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.
Interpretation
Identity is defined not by external preferences but by one's purpose in life.
In this quote, Thomas Merton emphasizes that true identity is found not in superficial details such as habits or tastes, but rather in understanding one's deeper purpose and motivations in life. He suggests that our reason for living is a more profound reflection of who we are than any trivial information could convey.
In practice
During a motivational speech, this quote can highlight the importance of understanding one's purpose.
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.
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.
A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.
The first right on earth is the right of the ego. Man's first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his wish does not depend primarily upon other men.
A withered maple leaf has left its branch and is falling to the ground; its movements resemble those of a butterfly in flight. Isn't it strange? The saddest and deadest of things is yet so like the gayest and most vital of creatures?
I have listened _x000D_ And I have looked _x000D_ With open eyes. _x000D_ I have poured my soul _x000D_ Into the world _x000D_ Seeking the unknown _x000D_ Within the known. _x000D_ And I sing out loud _x000D_ In amazement.
The complete irresponsibility of man for his actions and his nature is the bitterest drop which he who understands must swallow.
...it is simplicity that is difficult to make.
Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future.
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