Ours is a time of anxiety because we have willed it to be so. Our anxiety is not imposed on us by force from outside. We impose it on our world and upon one another from within ourselves.
THOMAS MERTONOur real journey in life is interior; It is a matter of growth, deepening, and of an ever greater surrender to the creative action of love and grace in our hearts. Never was it more necessary to respond to that action.
More Thomas Merton Quotes
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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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We cannot achieve greatness unless we lose all interest in being great.
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Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already I am.
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Every breath we draw is a gift of God’s love; every moment of existence is a grace.
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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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But if you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for.
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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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The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.
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Love is not a matter of getting what you want. Quite the contrary. The insistence on always having what you want, on always being satisfied, on always being fulfilled, makes love impossible.
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Be good, keep your feet dry, your eyes open, your heart at peace and your soul in the joy of Christ.
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How can I be sincere if I am constantly changing my mind to conform with the shadow of what I think others expect of me?
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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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Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.
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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.
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Perhaps I am stronger than I think.
THOMAS MERTON