You are made in the image of what you desire.
Interpretation
This quote highlights that our deepest desires shape who we are.
Thomas Merton's quote suggests that our aspirations and what we crave significantly influence our identity and actions. By recognizing that we are shaped by our desires, we are encouraged to evaluate what we truly want in life, as our thoughts and ambitions manifest in our character and choices.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
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.
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.
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.
Many of us feel as though we are overloaded and overwhelmed by all the things that are happening, and we can't stop work for even five minutes or we'll fall behind: the idea that if we don't take breaks, we're being more productive.
I felt knowledge and the unity of the world circulate in me like my own blood.
I get as much fun as the next man from whaling the ball as hard as I can and catching it squarely on the button. But from sad experience I learned not to try this in a round that meant anything.
Clever talk can confound the workings of virtue, just as small impatiences can confound great projects.
He was no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring because yesterday has brought it.
We often need to lose sight of our priorities in order to see them.
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