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Thomas Merton

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Famous Thomas Merton Quotes

“The world of men has forgotten the joys of silence, the peace of solitude, which is necessary, to some extent, for the fullness of human living. Man cannot be happy for long unless he is in contact with the springs of spiritual life which are hidden in the depths of his own soul. If man is exiled constantly from his own home, locked out of his spiritual solitude, he ceases to be a true person.”

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Author:Thomas Merton
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“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.”

IfsKnowsWayKindMayMatterReasonSeemsBeautifulSpiritualDiesMy OwnWalksMiddleNo Matter WhatClimateBreatheFoolishFamiliarAtmosphereIf I CouldMonkBurstingPurposelessnessAsphyxiation
Book:Encounter: Thomas Merton & D.T. Suzuki
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“Detachment from things does not mean setting up a contradiction between 'things' and 'God' as if God were another thing and as if creatures were His rivals. We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God.”

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Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.”

SpiritualSpiritualityLove IsRelationshipLove YouFitReflectionRelationUnconditional LoveInspirational LoveLoved OnesOur RelationshipOur LoveTwistsUnconditionalTwistedReflectingSelf ReflectionBeginningLoving SomeoneLove RelationshipFunny RelationshipThose We LoveSpiritual LoveRelationships With OthersHealthy RelationshipHappy RelationshipImagingLove And RelationshipRelationships And LifeLove UnconditionallyPerfect RelationshipLove And InspirationalDeveloping RelationshipsBeginning Of Relationship
Author:Thomas Merton
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“Contemplation in the age of Auschwitz and Dachau, Solovky and Karaganda is something darker and more fearsome than contemplation in the age of the Church Fathers. For that very reason, the urge to seek a path of spiritual light can be a subtle temptation to sin. It certainly is sin if it means a frank rejection of the burden of our age, an escape into unreality and spiritual illusion, so as not to share the misery of other men.”

IfsMenMeanReasonLightAgeSpiritualFatherChurchSinPathShareIllusionMiseryBurdenTemptationContemplationRejectionSubtleUrgesFrankAuschwitzUnrealitySpiritual LightChurch FathersDachau
Author:Thomas Merton
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“Everything in modern city life is calculated to keep man from entering into himself and thinking about spiritual things. Even with the best of intentions a spiritual man finds himself exhausted and deadened and debased by the constant noise of machines and loudspeakers, the dead air and the glaring lights of offices and shops, the everlasting suggestion of advertising and propaganda. The whole mechanism of modern life is geared for a flight from God and from the spirit into the wilderness of neurosis.”

ThinkingMenWholeLightSpiritualLife IsSpiritCitiesMeditationAirModernOfficeMachinesConstantIntentionNoiseFlightAdvertisingPropagandaShopsWildernessMechanismExhaustedSuggestionsEnteringEverlastingModern LifeNeurosisCity Life
Author:Thomas Merton
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“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.”

IfsHumansSpiritualSpiritualityIndividualLibertyLimitsDefinitionsAppreciation
Book:Choosing to Love the World: On Contemplation
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“Some of us need to discover that we will not begin to live more fully until we have the courage to do and see and taste and experience much less than usual... And for a man who has let himself be drawn completely out of himself by his activity, nothing is more difficult than to sit still and rest, doing nothing at all. The very act of resting is the hardest and most courageous act he can perform.”

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Author:Thomas Merton
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“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our life, which is inaccessable to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us.”

MindLittlesGodTruthSpiritualPovertyFantasyOur LivesPureGloryIllusionAbsolutesSparksNothingnessBrutalityGlory Of God
Book:On Christian Contemplation
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“As a magnifying glass concentrates the rays of the sun into a little burning knot of heat that can set fire to a dry leaf or a piece of paper, so the mystery of Christ in the Gospel concentrates the rays of God's light and fire to a point that sets fire to the spirit of man. ... Through the glass of His Incarnation He concentrates the rays of His Divine Truth and Love upon us so that we feel the burn, and all mystical experience is communicated to men through the Man Christ.”

