No writing on the solitary, meditative dimensions of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.
Interpretation
Nature expresses profound truths that words often fail to capture.
Thomas Merton suggests that the natural world, particularly the sound and movement of the wind in pine trees, conveys experiences and emotions that surpass the limitations of human language. He emphasizes the idea that nature communicates in a way that resonates deeply with the soul, revealing insights about existence that writing may struggle to articulate.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of nature in our lives.
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 black people, everything we do has to be ratified and endorsed by a power structure that is white. And that reinforces a kind of racial hierarchy where whiteness is the privileged position to be in, and ethnicity is problematic.
Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them.
It is natural for the mind to believe and for the will to love; so that, for want of true objects, they must attach themselves to false.
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
There is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction.
There are many doors to goodness. (Saying) 'glory to God,' 'praise be to God,' 'there is no deity but God,' enjoining good, forbidding evil, removing harm from the road, listening to the deaf (until you understand them), leading the blind, guiding one to the object of his need, hurrying with the strength of one's legs to one in sorrow who is asking for help, and supporting the weak with the strength of one's arms - all of these are (forms of) charity prescribed for you.
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