Merton and Gandi
. Thomas Merton and Mahatma Gandhi both speak of God in a personal way. They both speak of God as truth. Famous Thomas Merton, Trappist American monk, was a traditional Christian. Born in France in 1915 and died in Asia in 1968 Merton was greatly influenced by the complexities of the twentieth century. His writings served as a personal may in his search for God.. He pursued the ascending path towards the eternal kingdom of truth, towards heaven, while leaving the world of shadowy existence behind. Truth would be a passion of his life. He also took it upon himself to speak on behalf of the disenfranchised of the word. Thomas Merton was a dynamic, modern man who committed himself to a lifelong search for a meaningful and authentic way of life. He had only one desire and that was the desire for solitude-to disappear into God, to be submerged in his peace, to be lost in the secret of his face. This singular passion and boundless energy led him to combine in one life a unique variety of roles, prolific spiritual writer and poet, monk and hermit, social activist,
Merton's view of non-violent protests of US involvement in Vietnam is similar to that of Martin Luther Kings ideas of non-violence in Civil Rights issues. King said "The purpose of non-violent protest, in its deepest and most spiritual dimensions is to awaken the conscience of the white man to the awful reality of his injustice and of his sin, so that he will be able to see that the black man problem is really a white problem: the cancer of injustice is rooted in the heart of the white man himself. . Woodcock, George, Thomas Merton, Farrar-Straus-Giroux, 1978 p 153. Merton loved people, but he also loved nature. He told us to begin "by learning how to see and respect the visible creation which mirrors the glory and the perfection of the invisible God". Everything that surrounds us, the trees, the ocean, the waves, the sky, the sun, the birds, it is in all this that we will find our answers. God is omnipresent; we do not see this because we are not contemplative. . Datta. Dhirendra Mohaan, The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, 1953 p 44. . Forest, Jim, Living With Wisdom: A Life of Thomas Merton, Orbis Books, 1991 p 134. Many feel that a monastery is a sanctuary to escape from the realities of the real world. Merton saw it as helping rescue the world from the new dark ages. "In the night of our technological barbarism, monks must be as trees which exist silently in the dark and by their vital presence purify the air." Some believe Merton's world was the monastery grounds, the whole world was. He believed that all men and women are to be seen and treated as Christ. Failure to do this, involves condemnation for disloyalty to the most fundamental of revealed truths. Encounters with Christ must be followed by the encounters and both must be experienced with the same love. It's a love that frees, not a love that wants to possess or manipulate. The great Indian teacher, Mahatma Gandhi, philosophy was very similar.
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Approximate Word count = 2830
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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