The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly _x000D_ themselves.
Interpretation
True love involves allowing others to be their authentic selves.
This quote by Thomas Merton highlights the essence of love as a genuine acceptance and encouragement for individuals to fully express their true selves without fear of judgment. It emphasizes that love is not possessive or controlling, but rather liberating and supportive, enabling loved ones to flourish in their authenticity.
In practice
In a romantic relationship, you can use this quote to encourage your partner to pursue their passions.
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.
Merit consists in the virtue of love alone, flavored with the light of true discretion without which the soul is worth nothing.
By my love and my hope I beseech you - do not forsake hero in your soul!
But you make me sing like a guitar humming . . .
I'm awaiting a lover. I have to be rent and pulled apart and live according to the demons and the imagination in me. I'm restless. Things are calling me away. My hair is being pulled by the stars again.
Then love knew it was called love. And when I lifted my eyes to your name, suddenly your heart showed me my way
Love always triumphs over what we call death. That's why there's no need to grieve for our loved ones, because they continue to be loved and remain by our side.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.