What is the message of the quotation of Thomas Merton?

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” “The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image.”

What did Thomas Merton say about death?

Merton lived the public world, the world of words and politics, but knew that living in it had killed him. (“Thomas Merton is dead.”) He sought the peace of pure and silent contemplation, but came to believe that the value of that experience is to send us back into the world that killed us.

What did Thomas Merton believe?

Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice. He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama; Japanese writer D.

What is the best biography of Thomas Merton?

For those who don’t know him, Thomas Merton (1915-68) was a Trappist monk, a poet and a social activist best known for his autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, which for many decades brought huge numbers of young men (and, no doubt, women) into lives of spiritual contemplation all across America and beyond.

What is the meaning of Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time?

The great spiritual writer Thomas Merton once said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” We have all stood in front of that special image that sang to our soul. Art helps a person to express themselves completely.

What is the beginning of love?

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

What religion is a monastery?

The term monastery is used generically to refer to any of a number of types of religious community. In the Roman Catholic religion and to some extent in certain branches of Buddhism, there is a somewhat more specific definition of the term and many related terms.

Is Thomas Merton a mystic?

The Trappists are considered one of the most ascetic of the Roman Catholic monastic orders, and there Merton grew as a mystic and pursued imaginative spiritual quests through dozens of writings. He was ordained a priest in 1949.

Why are monks called monks?

The word comes from Ancient Greek, and can be translated as solitary. In Greek, the word can apply to women, but in modern English it is mainly used for men. The monks who live on their own are usually called hermits, those living with other monks do so in monasteries. Nuns living together do so in a convent.

Where is Thomas Merton buried?

Abbey of Gethsemani, Trappist, Kentucky, United States
Thomas Merton/Place of burial

What order was Thomas Merton?

Bonaventure University (1939–41) near Olean, New York, he entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani near Louisville, Kentucky. The Trappists are considered one of the most ascetic of the Roman Catholic monastic orders, and there Merton grew as a mystic and pursued imaginative spiritual quests through dozens of writings.

Why do we lose ourselves in art?

The great spiritual writer Thomas Merton once said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” We have all stood in front of that special image that sang to our soul. The resonance of art is deeply personal and what works for one person might do the opposite for another.

What did Thomas Merton say about avoiding suffering?

The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most.” “Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed – but hate these things in yourself, not in another.”

What does Thomas Merton say about the beginning of Love?

“The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them”. ―.

Who are some famous people associated with Thomas Merton?

Thomas Merton. He pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama, the Japanese writer D. T. Suzuki, the Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa, and the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh, and authored books on Zen Buddhism and Taoism. In the years since his death, Merton has been the subject of several biographies .

How old was Thomas Merton’s mother when she died?

She died from it on October 21, 1921, in Bellevue Hospital. Merton was six years old and his brother not yet three. In 1922, his father took Thomas with him on a trip to Bermuda, where Owen fell in love with American novelist Evelyn Scott. She was in a common-law marriage.