This came in today’s mail. I received this in another mailing just last week and I think it’s an appropriate response to all that surrounds us today. I do not consider myself integrated in the war-making society in which I live, but the problem is that this society does consider me integrated in it. I … Read more
Are monks and hippies and poets relevant? No, we are deliberately irrelevant. We live with an ingrained irrelevance which is proper to every human being. The marginal [person] accepts the basic irrelevance of the human condition, an irrelevance which is manifested above all by the fact of death. The marginal person, the monk, the displaced … Read more
I took this picture as I was walking up the trail to Holy Peace Chapel at Mt. Irenaeus this morning. It was a beautiful morning and one of the nicest of the summer. Today’s readings were very meaningful for me. Psalm 63 was read after the first reading and it really embodied how I’ve been … Read more
This is another good thought from Thomas Merton. Contemplation is essentially a listening in silence, an expectancy… In other words, the true contemplative is not the one who prepares his mind for a particular message that he wants or expects to hear, but who remains empty because he knows that he can never expect or … Read more
I got this quote in today’s mail from the Merton Institute and it really resonated for me. The second sentence here is right on target. Paradoxically, I have found peace because I have always been dissatisfied. My moments of depression and despair turn out to be renewals, new beginnings. If I were once to settle … Read more
Last night I attended a talk given by Walt Chura, SFO at Mount Irenaeus. Walt’s topic was the “Transformations of Thomas Merton.” Walt talked about the similarities between the transformations of Francis of Assisi and Thomas Merton and helped me to more clearly see each man and their journey to God and my own journey … Read more
I purchased a book from Amazon the other day and read it today not three hours after opening the package. It’s the first book I’ve read in awhile and I’d recommend it to anyone. It’s the “Promise of Paradox“and it’s more than timely. Too much of our packaged culture is set up as either/or when … Read more
If there is no silence beyond and within the words of doctrine, there is no religion, only religious ideology. For religion goes beyond words and actions, and attains to the ultimate truth in silence. When this silence is lacking, where there are only the “many words” and not the One Word, then there is much … Read more
A friend wrote me about Merton’s quote about illusion and briefly stated that only noise could be measured and that because silence could not be measured it must be the illusion. I think silence can be measured. Have you ever had a disagreement with your spouse? How long before you spoke again? There is silence … Read more
This came in today’s mail from the Merton Institute and there is a profound truth here. All we are with all our noise, war mongering, power struggles, ego drives are illusion. Those who love their own noise are impatient of everything else. They constantly defile the silence of the forests and the mountains and the … Read more
