# Integrate the Unknown
“Faith does not simply account for the unknown, tag it with a theological tag and file it away in a safe place where we do not have to worry about it. This is a falsification of the whole idea of faith. On the contrary, faith incorporates the unknown into our everyday life in a living, dynamic and actual manner. The unknown remains unknown. It is still a mystery, for it cannot cease to be one. The function of faith is not to reduce mystery to rational clarity, but to integrate the unknown and the known together in a living whole, in which we are more and more able to transcend the limitations of our external self.
Hence the function of faith is not only to bring us into contact with the “authority of God” revealing not only to teach us truths “about God,” but even to reveal to us the unknown in our own selves, in so far as our unknown and undiscovered self actually lives in God, moving and acting only under the direct light of His merciful grace.”
Thomas Merton, New Seeds Of Contemplation
You know how a book stops being a book and starts being a companion? I like that.
November 4th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
hey old friend. just re-read Mertons Passion for Peace…love that guy.
wings, pizza, and beer are calling our names. let’s do next week if your in town.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:58 am
thanks z
November 6th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Win: “The function of faith is not to reduce mystery to rational clarity, but to integrate the unknown and the known together in a living whole,”