Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God.
Interpretation
In a time filled with challenges, we must strive to maintain our humanity, as it reflects the divine.
Thomas Merton emphasizes the importance of preserving our human dignity and compassion amidst the dehumanizing aspects of modern life. He suggests that our humanity is not just a personal trait but a reflection of divine qualities, urging us to uphold the values of empathy and kindness in a world that may often feel cold and indifferent.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a discussion on social responsibility in a community meeting.
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.
Language has no independent existence apart from the people who use it. It is not an end in itself; it is a means to an end of understanding who you are and what society is like.
It is no coincidence that a rebirth of psychedelic use is occuring as we acquire the technological capability to leave the planet. The mushroom visions and the transformation of the human image precipitated by space exploration are spun together. Nothing less is happening than the emergence of a new human order. A telepathic, humane, universalist kind of human culture is emerging that will make everything that preceded it appear like the stone age.
I remember the initial genesis quite clearly. My interest in dreams comes from this notion of realizing that when you dream you create the world that you are perceiving, and I thought that feedback loop was pretty amazing.
History always constitutes the relation between a present and its past. Consequently fear of the present leads to mystification of the past
I am the angel of Reality, Seen for a moment standing in the door.
There is "what is" only when there is no comparing and to live with "what is" is to be peaceful.
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