholic tradition holds that St. Thomas came to India in 52 AD. He is said to have built several churches and lived for a number of years in a cave on a local hill, now called St. Thomas Mount. The Basilica is believed to have been built upon the burial site of St. Thomas.

"Then we went to San Thome. Smaller than I expected, the cathedral is in an entirely Christian quarter. Its architecture is standard 19th century Gothic, spacious, full of old-style statues, and over the chancel arch the words "Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus." I find the inscription strangely touching. I kneel for a while looking up to the shadows of the sanctuary where all is still as it was before the Council. Then we depart." AJTM p.195

St. Thomas Mount

Grayston Photo

Merton also makes a pilgrimage up the mountain to say Mass at the small church on the summit... "Mass this morning at St. Thomas Mount... I entered the little church and found the high altar prepared. It was delightful, a perfect hermitage, with a few Indian women and a couple of Italians - a priest and a layman visiting their relative, the pastor. I said the Mass of St. Thomas, looking at the ancient gray carved stone that was found on the site... A very lovely little church, so quiet, so isolated, so simple, so fresh... One of the nicest things I have found in India or anywhere. I felt my pilgrimage to it was a great grace." AJTM p.196

Peace and grace to you... Rob

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history."

Mohandas Gandhi

What About Me

2008-11-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a little Canadian Content. Anne Murray's debut album "What About Me" was released in 1968. Enjoy!

Calcutta - Madras

2008-11-26T21:43:00.000-08:00

November 26, 1968
Kolkata - Chennai

"Flying into Madras is lovely. The city is all self-evident, spread out along the ocean with its vast beach, its harbour, its rivers, its broad avenues. Then the plane swings inland over the hot fields, neat, cultivated, green flat land. Many coconut palms. Many huts made of palm-leaf matting. Poor as they are, they weather much better than the somewhat pretentious "modern style" houses that are shiny and bright for a month and go black or gray-green in the first monsoon." AJTM p.192

More Truly India
"Madras is a bright and leisurely city. The people are less desperate than the Bengalis. It is more truly India than Delhi or Calcutta (whatever "truly India" might be-as if I were capable of knowing and defining it!)." AJTM p.192

November 26, 2008 - Mumbai

A World in Travail

"Ten simultaneous terrorist attacks on 26 November 2008 occurred across Mumbai (Bombay), India's financial capital and largest city. At least 101 civilians, including at least six foreign nationals, have been confirmed dead, and at least 287 have been injured." wikipedia

Peace and blessings... Rob

"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
Mahatma Gandhi

Colonial Madras

2008-11-26T18:24:00.000-08:00

Calcutta - "A-a-a-a-chya!"

2008-11-25T16:45:00.000-08:00

November 25, 1968

"It is a city I love. Flying out today was beautiful. I don't mean the bizarre, macabre beauty of the disintegrating slums, the old fallen splendor, but the subtle beauty of all the suburban ponds and groves, with men solemnly bathing in the early morning and white cranes standing lovely and still amid the lotuses and flying up in twos and threes against the fresh green of the coconut palms. Yet the city, too, its crumbling walls alive with Bengali inscriptions and palimpsets of old movie posters. And the occasional English spire, 18-century domes... I do not tire of Calcutta." AJTM p.171

Mail Call!
Merton catches up to his mail, or his mail catches up to him, in Calcutta. His list of correspondence is, of course, long..."There is one from Dom Leclercq... contact prints had come from John Griffin of the photos I had taken in Dharamsala... Mother Myriam Dardenne of the Redwoods... Father Flavian says "Come home if you get sick... Naomi Burton is going ahead with publication of "My Argument With the Gestapo"... The "Time-Life Bible" with my piece in it is coming out after all, so I will have some money. Dan Walsh has sent a big check for my travel fund. Most generous! Bob Lax says Emmett Williams wants some of my stuff for an anthology of concrete poetry. My talk in Bangkok is to be on December 10th..." AJTM pp.171-72

Moving On
With this the Himalayan portion of Merton's pilgrimage is over. He spends a couple of days in Madras, makes a visit to Ceylon, and is then off to Bangkok via Singapore for a talk he is scheduled to give on December 10th, just over two weeks.

November 25, 1963
Today was the state funeral for President Kennedy. We all had the day off school. I distinctly remember watching the funeral on our black and white TV. A sad day for all...

TTFN... Rob

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony."
Thomas Merton

On the Road Again

2008-11-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

November 24, 1968

Merton has travelled from Darjeeling to Kurseong in readiness for tomorrow's flight to Calcutta. He is ready to move on and writes... "My mind turns to Ceylon, Thailand, and Indonesia. I want to see something else. I have seen the mountains and the gompas." AJTM p.167

Harold Talbott
Merton's companion through this stage of his journey has been Harold Talbott, an American student of Buddhism studying under the Dalai Lama. Merton writes of Harold... "Harold left this morning for Bagdogra, Calcutta, Delhi, and Dharamsala. He has been extremely helpful and generous; he paid my bill at the Windamere and shared all kinds of time, ideas, information and help." AJTM p.166

Merton and the Tibetan Lamas
During this brief exposure to Tibetan Buddhism Merton was able to meet many significant teachers. Judith Simmer-Brown writes in "The Liberty that Nobody Can Touch" (found in "Merton & Buddhism:Wisdom, Emptiness & Everyday Mind") that Merton's experience amongst the Tibetan exiles had many of the classic characteristics of the "liberation stories" of the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition. She writes... "First he met a guru who pointed out the prerequisite for the view of Dzogchen, the change of motivation that entails the renunciation of "Spiritual materialism" [Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche]. Then he met two gurus who discussed the importance of the teacher and the essential nonconceptuality of Dzogchen [Khamtrul Rinpoche and Chokling Rinpoche]. Next he received the basic Tibetan Buddhist meditation instruction from His Holines the Dalai Lama. He met the guru who he felt would be his Dzogchen teacher and investigated the parameters of retreat [Chadral Rinpoche]. And then he went on a short retreat to reflect on his Asian pilgrimage, and to ask the question, should I practice Dzogchen?" MB pp.54-55

Not bad for 25 days in November 1968.

An "In the Footsteps" Footnote
Merton Pilgrim, Donald Grayston, recounts a powerful and transformative experience as he followed in Merton's Asian footsteps during a 3-month pilgrimage in 2000-2001. Grayston has an audience with Chadral Rinpoche, one of the great Tibetan masters that Merton met in Dharamsala. During this meeting Grayston finds himself "silently weeping". Ignoring the long list of questions he has prepared Grayston simply asks the great teacher "Do you have a teaching for me?" Chadral Rinpoche responds... "Yes. Decide for yourself what is the most important thing that Jesus ever said, and then take it as far as you can." Grayston carries this thought for several months before the words of Jesus arise within him "Let your yes be yes and your no be no" (Matthew 5:37), something he has been trying to take "as far as he can" ever since. Look for the fuller telling of this story in the winter issue of the Merton Seasonal or visit Don's website.

Calcutta Riots
Merton makes a journal reference to riots that have taken place in Calcutta around the visit of World Bank President, and former US Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara. Merton writes... "In Calcutta there has been a Marxist riot led by Maoist students. They burned McNamara in effigy and set fire to busses. Tomorrow I will be there." AJTM p.168

November 24, 1963
Here are a couple of events which I note in the wake of JFK's assassination 5 years earlier (Wikipedia)...
- Lee Harvey Oswald is fatally shot by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police department headquarters. The shooting was broadcast live on television. [That didn't take long!]
- Vietnam War: Newly sworn-in US President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam both militarily and economically. [That didn't take long either!!]

Happy trails to you... Rob

"Kanchenjunga has been hidden for three days. I will probably not see it again." Thomas Merton AJTM p.168

You Say You Want a Revolution

2008-11-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting video. The audio is Revolution 1 from the White Album. The video is the "single" version of Revolution, a much faster and louder version. Enjoy...

Back in Darjeeling

2008-11-23T22:03:00.000-08:00

November 23, 1968
Merton's time amongst the Tibetan exiles is drawing to a close. In a couple of days he will be back in Calcutta and then off to Madras briefly before heading to Sri Lanka (Ceylon in Merton's day), Singapore, and finally back to Bangkok.

Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989)

Today Merton visits Kalu Rinpoche, a Tibetan retreat master in Sonada. At the time of Merton's visit there were 16 Buddhist hermits in three year retreats with Karlu.

Merton writes..."Khempo Karlu [Kalu] Rimpoche invited me to come and make this hermit retreat at his place or, failing that, to write him with my questions. That was very kind of him. With my reaction to this climate at its best and with the noise of the Indian radio in the cottage across the road from the hemitage, I guess it is still Alaska or California or Kentucky for me." AJTM pp.166-67

Kalu Dharma Centers
Kalu Rinpoche went on to become a significant teacher of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. Kalu Rinpoche established over twenty 3-year retreat centers in Europe, USA, Asia, and Canada. There is a Tibetan Buddhist Dharma Centre, Kagyu Kunkhyab Chuling, in Vancouver which traces its origin and lineage to Kalu Rinpoche.

All My Life's a Circle

Kalu Rinpoche passed away in Sonada on May 10, 1989. Through reincarnation the lineage of his teaching is maintained. The Third Kalu Rinpoche (Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche) was born on September 17, 1990 and lives in India. This Fall, at the age of 18, Kalu Rinpoche completed the traditional 3-year 3-month retreat.

Peace... Rob

"We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves."
Thomas Merton

The White Album

2008-11-22T16:51:00.000-08:00

November 22, 1968
The "White Album", released today, is a true classic. It was standard fare at any of the gatherings with my best buddies through highschool. I can still remember every song although I haven't heard most of them for 30 years!

A Little Background
Most of the songs that would end up on "The Beatles" [White Album] had been conceived during the group's visit to Rishikesh, India in the spring of 1968. There, they had undertaken a transcendental meditation course with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Although the retreat, which had required long periods of meditation, was initially conceived by the band as a spiritual respite from all worldly endeavours – a chance, in Lennon's words, to "get away from everything" – both Lennon and McCartney had quickly found themselves in songwriting mode, often meeting "clandestinely in the afternoons in each other's rooms" to review the new work. "Regardless of what I was supposed to be doing," Lennon would later recall, "I did write some of my best songs there." Close to forty new compositions had emerged in Rishikesh..." Wikipedia

Some Memorable Tracks

"Back in the U.S.S.R."
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
"I'm So Tired"
"Blackbird"
"Rocky Raccoon"
"I Will"
"Julia"
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun"
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"
"Birthday"
"Sexy Sadie"
"Helter Skelter"
"Revolution 1"
"Honey Pie"
"Cry Baby Cry"
"Revolution 9"
"Good Night"

Ob-la-di.... Rob

“And in the end, the love we take will be equal to the love we make.”
The Beatles

Back in the USSR

2008-11-22T16:46:00.000-08:00

From the "White Album"

Released November 22, 1968

JFK Assassination

2008-11-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

November 22, 1963

Houghton, Michigan

I was a first grader at the public school in Houghton, Michigan on November 22, 1963, the day that John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas. I remember that the teacher came into our classroom and simply told us that class was dismissed and we were all to go straight home. The images of this tragic event and the ensuing days are etched in my mind... the slow-motion Dallas motorcade, the shooting of Oswald, the flag-draped casket and riderless horse, a child's salute, a family in grief, a nation in mourning.

November 22, 1963

Our Lady of Gethsemani, Kentucky
Merton writes... "When I came down to the monastery from the woods this afternoon one of the novices met me in the door of the novitiate and told me that President Kennedy had been shot and had died, in Dallas, Texas, an hour and a half before. At first I could not believe it. I told him it must be an irresponsible rumour. No, it was quite true... The whole thing leaves one sick. Sick at the madness, the useless ferocity, the aimless violence that marks so much of the life of this country. No matter who killed the President or what his motives were, this act was simply one more in a whole long series of senseless, brutal, stupid, pathological killings." CGB pp.343-44

Merton responds personally with letters to both Jackie and Ethel Kennedy expressing his grief and condolences.

