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| I took this photo of a movie theater in Bangkok. |
Thomas Merton, in The Waters of Siloe,
writes:
"If you discover any kind of love that satiates you, it is not the end for which you were created. Any act that can cease to be a joy is not the end [purpose; telos] of your existence. If you grow tired of a love that you thought was the love of God, be persuaded that what you are tired of was never pure love, but either the same act ordered to that love or something else without the order altogether.
The one love that always grows weary of its object and is never satiated with anything and is always looking for something different and new is the love of ourselves. It is the source of all boredom and all restlessness and all unquiet and all misery and all unhappiness - ultimately, it is hell."
So...
"If you discover any kind of love that satiates you, it is not the end for which you were created. Any act that can cease to be a joy is not the end [purpose; telos] of your existence. If you grow tired of a love that you thought was the love of God, be persuaded that what you are tired of was never pure love, but either the same act ordered to that love or something else without the order altogether.
The one love that always grows weary of its object and is never satiated with anything and is always looking for something different and new is the love of ourselves. It is the source of all boredom and all restlessness and all unquiet and all misery and all unhappiness - ultimately, it is hell."
So...
·
The love we were made
for and are looking for is to be found in God. Such love will never
cease to be a source of joy and wonder.
·
All other loves (finite
loves) that lose their joy and wonder (that one tires of) are, ipso
facto, not loves we were made for.
·
The ultimate tiring,
unsatisfactory, boring love is love of one's self.
·
Merton here reminds me
of C.S. Lewis's idea of heaven as being a place of infinite exploration,
wonder, and joy, so that in life after life after death (N.T. Wright) we are
always moving "further up, further in."
***
My new book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God, is available HERE.
***
My new book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God, is available HERE.
