Introduction
I am going to offer the following eleven reflections on Thomas Merton’s teaching on the True Self/False Self dynamic. This conflictual but enlightening relationship permeates Merton’s huge quantity of writing on the spiritual life. The basic point of the conflict is the individual’s pull toward and away from God, one’ true and ultimate destiny. Merton’s exposure of the consequences of original sin is ruthless in its intensity. This is the task of the False Self. At the same time, the pull of the True Self, the ever-present call of God’s personal and passionate love, is even more powerful. The human heart is the battlefield of this seemingly endless confrontation.Merton portrays the True Self as an ever-present invitation into a glorious future that is never achieved with the exception of an effective purification of contemplation or the experience of death. Nevertheless, it is a driving force in the definitive human endeavor to seek God.
This powerful attraction of the True Self calls us into the depths of our being where God dwells. The foundation of the Christian life is this. To truly embrace the True Self in God, one has to leave oneself and give it to others in love. This is almost always a partial and incomplete effort for most of us. The True Self’s clash with the False Self is always an experience calling us into a new future. The grace for us is in the seemingly endless struggle to choose the True Self and to forsake the False Self’s plea for indulgence, self-enhancement and glorification of our bondage to self-centeredness. This is the battle of the spiritual life. This is the breaking loose of the affliction of our self-absorption to be free walk with Jesus.
Merton’s approach to spirituality is very human and down-to-earth. For Merton, the true relevance of the True Self/False Self dynamic flows from an authentic spirituality that affects every level of life. It responds to life as experienced by ordinary people. In contrast, most distorted spiritualities usually end up in fanaticism or elitism far removed from the common experience of most individuals.