Unfinished Business

The John F. Kennedy Assassination remains one of the great wounds of the American psyche. 45 years later it continues to give rise to powerful emotions and lingering questions. In grief work with individuals and families we often refer to these persisting conditions as "unfinished business". The reality of this unresolved grief and unfinished business is reflected in the ongoing search for truthful answers to the questions of why Kennedy was killed, and by whom. The latest contribution to this work is a book by Catholic peace activist, and Thomas Merton friend, James Douglass.

JFK and the Unspeakable:

In his 2008 book, "JFK and The Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters" James Douglass revisits the Kennedy Presidency in search of his own answers to these unresolved questions. He examines President Kennedy's response to the CIA's "Bay of Pigs" invasion of Cuba, the October 1962 "Cuban Missile Crisis", the Vietnam War, and the Nuclear Arms Race and the resultant relationship with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA, and the corporate leaders in the American Military-Industrial Complex.

Douglass sees a President who is undergoing a significant personal "turning" towards peace on a number of fronts and who has the courage to resist the pressure towards greater military escalation exerted by the military establishment. Kennedy is charting a course towards nuclear disarmament, disengagement in Vietnam, dialogue with Cuba, and peaceful coexistence with Russia. This turning towards peace was enough, in Douglass's view, to mark him for assassination.

Thomas Merton - A Guide and Witness

Thomas Merton figures prominently in Douglass's work. Douglass poses the reader's question... "The reader may wonder why the perspective of a contemplative monk, Thomas Merton, figures so prominently in a book about the JFK assassination. Why is the Trappist monk Thomas Merton my Virgil on this pilgrimage?"

And responds... "Einstein said, "The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift towards unparalleled catastrophes." Unless we turn our thinking (and acting) away from war, we humans have had our day. Thomas Merton said it again and again at the height of the Cold War, as did Martin Luther King, and John F. Kennedy. What the contemplative Thomas Merton brought to that fundamental truth of our nuclear age was an ontology of nonviolence, a Gandhian vision of reality that can transform the world as we know it. The contemplative knows this transforming truth from experience." JFKU p.xi

Douglas further writes... "Thomas Merton has been my guide through a story of deepening dialogue, assassination, and a hoped-for resurrection. While Kennedy is the subject of this story, Merton is its first witness and chorus from his unique perspective in a monastery in the hills of Kentucky." JFKU p.xi

"The Unspeakable"

The concept of "The Unspeakable" is drawn from Merton's "prologue" to his book "Raids on the Unspeakable". Thomas Merton writes... "The Unspeakable. What is this. Surely, an eschatological image. It is the void we encounter, you and I, underlying the announced programs, the good intentions, the unexampled and universal aspirations for the best of all possible worlds. It is the void that contradicts everything that is spoken even before the words are said; the void gets into the language of public and official declarations at the very moment when they are pronounced, and makes them ring dead with the hollowness of the abyss... One of the awful facts of our age is the evidence that it is stricken indeed, stricken to the very core by the presence of the Unspeakable." ROU pp.4-5

James Douglass sees "The Unspeakable" as a kind of "systemic evil" that defies speech. He describes it as "the vacuum of responsibility and compassion" that allows us to deny our complicity in, and to evade our accountability for, the great horrors that are perpetrated in the name of the national interest.

__________________

Whew! When I started this pilgrimage with Merton I had no idea of where it would lead. I sure didn't expect to be drawn into ongoing speculation and analysis in relation to the JFK assassination and various conspiracy theories related to it! But there you have it. You can pick up Douglass's book if you want to learn more of his perspective.

What is made clear to me from Douglass's book, from what I've read so far, is that the search for truth and reconciliation in relation to the "unfinished business" of Kennedy's assassination, and many of the traumatic events of the sixties, is far from over...

Remembering and reflecting... Rob

"A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality." John F. Kennedy

JFK Tribute

2008-11-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

A Life in Letters

2008-11-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

November 21, 1968
Merton notes today that he he has written cards to Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, long time friend Sr. Therese Lentfoehr, Kentucky friends John and Rena Niles, and Tom Jerry Smith and letters to Richard Chi and Nyanaponika Thera.

A Life in Letters
I am absolutely astounded at the volume of letters that Thomas Merton wrote and received. I have a very small sample of these letters in "Thomas Merton: A Life in Letters", recently edited by William Shannon and Christine Bochen; "Cold War Letters", a collection of letters written in 1961 and 62; and various excerpts in other Merton books.

The collection of Merton's letters at the Thomas Merton Center includes over 10,000 letters! They reflect his thoughts on a wide range of interests including everything from peace, politics, and the environment to religious life and contemplation. They also reveal the incredible depth of trust and friendship which developed between Merton and many of his correspondents over the years.

William Shannon and Christine Bochen, in their introduction to "Thomas Merton: A Life in Letters" give an overview of the importance of letters in Merton's life. They write... "Merton's one and only way of reaching his friends was, normally through his writing... Although he chose a solitary life (and reveled in it), he loved people and craved human contact. His letters helped to fill that need and, in the process, created and extraordinary record of Merton's life and the development of his thought." TMLL p.viii

Of course it was a two-way street. Shannon and Bochen further note..."Without question Merton enjoyed receiving letters, as he admitted in one he wrote to Sister Therese Lentfoehr on September 25, 1956: "I do not hesitate to confess that letters from my friends have always and will always mean a great deal to me." TMLL p.viii

Merton himself, in his November 1958 letter to Pope John XXIII describes his letter writing as an "apostolate of friendship".

John Jacob Niles

John Niles, Jackie Roberts, Thomas Merton, Janelle Dishman

(click picture for Niles-Merton information)

One of Merton's Kentucky friends, to whom he writes on this day, is noted American folk music historian and balladeer John Jacob Niles. Niles has written music for a collection of Merton's poems which has come to be known as the "Niles-Merton Song Cycle". Merton made a couple of visits to the "Boot Hill Farm" of Niles in 1967 and 1968 to hear some of the songs but wasn't able to hear them all before he left for his Asian journey.

A Lost Art of Relationship
One cannot help but to note with sadness how much we have lost this wonderful art of relationship. The brevity and haste of the e-mail doesn't come close to establishing the depth of connection established in long term written correspondence. It is ironic that we live in a age with more ways of being connected, e-mail, cell phones, blackberries, etc, and yet are more isolated...

Yours very truly... Rob

"Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company." Lord Byron

Happy Birthday Bobby

2008-11-20T05:44:00.000-08:00

November 20, 1925
Robert Francis Kennedy was born on November 20, 1925. He died on June 6, 1968 in one of the pivotal events of this violent and tumultuous year, an event that touched Thomas Merton deeply.

Condolences
In a letter to Kennedy's wife Ethel, Merton writes... "Really it is hard to say anything that is capable of measuring the shock and sorrow of Bobby's tragic immolation. Nowadays we tend to expect almost anything. But there is something particularly awful and traumatic about this, just because Bobby represented the very real hope for the whole country and for the world. He was the only one with a real chance who might have done something very definite for peace. And now it looks like we will be faced with a completely illusory choice at the polls - so much that I wonder if I'll vote at all. At least for the Presidency." TMLL pp.222-23

Merton - Kennedy Connection
Ethel Skakel Kennedy was the daughter of Anne Skakel, "Big Anne", a generous contributor to Gethsemani and Thomas Merton's secretary for a number of years in the early fifties. Merton maintained a correspondence with both Anne, who died in a plane crash with her husband George in 1955, and Ethel.

Ritual Cycle of Violence
Merton was asked by several magazines to write a piece on the assassination of RFK. He declines, writing in a midsummer letter to friends..."I am a bit suspicious of what seems to me to be a growing ritual cycle: murder, public acts of contrition, deploring violence, gestures of appeasement, then everything goes on unchanged and presently there is another assassination. The cycle continues. The sickness seems to be so deep that ritual expressions of sorrow, horror, astonishment, etc., have just become part of the general routine. At such a time perhaps silence is more decent." TMLL p.223 .

Letter of Lament
In the same letter Thomas goes on to lament the critical state of violence in American society which he sees as a systemic infection rooted in fear, "...more especially in the establishment itself, the military, the police, the established forces of order..."

It is in this 1968 letter of lament that Merton writes this familiar and oft quoted piece... "I am against war, against violence, against violent revolution, for peaceful settlements of differences, for non-violent but nevertheless radical change. Change is needed, and violence will not really change anything: at most it will only transfer power from one set of bull-headed authorities to another..." TMLL p.224

Forgetfulness of God
True to his prophetic call, Merton locates the root of the problem of violence in the "forgetfulness of God and prayer". He reveals much about the direction of his vocation in this crucial pre-pilgrimage period when he writes..."I realize more and more that in my own vocation what matters is not comment, not statements of opinion, not judgements, but prayer. " TMLL p.224

Remembering and reflecting... Rob

"Let us pray for one another and try in everything to do what God asks of us." Thomas Merton

If I Had a Hammer

2008-11-20T04:55:00.000-08:00

A Man and A Mountain

2008-11-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

November 19, 1968
Mim Tea Estate

An interesting facet of Merton's time in Darjeeling is his relationship with Mount Kanchenjunga which takes on the role of a character in his journal. Donald Grayston, who made a pilgrimage to Asia "in the footsteps of Merton" in 2000/2001, shares the following "guest post" on the unique relationship of a man and a mountain...

(Grayston photo)

"Merton on his journey practised what his friend David Steindl-Rast called “exposed consciousness,” spiritual openness to all experience, and developed thereby a deep capacity for integration. A notable example of this is Merton’s “quarrel” with Mount Kanchenjunga, regarded as a goddess by Buddhists (AJTM pp. 146-61). He had a magnificent view of the great mountain from the window of the guest wing of the manager’s bungalow at the Mim Tea Estate, where he made a retreat.

(Grayston photo)

Before his retreat, in Darjeeling, he says that the mountain was “a lovely sight but hard to photograph” (p. 135). He then launches into a conversation between himself and the mountain in which he struggles with how his camera had become an instrument of western technological domination (he wanted a good photograph but the mountain was hidden by clouds, i.e., was not co-operating or submitting). Then he had a dream, in which he “saw” the mountain from “the other side,” the Tibetan side, the side he couldn’t see with his physical eyes (p. 152).

This dream, which brought the two sides of the mountain together, ended his “quarrel.” Man and mountain had revealed their true natures to each other; no separation remained." Donald Grayston

About Kanchenjunga (from Wikipedia)
"Kangchenjunga (कञ्चनजङ्घा) is the third highest mountain in the world (after Everest and K2), with an elevation of 8,586 metres (28,169 ft). Kangchenjunga translated means "The Five Treasures of Snows", as it contains five peaks, four of them over 8,450 metres. The treasures represent the five repositories of god, which are gold, silver, gems, grain, and holy books." Wikipedia

Kangchenjunga 1857 painting

"Kangchenjunga was first climbed on May 25, 1955 by Joe Brown and George Band of a British expedition. The British expedition honoured the beliefs of the Sikkimese, who hold the summit sacred, by stopping a few feet short of the actual summit. Most successful summit parties since then have followed this tradition." Wikipedia

TTFN... Rob

"There is another side of Kanchenjunga and of every mountain - the side that has never been photographed and turned into postcards. That is the only side worth seeing." Thomas Merton AJTM p.153

Sikkim Snow Lion Dance

2008-11-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

"The "Singhi Chham" or dance of the snow lion, pays homage to the Kangchenjunga peak in the Himalayas, the guardian diety of the Sikkimese and the five smaller peaks that surround it. Bathed in sunlight on tis flanks, the Kanchenjunga takes on the look of a lion with fiery mane - the snow lion of Sikkimese legend. The dance with its enormous masks brings the mythic figure to life as it enacts the legend around Singhi Chham. It is performed at harvest time, ushering in the new year and is especially associated with the Bhutias of Sikkim." (from youtube introduction)

Rocky Mountain High

2008-11-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Comin' home to a place he'd never been before
He left yesterday behind him,
you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door
------------------
Now he walks in quiet solitude
the forest and the streams
Seeking grace in every step he takes
His sight has turned inside himself
to try and understand
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake

Alone on the Mountainside

2008-11-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

November 18, 1968

"I'm glad I came here. All morning alone on the mountainside, in the warm sun, now overclouded. Plenty of time to think. Reassessment of this whole Indian thing in more critical terms. Too much movement. Too much "looking for" something: an answer, a vision, "something other". And this breeds illusion. Illusion that there is something else. Differentiation - the old splitting up process that leads to mindlessness, instead of the mindfulness of seeing all-in-emptiness and not having to break it up against itself. Four legs good; two legs bad..."

