Merton and Love

‘If you don’t have love in your heart you should say nothing’ - Paraphrased from a speech from Michael Coren (given in the context of pro-life advocacy)

I’m currently reading a book by Ernesto Cardenal entitled “Love: a Glimpse of Eternity”. Yes, Cardenal is a prominent liberation theologian and no, I wouldn’t ordinarily have much of an interest in his work. However, Thomas Merton wrote the introduction and one would expect anything which Merton endorses to be interesting if not worthwhile. And who doesn’t love love, anyway?

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the foundational premise and thesis of the book: “Love is“. As Merton summarizes:

With the depth of conviction Cardenal speaks again and again of that which simply is. Love is. All else is not, because in the same measure in which things partake of being, they partake of love. All that is not love, is not. All that which is, has its being and its action in love.

Merton continues by contrasting the moralist’s view of love with that of the mystic. Whereas the moralist would see love as one of several virtues, Merton opines that love is all: “The virtues are manifestations of a love that is alive and hale. And the vices are symptoms of an enfeebled love, a love that refuses to be what it is in its essence.”

This deconstruction of virtue and vice leads to a parallel dichotomous reconstruction, but one containing a marked positive slant.  All is either love or love’s contradiction, but even the contradictions are love - but in disguise:

Actually there is nothing else but love. But this love may live in contradiction with itself. It may at one and the same time be love and hate, love and greed, love and fear, love and envy, love and lust. It is destined, however, to be simply love, without any self-contradictory admixture. And love cannot fulfill its true destiny if we merely try to suppress our hatred, our fear, our greed, our jealousies, our lusts. These evil forces receive their strength solely from love. To supress them is to suppress love. On the contrary, these evil drives ought to be made fully conscious of themselves as love in disguise, and if this is the case, they will not be able to divert the potency of love to the service of that which is not love.

If you have trouble deciphering the language of relativism, Merton is essentially saying the following : “All is love, except that which is not love, which is still love, but in disguise. So even though it’s an evil force we must not suppress it for though it’s a contradiction to love it is in fact destined to be love and therefore it is love (though as as mentioned, in disguise). So it’s at once both not yet simply love and, in fact, love!” It all seems circular and metaphysical to the point of being unintelligible and absurd. It’s certainly absurd.

But there’s a conclusion amidst the relativistic nonsense which has value if salvaged from the verbal morass of ideology.   I’ve commented before that the true mark of love is passion. As the love of the Father and the Son begets the fire of the Holy Spirit, so holy and true love creates fire within our hearts. This ardent love which propels us is what I would describe as passion. If directed to good, to God, it creates a refiners fire, purifying and strengthening love. Perfecting love. Yet if it is either overtly directed away from God or simply disregarded, neglected and permitted to burn freely it acts in contradiction to love. Though its source is love it can turn against its creator.

So while Merton states that there is nothing else but love, I would interpret this as suggesting that love is the root of all and that love is the object toward which all our passions are directed. Everything we do either is done in love and for love or to abandon or destroy love. Therefore, our actions are not love itself but the passions that shape the love we hold and share. Unfortunately, there are sadly too many examples where Christians forget that love is the greatest of all considerations and become enslaved to the rigidity of ideology and the law. It is not the orthodox pursuer of truth but the hypocrite who, like the pharisee, places the law above love. As St. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:15, “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.” As Jesus came not to abolish the law of Moses but to fulfill it, we must strive to fulfill the law by acting not in slavery to the law but under the spirit and in the love of God and neighbor. Therefore, the root of relationship with Christ is not adherence to the law through obedience but fulfillment of the law through love. For the Christian love is the answer and must be in all that we do and say.

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I’ve wanted to write a blog on the following passage for a long time. Please send me your thoughts by commenting below or email me if your thoughts are personal:

“The truth is that wherever a man lies with a woman, there, whether they like it or not, a transcendental relation is set up between them which must be eternally enjoyed or eternally endured.” - C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters