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.
For this remains as I have already pointed out the essential difference between the two religions of decadence : Buddhism promises nothing, but actually fulfils; Christianity promises everything, but fulfils nothing.
You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices.
The American lives even more for his goals, for the future, than the European. Life for him is always becoming, never being.
If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern!
From a hologrammatic viewpoint, ...you are one little physical image that reflects all of humanity when projected spiritually upon the cosmic screen.
As one reads history ... one is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted.
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