"...Hence the annoyance with Kanchenjunga, its big crude blush in the sunrise, outside my bungalow window at 5:45. What do I care for a 28,00-foot postcard when I have this bloody cold?"AJTM p.148

Another Day of Discernment

Thomas again takes advantage of a time of silence and solitude to reflect on his pilgrimage and to discern his future.

"I am still not able fully to appreciate what this exposure to Asia has meant. There has been so much - and yet so little... Meeting the Dalai Lama and the various Tibetans, lamas or "enlightened" laymen, has been the most significant thing of all, especially in the way we were able to communicate with one another and share an essentially spiritual experience of "Buddhism" which is also somehow in harmony with Christianity." AJTM p.148

Here or There?
Merton wonders about his future and weighs the options of remaining in the hermitage at Gethsemani, becoming a hermit in India, or doing likewise in Alaska or around "the Redwoods". He indicates that he is not sensing a particular call to Asia, that he does feel it's time to leave Gethsemani, and that things do seem to point towards Alaska or the Redwoods.

Gethsemani is My Monastery

"Another question: would this move be temporary or permanent? I do not think I ought to separate myself completely from Gethsemani, even while maintaining an official residence there, legally only. I suppose I ought eventually to end my days there. I do in many ways miss it. There is no problem of my wanting to simply "leave Gethsemani." It is my monastery and being away has helped me see it in perspective and love it more." AJTM p.149

Have another great day... Rob

"We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.”
Thomas Merton

Homeward Bound

2008-11-18T05:40:00.000-08:00

Mim Tea Estate

2008-11-17T20:48:00.000-08:00

November 17, 1968

Thomas starts his day with mass and breakfast at St. Joseph's College in Darjeeling. Later he writes... "On being tired of Kanchenjunga. On the mountain being mercifully hidden by clouds. On sneaking a look at the mountain anyway before mass. I walked the length of St. Joseph's College to sneak a look at the mountain..." AJTM p.146

Kanchenjunga in clouds

The librarian at St. Joseph's is happy to meet Merton and proclaims "We have twenty-two of your books in our library!" A pretty good collection for 1968!

Hah! It is good!

Merton begins a mini-retreat at the Mim Tea Estate on this day. He is suffering from a persistant cold and appreciates a time of slowed pace... "Several times during the long silent ride in the Land Rover to the Mim Tea Estate today I wondered, "Why am I going there?" But I am glad to be here in this utterly quiet bungalow. The owners are out and won't be back until late. I have already refused dinner and asked for tea only, tea to be sent to the bungalow.

Mim Bungalow (Grayston Photo)

A fire is lit in the bungalow grate, and it is good. Hah! It is good. Fog hides the mountains. Fog gets in the soar throat. No matter. Fire and a variety of remedies and a big bed, with covers and fresh sheet turned back, awaits the tired penseur... I escape quickly to the bungalow, aside, apart, alone, silent." AJTM p.147

Peace and blessings... Rob

“Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.”
Thomas Merton

The Smothers Brothers

2008-11-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

Live on November 17, 1968

November 17, 2008

2008-11-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

Crunch Time for Tibetan Cause
By Penny Spiller BBC News

"As many as 500 exiled Tibetan leaders are meeting in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala this week to discuss the future of their fight for their homeland.

It is a critical time, as they face up to the fact that their decades-long call for "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet has pretty much fallen on deaf ears in China.

Last month, Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said he was losing hope that his deliberately moderate "middle path" policy with Beijing - seeking autonomy but not full independence - would yield results..." see more

Chadral Rinpoche

2008-11-16T03:55:00.000-08:00

Vancouver's Merton Community

Vancouver, and the Lower Mainland of BC, is a veritable hotbed of Merton scholars and enthusiasts. We have Susan Cowan, Ron Dart, Donald Grayston, Judith Hardcastle, Ross Labrie, Angus Stuart, and Lynn Szabo to name but a few (actually Judith now lives in Golden but is still glimpsed from time-to-time in Vancouver's West End). Together with others in the Thomas Merton Society of Canada these folks anchor a wonderful community and provide many excellent learning opportunities by way of lectures, conferences and retreats. They have also created the Thomas Merton Reading Room in partnership with the Vancouver School of Theology.

Donald Grayston
On Friday I enjoyed a lengthy lunch at the Sylvia Hotel on English Bay with Donald Grayston, theologian, soulfriend, and pilgrim. Don is the current President of the International Thomas Merton Society and has been a student of Merton's for over 50 years. Don made an Asian pilgrimage "in the footsteps of Merton" in 2000-2001 and has generously agreed to share some of his experiences in this weblog.

Darjeeling - November 16, 1968
On November 16, 1968 Thomas Merton meets Chadral Rinpoche, whom he describes as... "the greatest rimpoche I have met so far and a very impressive person." AJTM p.143

Don Grayston shares these brief thoughts on this stage of Merton's pilgrimage... "Merton's encounter with Chadral (his preferred spelling: the AJTM uses the form “Chatral”) Rinpoche was, in my view, the most significant personal encounter of his Asian pilgrimage (pp. 142-44). Chadral and Merton were both hermits, much of an age, both with a long history of spiritual practice. The Dalai Lama, by contrast, was much younger than Merton, and was clearly the learner in their three encounters.

Merton’s reference to sunyata (emptiness) and karuna (compassion) as a focus of their discussion, as well as Merton’s comment that both he and Chadral were “on the edge of [the] great realization” (p. 143), needs to be read together with Merton’s account of his experience two weeks later in the presence of the great Buddhas of Polonnaruwa (pp. 230-36). In that account, Merton speaks of his having been “jerked clean out of the habitual, half-tied vision of things” (p. 233), and acknowledges that “everything is emptiness and everything is compassion” (p. 235). These and his other comments point to a transformative moment, in my view the deepest point of Merton’s journey. He had experienced the Great Realization."

For more infomation on Don and his interests visit his website at http://www.donaldgrayston.ca/ , and for his pilgrimage thoughts and experiences http://www.donaldgrayston.ca/pilgrim.html .

TTFN... Rob

"A pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place, in the expectation of transformation." Donald Grayston

All You Need is Love

2008-11-16T01:52:00.000-08:00

Space Races

2008-11-15T21:21:00.000-08:00

November 1968 - USSR

On November 10, 1968, the Soviets successfully launched the unmanned Zond 6, which carried a biological payload around the moon and photographed the lunar surface.

November 1968 - USA

In November 1968 the Amercans were in the final prepartaion and training stages for the Apollo 8 "Manned Moon Orbit" mission. Apollo 8 was launced on December 21, 1968 and entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve.

November 2008

India sends probe on to the Moon

"The lunar surface viewed by the Moon Impact Probe on its descent India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft, Chandrayaan 1, has sent a probe on to the surface of the Moon. The probe, painted with the Indian flag, crashed into the Moon's surface at 2034 (1504 GMT), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. During its controlled plunge, it took readings including measurements of the composition of the Moon's atmosphere. The mission is regarded as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring nations in Asia..." BBC .

Deep peace of the night stars to you... Rob

Be humble for you are made of earth.

Be noble for you are made of stars.

Serbian proverb

Merton, Murti, and the Madhyamika Attitude

2008-11-14T15:58:00.000-08:00

T.R.V. Murti

Merton's Himalayan pilgrimage brings him into living contact with the Buddhist Madhyamika tradition. While in Dharamsala Merton is advised by The Dalai Lama to "get a good base in Madhyamika philosophy and to consult qualified Tibetan scholars, uniting study and practice." Merton reads "The Central Philosophy of Buddhism, A study of the Madhyamika System" by T.R.V. Murti while on his journey. Merton quotes extensively from Murti in the "Himalayan Section" of his Asian Journal.

Madhyamika, in a nutshell, is a Buddhist Mahayāna tradition developed by the 2nd century Indian philosopher Nāgārjuna. It is referred to as "the middle way" "between eternalism—the view that something is eternal and unchanging—and nihilism. Nihilism here means the assertion that all things are intrinsically already destroyed or rendered nonexistent." Wikipedia It is the tradition behind Tibetan Buddhism.

November 14, 1968

On this day Merton shares the following thoughts from Murti...

"The essence of the Madhyamika attitude... consists in not allowing oneself to be entangled in views and theories, but just to observe the nature of things without standpoints." Murti AJTM p.137

"The Madhyamika method is to deconceptualize the mind and to disburden it of all notions... The dialectic is not an avenue for the acquisition of information, but a catharsis; it is primarily a path of purification of the intellect... It is the abolition of all restrictions which conceptual patterns necessarily impose. It is not nihilism, which is itself a standpoint asserting that nothing is." Murti AJTM p.137

With mind mostly muddled... Rob

“After happiness comes suffering.

After suffering arises happiness.

For beings happiness and suffering

Revolve like a wheel.”
Nagarjuna

Let it Be - 1970

2008-11-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

"B" is for Bomb

2008-11-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

Original Child Bomb

Points for meditation to be scratched on the walls of a cave.

1. In the year 1945 an Original Child was born. The name Original Child was given to it by the Japanese people, who recognized that it was the first of its kind.

2. On April 12th, 1945, Mr. Harry Truman became the President of the United States, which was then fighting the second world war... About one hour after Mr. Truman became president, his aides told him about a new bomb that was being developed by atomic scientists. They called it the "atomic bomb"... Thomas Merton IDBD p.111

"B" is for Bomb

Thomas Merton and The Bomb

2008-11-13T09:11:00.000-08:00

A Contemporary of Hiroshima
"That I should have been born in 1915, that I should be the contemporary of Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Vietnam, and the Watts riots, are things about which I was not first consulted. Yet they are also events in which, whether I like it or not, I am deeply and personally involved." CWA p.161

Thomas Merton lived and wrote against the backdrop of nuclear proliferation, atmospheric and underground testing, and the very real and imminent possibility of global thermonuclear war. One only has to revisit the events of the sixties to be reminded of how real the threat of nuclear war was at that time. It's not possible to reflect on Merton's "Passion for Peace" without having at least a little glance from the nuclear perspective.

Nuclear Testing

"Up to now (August 1962) there have been 106 nuclear tests since testing began again (almost a year). Thirty-one of these by the USSR, seventy-four by the USA, and one by Britain, in the USA (Nevada). The USA has made twenty-nine atmospheric tests, twenty-six in the South Pacific and three in Nevada. The USA has also made forty-four underground tests and one in the stratosphere. Total of all nuclear tests since the beginning: USA 229, USSR 86, UK 22, France 5. Grand total: 342 nuclear tests, of which 282 were in the atmosphere...Nice going boys!" CGB p.251

Baby Boomers and the Bomb
Our "boomer generation" has lived with the possibility of nuclear war all of our lives. Our childhood was filled with images and sounds of impending atomic doom, our youth with sounds and images of resistance and protest.

IT IS 5 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

"The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" has used the "Doomsday Clock" as an illustration of how close we are to "catastrophic destruction" since 1947. In 1968 the clock was set at 7 minutes to midnight, in 1991 it was set at 17 minutes to midnight, in 2007 it was set at 5 minutes to midnight. The clock was set at 2 minutes to midnight in 1953 after the U.S. and U.S.S.R. developed and tested the hydrogen bomb and 3 minutes to midnight in 1984, one of the "chilliest" points of the "cold war".

The "tick-ticking" of the "doomsday clock" is just another component of the background noise of everyday life, just like muzak, traffic, and TV ads. Sometimes we've heeded its alarm, awakened, and taken action. But, mostly we've just slept through it.

