If I had a message to my contemporaries it is surely this: Be anything you like, be madmen, drunks, and bastards of every shape and form, but at all costs avoid one thing: success. If you are too obsessed with success, you will forget to live. If you have learned only how to be a success, your life has probably been wasted. — Thomas Merton
Midnight mass is spoken at the end of Christmas eve. I thought this lovely poem first uttered in 1941 would be nice again today for all of us. Have a wonderful holiday however you celebrate and also if you do not. Your brightness is my darkness. I know nothing of You and, by myself, I... Continue Reading →
I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
The world as pure object is something that is not there. It is not a reality outside us for which we exist....It is a living and self-creating mystery of which I am myself a part, to which I am myself, my own unique door. … [click on title to read more]
Your brightness is my darkness.
I know nothing of You and, by myself,
I cannot even imagine how to go about knowing You.
If I imagine You, I am mistaken.
If I understand You, I am deluded.... … [click on title to read more]
Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you are capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy
Your brightness is my darkness.
I know nothing of You and, by myself,
I cannot even imagine how to go about knowing You.
If I imagine You, I am mistaken.
If I understand You, I am deluded.
If I am conscious and certain I know You, I am crazy.
The darkness is enough.
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... Continue Reading →
In Silence Be still. Listen to the stones of the wall. Be silent, they try To speak your Name. Listen To the living walls. Who are you? Who Are you? Whose Silence are you? Who (be quiet) Are you (as these stones Are quiet). Do not Think of what you are Still less of What... Continue Reading →
You must be logged in to post a comment.