Merton’s concept of “Le Point Vierge” refers to the innermost point of ourselves in which we can encounter God. For the religious or spiritual man, this is the ultimate actualization of the relationship between man and his creator. Catholics, such as Merton, believe that man was made in the image and likeness of God, this meaning that we have intellect and will. Logically it follows that in order to posses this freedom and enjoy the grace we are given, we must have a way to connect with the source. This piece of God within us, this communicatory capacity given to us by our unique creation is what Merton called the ‘virgin point.’
This is a nice concept on paper to discuss in a philosophical sense, but it has many real implications on our own spirituality and our purpose in life. Man’s life is ultimately a search for purpose, some greater meaning to our existence. Some people look to their careers, their accomplishments, and other worldly things to find their purpose. Merton suggests (and I am inclined to agree) that this search for meaning is an inner search for the divine in each of us, represented by this concept of the ‘virgin point.’ The life of Thomas Merton was spent in quest of reaching the level of self-awareness where he would be able to communicate fully with his God. He warned that the road to finding it would be obstructed by ‘confusion; indistinction; immersion in the common, nondescript, trivial, sordid, and evanescent.’ Because of all of the obstacles man faces from realizing the level of self that can be aware of the divine presence, Merton’s path brought him a different way than most. His style of contemplation turned him into a true seeker, and this dedication of self to the search was fueled by his concept of God.
Merton wrote that ‘Our discovery of God is, in a way, God’s discovery of us.’ In God’s fullness of knowledge and awareness, he is truly able to sense and know every one of us. In that sense God must and does discover us before we can find him. The entire focus of getting your mind and heart to the ‘point’ is to come to the realization that everything we are is because of God’s love for us and his gift to us. By opening ourselves to God, we allow him to enter our lives and we in turn find him, and he will always discover us; it remains for us to discover him. Persons of faith and convictions such as Thomas Merton spend their entire lives in search of the perfect prayer, the source from within where we can be fully aware of God’s presence and God can fully enter into our lives. Underneath everything that we project or believe of our self image lies the ‘virgin point’ for which we were created and for which we are called to seek. Merton spent his years as a monk in search of this truth through contemplation and the testing and arduous process of mining through all the distractions and obstacles to the deep point where we may truly encounter God through ourselves in the way we were made for.
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