Current Concerns
2008 concerns include nuclear weapons in the hands of "rogue states" or terrorists; the destabilizing development and deployment of missile defence systems; and the slow pace of reducing existing stockpiles. A review of the news today will include stories about the testing of a new missile in Iran (capable of striking Israel), advice from a general to an incoming president on continuing a missile defence program, and plans by Russia to deploy missiles in Kalingrad, "a forward area close to Western Europe".

Peace... Rob

"The only sane course that remains is to work frankly and without compromise for the total abolition of war."

Thomas Merton 1962

Pink Floyd and The Bomb!

2008-11-13T01:00:00.000-08:00

Calcutta to Darjeeling

2008-11-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

November 12, 1968

Thomas Merton travels from Calcutta to Darjeeling, West Bengal on November 12, 1968. He writes... "This is a much finer place than I expected - a king of places, full of Tibetans, prayer flags, high in mists, wonderful mountains, all hidden as we came up the wretched road along which there have been some seventy very bad landslides... The ride from Bagdogra was long, through thick woods, then higher and higher into the clouds. Finally we came to the Windamere Hotel, the most pleasant place I have been to in India." AJTM p.133

About Darjeeling
"Darjeeling is internationally famous for its tea industry and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The tea plantations date back to the mid 19th century as part of a British development of the area. ...When the People's Republic of China annexed Tibet in 1950, thousands of Tibetan refugees settled across Darjeeling district. " Wikipedia

The Windamere Hotel
www.windamerehotel.com
Current President of the International Thomas Merton Society, and Merton pilgrim , Donald Grayston (Peregrinus Mertonius) made a real live, "in-the-flesh" pilgrimage to India in November 2000. He went to Darjeeling and visited Merton's room (#14) at the Windamere Hotel. He shares this photo of room 14, from his collection.

Room 14 - Windamere Hotel (Grayston photo)

Happy trails... Rob
“Pilgrimage to the place of the wise is to find escape from the flame of separateness.” Rumi

Heart of Gold

2008-11-12T21:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Neil Young!!

Neil Young released the album "Neil Young" on November 12, 1968, his 23rd birthday! "Heart of Gold" was released a few years later.

Dharamsala - Calcutta

2008-11-11T14:55:00.000-08:00

November 11, 1968
Over the course of the past several days Thomas Merton has left Dharamsala and travelled back to Calcutta via New Delhi.

The Dalai Lama
Merton had his last meeting with the Dalai Lama on November 8th and came away feeling that they had truly become good friends. He writes... "It was a very warm and cordial discussion and at the end I felt we had become good friends and were somehow quite close to one another. I feel a great respect and fondness for him as a person and believe, too, that there is a real spiritual bond between us. He remarked that I was a "Catholic geshe," which, Harold said, was the highest possible praise from a Gelugpa, like and honorary doctorate!" AJTM p.125

Student Riots
Merton picks up an Indian newspaper in his hotel and notes in his journal that there were "student riots in Benares, Rawalpindi, Amritsar, and a dozen other places." Seems to be a global phenomena in 1968!

New Delhi
Merton's brief time in New Delhi is filled with various tours, meetings, meals, and visits including... the Jantar Mantar observatory; a Cambodian monk at Ashoka Vihara; Urdu singing at the Moti Mahal Restaurant; a Muslim college; Mass at the Holy Family Hospital. Somehow he also manages to find time to finish the notes for his upcoming talk in Bangkok and write a lengthy letter home to friends!

Letter Home
On November 9th Merton writes a letter to friends back home. He brings them up to date on his travels and describes his contacts with Asian monks as "fruitful and rewarding". He also makes reference to another meeting with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche whom he saw again in Calcutta. He writes... "I hope you can understand why I cannot answer my mail these days. I am entirely occupied with these monastic encounters and with the study and prayer that are required to make them fruitful... With my very best regards always, cordially yours in the Lord Jesus, and in His Spirit... Thomas Merton" AJTM p.325

Tomorrow we're off to Darjeeling!

Good night... Rob

"We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God." Thomas Merton

Tommy James

2008-11-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

90 Years - Canada Remembers

2008-11-11T00:15:00.000-08:00

November 11, 1918 - 2008

World War I was finally brought to an end with the signing of an armistice on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. 90 years ago today the "war to end all wars" was over. The 4 years of brutal fighting claimed over 20 million lives, about half of which were civilians, and brought an end to the German, Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian Empires.

For 90 years we have marked November 11th as a day to remember those who have lost their lives in military service and to reflect on the continued presence of war in our world. In Canada this year we particularly remember the 26 Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since last Remembrance Day. (Memorial Site)

Canadian War Memorial Vimy Ridge

Paris 1919

The eventual treaty to mark the end of WW I was to emerge from the "Paris Peace Conference" of 1919. This gathering of the victorious great powers resulted in a virtual redrawing of the world map creating numerous conflict-prone regions and eventually giving rise to more wars. The lands of the Middle East, formerly held by the Ottoman Empire were divided into a collection of Kingdoms, Mandates, Emirates, and Protectorates which were allied to either France or England. Anyone interested in the history of the Middle East conflicts should go back at least to the period of WW I and the Paris Peace Conference.

A Vietnamese Footnote
A young Vietnamese national living in Paris during the 1919 Peace Conference petitioned the Western powers for the recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina. After being ignored Nguyễn Ái Quốc then petitioned American President Woodrow Wilson for assistance in removing the French from Vietnam. He was again ignored. Nguyễn Ái Quốc went on to become a founding member of the French Communist Party before he went to Russia and took the name of Hồ Chí Minh. wikipedia

Remembering and Reflecting... Rob

"At the root of war is fear, not so much the fear men have of one another as the fear they have of everything. It is not merely that they do not trust one another: they do not trust themselves." Thomas Merton

They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow old:
age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning
we will remember them...

A Passion for Peace

2008-11-10T11:50:00.000-08:00

November 10, 1958
Thomas Merton wrote to Pope John XXIII on November 10, 1958 - fifty years ago today. His letter to the Pope reflected his newly awakened sense of solidarity with the world of human concerns. He writes..."It seems to me that, as a contemplative, I do not need to lock myself in solitude and lose all contact with the rest of the world; rather this poor world has a right to a place in my solitude. It is not enough for me to think of the apostolic value of prayer and penance; I also have to think in terms of a contemplative grasp of the political, intellectual, artistic, and social movements of this world - by which I mean a sympathy for the honest aspirations of so many intellectuals everywhere in the world and the terrible problems they have to face."

An Urgent Obligation
Moving forward from his great epiphany at the corner of Fourth and Walnut Merton becomes increasingly engaged in matters of civil rights and peace. In an October 1961 letter to Etta Gullick he characterises the plight of the world as an "international crisis" and senses the call to speak on issues as a matter of "urgent obligation". He writes... "I am now perfectly convinced that there is one task for me that takes precedence over everything else: working with such means as I have at my disposal for the abolition of war... Prayer of course remains my chief means, but it is also an obligation on my part to speak out insofar as I am able, and to speak as clearly, as forthrightly, and as uncompromisingly as I can.

And speak he does... for the next 10 years, from the time of his letter to the Pope on November 10, 1958, Merton's prophetic voice is expressed in essays, poetry, letters, books, articles, and journals. He speaks clearly, forthrightly, and uncompromisingly on issues relating to the nuclear arms race, the cold war, the Vietnam war, civil rights, non-violent resistance, Latin American liberation, and the environment. Far from being a contradiction of Merton's contemplative life his prophetic outcry is the natural fruit of his spiritual journey of solitude, inner awakening, and unitive consciousness.

Peace and blessings... Rob

"The duty of the Christian in this crisis is to strive with all his power and intelligence, with his faith, hope in Christ, and love for God and man, to do the one task which God has imposed upon us in the world today. That task is to work for the total abolition of war." Thomas Merton

Original Child Bomb

2008-11-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Thomas Merton's Poem.

Click Here for more information

The Merton Prayer

2008-11-09T06:25:00.000-08:00

MY LORD GOD,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think

I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire

in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this

you will lead me by the right road,

though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me

to face my perils alone.
AMEN

Thomas Merton

Thougts in Solitude 1958

Sunday blessings... Rob

"By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet." Thomas Merton

Where Could I Go?

2008-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

A Snapshot in TIME

2008-11-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

November 8, 1968
I've been reading the November 8, 1968 edition of TIME Magazine. A survey of the stories provides a wonderful snapshot of that moment in history. Highlights include... the Vietnam War; Yugoslovia; the Suez conflict; the nuclear arms race; and the RFK Memorial Foundation.

THE BOMBING HALT:
Johnson's Gamble for Peace
Friday, Nov. 08, 1968

"THE Viet Nam war has divided and demoralized the American people as have few other issues in this century... The war's ugliness, and the often misunderstood reasons behind U.S. participation in it, greatly contributed to the rebelliousness of America's young..."

YUGOSLAVIA: In Case of Attack. . .
Friday, Nov. 08, 1968
"We have nurtured our sovereignty with the blood of our people, and no one is going to take it away from us." Marshal Josip Broz Tito

"WITH those defiant words, Yugoslavia's President recently reiterated his country's determination to remain free and independent. As the East bloc's original heretic, who broke with Moscow in 1948, Tito is concerned that the Soviets, having acted to quash a much more recent heresy in Czechoslovakia, may also move against him..."

Restraint Running Out?
Friday, Nov. 08, 1968

"When the first shells whistled in, off-guard Israeli troops were playing a Sabbath soccer game. Within moments along the 70-mile Suez front, Egyptian gunners had opened up with everything from long-range artillery to Russian-made Katyusha rockets. In all, 15 Israeli soldiers were killed and 34 wounded, mostly in the first rounds. The Israelis fired back, accounting for five Egyptian dead and nine wounded..."

Nuclear Numbers Game
Friday, Nov. 08, 1968

"The life-or-death question of how the U.S. would come out in a thermonuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union has a nagging habit of cropping up shortly before Election Day. In 1960, the Democrats' misleading charges of a "missile gap" served to confuse and alarm voters. This year it was Richard Nixon who sought a last-minute advantage. "The present state of our defenses is too close to peril point," Nixon charged in a radio speech, "and our future prospects are in some respects downright alarming. We have a gravely serious security gap..."

"A Passionate Intent"
Friday, Nov. 08, 1968
"...Last week his [Robert Kennedy] widow, sisters and surviving brother established a memorial that they hope will accomplish some of what he sought to do. On the sloping back lawn of the Robert Kennedy home in McLean, Va., the family announced its plan for a Robert F. Kennedy memorial foundation. "We hope to form several task-force groups," said Edward Kennedy, "and to enlist the young. It is a most appropriate memorial—a living memorial —to carry on his concern, compassion and interest in the unmet needs of our country..."

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial continues today as a vital organization "dedicated to advancing the human rights movement through providing innovative support to courageous human rights defenders around the world."

Remembering and reflecting... Rob

"In a world where there is a common lament that there are no more heroes, too often cynicism and despair are perceived as evidence of the death of moral courage. That perception is wrong. People of great valor and heart, committed to noble purpose, with long records of personal sacrifice, walk among us in every country of the world." Kerry Kennedy

The Contemplative Life

2008-11-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

November 7, 1968
Merton begins his day with a brief reflection on the contemplative life..."The contemplative life must provide an area, a space of liberty, of silence, in which possibilities are allowed to surface and new choices, beyond routine choices, become manifest. It should create a new experience of time, not as stopgap stillness, but as "temps vierge" [virgin time], not a blank to be filled or an untouched space to be conquered and violated, but a space which can enjoy its own potentialities and hopes, and its own presence to itself. But not dominated by one's own ego and its demands. Hence open to others - compassionate time..." AJTM p.117

Thomas Merton is a foundational figure in the recovery of the contemplative life in the western Christian tradition over the past 40 years. Indeed, it would be difficult to find many books on contemporary Christian spirituality which do not make reference to Thomas Merton in some way. His prolific writing has helped to open up the spiritual journey to a world hungering for depth and meaning.

