P I T T I G

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness, which is untouched by sin and by illusion. A point of pure truth – a point or spark which belongs entirely to God. It is like a pure diamond blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody. I have no programme for seeing this, it is only given, but the gate of heaven is everywhere.

— — — Thomas Merton, uit: Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton - a documentary.

Zie ook mijn bericht ‘De reis van Thomas Merton’ met enkele videobeelden uit deze documentaire,
waaronder het fragment waar hij deze uitspraak doet (clip 2).

Thomas Keating: ‘You and the Other (capital O)’ – a clip from ‘ONE – the movie’.

Hij spreekt over drie stappen in de relatie tussen jezelf en de Ander:

1. Realization that there is an Other
2. To try to become the Other
3. Finally the realization that there is no Other

“Father Thomas Keating spent twenty years as the abbot of St. Joseph’s Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts, and is now the leading figure in an interdenominational movement to revitalize the Christian contemplative practice known as “centering prayer.” He is the cofounder of Contemplative Outreach, an organization devoted to introducing Christian contemplative practices to laypeople of all faiths, and the author of several books, including Open Mind, Open Heart and Intimacy with God, both of which describe the process of spiritual development that such practices are intended to catalyze. He has met and studied with spiritual teachers from a variety of Hindu and Buddhist lineages and helped to create, fifteen years ago, the Snowmass Interreligious Conference, at which teachers from different traditions meet regularly to compare views and ideas, and to evaluate objectively the benefits and drawbacks of their respective practices.

Faith means doubt. Faith is not the suppression of doubt. It is the overcoming of doubt and you overcome doubt by going through it. A man of faith who never experiences doubt is not a man of faith.

— — — Thomas Merton, uit: Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton - a documentary.

Zie ook mijn bericht ‘De reis van Thomas Merton’ met enkele videobeelden uit deze documentaire,
waaronder het fragment waar hij deze uitspraak doet (clip 2).

Het bezoek van Merton aan de Liggende Boeddha in Polonnaruwa, Sri lanka en de verdieping die het bracht in zijn geloofsleven.

Drie stukjes uit de documentaire: Soul Searching -  The Journey of Thomas Merton

Drie kleine stukjes uit een documentaire van Morgan Atkinson uit oktober 2008. Deze documentaire gaat over het leven van de trappistenmonnik, denker, schrijver, dichter, mysticus, activist en interreligieuze pionier Thomas Merton.

“Onze echte reis in het leven is innerlijk.”

— — — Thomas Merton, Circular Letter to Friends, herfst 1968.

Overgenomen uit de Nederlandstalige verzamelbundel van Thomas Merton: ‘Wegen naar het Paradijs’.