MenFeelsLittlesLightSpiritualSpiritChristSunFirePiecesMysteryDivineHe ManPaperAnd LoveGlassesBurningHeatDryRaysMysticalLeafsIncarnationKnotsMagnifyingTruth And LoveMagnifying GlassMystical ExperiencesDry Leaves
Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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“Our God...is a consuming fire. And if we, by love, become transformed into Him and burn as He burns, His fire will be our everlasting joy. But if we refuse His love and remain in the coldness of sin and opposition to Him and to other men then will His fire (by our own choice rather than His) become our everlasting enemy, and Love, instead of being our joy, will become our torment and our destruction.”

IfsMenSpiritualJoyChoicesSinLove IsEnemyFireDestructionAnd LoveRefuseOppositionTransformedTormentHis LoveEverlastingConsumingColdness
Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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“But it certainly is a wonderful thing to wake up suddenly in the solitude of the woods and look up at the sky and see the utter nonsense of everything including all the solemn stuff given out by professional asses about the spiritual life; and simply to burst out laughing, and laugh and laugh, with the sky and the trees because God is not in words, and not in systems, and not in liturgical movements, and not in "contemplation" with a big "C," or in asceticism or in anything like that, not even in the apostolate.”

LooksBigsSpiritualGivenStuffLaughingWonderfulTreeSkyMovementSolitudeLaughterWake UpIncludingWoodsAssContemplationLook UpNonsenseSpiritual LifeWonderful ThingsSolemnAsceticism
Book:The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters
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“It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is the beginning of blessedness and the consummation of humility is the perfection of all joy. Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul. It is the only key to faith, with which the spiritual life begins: for faith and humility are inseparable. In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him.”

SoulProblemSpiritualJoyValuesLostAnswersPerfectImpossibleHumilityKeysPerfectionDisappearSelfishnessYour SoulSpiritual LifeTransformedInseparableOverestimateSubmergedBlessednessTrue HumilityLonger Life
Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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“All men who live only according to their five senses, and seek nothing beyond the gratification of their natural appetites for pleasure and reputation and power, cut themselves off from that charity which is the principle of all spiritual vitality and happiness because it alone saves us from the barren wilderness of our own abominable selfishness.”

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Book:The Seven Storey Mountain
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“I believe we are going to have to prepare ourselves for the difficult and patient task of outgrowing rigid and intransigent nationalism, and work slowly towards a world federation of peaceful nations. How will this be possible? Don't ask me. I don't know. But unless we develop a moral, spiritual, and political wisdom that is proportionate to our technological skill, our skill may end us.”

KnowsWorldBelieveMayEndsWisdomSpiritualPoliticalAsksBeliefI BelieveNationsPeaceDifficultMoralSkillsTasksPatientPeacefulPreparationAsk MeNationalismTechnologicalFederationOutgrowingPolitical Wisdom
Book:Witness to Freedom: The Letters of Thomas Merton in Times of Crisis
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“Contemplation is life itself, fully awake, fully active, and fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent, and infinitely abundant Source.”

FactsSpiritualWonderAliveAwarenessSourceGratitudeActiveInvisibleRealizationAwakeContemplationAweSpontaneousVividTranscendentSacrednessGratitude For LifeSacredness Of Life
Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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“Consequently, the truth of God lives in our souls more by the power of superior moral courage than by the light of an eminent intelligence. Indeed, spiritual intelligence itself depends on the fortitude and patience with which we sacrifice ourselves for the truth, as it is communicated to our lives concretely in the providential will of God”

SoulWisdomLightSpiritualMoralOur LivesSacrificeDependsGods WillSuperiorsFortitudeMoral CourageGod LifeTruth Of GodSpiritual Intelligence
Book:No Man Is an Island
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“Place no hope in the feeling of assurance, in spiritual comfort. You may well have to get along without this. Place no hope in the inspirational preachers of Christian sunshine, who are able to pick you up and set you back on your feet and make you feel good for three or four days-until you fold up and collapse into despair. Self-confidence is a precious natural gift, a sign of health. But it is not the same thing as faith. Faith is much deeper, and it must be deep enough to subsist when we are weak, when we are sick, when our self-confidence is gone, when our self-respect is gone.”

FeelsWellsMaySoulSelfEnoughFeelingsAbleChristianSpiritualThreeNaturalGoneFourFeetComfortDespairPicksWeakSickDeeperSelf ConfidenceFeel GoodSelf RespectSunshineCollapsePreacherAssuranceFoldsNo HopeMake You Feel GoodNatural Gifts
Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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