Those who think they 'know' from the beginning will never in fact _x000D_ come to know anything.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that true understanding comes with an open mind rather than preconceived notions.
Thomas Merton's quote emphasizes the importance of humility in knowledge acquisition. It highlights that individuals who believe they already possess all the answers close themselves off to new insights and learning experiences. The quest for knowledge requires a willingness to question and reconsider what we think we know.
In practice
In a discussion about lifelong learning, this quote can remind us to stay open-minded.
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.
Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy's point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.
If you get all the facts, your judgment can be right; if you don't get all the facts, it can't be right.
Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn't more complicated that that. It is opening to or recieving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.
You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
Nine times of ten an army has been destroyed because its supply lines have been severed
Don't, Sir, accustom yourself to use big words for little matters.
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