Fourth and Walnut
The fruits of Merton's contemplative life include both a refreshing insight in to the human condition and a profound sense of love and compassion based on an awareness of the unity of all things. On March 18, 1958, in one of his most significant experiences of awakening Merton comes to a profoundly deep and joyful realization of the unity of humanity.

"In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I was theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world... This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud." CGB pp.156-157

If Only, If Only!
"Then it was if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all of the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed..." CGB pp.158

Good Days in Dharamsala
Merton reflects on the "good days" he has spent amongst the Tibetan Buddhists of Dharamsala... "I have to pack early. My last interview with the Dalai Lama will be in the morning, with the jeep coming for me at 8:15. Then right after dinner we leave by jeep for Pathankot to take the evening train for Delhi. The sky is reddening behind the big spur of mountains to the east. The days here have been good ones. Plenty of time for reading and meditation, and some extraordinary encounters. So far my talks with Buddhists have been open and frank and there has been full communication on a really deep level. We seem to recognize in one another a certain depth of spiritual experience, and it is unquestionable." AJTM pp.123-124

A Last Thought
In a last thought for the day Merton reflects on the election back home... "Nixon of course has won the presidential election. But Humphrey was closer than I expected. Wallace was nowhere, and I am glad to here he did not take Kentucky (Nixon did). Our new president is depressing. What can one expect of him?" AJTM p.124

Peace and blessings... Rob

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another." Thomas Merton

A Good Day

2008-11-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

With Brother David Steindl-Rast

Peregrinatio Virtualis

2008-11-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

pil·grim·age pílgrimij n. from L. peregrinatio
1. religious journey: a journey to a holy place, undertaken for religious reasons
2. trip to special place: a journey to a place with special significance
________________

I'm a little over three weeks into this "e-pilgrimage" with Thomas Merton. The thought of such a journey occurred to me last summer during a course on Merton at the Vancouver School of Theology. The course looked at Merton as Monk, Prophet and Poet and was taught collaboratively by Paul Pearson, Lynn Szabo, and Ron Dart. I noted that this year was the 40th anniversary of Merton's Asian journey and committed then to spending significant time with him this fall. The "Blog" was an afterthought and has been both a lot of fun and an effective discipline towards keeping me on the journey.

Time Warp
A significant piece of this pilgrimage is the travel back in time to 1968. I am being immersed in the images, sounds, and events of that incredibly tumultuous year. Time Magazine said of 1968 that it was "like a knife blade... the year severed past from future."

1968 in Film
Last night Pam and I watched "Chicago 10", a recent documentary on the anti war protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. "Chicago 10" uses both archival footage and a creatively animated dramatization of the trial of the arrested protesters, to tell the story of the anti-war protests, the ensuing riots, and the convention. We've also watched "Forrest Gump" and "Good Morning Vietnam" and look forward to seeing "The Graduate" and other 1968 films. Pam's a pretty good sport and goes along with this to a certain extent. She did however, draw the line at my Halloween choice of "The Night of the Living Dead". I'm not sure if she will go for "Planet of the Apes" either!

1968 in Music

As far as music goes... what a delight!! 1968 was a great year of music... folk, rock, and country included! I've rediscovered some great songs and I'm often seen dancing around my kitchen to the sounds of "Gary Puckett and the Union Gap", "Tommy James and the Shondels", and other great bands from the Sixties. I'm also enjoying looking at the various Eastern connections that musicians were making at that time, "The Beatles" and "The Who" for instance. Most, but not all, of what I'm posting here is from 1968.

Flavors of Asia

Since this is just a virtual pilgrimage I'm denied the travel dimension. I've compensated partially by taking Pam out to the local Thai restaurant while Merton was in Bangkok and to a wonderful Indian place while he was in New Delhi. I'm looking forward to trying out a local Tibetan restaurant as well!

Getting to Know Merton

At the heart of this all is the simple desire to spend some quality time with Thomas Merton and to get to know him a little better. I said a little about "Why Merton?" in an earlier post. I would only add that I see Merton as both a mentor and guide for my personal journey and as an authentic voice of prophetic wisdom for the renewal of the church in this age.

Keep on e-Trekking... Rob

________________

"Unless one says good-bye to what one loves, and unless one travels to completely new territories, one can expect merely a long wearing away of oneself and eventual extinction." Jean Dubuffet

Hurdy Gurdy Man

2008-11-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

An interesting video interpretation of Donovan's 1968 hit.

November Elections

2008-11-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

November 5, 1968

Americans went to the polls on November 5, 1968 to choose between Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and George Wallace as the next president. Their choice was made against the backdrop of an unpopular war and a hunger for change.

The 1968 Electoral College map shows the familiar delineation of RED States (Republican) and BLUE States (Democrat) along with the YELLOW States (Wallace).

_______________

November 4, 2008

Americans went to the polls on November 4, 2008 to choose between Barack Obama and John McCain as the next president. Their choice was made against the backdrop of an unpopular war and a hunger for change.

A historic day for the United States. Republicans and Democrats can all think well of their country in light of the significant step they have made today. (click map for details)

TTFN... Rob

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." Barack Obama

MLK - BHO

2008-11-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

1968-2008: 40 Years Later...
Barack Obama was elected President of the United States 40 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King jr. in 1968. Thomas Merton was a passionate supporter of King and of the civil rights movement and was to have hosted King at Gethsemani in 1968. Alas, it was not to be. Their meeting did eventually take place later in 1968 in "that land where we never grow old". I believe they would be hand-in-hand and smiling today!

Merton and HH Dalai Lama

2008-11-04T02:00:00.000-08:00

November 4, 1968

HHDL

Thomas Merton had his scheduled meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the afternoon of November 4, 1968. His initial written account is brief... "The Dalai Lama is most impressive as a person... A very solid, energetic, generous, and warm person, very capably trying to handle enormous problems, none of which he mentioned directly. There was not a word of politics. The whole conversation was about religion and philosophy and especially ways of meditation... One gets the impression that he is very sensitive about partial and distorted Western views of Tibetan mysticism and especially about popular myths. He himself offered to give me another audience the day after tomorrow and said he had some questions he wanted to ask me." AJTM pp.100-102

-----------------------------

A Day of Discernment

Merton spends much time on this day in pondering his own future... "Thinking about my own life and future, it is still a very open question.. I am beginning to appreciate the hermitage at Gethsemani more than I did last summer when things seemed so noisy and crowded. Even here in the mountains there are few places where one does not run into someone. Roads and paths and trails are full of people. To have real solitude one would have to get very high up and far back!"AJTM p.103

In Search of Solitude

"For solitude, Alaska really seems the very best place. But everyone I have talked to says I must also consider others and keep open to them to some extent. The rimpoches all advise against absolute solitude and stress "compassion". They seem to agree that being in solitude much of the year and coming "out" for a while would be a good solution..."

"The way in which I have been suddenly brought here constantly surprises me. The few days in Dharamsala have all been extremely fruitful in every way: the beauty and quiet of the mountains, my own reading and meditation, encounters with lamas, everything." AJTM p.103

Getting Some Perspective on 1968
"Trying to get a better perspective on the earlier part of this year. There is a lot I cannot quite understand. And perhaps do not need to understand. The last months have been demanding and fruitful. I have needed the experience of this journey. Much as the hermitage has meant. I have been needing to get away from Gethsemani and it was long overdue." AJTM p.103(for a 1988 perspective on 1968 click "Time" cover)

Seeking a Sign
"This evening the lights in the cottage went dead for a while. I stood out in the moonlight, listening to drums down in the village and looking up at the stars. The same constellations as over the hermitage and the porch opening in about the same direction, southeast toward Aquila and the Dolphin. Aquarius out over the plain, the swan up above. Cassiopeia over the mountains..." AJTM p.104

Deep peace of the autumn stars to you... Rob

"He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment." Lao Tzu

The Age of Aquarius

2008-11-04T01:57:00.000-08:00

Tibet in Exile

2008-11-03T01:15:00.000-08:00

(click map for details)

Dharamsala has been the home of the Government of Tibet in Exile since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959. The affairs of Tibetans in exile are governed by the "Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama" (CTA). The current situation can be summarized as follows...

"Tibet is under the administration of the People's Republic of China, a situation that the Central Tibetan Administration considers an illegitimate military occupation. The position of the CTA is that Tibet is a distinct nation with a long history of independence. The current policy of the Dalai Lama, however, is that he does not seek full independence for Tibet, but would accept an autonomous status similar to that now held by Hong Kong." Wikipedia

November 3, 1968
Thomas Merton reflects briefly on the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exiles in his journal of November 3, 1968, the day before his scheduled visit with His Holiness.

"The Dalai Lama is loved by his people, and they are a beautiful loving people.They surround his house with love and prayer... Probably no leader in the world is so much loved by his followers and means so much to them. He means everything to them. For that reason it would be especially terrible and cruel if any evil should strike him. May God protect and preserve him." AJTM p.92

"There are great problems for the Tibetan refugees like those I saw today in Upper Dharamsala living in many tents under the trees on the steep mountainside, clinging precariously to a world in which they have no place in and only waiting to be moved somewhere else, to "camps". AJTM p.93

Free Tibet

40 years later the issues remain unresolved. In a movement reminiscent of the sixties, students and youth have rallied to the Tibetan cause under the banner of "Students for a Free Tibet". They are organized internationally in non-violent education and advocacy towards a "Free Tibet". The following video clip is some of their work.

The Late Brother Wayne Teasdale (1945-2004), author of "The Mystic Heart", was a passionate advocate on behalf of Tibetans in exile. He laments the apparent silence of the world's religious communities in relation to Tibet and writes... "Tibet is a test to measure whether or not the human species has the ability to evolve in its moral consciousness, whether or not it can stretch beyond its present ways of approaching situations of injustice, tyranny, and threats to the ecosphere."

TTFN... Rob

"We have a universal responsibility to speak out when we see injustice, oppression, and the abuse of human rights, the rights of the earth, and other species," Wayne Teasdale

A Morning in Dharamsala

2008-11-02T00:15:00.000-07:00

November 2, 1968

"Outside of the dirty window I have just opened there is pure morning light on the lower rampart of the Himalayas. Near me are the steep green sinews of a bastion tufted with vegetation. A hut or shrine is visible, outlined on the summit. Beyond, in sunlit, backlighted mist, the higher pointed peak. Further to the left a still higher pointed peak that was hidden in the cloud last evening and is misty now, Song of birds in the bushes." AJTM p.84

"Yesterday as I came down the path from the mountain I heard a strange humming behind me. A Tibetan came by quietly droning a monotonous sound, a prolonged "om". It was something that harmonized with the mountain - an ancient syllable he had found long ago in the rocks, or perhaps it had been born with him." AJTM p.79

Cocks crow in the valley. The tall illuminated grasses bend in the wind. One white butterfly hovers and settles. Another passes in a hurry. How glad I am not to be in the city." AJTM p.87

Peace and Blessings... Rob

"Everywhere we find ourselves invaded by the world of the sacred. Such was the experience of Thomas Merton. Such is the wonder that he is communicating to us." Thomas Berry

New Delhi - Dharamsala

2008-11-01T08:49:00.001-07:00

November 1, 1968

Thomas Merton makes the journey from New Delhi to Dharamsala by train and jeep on November 1, 1968. The train trip was overnight from New Delhi to Pathankot. Merton made the trip with his friend, and Tibetan Buddhist initiate, Harold Talbot.

Merton's beautifully descriptive journal entries reflect the observant mindfulness and appreciation of a "contemplative gaze". Here is one who is awake and present to the experience of life and living it to it's fullest!

Merton writes... "When light dawned, I looked out on fields, scattered trees, tall reeds and bamboo, brick and mud villages, a road swept by rain in the night and now swept by cold wind from the mountains, men wrapped in blankets walking in the wind. Teams of oxen ploughing. Pools by the track filled with tall purple flowering weeds. A white crane starts up out of the green rushes." AJTM p.78

The scene at the train station in Pathankot is described as a "madhouse of noise". Merton and Talbot are met by a jeep from the Dalai Lama's headquarters to take them on the next leg of their journey.

