We assume that others are receiving the kind of appreciation we want for ourselves, and we proceed on the assumption that since we are not loveable as we are, we must become lovable under false pretenses, as if we were something better than we are. Thomas Merton More Quotes by Thomas Merton More Quotes From Thomas Merton The devil makes many disciples by preaching against sin. He convinces them that the great evil of sin, induces a crisis of guilt by which “God is satisfied," and after that he lets them spend the rest of their lives meditating on the intense sinfulness and evident reprobation of other men. Thomas Merton guilt evil men Ash Wednesday is full of joy...The source of all sorrow is the illusion that of ourselves we are anything but dust. Thomas Merton dust sorrow joy The peculiar grace of a Shaker chair is due to the fact that it was made by someone capable of believing that an angel might come and sit on it. Thomas Merton angel grace believe What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous. Thomas Merton life-changing moon inspiring Since no man ever can, or could, live by himself and for himself alone, the destinies of thousands of other people were bound to be affected, some remotely, but some very directly and near-at-hand, by my own choices and decisions and desires, as my own life would also be formed and modified according to theirs. Thomas Merton destiny men hands The imagination should be allowed a certain amount of time to browse around. Thomas Merton certain imagination should Life consists in learning to live on one's own, spontaneous, freewheeling: to do this one must recognize what is one's own-be familiar and at home with oneself. This means basically learning who one is, and learning what one has to offer to the contemporary world, and then learning how to make that offering valid. Thomas Merton offering home mean Advertising treats all products with the reverence and the seriousness due to sacraments. Thomas Merton advertising reverence treats If we examine ourselves carefully we shall see most of us have an enormous amount of unfinished business...We have to be free so that we can just step across the line and that's it. That is what real freedom is. Thomas Merton unfinished-business lines real And the deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. it is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Thomas Merton levels communication wisdom Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it. Thomas Merton our-destiny destiny thinking Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake. Thomas Merton meditation spiritual men Take more time, cover less ground. Thomas Merton focus mindfulness patience The geographical pilgrimage is the symbolic acting out an inner journey. The inner journey is the interpolation of the meanings and signs of the outer pilgrimage. One can have one without the other. It is best to have both. Thomas Merton acting wisdom journey Even the darkest moments of the liturgy are filled with joy, and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the lenten fast, is a day of happiness, a Christian feast. Thomas Merton ashes christian joy Every moment and every event of everyman's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Thomas Merton wisdom spiritual men Hurry ruins saints as well as artists. Thomas Merton saint artist wisdom The least of the work of learning is done in classrooms. Thomas Merton classroom learning done The only true liberty is in the service of that which is beyond all limits, beyond all definitions, beyond all human appreciation: that which is All, and which therefore is no limited or individual thing: The All is no-thing, for if it were to be a single thing separated from all other things, it would not be All. Thomas Merton liberty spiritual appreciation When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when men are violently deprived of the solitude and freedom which are their due, then society in which they live becomes putrid, it festers with servility, resentment and hate. Thomas Merton hate wisdom men
