Fait-divers by Thomas Merton

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” (Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island)

Fait-divers by Thomas Merton

"Our culture is one which is geared in many ways to help us evade any need to face this inner, silent self." (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers by Thomas Merton

"What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone, in the forests, at night..." (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers by Thomas Merton meditation

“If you want to identify me, ask me not what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail” (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers by Thomas Merton on peace

Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers by Thomas Merton

The direct existential grasp of reality in itself can be presented in a parable, a fable, or a funny story. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers by Thomas Merton

We have what we seek. It is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers on humility by Thomas Merton

It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers by Thomas Merton on silence

Contradictions have always existed in the soul of man. It is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become a insoluble problem. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers on charity by Thomas Merton

Charity is without fear: having given all that it has, it has nothing left to lose. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers by Thomas Merton

The man who fears to be alone will never be anything but lonely. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers: God and Thomas Merton

Infinite sharing is the law of God’s inner life. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers by Thomas Merton

We live in a state of constant semiattention to the sound of voices, music, traffic, or the generalized noise of the happenings around us. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers: meditation by Thomas Merton

We have what we seek. It is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers on silence by Thomas Merton

There is a greater comfort in the substance of silence than in the answer to a question. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers on Love by Thomas Merton

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. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers on spiritual life by Thomas Merton

The spiritual life is, then, first of all a matter of keeping awake. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers on contradictions by Thomas Merton

Contradictions have always existed in the soul of man. It is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become a insoluble problem. (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers on faith by Thomas Merton

"A faith that is afraid of other people is not faith at all." (Thomas Merton)

Fait-divers on peace

If you yourself are at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world. (Thomas Merton)