Monday, May 30, 2011
Solitude and Segregation
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From the weekly reflection from the Thomas Merton Institute:
From the weekly reflection from the Thomas Merton Institute:
There is no true solitude except interior solitude. And interior solitude is not possible for anyone who does not accept his right place in relation to other men. There is no true peace possible for the man who still imagines that some accident of talent or grace or virtue segregates him from other men and places him above them. Solitude is not segregation...God does not give us graces or talents or virtues for ourselves alone. We are members one of another and everything that is given to one member is given for the whole body. (Thomas Merton. New Seeds of Contemplation)Finding myself in solitude leads to finding myself amongst other people, amongst community, within experiences of service and leadership. Solitude leads me to ministry, of the truest sense. Ministry that is not self-serving and self-aggrandizing, but ministry that is for the betterment of the Other, whomever the other might be.
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2 comments:
yes. I agree. Though, it is a sort of ever-occuring process, a homeostasis of the soul, right? One state feeds the other, and in order to exist in solitude or in community, we must be able to move in and out of the states. To fully be present in them, we must leave and fuel in their opposite...
love Merton. So much to think on...thanks for posting!
Yes, exactly! A "moving in and out" that I think happens almost simultaneously, at best. For example, when we are serving with a large group of people, we retreat into that interior solitude and remember our connection with God alone. And when we are alone with just ourselves and God out in nature, we are taken in our thoughts and our prayers into connection with the rest of the world and the people we love. A "moving in and out" for sure....
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