Q U I C K S C A N

Wisdom From Merton
Problematic Language

Over the years I have heard both helpful and not-so-helpful ways of thinking and speaking about evil.

On the helpful side: in 1974 I interviewed the late Father Henri Nouwen about the writings of Thomas Merton on nonviolence. Nouwen was a teacher at Yale Divinity School at the time and had recently written a book about Merton entitled Pray to Live.

Father Nouwen said that Merton saw a close connection between violence and a faulty notion of evil. “If you see evil as something ‘out there,’ something outside yourself, sharply defined and irreversible," explained Nouwen, "then the only way to deal with it is in the same way you would deal with a malignant tumor: You cut it out, take it out, eradicate it, burn it away, kill it—which means you immediately become violent.”

Nouwen pointed out how Adolf Hitler had identified the Jews as “the evil thing” and believed that “once you take that away, there will be no more evil.”

Wisdom From Merton

Thomas Merton, who had studied Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas on nonviolence, believed that the above way of thinking was an oversimplification. Thanks to Gandhi, said Nouwen, “Merton started to discover that the roots of all problems were in his own soul, too, that evil is not something outside himself that could be identified, but part of the whole human condition of which he was a part.”

Nouwen emphasized Merton’s view that the roots of evil are in the human heart, and the first place to start converting or reversing the evil process is in one’s own heart. “The whole conversion experience,” says Nouwen, “begins with the recognition and confession that you are part of the problem. You are part of the evil in the world, and you can not simply point your finger at the evil world.”

To follow the wisdom of Thomas Merton, we should not merely seek to exterminate the evil outside of ourselves, but first of all to diminish the evil tendencies within us: selfishness, pride, vengeance, hatred, violence. These impulses we hold in common with all humanity. As Merton wrote in his New Seeds of Contemplation, “Instead of hating the people you think are the warmakers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed, but hate these things in yourself, not in another.”

Jesus had already taught a similar way of dealing with evil when he said, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye”? (Luke 6:41-42). In the same chapter of Luke, Jesus also teaches about loving your enemies and forgiving rather than condemning others.

Problematic Language

Now let's consider some not-so-helpful ways of speaking about evil. A number of people around the country and around the world, including myself, have a problem with some of the language about evil used by President George W. Bush and some of our military leaders. Their approach seems quite different from that of Jesus, Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen. I think it is helpful for all of us to think about those differences.

Perhaps, it may seem POLITICALLY correct to speak about “wiping out” Osama bin Laden and similar “evil-doers” or to refer to the nations of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an “Axis of Evil.” But is it good theology? Is it a good expression of the spirit of the gospel? Is it really bringing people of different cultures and religious backgrounds closer to peace and understanding and global unity? I doubt it.

Yes, societies have a right and a duty to protect their citizens from terrorism—and to confront and bring to justice those who commit acts of mass murder. But is it fair to perceive a country like Iran or Iraq as absolute evil and to pretend that we are free and innocent of all evil? Is our record really that clean—we with our history of racism, abortion, child abuse, and of corporate bosses sucking the life-savings from those lower down the economic ladder?

Yes, Osama bin Laden and those guilty of the terrorist attacks of September 11 are guilty of horrendous crimes. They have more than little specks or splinters in their eyes. Indeed, they exemplify Jesus’ analogy that those who see evil in the eyes and actions of others usually don’t see the big blotch of evil in their own eyes and actions.

And yet, Jesus does not instruct us, his followers, to view even terrible sinners as absolute evil, as if their evil actions are irreversible. He believes that all men and women are capable of conversion and of reversing their evil ways. He offers all the gift of forgiveness and asks us to offer the same gift to others. Without forgiveness there is little hope for any of us.

There’s a lot more to discuss and explore about the subject of evil and violence, nonviolence and forgiveness. May these musings at least be an occasion—a first step perhaps—for you and me to start reflecting more on these issues.

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