Two men to ponder, two thoughts to wonder

Folks, these two thoughts from two disparate yet kindred writers struck a chord within and I want to share these thoughts with you:

1. What I really lack is to be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know, except in so far as a certain understanding must precede every action. The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do…What good would it do me if the truth stood before me, cold and naked, not caring whether I recognized her or not, and producing in me a shudder of fear rather than a trusting devotion? Must not the truth be taken up into my life? That is what I now recognize as the most important thing. - Søren Kierkegaard

2. It suddenly dawned on me that the anti-Americanism in the world today is a hatred as deep and as lasting and as all-inclusive as anti-Semitism. And just about rational. I see now that I must understand myself in the light of this hatred. To identify myself so completely with this country is like accepting the fact of a hidden Jewish grandfather in Nazi Germany. My European background gives me a protective coloring, no doubt. I am, as it were, a Jew with blond hair and blue eyes. But no, I remain a citizen of a hated nation, and no excuses will serve. I know for a fact that this does have some influence on the way my books are received in some places in Europe.
- Thomas Merton

A similar thought, also from Kierkegaard, left me thinking: "Have you come to know something as true only to have yourself misunderstood?" It jives with the first one, methinks.Very recently, as some of you probably know, I was egregiously misunderstood and, what is worse, I gave "them" ample grounds to misunderstand me and at that point in the game, I should've known better. What followed was intense personal havoc. So, I was left, like Kierkegaard, puzzling about "understanding myself to see what God really wishes me to do." Good words by Kierkegaard.

Now, Father Louis (Thomas) Merton strikes different chords in me. First, that things haven't really changed that much from his life and times. We are hated in the world, probably because of the same reasons the US was hated back then, except that now the hatred can be communicated at the speed of light. And, like Merton with his European background, my own Hispanic identity also provides me with a measure of protective shielding, but my consciousness of being a citizen of a hated nation persists. And like Merton, I fully embrace that citizenship with all its attendant consequences.

Søren Kierkegaard and Thomas Merton: what a dynamic duo!