Our whole life is a meditation of our last decision - the only decision that matters. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
If Zen has any preference it is for glass that is plain, has no color, and is "just glass." — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Contemplation is the loving sense of this life, this presence and this eternity. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Zen insight is not our awareness, but Being's awareness of itself in us. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The whole aim of Zen is not to make foolproof statements about experience, but to come to direct grips with reality without… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“It is as if in creating us God asked a question, and in awakening us to contemplation He answered the question, so… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“We only know Him in so far as we are known by Him, and our contemplation of Him is a participation in… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
True contemplation is not a psychological trick but a theological grace. It can come to us ONLY as a gift, and not… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Zen is consciousness unstructured by particular form or particular system, a trans-cultural, trans-religious, transformed consciousness. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
As long as we are on earth, the love that unites us will bring us suffering by our very contact with one… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The thing about Zen is that it pushes contradictions to their ultimate limit where one has to choose between madness and innocence.… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Some of us need to discover that we will not begin to live more fully until we have the courage to do… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
You have got me walking up and down all day under those trees, saying to me over and over again, "Solitude, solitude."… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Contemplation is not and cannot be a function of this external self. There is an irreducible opposition between the deep transcendent self… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Contemplation means rest, suspension of activity, withdrawal into the mysterious interior solitude in which the soul is absorbed in the immense and… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Our technological society has no longer any place in it for wisdom that seeks truth for its own sake, that seeks the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Nothing could be more alien to contemplation than the cogito ergo sum of Descartes. “I think, therefore I am.” This is the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Whether you teach or live in the cloister or nurse the sick, whether you are in religion or out of it, married… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“I have my own way to walk and for some reason or other Zen is right in the middle of it wherever… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“This false “faith” which is what we often live by and which we even come to confuse with our “religion” is subjected… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Everyone of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self..We are not very good at recognizing illusions, least of all… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Contemplation is precisely the awareness that this “I” is really “not I” and the awakening of the unknown “I” that is beyond… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Everything in modern city life is calculated to keep man from entering into himself and thinking about spiritual things. Even with the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep,… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“There are many other escapes from the empirical, external self, which might seem to be, but are not, contemplation. For instance, the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep,… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Hence the aim of meditation, in the context of Christian faith, is not to arrive at an objective and apparently 'scientific' knowledge… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“There is a 'movement' of meditation, expressing the basic 'paschal' rhythm of the Christian life, the passage from death to life in… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Contemplation in the age of Auschwitz and Dachau, Solovky and Karaganda is something darker and more fearsome than contemplation in the age… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
To enter into the realm of contemplation, one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Contemplation, on the contrary, is the experiential grasp of reality as subjective, not so much “mine” (which would signify “belonging to the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Zen enriches no one. There is no body to be found. The birds may come and circle for a while in the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“We must approach our meditation realizing that 'grace,' 'mercy,' and 'faith' are not permanent inalienable possessions which we gain by our efforts… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope. For when our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
The desire to kill is like the desire to attack another with an ingot of red -hot iron: I have to pick up the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
The mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The rigidity of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from which one… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
“The wisdom of the flesh is a judgement that the ordinary ends of our natural appetites are the goods to which the whole of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men--you may make some money and… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
“Contemplation means rest, suspension of activity, withdrawal into the mysterious interior solitude in which the soul is absorbed in the immense and fruitful silence… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
