“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 am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.”
“A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.”
“We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.”
“Just remaining quietly in the presence of God, listening to Him, being attentive to Him, requires a lot of courage and know-how.”
“Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone-we find it with another.”
Thomas Merton (1915 –1968) was a Trappist monk, poet and writer. He wrote over sixty other books and hundreds of poems and articles on topics ranging from monastic spirituality to political writings. During his last years he became deeply interested in Asian religions, particularly Zen Buddhism, and was a leading voice of interfaith engagement and East-West dialogue. Merton died of accidental electrocution in Bangkok, where he was participating in a conference on monasticism and ecumenism.