An ice-encased seed head.The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.
--Thomas Merton
--Thomas Merton
I have started to read the newest Deepak Chopra book, The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore, and he immediately speaks to the idea in this Merton quote.
Chopra asserts that the Christianity that most practice now is a Christianity that decided long ago that Christ was too much and so they set out to settle for too little.
Christ was too compassionate; what human could live that way?
Christ was too loving; what human could live that way?
Christ was too tolerant; what human could live that way?
But Chopra's larger point is that not only are we capable but we must.
We must expect more of ourselves; we must strive to be Christ like; we must expect more of our churches.
Amen.
The Christ I await this Advent season is a Christ of pure love, pure acceptance, pure tolerance. He is the Christ of the New Testament, not the angry God of the old.
He is Light, light that is so pure and bright that it allows for no shadow.
As the sun begins to strengthen on this Solstice, may we all feel our own internal sun strengthen.
May it shine light on whatever smallness we are accepting from ourselves, whether as individuals or as communities.
This light was born into the world not to empower our prejudices, not to sanction our self-righteousness, but to burn away those things.
I leave you with what I think of as one of the most beautiful few minutes ever on television. What makes this scene even more powerful is that the actor is not acting; Martin Sheen is this person.
7 comments:
What awesome thoughts! Thanks for sharing them today :)
Way to go Martin!
Oh, thank you for that West Wing clip!!!! Had forgotten just how much I loved (and miss) that show. Sigh.
Amazingly enough, the sun is shining bright here this morning - a perfect solstice companion :-) I've flung open the shades (dirty windows and all!) and rolled up the sleeves of my flannel jammies to soak it in. Ahhhh!
You wrote:
As the sun begins to strengthen on this Solstice, may we all feel our own internal sun strengthen.
May it shine light on whatever smallness we are accepting from ourselves, whether as individuals or as communities.
This light was born into the world not to empower our prejudices, not to sanction our self-righteousness, but to burn away those things.
What a perfect reminder to seek the light, our light, in order to banish the darkness.
Thank you!
West Wing so rocks!
I had not come across Chopra's book yet. It is amazing how sometimes the greatest voices of truth must come from people who stand outside of a tradition. They can look in and see the beauty and the flaws without being blinded by all that cultural history, all that inherited limitation.
This Merton quote really has me thinking - in one of those joyous synchronicities that seem to mark so much of life, it speaks so well to an idea I have been working on...
I hope that your spirits are brightening and that your bliss seems more in reach. You are in my prayers.
Blessings,
Marisa
I'm glad the TV clip was so uplifting! :)
Lisa, The sun is shining here, too, and yes, it does seem amazing. :) It is a day meant for walking, I think.
Marisa,
Exactly about the Chopra book -- I was thinking that the second I started reading it..."Now, HE can see this, WHY can't others?..." And you answer that why perfectly. I will be excited to find out (if we do) what the Merton quote got you to thinking about. And thank you for your prayers. You are right about saying that we believe those things and then ALLOWING them to work on us! :)
That clip from the West Wing gave me chills!!!!!!! That was fabulous!!
Peace & Love.
It's ironic to me that there are so many saints in the canon of the Catholic church who are in various ways strange 'choices' but someone like Merton is not a saint when his influence is huge.
But then I'd guess he wouldn't be that interested anyway.
I love the challenge of which both he and Chopra (who I must read some time) speak. Love it and slightly fear it also.
And yes, those shining Sheen moments. I saw this quite recently actually but it never stales. I'm a bit fan of the CJ character as well, and her journey through the series.
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