(In August 1965, Thomas Merton was granted permission to live full-time in his hermitage. This is an excerpt from the last talk he gave to the novices before moving to the hermitage. Reflecting on “freedom from care” as essential for the monk and especially for the hermit, Merton touches on a theme that has relevance for all people.)
What does the solitary life mean? It is the same as all monastic life. There is one basic, essential thing in the monastic life and in the Christian life, the thing that we all seek in one way or another, and it is some assurance that it is possible in this kind of life to put away all care, to live without care, to not have to care. Now, what do you mean, “not have to care”? Not to say: “Well, I don’t care. I don’t care what they do. I don’t care if they say Mass in Chinese, they won’t faze me.” No, that’s not it. But the life of the world, in the bad sense of the word, is a life of care. It is a life of useless care. And it is a life of self-defeating care, because it is a life which cannot confront the inevitable fact of death. It is a life which is full of death, it has death built into it and it cannot get away from that fact. A life that is nothing but a straight line towards the grave and a lot of little circular lines to forget the grave as you travel towards the grave is a life of care, and it is a life of ever-increasing care and it is a life of frustration and futility,
Ideally speaking, the hermit life is supposed to be the life in which all care is completely put aside. First of all, because it is a death. It accepts death as a completely built-in fact of life. It is a death to society, it is a death to certain consolations of society, a death to certain kinds of support, and it is a renunciation even of care. A person doesn’t go into solitude simply to practice a lot of virtues. If that’s what is supposed to happen I’m probably not going to be able to make the grade. But you go into solitude in order to cast your care upon the Lord.
Here is this beautiful passage from Caussade about what I think that I am supposed to do, living up on top of that hill and what we are all supposed to do, one way or another: “Since God offers to take upon HImself the care of our affairs, let us once for all abandon them to His infinite wisdom, that we may never more be occupied with aught but Him and His interests.” Period. That is what the solitary life means. It is a life in which you no longer care about anything because God is taking care of everything. That is why you don’t have a great many contacts with the world, you’re not terribly occupied with a lot of people and a lot of works and projects; you are simply letting God take care of all those things. You cast your care upon the Lord. (From Thomas Merton, Essential Writings- Selected by Christine M. Bochen)
So? What do you think? Does he have a point? Is he suggesting that we stop caring for and about others?
A life free from care ? Are you not familiar with Merton’s journal six ?
Freedom
Thomas Merton, aka “Brother Monk,” was way ahead of his time. He tasted deeply of monastic life, & understood being a hermit was to experience God in a very profound way within. I love his book, “The Living Bread,” the true experience of communion with Jesus. Merton is the modern day model for lay hermits.
Do not spend your days storing up for yourselves treasures on earth. For where your treasure is and your time is spent, there your heart will be also.
Also, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. All of these things are impermanent. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet they are provided for. And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. If this is how God clothes the grass of the field, and feeds the birds of the air, why do you assume we be absent from his care.
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’Your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Can any man, by worrying add a moment hour his life?
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6
You’re on target, Justin! Merton used more words to say what Jesus did but he couldn’t say it better. Thanks for pointing that out! Karen
Merton’s awareness that the hermit is one who knows that death is inevitable is timely for me. I saw so clearly the clash between my acceptance of my husband’s inevitable death versus the medical profession’s insistence that his life be prolonged after all hope was lost. After James had been technically dead for twenty minutes, the ER was so proud that they had revived him! Later, the ICU said that they could “keep him alive another week” if that would be more convenient for me! During those terrible hours, I was very aware that this culture is death-denying at all costs, and that the two people involved who had spent more time in solitude and personal reflection were death-accepting.
This passage brings to mind Martha and Mary at Lazarus’ home, one busy with the “cares” of serving the Master and His friends and the other busy with hearing Him. It is a often used metaphor for monastic life, and especially true for those of us who strive to embrace the eremitic life. We are, each one of us Martha and Mary at various times of our life, of the year, of the month even of the day. We have cares. Who can totally escape them even in a wilderness? Yet our vocation is to live a balance of these sisters, tending to our cares while we still have needs and these must be met, and stopping to listen, becalmed by the voice of the Teacher. It is a lesson for each day.
Fr. Kyril, Thanks for your insightful reflection on Martha and Mary. We are both and that is as it should be. Even during our “Mary-moments” spent listening to the Lord, we are also serving the world spiritually. And when we are involved in caring for others, we bring the prayerful listening of Mary with us. I’ve never liked it when certain writers or preachers make it sound like one is better than the other. Yes, Jesus said: “Mary has chosen the better part” but I believe he meant that Martha should feel free to come to him also at any time … and not when “all the work is done.” It never is!
Thank you, Lynda, for your thoughtful reflection! We bet many other “lovers of solitude” can resonate with your experience. You have laid a good foundation so that “solitude” is now the place you live from, even as you tend to all those who ask for your care. We come to a point where we don’t see ourselves as hermits (as Merton says) but simply see as hermits. Make sense? Karen & Paul
Yes, it makes perfect sense … “see as hermits” … that slight wording change feels like when one draws back the drapes from a window to reveal a vista that has patiently been waiting to be seen!
I am a beginner. Green. Please describe to me that VISTA. I feel the drawing. Inward. Toward my Center. I will give up EVERYTHING to Experience and Know my Oneness with Christ. What is the Vista of the Oneness with Christ?
