The simplest and most effective way to sanctity is to disappear into the background of ordinary every day routine. Thomas Merton More Quotes by Thomas Merton More Quotes From Thomas Merton Stop thinking and start looking. Thomas Merton thinking Love is an intensification of life. Thomas Merton love-is To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a higher life. It is a death for the sake of life, which leaves behind all that we can know or treasure as life, as thought, as experience, as joy, as being. Thomas Merton intuitionlevelsjoy We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are travelling and in darkness. But we already possess Him by grace, and therefore in that sense we have arrived and are dwelling in the light. But oh! How far have I to go to find You in Whom I have already arrived! Thomas Merton lightwisdomdwelling The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness. But it does not matter much because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there. Thomas Merton sadnesswisdomreality The artist should preach nothing-not even his own autonomy. His art should speak its own truth, and in so doing it will be in harmony with every other kind of truth- moral, metaphysical, mystical. Thomas Merton moralkindart It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes. Thomas Merton destinyracemistake Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep inexpressible certitude of the contemplative experience awakens a tragic anguish and opens many questions in the depths of the heart like wounds that cannot stop bleeding. Thomas Merton meditationdoubtheart I have my own way to walk and for some reason or other Zen is right in the middle of it wherever I go. So there it is, with all its beautiful purposelessness, and it has become very familiar to me though I do not know "what it is." Or even if it is an "it." Not to be foolish and multiply words, I'll say simply that it seems to me that Zen is the very atmosphere of the Gospels, and the Gospels are bursting with it. It is the proper climate for any monk, no matter what kind of monk he may be. If I could not breathe Zen I would probably die of spiritual asphyxiation. Thomas Merton atmospherespiritualbeautiful Technology is not in itself opposed to spirituality and to religion. But it presents a great temptation. Thomas Merton spiritualitytechnologytemptation Pardon all runners, All speechless, alien winds, All mad waters. Pardon their impulses, Their wild attitudes, Their young flights, their reticence. When a message has no clothes on How can it be spoken. Thomas Merton clothesattitudewind The sacred attitude is, then, one of deep and fundamental respect for the real in whatever new form it may present itself. Thomas Merton realfundamentalsattitude I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not ask of me. Thomas Merton penancethornswisdom The selfishness of an age that has devoted itself to the mere cult of pleasure has tainted the whole human race with an error that makes all our acts more or less lies against God. Thomas Merton errorswisdomlying We must suffer. Our five sense are dulled by inordinate pleasure. Penance makes them keen, gives them back their natural vitality, and more. Penance clears the eye of conscience and of reason. It helps think clearly, judge sanely. It strengthens the action of our will. Thomas Merton eyegivingthinking Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in the smoke of confabulation. There can be no peace on earth without the kind of inner change that brings man back to his "right mind." p. 31 Thomas Merton wisdommenpeace There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with realities outside and above us. Thomas Merton wisdomspiritualreality I shall lead you through the loneliness, the solitude you will not understand; but it is my shortcut to your soul. Thomas Merton solitudelonelinesssoul Solitude is so necessary both for society and for the individual that when society fails to provide sufficient solitude to develop the inner life of the persons who compose it, they rebel and seek false solitudes. Thomas Merton rebelfailingsolitude Man was made for the highest activity, which is, in fact, his rest. Thomas Merton mademenfacts
