“I was
suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that
they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one
another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a
dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world
of renunciation and supposed holiness. . . . This sense of liberation from an
illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost
laughed out loud. . . . 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 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.” -
Thomas
Merton from here. - thanks John Steiner
As I recall, the SFZC was one of the last places Merton visited before his fateful trip to India. He told Richard Baker that he really felt more like a Buddhist but it was too late to change. I'll write Baker and check. - dc
