Thomas Merton Quotes About Purpose

Quotes about: Purpose

• 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.

  Thomas Merton

  Wisdom, Thinking, Hair

  "My Argument with the Gestapo: Autobiographical novel".

• The whole purpose of spiritual direction is to penetrate beneath the surface of a man's life, to get behind the façade of conventional gestures and attitudes which he presents to the world, and to bring out his inner spiritual freedom, his inmost truth, which is what we call the likeness of Christ in his soul.

  Thomas Merton

  Spiritual, Attitude, Men

  Thomas Merton (1960). “Spiritual Direction and Meditation”, p.16, Liturgical Press

• The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness. But it does not matter much because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there.

  Thomas Merton

  Wisdom, Sadness, Reality

  Thomas Merton (2007). “New Seeds of Contemplation”, New Directions Publishing

• The purpose of our lives is to find the purpose of our lives.

  Thomas Merton

  Purpose, Life Is, Our Lives

• The fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the wind, and join in the general Dance.

  Thomas Merton

  Faith, Inspiration, Wind

• In all His acts God orders all things, whether good or evil, for the good of those who know Him and seek Him and who strive to bring their own freedom under obedience to His divine purpose. All that is done by the will of God in secret is done for His glory and for the good of those whom He has chosen to share in His glory.

  Thomas Merton

  Wisdom, Order, Evil

  Thomas Merton (2005). “No Man is an Island”, p.55, Shambhala Publications

• The Bible is not primarily a written or printed text to be scrutinized in private, in a scholar's study or a contemplative cell. It is a body of oral messages, announcements, prophecies, promulgations, recitals, histories, songs of praise, lamentations, etc., which are meant either to be uttered or at least read aloud, or chanted, or sung, or recited in a community convoked for the purpose of a living celebration.

  Thomas Merton

  Song, Cells, Community

• The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the other.... The whole purpose of life is to live by love.

  Thomas Merton

  Compassion, Ideas, Purpose

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