For the birds there is not a time that they tell, but the point vierge between darkness and light, between being and nonbeing. You can tell yourself the time by their waking, if you are experienced. But that is your folly, not theirs.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the nature of time and existence, contrasting human perception with the instinctual behavior of birds.
Thomas Merton's quote emphasizes the difference between human constructs of time and the inherent rhythms of nature, as demonstrated by birds. He suggests that while humans may attempt to measure time through the actions of birds, such an interpretation is ultimately subjective, revealing the folly of conflating our perceptions with the simple existence that nature embodies.
In practice
In a meditation gathering, this quote can be used to encourage participants to reflect on their relationship with time and nature.
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 might be a good idea if, like the White Queen, we practiced believing six impossible things every morning before breakfast, for we are called on to believe what to many people is impossible. Instead of rejoicing in this glorious "impossible" which gives meaning and dignity to our lives, we try to domesticate God, to make his might actions comprehensible to our finite minds.
Yet food is something that is taken for granted by most world leaders despite the fact that more than half of the population of the world is hungry.
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. [Omnes relinquite spes, o vos intrantes]
In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.
Yesterday and tomorrow cross and mix on the skyline. The two are lost in a purple haze. One forgets, one waits.
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