The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.
THOMAS MERTONOur job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.
More Thomas Merton Quotes
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We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have – for their usefulness.
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The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
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Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding in a train.
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To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.
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A faith that is afraid of other people is no faith at all.
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If you yourself are at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world.
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Others can give you a name or a number, but they can never tell you who you really are. That is something you yourself can only discover from within.
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We are not converted only once in our lives but many times and this endless series of conversions and inner revolutions leads to our transformation.
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The more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most.
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Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and 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.
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A man who fails well is greater than one who succeeds badly.
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Perhaps I am stronger than I think.
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I see no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity. I intend to become as good a Buddhist as I can.
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Nothing has ever been said about God that hasn’t already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.
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People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.
THOMAS MERTON