I came across this journal entry of Thomas Merton written on March 2, 1966. It is from a compilation of Merton’s journalistic writings, titled The Intimate Merton, edited by Br. Patrick Hart and Jonathan Montaldo. It is so universal, as was so much of Merton’s writing, and thus so appropriate to our own time, a time of uncertainty, which causes us to wonder if we will survive, and to think. perhaps, that ours is a unique age. Every age has its uniqueness, but underneath it all things remain very much the same. As Merton says…
A flash of sanity: the momentary realization that there is no need to come to certain conclusions about persons, events, conflicts, trends, even trends toward evil and disaster, as if from day to day and even from moment to moment I had to know and declare (at least to myself) that this is so and so, this is good, this is bad. We are heading for a “new era” or we are heading for destruction. What do such judgments mean? Little or nothing. Things are as they are in an immense whole of which I am a part and which I cannot pretend to grasp. To say I grasp it is immediately to put myself in a false position, as if I were “outside” it. Whereas to be in it is to seek truth in my own life and actions, moving where movement is possible and keeping still when movement is unnecessary, realizing that things will continue to define themselves and that the judgments and mercies of God will clarify themselves and will be more clear to me if I am silent and attentive, obedient to His will, rather than constantly formulating statements in this age which is smothered in language, in meaningless and inconclusive debate in which, in the last analysis, nobody listens to anything except what agrees with his own prejudices.
I find this very reassuring. And I believe what Merton says here is true and full of insight for us and people of every age. We are living in a time of deep disquiet, but as Merton says this is the place we inhabit always, and any thought that we can corral this bewilderment with our with our craftily constructed declarations is foolishness, an evasion from reality. Why is this? I think at bottom it is because we are not in control and we struggle against admitting it. We don’t want to concede how little control we actually have. The latest reminder is the implosion of our global economic architecture. It’s all tumbling down around us, and the news is frightening. Merton reminds us that this is an opportunity to recall who we really are: children of God, and it would benefit us if we stop our frenetic activities trying to define everything and answer that which is beyond our answering, and rest in God, and that his “judgments and mercies… will clarify themselves and will be more clear to me if I am silent and attentive, obedient to His will…”
Take heart, things are the same from age to age, just the players change.