Into the Mountains - Dharamsala

Merton writes... "It was a beautiful drive to Dharamsala - mountains, small villages, canyons, shrines, ruined forts, good, well-cared-for forest preserves. Then the climb to Dharamsala itself and the vast view over the plains from the village. It rained when we arrived and thunder talked to itself all over and around the cloud hidden peaks.

In the afternoon I got my first real taste of the Himalayas. I climbed a road out of the village up into the mountains, winding through pines, past places where Tibetans live and work including a small center for publication and a central office. Many Tibetans were on the road, and some were at work on a house, singing their beautiful song." AJTM p.78

Alone in the Pines... Finally!

"Finally, I was out alone in the pines, watching the clouds clear from the medium peaks, but not the high snowy ones, and the place was filled with a special majestic kind of mountain silence. At one point the sound of a goatherd's flute drifted up from a pasture below. An unforgettable valley with a river winding at the bottom, a couple of thousand feet below, and the rugged peaks above me, and pines twisted as in Chinese paintings... Great silence of the mountain..." AJTM p.79

The Silence of the Forest is my Bride
Ahhh! Finally... alone at last in the silence of the pines! Three of the great themes that resonate for the forest monk, silence, solitude, trees. I imagine this moment comes as a great relief and delight for Merton after weeks of travel, meetings, conferences, Bangkok, Calcutta, and New Delhi. It is in the silence and solitude of the forest that Merton finds himself nearest to the heart of God.

Kathleen Deignan has edited a collection of Thomas Merton's writings that touch on the depth of his "ecological consciousness" and of his deep relationship to nature, "When the Trees Say Nothing". Early this morning, in the "darkness before dawn", I found myself reading through the chapter she has called "Sanctuary", his writings on his love of forests. A few selections ...

"Out here in the woods I can think of nothing except God and it is not so much that I think of Him either. I am as aware of Him as the sun and the clouds and the blue sky and the thin cedar trees." WTSN p.161

"As soon as I get away from people the presence of God invades me." WTSN p.163

"Then the Spirit of God got hold of me and I started through the woods... And I thought, "Noboby ever comes here!" The marvelous quiet! The sweet scent of the woods, the clean stream, the peace, the inviolate solitude!" WTSN p.165

"...the silence of the forest is my bride." WTSN p.171

My little forester's heart quivers!!

Keep on trekking... Rob,

"I love the forest..." Thomas Merton

Night of the living Dead

2008-10-31T16:18:00.000-07:00

October 31, 1968 - Halloween

Night of the Living Dead

From Wikipedia... Night of the Living Dead, directed by George Romero, is a 1968 important independent black-and-white horror film… Ben (Duane Jones) and Barbra (Judith O'Dea) are the protagonists of a story about the mysterious reanimation of the recently dead, and their efforts, along with five other people, to survive the night while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse.

George Romero produced the film on a $114,000 budget, and after a decade of cinematic re-releases, it grossed some $12 million domestically and $30 million internationally. In 1999, the Library of Congress registered it to the National Film Registry as a film deemed "historically, culturally or aesthetically important".

Night of the Living Dead had a great impact upon the culture of the Vietnam-era United States, because it is laden with critiques of late-1960s U.S. society; a historian described it as "subversive on many levels". Although it is not the first zombie film, Night of the Living Dead is the progenitor of the contemporary "zombie apocalypse" sub-genre of horror film, and it influenced the modern pop-culture zombie archetype. Wikipedia

They're coming to get you... Rob

"Eyewitness accounts described the assassins as ordinary-looking people, misshapen monsters, people who look like they're in a trance, and creatures that look like people but behave like animals."

LBJ Ends Bombing Campaign

2008-10-31T11:39:00.000-07:00

October 31, 1968

From March 2, 1965 until November 1, 1968 the United States were engaged in a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam under the code name "Rolling Thunder". On October 31, 1968, just days before the 1968 election, U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced an end to the bombardment.

During this period, at least...

- 300,000 attack sorties were flown by U.S.;
- 900 U.S. planes were lost;
- 1200 U.S. personnel were killed, captured, or missing;
Civilian death estimates range from 52,000 - 182,000.

"I have devoted every resource of the Presidency to the search for peace in Southeast Asia." Lyndon Baines Johnson October 31, 1968

Merton, Non-Violence, and Vietnam
Merton's commitment to peace and non-violence is rooted and grounded in his contemplative Christian faith; formed in the tradition of St. Francis, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Dorothy Day; and lived out in the sixties context of the Vietnam War, nuclear bomb testing, Latin American liberation struggles, and U.S. civil rights issues. He writes extensively on themes of peace and non-violence in letters to friends and correspondents; in his poetry and journals; in books, essays, and articles for publication; and in unpublished papers passed amongst others involved in peace action in the sixties. Vietnam figures prominently throughout these writings.

Jim Forest, in "Living With Wisdom: A Life of Thomas Merton" characterizes Merton as a "Pastor to Peacemakers". Forest writes... "While his vocation made an active role in the peace movement impossible, through correspondence and occasional face-to-face visits Merton played a pastoral role among peace activists that was perhaps even more important than his public role as an author, and one in which he could communicate without having to worry about getting his words past the censors." LWW p. 149

In this role Merton was able to both encourage and support peace activists as well as be a voice of "conscience" when protest action strayed from the principles of love, compassion, inner peace, and non-violence. Merton's network of friends and correspondents in relation to the peace issues of his day was extensive and included: Daniel and Phil Berrigan, Joan Baez, Wibur "Ping" Ferry, Dorothy Day, Jim Forest, Hildegard Goss-Mayr, John Heidbrink, and Thich Naht Hahn to name but a few.

Merton's call to be a witness to non-violence is beautifully shared in the preface to a Japanese edition of "The Seven Story Mountain". Merton writes... “It is my intention to make my entire life a rejection of, a protest against the crimes and the injustices of war and political tyranny which threaten to destroy the whole [human] race... and the world with [it]. By my monastic life and vows I am saying NO to all the concentration camps, the aerial bombardments, the staged political trials, the judicial murders, the racial injustices, the economic tyrannies and the whole socio-economic apparatus which seems geared for nothing but global destruction in spite of all it's fair words in favour of peace”. Thomas Merton 1966

In peace... Rob

"That's all nonviolence is - organized love.” Joan Baez

Towards Tibet

2008-10-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

October 30, 1968

In New Delhi Merton is making contacts and preparation for his journey to the Himalayas and his meetings with the Dalai Lama and other exiled Tibetans there. More and more of his thought and writing is "Towards Tibet". He has the opportunity to meet some Tibetans on October 30, 1968 and notes... "The Tibetans seem to have a peculiar intentness, energy, silence, and also humor. Their laughter is wonderful." AJTM p.65

Merton has a conversation with some Tibetan Buddhist monks about the goal of monastic life; the notions of discipline and detachment; and the practice of meditation. They all affirm the value of monastic dialogue and understanding and the Tibetans encourage Merton to help Westerners understand meditation and lead more spiritual lives. Merton writes... "They laughed when I explained that the contemplative life was not exactly viewed with favor in the West and that monks are often considered useless." AJTM p. 66

Merton receives the gift of a mandala from Dr. Lokesh Chandra and dives back into reading Tucci's "The Theory and Practice of the Mandala".

I can almost sense his excitement and anticipation about the journey ahead. It's all I can do to restrain myself from reading ahead in his journal!!

TTFN... Rob

"We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have - for their usefulness."
Thomas Merton

1968

2008-10-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

1968 - A (not so) Distant Mirror

2008-10-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

World Series

October 1968

Detroit Tigers

October 2008

Philidelphia Phillies

U.S. Presidential Campaigns

October 1968

Humphrey - Wallace - Nixon

October 2008

Obama/Biden - McCain/Palin

A World in Travail

October 1968 Vietnam

October 2008

Afghanistan

Great Lookin' Cars

1968 - 2008

TTFN... Rob

"The more things change... the more they stay the same" Anon

Richard Nixon...

Hubert Humphrey...

George Wallace...

New Delhi Dawn

2008-10-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

October 29, 1968

"Early morning in New Delhi.

A soft rose light, vast gentleness of sky.

Kites hopping around on the flat roofs

of very modern houses.

The domes in the smoky distance.

The distant throbbing of a drum."

AJTM p.56

______________________________

Thomas Merton notes in his journal that he has much to read. "Tucci's "The Theory and Practice of the Mandala", Desjardins' "Message des Tibetains", the Dalai Lama's pamphlet on Buddhism, essays by Marco Pallis, Trungpa..."

The Mystical Mandala
Merton seems most fascinated with the Mandala and makes extensive notes from Giuseppe Tucci's book. I've looked at a number of definitions and descriptions of the Mandala and find that Wikipedia is a pretty good start

Mandala (Sanskrit "circle", "completion") is a term used to refer to various objects. It is of Hindu origin, but is also used in other Dharmic religions, such as Buddhism. In the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, they have been developed into sandpainting. In practice, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the Universe from the human perspective...

Yamantaka Mandala

...In various spiritual traditions, mandala may be employed for focusing attention of aspirants and adepts, a spiritual teaching tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. Its symbolic nature can help one "to access progressively deeper levels of the unconscious, ultimately assisting the meditator to experience a mystical sense of oneness with the ultimate unity from which the cosmos in all its manifold forms arises." The psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw the mandala as "a representation of the unconscious self," and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality." Wikipedia

Thomas Merton quotes Tucci in describing the Mandala as a map of both the cosmos and the soul... "the disintegration of the One to the many and the reintegration from the many to the One..." AJTM p.59

Be whole... Rob

"From the body of the unborn essence arises the sphere of light, and from that sphere of light arises wisdom. From the wisdom arises the seed syllable and from the seed syllable arises the complete Mandala, the deity and the retinue." Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

____________________

Sand Mandala

Calcutta to New Delhi

2008-10-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

October 28, 1968

Thomas Merton travelled from Calcutta to New Delhi on October 28, 1968. His journal records the excitement he felt at seeing the Himalayas... "At first it was very stormy and cloudy. and then, all of a sudden I looked out and there they were the Himalayas - several hundred miles away, but an awesome great white wall of the highest mountains I have ever seen. I recognized the ones like Annapurna that are behind Pokhara, and could pick out the highest ones in the group, though not individually. Everest and Kanchenjunga were in the distance."

Wow, pretty good sense of geography for a newcomer to the area!

Huston Smith - Remembering Merton
Huston Smith shared the flight with Thomas Merton. Smith shared a few stories about his connection with Merton in India in a 1992 interview with Mark Keniston.

We were both invited to what was pretentiously called a 'Spiritual Summit Conference' in Calcutta. I went at some considerable inconvenience because I was teaching at MIT, but when I saw that Thomas Merton would be there, I knew that I would move Heaven and Earth to go.

It was a glorious week. Well, (laughs) conferences aren't glorious - anything but glorious. But because of his presence it was so colorful.
I arrived at the hotel and in the evening went down for hors d'oeuvres before dinner. I entered the dining room and there was Merton all by himself. He was alone at a table with his fruit punch and so I went over and right off I had about half an hour with him before anyone else arrived.

I can still remember the first real question I asked him after a couple of preliminaries. I said that I had recognized a very sizable monastic pull in me, but it was also clear that it wasn't for this incarnation. The man/woman thing, family, and the life of a householder clearly outweighed that other. Nevertheless, it was really there and I was drawn to it. So to come to the point right away, I asked him 'What's it like to be a monk?' And his answer really just swept me away. He said 'You know...it's very nice.' (laughs) And my thought was, 'Very nice?' It's about as difficult a 'way' as I can imagine.

Later on, I came across what he said about his three vows. Poverty, he said was a snap - a cinch. Chastity is more difficult but manageable. But obedience is a bugger! And we know from his life how that weighed upon him.

I really liked the guy; he was just wonderful. We ended the week by flying together from Calcutta to Delhi...

