Merton And Gandi Essays - Pacifism, Gandhism, Mystics, Thomas Merton

Merton And Gandi The Beliefs of Thomas Merton and Mahatma Gandhi David Wardwell Religion and Personal Experience . 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, all while living at the Trappist monastery in Gethsemani, Kentucky. Merton, a monk under a vow of silence, found fame by not seeking it, by speaking the truth. Much can be said with the praise ?the truth will set your free? Merton provided a path that is still setting people free. Freedom from silence. 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. 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. Merton believed a Christian society is one in which men give their share of labor and intelligence and in return receive their share of the fruits of the labor, which is seen in the Kingdom of God, a society centered upon the divine truth and the divine mercy. In such a society the prophetic role of the monk would be fulfilled, in the sense that his renunciation of the right of ownership was an affirmation of God's ownership of everything and of man's right to be a possessor only in so far as he was willing to share with others what he did not need. Merton did not feel impelled to become involved in political deeds. He believed the monk's duty was to cultivate consciousness and awareness however, truth and God demanded he speak out loudly and often against all forms of war. He stated that the Vietnam war was an example of Americans seeing their country as the center of the world, imposing their will, in the name of freedom, on weaker nations that might stand in their way. It was a needless destruction of human life, a rape of a culture which could only lead to the death of the spirit of an exhausted people. He saw men striving to negotiate for peace, and failing because their fear overbalanced their true good will. ?The root of all war is fear.?