111
" The truth is, that the concept of God which I had always entertained, and which I had accused Christians of teaching to the world, was a concept of a being who was simply impossible. He was infinite and yet finite; perfect and imperfect; eternal and yet changing - subject to all the variations of emotion, love, sorrow, hate, revenge, that men are prey to....
What a relief it was for me, now, to discover not only that no idea of ours, let alone any image, could adequately represent God, but also that we should not allow ourselves to be satisfied with any such knowledge of Him. "
― Thomas Merton , The Seven Storey Mountain
114
" Indeed, the truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most: and his suffering comes to him from things so little and so trivial that one can say that it is no longer objective at all. It is his own existence, his own being, that is at once the subject and the source of his pain, and his very existence and consciousness is his greatest torture. This is another of the great perversions by which the devil uses our philosophies to turn our whole nature inside out, and eviscerate all our capacities for good, turning them against ourselves. "
― Thomas Merton , The Seven Storey Mountain
117
" Realmente, la verdad que muchos nunca entienden, hasta que es demasiado tarde, es que cuanto más intentáis evitar el sufrimiento tanto más sufrís, porque motivos menores y más insignificantes empiezan a torturaros, en proporción a vuestro temor de sufrir. El que más hace para evitar el sufrimiento es, al final, el que sufre más: su sufrimiento le llega de cosas tan pequeñas y triviales que uno puede decir que ya no es objetivo en absoluto. Es su propia existencia, su propio ser, lo que es a la vez el sujeto y el origen de su dolor; su misma existencia y conciencia, su mayor tortura. Ésta es una de las grandes perversiones por medio de las cuales el demonio usa nuestras filosofías para extraernos toda nuestra naturaleza interior y desentrañar nuestras facultades para siempre, volviéndolas en contra de nosotros mismos. "
― Thomas Merton , The Seven Storey Mountain
118
" The only really valuable religious and moral training I ever got as a child came to me from my father, not systematically, but here and there and more or less spontaneously, in the course of ordinary conversations. Father never applied himself, of set purpose, to teach me religion. But if something spiritual was on his mind, it came out more or less naturally. And this is the kind of religious teaching, or any other kind of teaching, that has the most effect. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good fruit; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." And it is precisely this speech "out of the abundance of the heart" that makes an impression and produces an effect in other people. We give ear and pay at least a partially respectful attention to anyone who is really sincerely convinced of what he is saying, no matter what it is, even if it is opposed to our own ideas. "
― Thomas Merton , The Seven Storey Mountain
120
" Sweet brother, if I do not sleep
My eyes are flowers for your tomb;
And if I cannot eat my bread,
My fasts shall live like willows where you died.
If in the beat I find no water for my thirst,
My thirst shall turn to springs for you, poor traveller Where, in what desolate and smokey country,
Lies your poor body, lost and dead?
And in what landscape of disaster
Has your unhappy spirit lost its road? Come, in my labor find a resting place
And in my sorrows lay your head,
Or rather take my life and blood
And buy yourself a better bed—
Or take my breath and take my death
And buy yourself a better rest. "
― Thomas Merton , The Seven Storey Mountain