Since Merton is no longer with us, I think we can find the answer to the question in his letter to Berrigan, as found in "The Hidden Ground of Love: the Letters of Thomas Merton on Religious Experience and Social Concerns. Edited by William H. Shannon. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1985. pp. 83-4."
"With this spiritual nosegay I declare myself your happy and insouciant Kentucky friend, and nowonder Henry Miller says I look like an ex-con and like him and like Genet. Actually, though, it is only Picasso I look like which is deceptive: he got money."
The Plowshare movement has been much influenced by the argument of Thomas Merton,
"The movement has been much influenced by the argument of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and supporter of the Catholic anti-war movement of the 1960s and 70s, that Christian witness against war does not rely on concrete results in order to be worthwhile."
How do you apply these statements by Merton, which he made a few weeks before he died,- to today’s conditions?
“I am mad at my friends who are going around burning draft records. I think they are nuts…. They are ruining the whole thing they are trying to help….You have to get to a sort of meeting point where everybody can more or less agree.” [“Signs of Hope” by Gorden Oyer—page 108]
“Most activists do not go in for naked violence yet, but they will. In other words, there are ways and means to force people to go in a certain direction. That is okay, that is politics, you might say. If you are a politician you need to know about it and deal with it, but we have to stay out of it.” (Thomas Merton – Thomas Merton in Alaska – page 108)
“Non-violence has become all fouled-up and is turning into a sort of semi-violence.” (Thomas Merton – Thomas Merton in Alaska– page109)
i actually heard Merton talk about non-violence, as the way we work within the system to speak truth to power. As Jesus did as being political and not partisan. So to with us, non-violence peaceful actions and demestrations are poltical when we use violence we are partisan, meaning Partisan typically refers to individuals or groups who are strongly aligned with a particular political party or ideology as an organization for polical purposes, often to the point of being biased or one-sided in their views and actions. and for Merton it meant being politcal as in understanding that political is a broader term that encompasses all aspects of government we live in, including policies, processes, and decision-making, and can be more neutral in its connotations, such as the examples Jesus demonstarted in his life. When he talked about these aspects it was in 1967 and Spring of 68. it did leave me with a lot to ponder at an early age and given the world situation at the time. He would talk about the how and why we need to engage in activities related to governance and policy-making, in the political process through voting, advocacy, etc.such as marches and demonstrations that are peaceful, and that we should all realize that we can involve differing opinions and debates within a political system…he would say we need to realize even Jesus’ followes had variing ideas of political action of the time, just ask the zealots in his following.
“From Prayer to Practical Love**
Merton offers a warning here:
He says activism without contemplation becomes frantic, self-righteous, or burnout-driven.”
Does Merton mean the kind of activism that the Berrigan brothers used, trying to resist the use of nuclear weapons in the Plowshares Movement?
Since Merton is no longer with us, I think we can find the answer to the question in his letter to Berrigan, as found in "The Hidden Ground of Love: the Letters of Thomas Merton on Religious Experience and Social Concerns. Edited by William H. Shannon. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1985. pp. 83-4."
"With this spiritual nosegay I declare myself your happy and insouciant Kentucky friend, and nowonder Henry Miller says I look like an ex-con and like him and like Genet. Actually, though, it is only Picasso I look like which is deceptive: he got money."
The Plowshare movement has been much influenced by the argument of Thomas Merton,
"The movement has been much influenced by the argument of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and supporter of the Catholic anti-war movement of the 1960s and 70s, that Christian witness against war does not rely on concrete results in order to be worthwhile."
How do you apply these statements by Merton, which he made a few weeks before he died,- to today’s conditions?
“I am mad at my friends who are going around burning draft records. I think they are nuts…. They are ruining the whole thing they are trying to help….You have to get to a sort of meeting point where everybody can more or less agree.” [“Signs of Hope” by Gorden Oyer—page 108]
“Most activists do not go in for naked violence yet, but they will. In other words, there are ways and means to force people to go in a certain direction. That is okay, that is politics, you might say. If you are a politician you need to know about it and deal with it, but we have to stay out of it.” (Thomas Merton – Thomas Merton in Alaska – page 108)
“Non-violence has become all fouled-up and is turning into a sort of semi-violence.” (Thomas Merton – Thomas Merton in Alaska– page109)
i actually heard Merton talk about non-violence, as the way we work within the system to speak truth to power. As Jesus did as being political and not partisan. So to with us, non-violence peaceful actions and demestrations are poltical when we use violence we are partisan, meaning Partisan typically refers to individuals or groups who are strongly aligned with a particular political party or ideology as an organization for polical purposes, often to the point of being biased or one-sided in their views and actions. and for Merton it meant being politcal as in understanding that political is a broader term that encompasses all aspects of government we live in, including policies, processes, and decision-making, and can be more neutral in its connotations, such as the examples Jesus demonstarted in his life. When he talked about these aspects it was in 1967 and Spring of 68. it did leave me with a lot to ponder at an early age and given the world situation at the time. He would talk about the how and why we need to engage in activities related to governance and policy-making, in the political process through voting, advocacy, etc.such as marches and demonstrations that are peaceful, and that we should all realize that we can involve differing opinions and debates within a political system…he would say we need to realize even Jesus’ followes had variing ideas of political action of the time, just ask the zealots in his following.