Those who think they 'know' from the beginning will never in fact _x000D_ come to know anything.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that true understanding comes with an open mind rather than preconceived notions.
Thomas Merton's quote emphasizes the importance of humility in knowledge acquisition. It highlights that individuals who believe they already possess all the answers close themselves off to new insights and learning experiences. The quest for knowledge requires a willingness to question and reconsider what we think we know.
In practice
In a discussion about lifelong learning, this quote can remind us to stay open-minded.
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.
It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.
Oh, but my treasure, it is so much less exhausting. You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things.
People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
If you do not know the blessings you have when you have them, then Allah will teach you about them by taking them away from you
I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too.
Those who do not know the torment of the unknown cannot have the joy of discovery.
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