Merton. St. John of the cross

Merton or st john of the cross

St john of the cross-



Our aim is union with god in the memory through hope; the object of hope is something unpossessed; the less other objects are possessed, the more capacity and ability there is to hope for this one object,and consequently the more hope;the greater the possessions, the less the capacity and ability for hoping, and consequently so much less hope; accordingly, in the measure that individuals dispossess their memory of forms and objects, which are not god,they will fix it on god, and preserve it empty, so as to hope for the fullness of their memory from him.

Merton-

The one great danger that confronts every man who takes spiritual
experience seriously is the danger of illuminism or, in Mgr. Knox's
term, "enthusiasm." Here the problem is that of taking one's
subjective experience so seriously that it becomes more important than
truth, more important than God. Once spiritual experience becomes
objectified, it turns into an idol. It becomes a "thing," a "reality"
which we serve. We were not created for the service of any "thing,"
but for the service of God alone, Who is not and cannot be a "thing."
To serve Him Who is no "object" is freedom. To live for spiritual
experience is slavery, and such slavery makes the contemplative life
just as secular (though in a more subtle way) as the service of any
other "thing," no matter how base: money, pleasure, success. Indeed,
the ruin of many potential contemplatives has been this avidity for
spiritual success. This is why at the very beginning of this essay I
stressed the danger of looking for "happiness" as a goal in the life
of contemplation. It is all the more dangerous because the
satisfaction we derive from spiritual things is pure and perfect. And
all the harder to bring under objective criticism.