A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live.
Interpretation
True fulfillment comes when one discovers their true calling and embraces life fully.
This quote by Thomas Merton highlights the transformative power of finding one's vocation. When a person aligns their life with their true purpose, they shift from a mindset of mere survival and contemplation to one of active engagement and fulfillment, leading to a more meaningful existence.
In practice
In a motivational speech about finding one's passion in life.
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.
To him that waits all things reveal themselves, provided that he has the courage not to deny, in the darkness, what he has seen in the light.
I always say that when I see that needle start to go in the other direction, when people have had enough of me, I'm going to be smart enough to say goodbye. It's such a joyous ride to be on top, and it takes away from that ride if you sort of ride it down.
Holding on to anything blocks wisdom.
I'm not a genius. I'm just a tremendous bundle of experience.
Man's greatness lies in his power of thought.
If one takes care of the means, the end will take care of itself.
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