tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822894759353679437.post2499940616087546089..comments2024-03-01T23:41:02.240-05:00Comments on louie, louie: true solitary, false solitarybeth cioffolettihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09300116274007165612noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822894759353679437.post-7672159684288326072007-08-13T06:30:00.000-05:002007-08-13T06:30:00.000-05:00I'm so glad he didn't shut them out. But I don't ...I'm so glad he didn't shut them out. But I don't read in any of his writings where he says that shutting out people - or adherance to a strict apartness - is part of an ideal of solitude. <BR/><BR/>You're right, he was of 2 minds on this. He had many friends outside of the monastery, and many visitors. In his journals he is frequently complaining about the load of letters he has to answer, and the visitors. It seems that he was always yearning for more time alone.<BR/><BR/>THere was a kind of "tension" (or balance?) there that I recognize in my own life.beth cioffolettihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300116274007165612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822894759353679437.post-24270337145297692052007-08-12T21:43:00.000-05:002007-08-12T21:43:00.000-05:00I was thinking more of his connections with those ...I was thinking more of his connections with those outside the Trappist community -- the literary folk, the peace movement, the numerous visitors and pilgrims who found their way to his hermitage. He could have shut them out, but he chose not to. Like those you mentioned in earlier postings, they sought his advice and he learned of their work in the world beyond Gethsemane, which enriched his understanding. How difficult it must have been not to feel a sense of celebrity. I realize he was (at least) two minds on this, but he did choose to kind of straddle the fence rather than bury himself.<BR/>Was he groping towards an ideal of solitude or had he made compromises?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822894759353679437.post-17125063225290101972007-08-12T20:06:00.000-05:002007-08-12T20:06:00.000-05:00These are the words from Dom James that I was tryi...These are the words from Dom James that I was trying to remember:<BR/><BR/>"Fr. Louis had a highly emotional, "ex abrupto" and super-dynamic nature. Yet he "worked at it" daily, and mastered it completely; that is to say, he brought himself successfully under the controlling influence of Jesus, if not at the first instant of struggle - "primo-primi" as one terms it - eventually. Only Jesus knows the heroic efforts he had to make at times. But it is in this very area of self-immolation and self-purgation, and not in his writings, that his true "greatness" really lies"<BR/>p. 147, Thomas Merton, Monk - a monastic tributebeth cioffolettihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300116274007165612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822894759353679437.post-24055967771238352372007-08-12T19:57:00.000-05:002007-08-12T19:57:00.000-05:00My guess is both, Barbara.Like all of us, Merton s...My guess is both, Barbara.<BR/><BR/>Like all of us, Merton struggled with his own needs for approval and recognition. His journals especially show how "on guard" he was to his own ego needs.<BR/><BR/>Dom James, Merton's Abbot through most of his monastic years, claims that Merton had a highly emotional ("artist" I think was the word he used) temperament, but that through prayer he had mastered it completely.<BR/><BR/>It was an interesting relationship - Dom James was Merton's Abbot, Merton was Dom James' confessor. <BR/><BR/>According to Dom James, Merton was very sensitive regarding the esteem and affection that his fellow brothers held for him. About his hermit life, Merton told Dom James: "One thing that can cause you great suffering is this: You will be out there in solitude and seclusion. The thought will come to you that the Community has disowned you, scorns you, ostrasized you for good. This thought can torture you at times in a very excruciating manner."<BR/><BR/>I think that Merton knew the difference between needing the love of his brothers, and admiration sought from an ego need - and this distinction is important in his argument for solitary life.beth cioffolettihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300116274007165612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822894759353679437.post-24382500971270462162007-08-12T17:59:00.000-05:002007-08-12T17:59:00.000-05:00Frankly, I sometimes wonder into which category/ie...Frankly, I sometimes wonder into which category/ies Merton would place himself. I refer to the segment:<BR/><BR/>“[the false solitary’s] solitude is imaginary … the false solitary is one who is able to imagine himself without companions while in reality he remains just as dependent on society as before – if not more dependent. He needs society as a ventriloquist needs a dummy. He projects his own voice and it comes back to him admiring, approving, opposing or at least adverting to his own separateness.”<BR/><BR/>Is he describing the ideal to which he aspired or his lived experience?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com