Dear Kimberley,
Peace! We all love the feeling of closeness, of oneness to Christ. But as you know, feelings come and go, especially if we get involved in some distractions. That is what you have experienced. Christ did not move, he is just as close to you as always but your ability to FEEL His Presence is scattered. Give yourself some quiet time and let go of any anxiety that may be bothering you.
I have to take Merton’s talk within the context it was offered – the mid-20th century, as a one who has been living as a monk for some time and who does not have to consider family, financial, etc. commitments in following his calling to become a hermit. He is speaking of what it is to be a hermit in the Christian tradition as well (though we know other traditions take similar positions re withdrawal from everyday life of those called to this way). So it is one way to describe “what the solitary life means,” to say it is a life without cares, without many worldly contacts or projects, etc. But many of us are not at a place where we can go as far, logistically, as Merton was able to do. We have partners; we have to maintain at least a minimal commitment to a way to provide for our basic needs; we have health situations that require engagement in the world…
I am not trying to be a hermit like Merton. I am not “trying” to be a hermit. I am ever so slowly, in secret ways I don’t see until after the fact, being seduced into stillness, silence, solitude – lured by glimpses of Presence, of Oneness. And part of the luring is a taking away, one by one, of the things that made me care about being a hermit.
I used to faithfully meditate twice a day, every day. That has been taken from me so that I don’t know when I am meditating and when I am not.
I used to go on retreats at wonderful hermitages and retreat centers, playing hermit like a child may play act a story that was read to her. That has been taken from me. Where I get to go now, is the house where I live with my spouse and having only those times when he is elsewhere or at end of day, when we enter our separate bedrooms, and I can have the solitude of whatever wakefulness I can steal from a body needing the restorative of sleep.
I used to practice and study within a particular spiritual tradition. And then that was taken, and I practiced and studied, one by one, in other spiritual traditions. Then that was taken – so no more being saved, taking refuge, surrendering to the guru, being annihilated by the Beloved. No more congregation, sangha, ashram, meditation group, prayer circle.
I used to live far away from my children and grandchildren, so it was easy to “care from a distance;” minimal energy expenditure; minimal disruption to my “spiritual life.” That was taken four years ago, when I was put into a little village where my children and grandchildren also live. So the “luxury” of caring-at-a-distance was taken; I must, daily, confront the complexity of caring up close.
So, perhaps the idea of the hermit giving up all cares has to be contemplated in the context each of us dwell within, including the “tradition” we each dwell within – or the lack thereof, when that security blanket to end all security blankets is taken.
Hi Lynda,
I just found this blog – have been getting the quarterly for a long time. But I have to say about your response to T. Merton’s airy-fairy (LOL) view of solitary life that it’s much what I was thinking.
“Easy for YOU to say, Thomas.”
Maybe other people would say the same about my life, although for very different reasons.
Thanks for saying it.
Janet
Linda, that was so beautiful; it really spoke to me, especially your phrase; “being seduced into stillness”, something of my experience.
Also your sense of things (illusions???) being stripped away. That seems to be at the heart of the hermit life.
Maria (from the UK)
I wish I had some profound response to Lynda’s story, but I’m just in awe right now. This sounds so much like the God/One/Presence/Reality/Universe I know and love.
Relating to the Caussade quote, and Merton’s comments, I recall a comment from a colleague of mine in the Al-anon 12 Step program when I think we were discussing “Surrender”:
“My life is none of my business.”
Absolutely on target, Wayne! Thanks for sharing.
I am at a stage in life where I have very few ‘cares’ and I can, if I choose, have a great deal of silence and solitude.
I feel that I have been given this wonderful stage in life, free of so many of my own cares, in order to care in prayer for others. I think maybe the idea is to be selfless not selfish.
I don’t think he is suggesting we stop caring for others, because to do that would not be following the Way of Jesus, as I understand it. We offer up our lives in prayer on behalf of all those who cannot pray for themselves, individuals and nations.
Annerimiki, Thanks for joining in the discussion. What you said surely proves that we can think (and pray) more for others’ cares, when we learn to lay down our own.
I would like to add something but I am still not ready for the solitude in life.
Hey, Bill, I bet you wouldn’t mind a few minutes of solitude now and then, just to be able lay down those cares that Thomas Merton mentions and enjoy the present moment.
Care free life: I think that it necessary for a hermit to support oneself, which means some income. Climate is a great factor. In the south (along the nile and in India) no heat is required in winter months. Life is much simpler . One can weave baskets and receive a minimal income. We can’t expect a raven to bring us food. In a big monastery you receive what is necessary and give what you are able A care free life is possible. But the Abbot can’t live a care free life free of responsibility.
On the Westcoast of Vancouver Island you can’t life as St. Fances did in italy in a bramble hermitage. You need heat food and clothing.
Dear Fr. Charles,
Peace! We agree that living a life “free from care” can’t mean wandering the roads hoping people will feed you or take you in, as did St. Francis. But the heart of Francis’ message is essentially a life free from WORRY. God does and will provide if we do our part. Thanks for joining the conversation! Karen
Karen, I need to know, just exactly what IS our part? I was FEELING God like a huge magnet deep within, Pulling me to my Very Center. …. I chose to watch a very secular television series for about 2 days, and now the “PULL” is gone! But for years I have been drawn to this Way of Life. …. The flight of the Alone to the Alone( Evelyn Underhill in her book on Mysticism) If its all by GRACE, what does it matter what we do? I WANT TO BE FREE OF PEOPLE! To keep my Center while I am around others. I get so pulled off Center around others, I dont even want to be around them.