I started watching Merton: A Film Biography (1984) last night and finished it this morning. Perfect beginning to my day alone. I have some tasks I wish to complete so I will get this journal entry done so I can keep moving. Maybe the problem with my monastic days is my laziness, it is good to have a chore to complete.
I am looking out into the backyard from the kitchen table; the persimmon has less than a dozen leaves. The sun is still low at 9:30 AM so the shadows are long. Weather.com says 59 degrees. Good weather to feel contemplative, it is the closest to the feeling of the fall days the rest of the country enjoys we will have in southern California.
Near the beginning of the film, one person mentioned how when you start reading Merton, you want to read more and more of his books. That is how it was for me in college and the years that followed. I enjoyed and remembered a lot of the readings they used in the movie. I wanted to get out my Merton books and start reading. That will probably wait for retirement.
There were lots of threads also such as the Dalai Lama or Thich Nhat Hanh talking about there meeting and relationship with Merton. I wrote down where I think they were quoting Merton that the path of all great traditions was to transform human consciousness through spiritual discipline. The one thing he wanted to be remembered from his last talk in Asia was that we can't rely on structures, we stand on our own feet. That coincides with my current situation where I am not feeling that supported by the Methodist Church but I am not attracted to switch since I don't think it will be that much better or at least not appropriate at this time.
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I started Reading Merton's "New Seeds of Contemplation" and could hardly put it down. By the time I finish the book I will have read it at least 3 times because I reread most chapters at least twice before moving on.
My spot for "Monk Days" is on a swing in my backyard where I can watch my birdfeeders. It is easy to lose myself in God, in the moment, and in Merton while sitting on that swing.
Thanks for sharing.
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