serendipity.
Yesterday, quite by accident, I discovered a Thomas Merton book that I forgot that I ever bought it.
It’s not really a big deal, it’s just a little paperback that has some of his drawings and some prayers from his journals. It’s probably not of interest to anyone but a nerd like me.
But that’s not so much the point.
The point it is, I opened it and read a bit. What I found was something that I have forgotten to have existed.
The faith I found Merton engaging was something more genuine than I’ve been seeing.
I’ve been mistrusting of faith lately. I’m afraid of engaging anyone’s ideas, because they all feel like a trap. It feels like they’re luring in me, telling me that if I accept this set of propositions, then I must become as they think I should be. It feels like a trap for them to tell me that I should stop drinking beer, find a nice girlfriend, and start voting Republican.
When I read Merton, I didn’t see any of that stuff. Merton’s faith, it looks like to me, it willing to let people be people on their own terms. His faith isn’t forcing people into some arbitrary mold of what people should be.
There is room in Merton’s faith for the other, it seems.
That’s a big deal.