Taking A Leisurely Walk With Merton And Other Spiritual Masters

International Thomas Merton Society conferences are like a chance to replenish our “inner aquifer.”

So often attending a conference is like going to the dentist. You know it’s good for you but can’t wait until it’s over. Not so the biennial conferences of the International Thomas Merton Society. The 2021 event took place last week and closed with prophetic talks by Quaker educator, author and activist Parker Palmer and singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer.

The entire conference was like taking a long, leisurely walk with not only with Merton, who died in 1968, but with a host of living spiritual masters.

Like many of the presenters, Parker and Carrie left us with profound questions, especially in light of the trauma we’ve endured individually and collectively in the past year over the pandemic, race relations and our fractured political discourse.

Overlaying the conference theme, “Thou Inward Stranger,” was the enduring spirit of Merton. A Trappist monk who lived at the Abbey of Gethsemani in the Kentucky hills, Merton called us urgently to seek our true self despite the lure of the world’s false narratives. As he writes in his poem, “Stranger:”

… Thou inward stranger

Whom I have never seen

Deeper and cleaner than the clamorous ocean,

Seize up my silence

Hold me in Thy Hand! …

In today’s column, I’d like to share some of the words spoken at the conference that moved me to deeper reflection. I plan to meditate on those thoughts in the coming week and hope they will offer fruitful contemplation for you as well.

Best-selling spirituality author Parker Palmer, whose books include “Let Your Life Speak,” “A Hidden Wholeness” and “On The Brink of Everything,” cites Thomas Merton as one of the major influences on his life.(Photo courtesy of Infed.org).

From Parker Palmer:

“It sometimes seems the issue of race is just too much for white people. [What is needed] is humility, confession and simple courage … How can we ally ourselves with those whom (African American mystic) Howard Thurman called The Disinherited?”

“How can I affirm another’s identity if I cannot affirm my own? … There is no way to welcome the stranger until we learn to welcome the stranger within ourselves.”

“So many want a God who is boxed, tied, and on our side. For this we pay a huge price.”

Folk singer, poet and activist Carrie Newcomer has realeased 19 CDs as well as collections of poetry and essays. Her songs such as “If Not Now, Tell Me When,” “Room at the Table” and “The Beautiful Not Yet” combine contemplative and social action themes. (Photo courtesy of carrienewcomer.com).

Newcomer, a dedicated social activist and one of the finest lyricists of our time, talked of continually seeking ways to fill our “inner aquifer” — with art, poetry, music, community and prayer. Her own poems and songs are a vast, refreshing aquifer for the soul.

From her song, “If Not Now, Tell Me When:”

I see sorrow and trouble in this land

Although there will be struggle,

we’ll make the change we can,

If not now, tell me when …

I may never see the promised land

Yet we’ll take the journey

And walk it hand in hand

If not now, tell me when …

It will take a change of heart

For this to mend

But miracles do happen

every shining now and then

If not now, if not now, tell me when …

We may never see this moment

Or place in time again

If not now, tell me when …

NY actor Douglas Hertler gave a masterful portrayal of Thomas Merton at thje 2021 Intl. Thomas Merton Society Conference. He is the author of the one-man play, “Merton and Me: A Living Trinity.”

I also can’t stop thinking about words shared at the conference by my friend, New York actor Douglas Hertler, author of the play “Merton and Me: A Living Trinity.” Doug quoted something African American theologian Brian Massingale had said at a previous Merton Society conference: “The fruit of mature contemplation leads to the search for social justice.”

That seems to be to be the essential longing of all who seek to live in the spirit of Thomas Merton — and Parker Palmer and Carrie Newcomer. To meet one’s inner stranger and to discover the true self in order to be in communion with others.

May these thoughts and questions from the 2021 Thomas Merton Society conference provide fruitful contemplation for us all in the coming week.

www.mertoncenter.org

www.couragerenewal,org and @parkerjpalmer

www.carrienewcomer.com

Thomas Merton, circa 1960, in front of his hermitage in the woods on the grounds of the Abbey of Gethsemani. (Photo courtesy of The Merton Center/Bellarmine University).