The Springs of Contemplation by Thomas Merton

Author:Thomas Merton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2011-03-09T16:00:00+00:00

PROPHECY, ALIENATION, LANGUAGE

YESTERDAY we talked about the prophetic aspect of our vocation. I wanted to get down to the most fundamental root of our life—the prophetic function. I was saying that this is not accounted for, either by the conservative approach or by the progressive approach. The conservative approach wants to fit us into a medieval society; the progressive, into modern society. Neither of these is prophetic. So we’re caught between two traps. This is hardly ever talked about.

The conservative viewpoint says: Hold on to the tradition of the founders and the structures that have come down so far; they’re adequate, they work. For us, this view has a certain value, for we know that buried in it somewhere is the prophetic character of our vocation. All we have to do is recover it. The progressive view says: Get with the modern world because it’s prophetic. Join the liberal, radical advance in society because revolution is prophetic or social change within the structure is prophetic.

The standpoint I take is from the point of view of some modern thinkers, like Herbert Marcuse, who are very influential among the young today. Marcuse is not Catholic, but he’s a kind of monastic thinker. His idea of freedom is the kind that we’re constituted for. Like the young, he is radically questioning structures. Most of the newer generation are not Marxists at all, but neither do they fit into present cultural patterns. They get a bit anarchistic and wild sometimes, but this has to be understood. The revolution of the French students now is very significant: it expresses the frustration of people who have nowhere to go, so all they can do is explode. Not that this helps. It’s no solution. But it has to be expected.

The question for us is: Are we going to be caught in a society that is much more permissive than the rigid ones of Marxism but yet also totalitarian? This is never admitted, but it’s true in the sense that everything important is really determined for people beforehand. What’s left is trivial. You cannot make choices that really influence the society itself.

An example occurs to me here, the Poor People’s March on Washington. Everyone knows in advance that nothing’s going to change. This is reflected in the thinking of the people who go when they say, “This is your last chance. If nothing happens now, you’re going to have a lot of trouble.” They foresee there’ll be no real change. A report from someone in Washington quotes a black woman from the ghetto who tried to communicate with an official there. “I’m going to tell you the kind of life that me and my husband live. Our ceiling fell in and he was hurt and needs crutches …” Then her husband breaks in and tries to describe how things are. Finally the woman says, “And if you people don’t do something, we’re going to do like Jesus. We’re going to come back again.” The officials just listened, smiled, and said, “Thank you for coming.

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