I was reading through "New Seeds of Contemplation" today, and like Barney losing the slap bet to Marshall in "How I Met Your Mother," this statement came out of nowhere and hit me hard.
"Instead of worshipping God through His creation we are always trying to worship ourselves by measn of creatures. But to worship our false selves is to worship nothing. And the worship of nothing is hell."
-Thomas Merton "New Seeds of Contemplation"
I don't have many developed thoughts about it yet. But I think that Merton is hitting on something important here: the nature of the world around us. If God created everything and God is in everything, then as Merton says, it is not that creation is evil, it is our "false self" that distorts creation and transforms something beautiful into evil. So how does this affect the way we view and interact with life? Any thoughts? And, if the worship of nothing is hell, then what does that say about emptiness in our present lives? Do we live in hell in trying to find fulfillment and joy in things without seeking God in things?
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