After all, what is your personal identity? It is what you really are, your real self. None of us is what he thinks he is, or what other people think he is, still less what his passport says he is. And it is fortunate for most of us that we are mistaken. We do not generally know what is good for us. That is because, in St. Bernard's language, our true personality has been concealed under the 'disguise' of a false self, the ego, whom we tend to worship in place of God. β¨ Thomas Merton: I Have Seen what I was Looking for: Selected Spiritual Writings.
More Author Quotes
- What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest ar β¦ βΆ
- There is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues. β¨ Thomas Merton (1998). Contemplation in a World of Action: Second Edition, Restored and Corrected, β¦ βΆ
- I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. β¨ Thomas Merton (2009). Dialogues with Silence: Prayers & Drawings, p.8, Harper Collins
- And the deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. it is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. β¨ The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters.
- Art is not an end in itself. It introduces the soul into a higher spiritual order, which it expresses and in some sense explains. β¨ Thomas Merton (2005). No Man is an Island, p.36, Shambhala Publicat β¦ βΆ
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