The most awful tyranny is that of the proximate Utopia where the last sins are currently being eliminated and where, tomorrow, there will be no more sins because all the sinners will have been wiped out.
Interpretation
This quote warns against the dangers of pursuing a perfect society by eliminating all who do wrong, which can result in tyranny.
Thomas Merton's quote reflects on the perils of striving for a utopian society that seeks to eradicate all sins by removing those who commit them. In this pursuit, the focus shifts from understanding and redemption to oppression and control, suggesting that the quest for absolute perfection can lead to an even greater moral decay, where the true essence of humanity is lost in the process of purification.
In practice
During a lecture on ethics, one might use this quote to highlight the dangers of totalitarianism in the name of moral purity.
The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.
Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny....To work out our identity in God.
Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.
You are made in the image of what you desire.
But 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 think I am living for.
I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.
We all understand that we are living longer, and we are more likely to spend more years as frail, elderly people who can't work. We also recognize that the wonderful advances in medicine also come with wonderful price tags. Those are things you can't budget around.
To survive as a species on this planet, we're going to have to see ourselves as Earthlings.
Beyond ideas, there's a field. Will you meet me there?
Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.
The error is in the assumption that the General Government is a party to the constitutional compact. The States ... formed the compact, acting as sovereign and independent communities.
One must live to build one's house, and not build one's house to live in.
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