Is The World A Problem? | Thomas Merton
This is a fantastic essay by Thomas Merton that was published in Commonweal in 1966, and is just as relevant today as it was then. Read the whole thing here https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/world-problem
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‘As long as I assume that the world is something I discover by turning on the radio or looking out the window I am deceived from the start. As long as I imagine that the world is something to be “escaped” in a monastery—that wearing a special costume and following a quaint observance takes me “out of this world,” I am dedicating my life to an illusion. Of course, I hasten to qualify this. I said a moment ago that in a certain historic context of thought and of life, this kind of thought and action once made perfect sense. But the moment you change the context, then the whole thing has to be completely transposed. Otherwise you are left like the orchestra in the Marx Brothers’ “Night at the Opera” where Harpo had inserted “Take me out to the Ball Game” in the middle of the operatic score.’
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