I still remember that ride to Delhi. He said he always wanted to do this trek from Kathmandu to Pokhora. He said 'Come on, let's do it!' We were fantasizing that I would wire my dean to say 'Fire me if you must but I won't be home for another ten days!' And he would cancel his schedule-it was all fantasy, but it was fun.

Blessings on this day... Rob

Personal Post - Looking Ahead

2008-10-27T23:54:00.001-07:00

Good Bye Calcutta
There is so much more that I'd like to reflect on from what I've read of the presentations made at the 1968 Spiritual Summit Conference in Calcutta (and I've really only read a few). I would like more time to follow the common "perennial philosophy" threads that run through the presentations of Seyyed Hossain Nasr, Huston Smith, Thomas Merton and others. I want to draw some material from Merton's presentations and a few of his letters to pull together a brief summary of his approach to interfaith relations. I'd like to reflect more on the whole question of "relevance". So much...

But Merton's off to New Delhi tomorrow and I've got to get some sleep so I can keep up with him there as he prepares for his pilgimage to the Himalayas. This is a busy week coming up... it's the last week of campaigning, Nixon, Wallace, and Humphrey in 1968 - Obama and McCain in 2008. There are campaigns to cover, votes to cast, and electoral colleges to consider. Merton explores New Delhi, discovers the Mandala, and heads into the Himalayas. There will be new music hitting the charts and headline news to share of "a world in travail", and it's Halloween to boot!! Next weekend, as Merton heads into the mountains I'll be heading off for a short contemplative retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault.

Pass it On
I started this journey as a way to remember Merton and the world he lived in. If you know of anyone who might appreciate this site please pass it on. It's easy to do.

Comments
Please feel free to leave a comment. If you're not a "blogger" just choose "anonymous" as your identity. You can still leave your name in the comment.

TTFN... Rob, in Vancouver
___________________

October 27, 1968

2008-10-27T12:13:00.001-07:00

The Spiritual Summit Conference ended in Calcutta on October 26, 1968. October 27th was Merton's last day before he travelled on to New Delhi. He celebrates mass at a private home and notes later that the "air-raid sirens were being tested - for the imaginary war with Pakistan".

Suez Canel and Yugoslovia
Merton makes a couple of journal notes in reference to world events:

"There is a firing at Suez and Tito says there will be a Third World War if the Russians try to take over Yugoslovia, etc., etc. Everyone has long ceased to listen to any of it."

At the time Egypt, the PLO, and Israel were engaged in a limited "War of Attrition" along the Suez Canal. Just one of the many "hot-spots" of the day. In Eastern Europe things had been pretty tense since the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. NATO was becoming increasingly concerned that Soviet "interventions" in Romania and Yugoslovia were imminent (Tito was probably right about the likely consequences!). Fortunately for all these further "interventions" did not take place.

TTFN... Rob

"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less." Vaclav Havel
_________________________

Czechoslovakia - 1968

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

2008-10-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

Over the past week I have been sharing a little of what was said at the Spiritual Summit Conference attended by Thomas Merton in Calcutta in October 1968. I am doing so to give a sense of the milieu of interfaith thought and dialogue that Merton was immersed in during his time there.

Sufi scholar and perennial philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr was unable to attend the 1968 Spiritual Summit Conference in person but was able to present a paper in absentia. Responding to the conference theme of "relevance" Nasr presents the paper "The Pertinence of Islam to the Modern World".

On Relevance and Irrelevance
In framing the question of relevance Nasr writes: "Whatever is not fashionable in this whirling pace of superficial change is suddenly declared outmoded and irrelevant, whereas in actuality what is trivial and irrelevant is precisely that world or climate of thought which rejects and ignores the perennial and permanent truths, the truths which have always had meaning for men because they appeal to something permanent in man."

Depleting the Spiritual Significance
Nasr speaks of Islam, and other authentic religions, as a necessary remedy for one of the great maladies of the modern world, namely over-secularization... "a process which is nothing else than depleting things of their spiritual significance". He sees this "depletion" processing through politics and governance, fields of thought and philosophy, the arts, science, and even religion. The irony, for Nasr, is that this apparent pursuit of freedom ultimately leads to the loss of "the only real freedom open to man, the freedom of spiritual deliverance".

Integration and Disintegration
Nasr also speaks of the essential unity of God and of the purpose of religious and spiritual life as "the complete and total integration of man in all his depth and amplitude". He laments the excessive compartmentalization of modern science and education; the fragmentation of community; and the disintegration of personality and sees Islam as a means of healing. With language that conjures up the grace and beauty of Sufi dance Nasr describes the human predicament as being caught in whirling "centrifugal tendencies" which dissipate our souls and energy towards the periphery. The teachings and disciplines of Islam allow the soul to regain the Center.

Nasr and Merton
Seyyed Nasr was in contact with Merton indirectly through mutual friends. He helped to make plans for Merton to visit Iran after Thailand in early 1969. Unfornately, since the Iranian leg of the journey never came to pass, Merton and Nasr did not get to meet in person. Nasr recently wrote the preface to the Fons Vitae publication "Thomas Merton and Sufism: the Untold Story" in which he says: "Let it be said first of all that Merton's knowledge of Sufism was authentic and genuine... What would have happened if Merton had been able to come to Persia and to continue his study of Sufism, only Heaven knows. In any case that was not to be. Perhaps he would have written major works of Sufism in its relation to Christian spirituality. But even what he did write and the thoughts he did express to friends reveal the inner sympatheia he had towards the Islamic spiritual universe."

Peace be with you... Rob

"Peace in the human order results from peace with God and also with nature." Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Early Morning Rain

2008-10-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

Peter, Paul, and Mary recorded Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" in 1965. It continued to make the rounds on the pop and country charts for the rest of the Sixties and beyond. Is was recorded by at least... Peter, Paul and Mary, George Hamilton IV, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, the Kingston Trio, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, the Travellers, Josh White, AND... Gordon Lightfoot.
Here's Peter, Paul and Mary in 1966. Enjoy...

A Baha'i Viewpoint - 1968

2008-10-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days I have been sharing a little of what was said at the Spiritual Summit Conference attended by Thomas Merton in Calcutta in October 1968. I am doing so to give a sense of the milieu of interfaith thought and dialogue that Merton was immersed in during his time there. Today, a perspective from a noted Indian Baha'i.

Dr. H.M. Munje, of the National Spiritual Assembly of Bahai's of India, was invited to present "A Baha'i Viewpoint" at the conference. Dr. Munje is, among many other things, the author of a book entitled "The Whole World is But One Family" or "Vasudaiva Kutumbakam".

Dr. Munje notes that it is fitting for the Spiritual Summit Conference to be held during the year in which Baha'is are celebrating the "centenary" year of the proclamation of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i faith (1867). He goes on to say that...

"the most important and emergent question of the world today is a planetary solution for the whole of mankind, for a living peace and justice in action."

Dr. Munje frames the important question of "relevance"...

"Indeed, the lessons of two world wars have not sufficed to bring mankind to its senses. We are numbed with fear and do not want to dwell on the awesome reality of atomic warfare. Philosophies, economic systems, and politicians have led us nowhere. It is crucial for mankind to find out whether religion has the answer. Hence the question of relevance to modern society; the economic plight of the world and the injustices we see everywhere. How powerful is religion to revive the failing fortunes of a harassed humanity?"

Prophetic Lament

Munje quotes prophetic passages of lament from the writings of Baha'u'llah to underscore the relevance of religious teachings to a "world in travail". He sees in the 19th century words of Baha'u'llah a relevance to the tumultuous issues of 1968.

How Long?

"The world is in travail and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned toward waywardness and unbelief... How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society?" Baha'u'llah

The Winds of Despair

"The winds of despair are, alas, blowing in every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective." Baha'u'llah

To my own thinking the words of Baha'u'llah echo the even more distant words of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah who laments...

"The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers; the heavens languish together with the earth. The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant." Isaiah 24

Hope in Unity

In truly prophetic style Munje then goes on to proclaim a message of hope for world peace and unity "through divine love". He speaks of healing and reconciliation founded on the Baha'i understanding of the essential unity of God, religion, and humanity. He quotes Shoghi Effendi:

"The Baha'i Faith upholds the unity of God, recognizes the unity of His Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the entire human race."

Munje says, in effect, that for religion to be relevant it must be a cause for unity amongst humanity and in harmony with science and reason. He also notes, wisely I believe, that it is the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of scripture that has caused division and wreaked havoc.

An interesting Baha'i viewpoint on this day in history.

Peace be with all... Rob

"The religion of God is for love and unity; make it not the cause of enmity and dissension."

Baha'u'llah

_______________________________

A Sixties Lament - Barry McGuire

October 24, 1968

2008-10-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

Merton visits the Ramakrishna mission in Calcutta on October 24, 1968. He is touched by the warmth of the Ramakrishna monks. He doesn't attend the conference today, "much talking yesterday", but does take in a social evening with conference hosts, the Birla's. He meets and has a wonderful conversation with Vatsala Amin, a young Jain woman who had presented at the conference.

Merton has received a telegram from Tenzin Geshe, secretary of the Dalai Lama, setting up a meeting for November 4th in Dharamsala.

Another very full day...

Why Merton?

2008-10-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

Some folks may wonder... "Why the interest in Thomas Merton?" What relevance can the musings of a medieval monk living in monastic solitude in the middle of the 20th century possibly have for the post-modern church and world today?

For myself, I find in Merton an expression of insight and wisdom that is relevant to many of the inter-related issues and needs we face today. Specifically, and briefly...

Interfaith Dialogue and Action

Merton helps to show us a way towards living and loving in a pluralistic world. His approach to interfaith relations is founded on a deep sense of compassion and an honest love of neighbour which translates into an ethic of sensitivity and respect in relation to others. He also shares with us a conviction of the importance of collaborative work towards engaging and resisting "the powers".

Merton writes... "It is my belief that all those in the world who have kept a vestige of sanity and spirituality should unite in firm resistance to the movements of power politicians and the monster nations, resist the whole movement of war and aggression, resist the diplomatic overtures of power..." to Abdul Aziz September 21, 1961 TMLL

Non-violence and Peace

Merton leads us in a way of seeking justice and making peace from a place of deep non violence.

Merton writes... "I am against war, against violence, against violent revolution, for peaceful settlement of differences, for nonviolent but nevertheless radical changes. Change is needed, and violence will not really change anything: at most it will only transfer power from one set of bullheaded authorities to another."

The Ecological Consciousness

Merton opens us to a depth of ecological consciousness which is rooted and grounded in both a love of nature and a critical awareness of our brokenness in relation to the natural world.

Merton writes that the "wrongs" we inflict on the world can be prevented by... "a deepening of the ecological sense and by a corresponding restraint and wisdom in the way we treat the earth we live on and the other members of the ecological community with which we live." to Barbara Hubbard February 16, 1968 TMLL.

The Prophetic Voice

Merton speaks from a place of freedom, humility, and grace, naming difficult truths which are as relevant today as they were yesterday and as they probably will be tomorrow. He is the voice of one who stands in the midst of our culture and community and tells it like it is.

Merton writes... "I have sought only to speak the truth as I see it, and to bear witness to what I have discovered by living in the world of the twentieth century, both without the light of Christ and with it. There is a difference, and I have experienced the difference, and I have endeavored to say so. That is all." CWA

Contemplation and Spirituality

Merton reveals to us the fruits of a contemplative life lived in simplicity, restraint, and faithfulness. He is a foundational figure in the reclamation of an engaged and meaningful Christian spirituality and the renewal of the church in this day.

Merton writes... "When I speak of the contemplative life I do not mean the institutional cloistered life, the organized life of prayer... I am talking about a special dimension of inner discipline and experience, a certain integrity and fullness of personal development, which are not compatible with a purely external, alienated, busy-busy existence. This does not mean that they are incompatible with action, with creative work, with dedicated love. On the contrary, these all go together. A certain depth of disciplined experience is a necessary ground for fruitful action." CWA

These are some of the areas where I find that Merton intersects most closely with my life and passions. So that's why I'm doing this "e-pilgrimage", quest, blog-thing!!

