“We live on the brink of disaster because we do not know how to let life alone. We do not respect the living and fruitful contradictions and paradoxes of which true life is full. We destroy them, or try to destroy them, with our obsessive and absurd systematizations. Whether we do this in the name of matter or in the name of spirit makes little difference in the end. There are atheists [and even Christians] who fight God and atheists [ as well as Christians] who claim to believe in Him: what they both have in common is the hatred of life, the fear of the unpredictable, the dread of grace, and the refusal of every spiritual gift.”
Thomas Merton. A Thomas Merton Reader. Edited by Thomas P. McDonnell (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1962): 18.
Emphasis mine.
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June 3, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Sherry Chandler
Oh man! I like this one. It’s one I need to hear.
June 3, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Mike Lovell
Okay, either my reading comprehension skills have receded since my school days, or this writing is still above my head…could you please break this down into everyday contemporary english?
It sounds powerful, but I know not why…
June 3, 2008 at 4:29 pm
helenl
Thanks Sherry. I like it, too.
Well Mike, Here’s an attempt.
Paraphrase: We live on the edge of disaster (tragedy, despair, negative drama) because we do not seem to understand that life is full of contractions. We try to control these things by categorizing them. We look for a label for every thought and person. It doesn’t matter whether this constant control by naming (name it and claim it) is secular or spiritual (whether we believe in God or don’t): the result is the same. We are fearful, nervous people, afraid of what will happen . . . . because we don’t control it. We live this way because we don’t control life; God does, and we don’t like that. We will not live in His grace and accept what understanding we are (spiritually) given. If we did, we wouldn’t live “on the brink of disaster.”
And thinking further: Will the world end, even if bad (socialist, liberal, stupid, put-his-foot-in-his-mouth-when-he’s-been-awake-for-three-solid-months, damn-why-won’t-he–tell-us-his-every-plan-about-how-to-solve-virtually-everything) Barack Obama is the Democratic candidate? And if a black man becomes president and brings the troops home, does that mean God is no longer in control? And if, a whole bunch of gays get married and move into our neighborhoods and have cookouts and kiss outside before the kids are in bed, so that the kids say, “Why are those two men kissing?” will God have to step up His plan for the return of Jesus? Or can we learn to relax, let God be God, and we become less nervous people—the kind who welcome grace and spiritual gifts for ourselves and everyone else?
June 3, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Mike Lovell
Okay, I can follow that!! Thank you very much Helen!
June 3, 2008 at 4:40 pm
helenl
You are welcome, Mike.
June 4, 2008 at 11:39 am
Jana Allard
The words that really get me in this post is, “…the dread of grace…” Who would dread grace?!?!? That is actually an absurd thought to me. It’s rather funny that you brought the thought of Obama into this post. I have been telling people (who oppose Obama) from the very beginning, that God is in control. If Obama gets presidency, it is part of God’s plan whether you like it or not.
June 4, 2008 at 1:21 pm
helenl
Many of us actually do dread grace, Jana. We like to think that we are right and that the people we’ve approved (usually using what we think are Biblical principles) are the rightful recipients of grace. But if grace is really God’s doing, and not ours, couldn’t God choose to send grace to Muslims. After all, Jesus died for everyone (including Muslims). They aren’t trusting Jesus for salvation. But what if God chooses to send grace (undeserved blessing) to them? Why we want to reach for our Bibles right now to prove that just can’t happen. What about homosexuals? What if God sends them His grace? What if Catholics get grace and murderers and that horrible guy who shut his family in the basement and raped his daughter? They can. If God’s really in charge of grace, and it’s unearned. Human selfishness makes us covet grace for our group. Why do we believe there isn’t enough for everyone ever born (or not born, if you count aborted children)? We actually do dread God sending grace to people we don’t understand and whose actions we don’t approve of.
May God have mercy on we who covet His amazing, infinite grace.
June 4, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Jana Allard
I believe God’s grace extends to anyone. There are very few times that God ever cut anyone off from his grace and He had reason to do so. That decision must be left up to Him and not us. We can never determine if anyone is not worthy of His grace. It is simple yet some make it so hard because they want to play “God.”
June 4, 2008 at 9:26 pm
helenl
Amen, Jana.