Contemplation is not and cannot be a function of this external self. T…

Thomas Merton
439 citations
Contemplation is not and cannot be a function of this external self. There is an irreducible opposition between the deep transcendent self that awakens only in contemplation, and the superficial, external self which we commonly identify with the first person singular. ✨ Thomas Merton (2007). New Seeds of Contemplation, p.7, New Directions Publishing
Humor
16

More Author Quotes

If our life is poured out in useless words, we will never hear anything, never become anything, and in the end, because we have said everything before we had anything to say, we shall be left speechl … ▶
Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake. ✨ Thomas Merton (2011). Thoughts In Solitude, p.54, Macmillan
The whole aim of Zen is not to make foolproof statements about experience, but to come to direct grips with reality without the mediation of logical verbalizing. ✨ John C. H. Wu, Jingxiong Wu, Thomas … ▶
When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when men are viole … ▶
The true inner self must be drawn up like a jewel from the bottom of the sea, rescued from confusion, from indistinction, from immersion in the common, the nondescript, the trivial, the sordid, the e … ▶

More Author Quotes

Most Cited Authors

The Best Quotes

Most Liked Authors

Curated Author Quotes