Travelling on... Rob

"I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floatin' around accidental-like on a breeze. But I, I think maybe it's both."

Forrest Gump

The Relevance of the Irrelevant

2008-10-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

Thomas Merton's turn to address the Calcutta Spiritual Summit Conference came on October 23, 1968. Merton had prepared a talk on "Monastic Experience and the East-West Dialogue". The notes for this presentation are published in "The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton" and in the conference proceedings, where it is described by the editors as "a working document giving a singularly lucid picture of one of the clearest of contemporary poetic minds at work."

Merton uses the term "monastic" in a broad way to describe various forms and elements of contemplative life including:

some level of detachment in relation to the secular concerns of the world;
a deep appreciation for the inner life of faith and wisdom; and
a "special concern with inner transformation, a deepening of consciousness toward an eventual breakthrough and discovery of a transcendental dimension of life beyond that of the ordinary empirical self and of ethical and pious observance."

Instead of presenting his prepared talk Merton speaks extemporaneously on the question of "relevance". He begins by describing the monk in America as a "marginal person" with much in common with the hippy and the poet.

"Are monks and hippies and poets relevant? No, we are deliberately irrelevant. We live with an ingrained irrelevance which is proper to every human being. The marginal man accepts the basic irrelevance of the human condition, an irrelevance which is manifested above all by the fact of death. The marginal person, the monk, the displaced person, the prisoner, all these people live in the presence of death, which calls into question the meaning of life. He struggles with the fact of death in himself, trying to seek something deeper than death; because there is something deeper than death, and the office of the monk or marginal person, the meditative person or the poet is to go beyond death even in this life, to go beyond the dichotomy of life and death and to be therefore, a witness to life."

Merton goes on to speak of the reality of doubt in the midst of faith and of the need to break through the doubt and pierce the "irrelevance" in order to experience true "relevance" in God, the ultimate reality.

Whew... lots of deep stuff there!! Way too much to address meaningfully in a short and shallow blog like this. I will say that I am very intrigued by this theme. Particularly as it relates to our culture of "pragmatism" which values most things by their "relevance" to the cycle of producing and consuming. Perhaps I'll reflect more on it later. For now I think I'll go find a totally irrelevant song or video clip to post instead!

Irrelevantly yours... Rob

"Poetry often enters through the window of irrelevance,"

Mary Caroline Richards

"May we agree that private life is irrelevant? Multiple, mixed, ambiguous at best - out of it we try to fashion the crystal clear, the singular, the absolute, and that is what is relevant; that is what matters."

May Sarton - Poet

Merton and Khan - Kindred Spirits

2008-10-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

I share a few snippets from the Spiritual Summit Conference (Calcutta 1968) that speak of a particular affinity between Sufi Mystic Vilayat Inayat Khan and Trappist Monk Thomas Merton.

The Common Denominator of Spiritual Experience

"...we will be defeating our purpose if we present the the various dogmas of each religion... But when we seek, beyond the formal differences, the underlying human experience of the divine, then something happens which may have a snowball effect, for it is moved by the power of conviction." Vilayat Inayat Khan

"Even where there are irreconcilable differences in doctrine or formulated belief, there may still be great similarities and analogies in the realm of religious experience." Thomas Merton

On Syncretism

"We do not advocate syncretism or any new form of proselytism, for syncretism is a jumbled juxtaposition of exogenous dogmas." Vilayat Inayat Khan

"...there can be no question of a facile syncretism, a mish mash of semi-religious verbiage and pieties, a devotionalism that admits everything and therefore takes nothing with full seriousness." Thomas Merton

On Communion and Unity

"Where human thought, lifted to its apogee, meets itself in the thought of another in reverential communion, then new perspectives open up by the miracle of the interfusion of souls." Vilayat Inayat Khan

"At the deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond speech and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an older unity. My dear brothers we are already one. But we imagine we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is who we are." Thomas Merton

Jamini Roy

Merton and his freind Amiya Chakravarty had the chance to visit the home and studio of Indian artist Jamini Roy on October 22, 1968. Merton shares his impression in his journal...

"Jamini Roy himself, a warm, saintly old man, saying: "Everyone who comes into my house brings God into it."...All the faces glowing with humanity and peace. It was a great experience." AJTM 32

I would imagine that these days of the conference were very full of "great experiences" for Merton.

Peace and Blessings... Rob

Thy Light is in all forms,

Thy Love in all beings:

in a loving mother, in a kind father,

in an innocent child, in a helpful friend,

in an inspiring teacher.

Allow us to recognize Thee

in all Thy holy names and forms:

as Rama, as Krishna, as Shiva, as Buddha.

Let us know Thee as Abraham, as Solomon,

as Zarathustra,

as Moses, as Jesus, as Mohammed,

and in many other names and forms,

known and unknown to the world.

Hazrat Inyat Khan

"Religious Relevance"

2008-10-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

Thomas Merton attended the The Spiritual Summit Conference in Calcutta from October 22-26, 1968. The overall theme of the conference was the question of "religious relevance" (an oxymoron to some!) in the modern world. The following questions were posed to participants to stimulate thinking.

How does religion contribute to the growth of humanity in an age which features scientific development, material advancement, political power, and indifference towards the spirit.
What lessons does religion have to offer those who have put their faith in the computer and its offspring, the inter-continental ballistic missile, the moon rocket, and the miracles of telecommunication.
What can religion say to the countless young people in every land who have seen how unable we are to cope with injustice, war, famine, racial and religious prejudice and therefore are tending to pull away from religious institutions.

Noted scholar Huston Smith presented a thoughtful paper at the conclusion of the conference (it is included in the written proceedings as the "introduction" and is dedicated to Thomas Merton). Smith reflects on the transcendental, personal, and social dimensions of religion through the ages. He argues that religion must include all three of these components in various ways and that to remain relevant religion must become socially active and to remain religious such action must retain its ties with the transcendental and personal dimensions. He suggests that Eastern traditions can alert those of the West to the dangers of neglecting the personal and transcendental roots of religion and becoming "unrelievedly secular". He wraps up with this interesting quote from Timothy Leary's "High Priest".

"They have lost their fire somehow. They have lost the pulse. Their thing was dying and they new it. The Protestants just weren't religious. Their great thing was their social instinct, their sense of equality. But in their protest against the superstition and authoritarian priesthood they had lost the magic. When they threw out the statues and the incense and the robes and the chanting (all sensory), it became social and rational and senseless."

TTFN... Rob

"Never question the relevance of truth, but always question the truth of relevance." Craig Bruce

Space Races - Then and Now

2008-10-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

October 22, 1968: Apollo 7 Splashdown

The Apollo 7 splashdown took place without a hitch on October 22, 1968. Launches and splashdowns were a big event when I was a kid. We watched them all. A big space race between the U.S. and Russia.

October 22, 2008: Chandrayaan Lift-Off

It's interesting to note that 40 years later, to the day, India has launched it's first moon mission! Check out the story and videos here. Chandrayaan-1 Launch India's now in a space race with China. Some things just don't change!!

Live Long and Prosper... Rob

"Judging by the pollution content of the atmosphere, I believe we have arrived at the late twentieth century."

Spock in 'The Voyage Home'

Spiritual Summit Conference

2008-10-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

Calcutta - October 22-26, 1968

(find Thomas... click to enlarge)

Merton was in Calcutta to attend, and present at, the Spiritual Summit Conference, an interfaith gathering being organized by the Temple of Understanding. The conference ran from October 22-26, 1968 and was attended by leaders from many traditions. Attendees at the conference included Merton's good friend Amiya Chakravarty and M.I.T. professor Dr. Huston Smith, who was part of the editorial committee of the conference.

The theme of the conference was "The Relevance of Religion in the Modern World" (Still a pretty good question!). Religious perspectives shared around the table at this conference included: Baha'i; Buddhist; Christian; Confucian; Islamic; Jain; Judaic; Hindu; Sikh; and Zoroastrian.

The proceedings were published under the auspicious title: "The World Religions Speak on "the Relevance of Religion in the Modern World". The World Academy of Art and Science published the works. With the help of my daughter Kelly, I was able to find a copy in the UBC Library. I have been reading it and am finding it to be an excellent snapshot of the global religious community addressing some vital questions in 1968. I'll share a few "snippets" from the conference over the next few days, including a summary of Merton's presentations. Merton had a prepared paper to present but tossed it aside and spoke extemporaneously when his time came. This is wonderful, of course, because we now have two presentations from Merton instead of just one!

TTFN... Rob

Without going outside,

you may know the whole world.

Without looking through the window,

you may see the ways of heaven.

The farther you go, the less you know.

Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - chapter 47

The Beatles in India - 1968

(find Thomas)

The Beatles were in India in 1968 too! Well, who wasn't! They recorded a few songs in Bombay including "The Inner Light", written by George Harrison and based on the Tao Te Ching (above). It was released as a single on the reverse side of "Lady Madonna" in March 1968. Enjoy!!

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

2008-10-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

October 20, 1968
Merton had a "quite by chance" meeting with Tibetan Buddhist Chogyam Trungpa on October the 20th, a few days before the beginning of the conference. Naturally they hit it off quite well!

Chogyam Trungpa was instrumental in bringing Tibetan Buddhist teaching to the West. He established a meditation center in Scotland in the late 60's and then moved to the U.S. in 1970 where he continued to teach, eventually founding Shambhala. He established Gampo Abbey in Pleasant Bay, Nova Scotia (Cape Breton) in 1984. One of Chogyam Trungpa most prominent students, Pema Chodron, is now the resident teacher at Gampo Abbey.

This Day in History: October 20, 1968
Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis were married on this day on Onassis's private Greek Island Skorpios. Merton notes this in his journal. He was particularly close to the Kennedy's and corresponded at with both Ethel and Jacqueline on the occasion of JFK's assassination.

Peace and blessings... Rob

"Apart from experience, there is no religious life, so satori is an occurrence of daily life with its joys and sorrows." Dom Aeled Graham

Top of the Charts in October 1968

Calcutta 1968

2008-10-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

Merton's first impression of Calcutta is shock. I can only imagine the experience of one who has spent much of the previous 27 years in a rural American monastery as they enter into the "big, beat up, hot, teeming, incredible city." Overwhelming!! In a letter written later to friends he writes...

"My first contact with India was Calcutta. which, no matter how pepared you can be is always a shock. the poverty and misery are overwhelming there..." TMLL p.38.

Later, when Merton returns to Calcutta in November, he has a different impression.

"Returning to Calcutta I have a completeley new impression: greater respect for this vast, crumby city. There is a kind of nobility in its sordidness: the sheer quantity of everything... Calcutta is overwhelming: the elemental city, with no room left for masks. Only the naked truth of overpopultaion, underemployment, hunger, disease, a mixture of great vitality and permanent exhaustion... Before, when I was here first I was too shocked: the trauma made me see the city as a big blur. Now I see detail and contrasts, the infinite variety of light and shade." AJTM p.131-132

Still later he writes... "It is a city I love." AJTM p.171

Bangkok to Calcutta

2008-10-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

October 19, 1968

On October 19, 1968 Merton makes the trip from Bangkok to Calcutta, where he will participate in, and present at, the first Spiritual Summit Conference of the Temple of Understanding. The Temple of Understanding is an interfaith education and advocacy organization established in 1960 and still active today.

Merton shared this prayer with the conference...

O God, we are one with You
You have made us one with You.
You have taught us that if we are open to one another, You dwell in us.
Help us to preserve this openness and to fight for it with all our hearts.
Help us to realize that there can be no understanding where there is mutual rejection.
O God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely, we accept You, and we thank You, and we adore You, and we love You with our whole being, because our being is in Your being, our spirit is rooted in Your spirit.
Fill us then with love, and let us be bound together with love as we go our diverse ways, united in this one spirit which makes You present in the world, and which makes You witness to the ultimate reality that is love.
Love has overcome. Love is victorious. Amen.

--Thomas Merton AJTM p.318

Sunday Blessings... Rob

I am part and parcel of the whole and cannot find God apart from the rest of humanity.
— Mahatma Gandhi