Sooner or later the world must burn, and all things in it \u2013 all the books, the cloister together with
\nthe brothel, Fra Angelico together with the Lucky Strike ads.
\n(From his journals)<\/p>\n
On the afternoon of December 10, 1968, in Bangkok, Thailand,
\nthe body of Father Louis, O.C.S.O.,
\nceased its bid for immortality and joined the legions of failures
\nwhose bones and ashes the world claims and keeps
\nas unheeded reminders there is no escape.<\/p>\n
By his accounts, the deceased himself \u2013
\nthe True Self he sought like a fox aflame in his woods \u2013
\ndid not aspire to perpetual, even long, earthly life;
\nto the contrary. That distinguishes him
\nfrom me and probably you, who, irrational as it may be,
\ncling to the possibility of indefinitely hanging around
\neven if it means never quite arriving at a date
\nfor the likewise irrational entry into Paradise.<\/p>\n
Merton professed not only to be prepared and preparing
\nfor Heaven, but to be rushing it \u2013 questing
\nafter self-abnegation, \u201cnothingness,\u201d \u201clittleness,\u201d
\nhelplessness before the Infinite Nothing That was
\nthe Catholic Father he managed to embrace whole and solely
\nin arms yet open to every other faith and philosophy
\nconceived by the Unknowable God\u2019s pilgrim offspring.<\/p>\n
Soul and salvation over matter and mind . . .
\nhe sought to do it the easy way,
\nburying his libidinous False Self
\nin a monastery in hill country; turns out
\nit was the hard way \u2013
\na cowled hermit whose books, letters, lectures, audiences
\nbrought his nothingness to millions; his littleness
\nto giants of literature, religion, politics, pop music;
\nhis resented body across continents
\nand to its untimely or perfectly timed death;
\na monk with a girlfriend, for a while, in the bargain,
\nand torment for losing his way for her,
\nand grief for the loss of her.<\/p>\n
So.
\nIf it is all that, is that all?
\nIf Merton never was here without contradictions,
\ncan he be unequivocally gone?<\/p>\n
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .<\/p>\n
The body, granted.
\nTrust the Abbey to correctly archive its skeletons,
\nand the simple grave visited by thousands \u2013 there you go again \u2013
\nis assurance enough.<\/p>\n
But the mind he equally so disdained,
\nthe multilingual indefatigable intelligence
\nthat emptied libraries East and West
\nand then took to rattletrap typewriter
\nto replenish them . . .
\nGone?<\/p>\n
Look on his works, and despair . . .
\nLook on 53 years of slice from Eternity,
\nand aspire to his nothingness,
\nor despair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sooner or later the world must burn, and all things in it \u2013 all the books, the cloister together with the brothel, Fra Angelico together with the Lucky Strike ads. (From his journals) On the afternoon of December 10, 1968, in Bangkok, Thailand, the body of Father Louis, O.C.S.O., ceased its bid for immortality and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":327,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"issue":[10],"coauthors":[278],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n